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Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"The Newcomes"

He
never kept a tradesman waiting for his money. He never drank too much,
except when other fellows did, and in good company. He never was late for
business, or huddled over his toilet, however brief had been his sleep,
or severe his headache. In a word, he was as scrupulously whited as any
sepulchre in the whole bills of mortality.
Whilst young Barnes and his uncle were thus holding parley, a slim
gentleman of bland aspect, with a roomy forehead, or what his female
admirers called "a noble brow," and a neat white neckcloth tied with
clerical skill, was surveying Colonel Newcome through his shining
spectacles, and waiting for an opportunity to address him. The Colonel
remarked the eagerness with which the gentleman in black regarded him,
and asked Mr. Barnes who was the padre? Mr. Barnes turned his eyeglass
towards the spectacles, and said "he didn't know any more than the dead;
he didn't know two people in the room." The spectacles nevertheless made
the eyeglass a bow, of which the latter took no sort of cognisance.


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