Now that she
was able to examine him more closely, she saw that in the last six months
he was grown much balder; and the shiny whiteness of his naked crown
contrasted oddly with the redness of his face. He was stouter, too, and
the fat hung in heavy folds under his chin; his paunch was preposterous.
The vivacity of his movements made his huge corpulence subtly alarming.
He was growing indeed strangely terrible in appearance. His eyes had
still that fixed, parallel look, but there was in them now at times a
ferocious gleam. Margaret was as beautiful as ever, but Susie noticed
that his influence was apparent in her dress; for there could be no doubt
that it had crossed the line of individuality and had degenerated into
the eccentric. Her gown was much too gorgeous. It told against the
classical character of her beauty. Susie shuddered a little, for it
reminded her of a courtesan's.
Margaret talked and laughed as much as her husband, but Susie could not
tell whether this animation was affected or due to an utter callousness.
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