dsome, attractive, confident?
She often heard the good looks of his youth referred to, and there
certainly were the remains of beauty in that wrecked countenance. His
eyes were sunken, but they were still of a deep black gray, and they
daily gained in brightness. His hair was almost black, and abundant.
The shape of his head and brow and profile were above reproach, for
dissipation had never grossened him. But his face, although improving,
was still haggard and lined and stamped with satiety; his mouth
betrayed the wild passions that had wrecked him, and was often drawn
in lines of bitterness and disgust. There was nothing commanding in
his carriage, such as women love, and his manners were too reserved,
too shy, to fascinate her sex apart from the halo of his fame. A
return to health and vigour might improve him vastly, but nothing
could ever make him a dashing romantic figure; and although sometimes
a light came into his face that revealed the poet, commonly he
betrayed not an inkling of his gifts. But even so he might be more
worth while than any man she had met so far, whatever the great world
might have in store; and she wished that his reformation had been
accomplished the winter before and she were now in enjoyment of the
result. Then she found distaste in the thought that she might have
had no hand in his reclamation, and was glad to recall his hint that
but for her he would never have crossed the threshold of Bath House.
And then she was overwhelmed with the sense of her responsibility. It
was not for the first time, but not until to-day had she faced the
question of how far she ought to go. And even to-day she did not feel
up to reasoning it out. She knew too little of the world, of men;
there was no one to whom she could go for advice. She re-read the
sonnet, determined to be guided by events, registered a vow that in no
case would she shirk what she might believe to be her duty; and then
wrote a prim little note of acknowledgment to Lord Hunsdon.

CHAPTER XIII

Lady Hunsdon, having in vain besought the poet to read aloud to a
select audience, acted upon the hint he had unwittingly dropped to
Anne Percy and organised a charity performance for the benefit of an
island recently devastated by earthquake. Warner was visibly out of
countenance when gaily reminded by Anne of his careless words, but he
could do no less than comply, for the wretched victims were in want of
bread. Lady Mary, Miss Bargarny, a