The man
watched them. Had anyone noticed his eyes he would have noted a
peculiar colour and a light of surprise. With the prim step that
made him so distinctive he advanced to the news-stand.
"Pardon me; but I would like to purchase one of those." Though he
spoke perfect English it was in a strange manner, after the
fashion of one who has found something that he has just learned
how to use. At the same time he made a suggestion with his tapered
fingers indicating the tobacco in the case. The clerk looked up.
"A cigar, sir? Yes, sir. What will it be?"
"A cigar?" Again the strange articulation. "Ah, yes, that is it.
Now I remember. And it has a little sister, the cigarette. I think
I shall take a cigarette, if--if--if you will show me how to use
it."
It was a strange request. The clerk was accustomed to all manner
of men and their brands of humour; he was about to answer in kind
when he looked up and into the man's eyes. He started.
"You mean," he asked, "that you have never seen a cigar or
cigarette; that you do not know how to use them? A man as old as
you are."
The stranger laughed. It was rather resentful, but for all that of
a hearty taint of humour.
"So old? Would you say that I am as old as that; if you will look
again--"
The young man did and what he beheld is something that he could
not quite account for: the strange conviction of this remarkable
man; of age melting into youth, of an uncertain freshness, the
smile, not of sixty, but of twenty.
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