Cassilis," said a voice from
within.
Pushing open the door, Northmour admitted me before him into the
apartment. As I came in I could see the daughter slipping out by the side
door into the study, which had been prepared as her bedroom. In the bed,
which was drawn back against the wall, instead of standing, as I had last
seen it, boldly across the window, sat Bernard Huddlestone, the defaulting
banker. Little as I had seen of him by the shifting light of the lantern
on the links, I had no difficulty in recognizing him for the same. He had
a long and sallow countenance, surrounded by a long red beard and
side-whiskers. His broken nose and high cheek-bones gave him somewhat the
air of a Kalmuck, and his light eyes shone with the excitement of a high
fever. He wore a skull-cap of black silk; a huge Bible lay open before him
on the bed, with a pair of gold spectacles in the place, and a pile of
other books lay on the stand by his side. The green curtains lent a
cadaverous shade to his cheek; and, as he sat propped on pillows, his
great stature was painfully hunched, and his head protruded till it
overhung his knees. I believe if he had not died otherwise, he must have
fallen a victim to consumption in the course of but a very few weeks.
He held out to me a hand, long, thin, and disagreeably hairy.
"Come in, come in, Mr.
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