Perhaps we shall be able
to make his appearance better understood if we say that the logic of
design required greater length in the oval of his head, more space
between the chin, which ended abruptly, and the forehead, which was
reduced in height by the way in which the hair grew. The face had, in
short, a rather compressed appearance. Hard work had already drawn
furrows between the eyebrows, which were somewhat too thick and too
near together, like those of a jealous nature. Though La Briere was
then slight, he belonged to the class of temperaments which begin,
after they are thirty, to take on an unexpected amount of flesh.
The young man would have seemed to a student of French history a very
fair representative of the royal and almost inconceivable figure of
Louis XIII.,--that historical figure of melancholy modesty without
known cause; pallid beneath the crown; loving the dangers of war and
the fatigues of hunting, but hating work; timid with his mistress to
the extent of keeping away from her; so indifferent as to allow the
head of his friend to be cut off,--a figure that nothing can explain
but his remorse for having avenged his father on his mother.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200