As she turned aside her glance it met that of a third person, till then unnoticed. He was pacing the deck and held an opera-glass in his hand, with which he looked at places on either bank. He was slightly above the middle height, compactly built, yet rather slender than stout, erect, square-shouldered, neatly limbed. He might be anywhere between thirty and thirty-five years of age. His hair was here and there threaded with gray, and his cheeks were somewhat sunken, although there was nothing to suggest the lassitude of ill-health in his appearance. His complexion was that of a man who leads an active out-of-door life; but his hands were small and unmarked by toil. He wore his beard neatly trimmed. His finely curved Roman features and small expressive mouth spoke refinement and strength of will, not untempered with tenderness; while his dark gray eyes seemed to penetrate without a pause straight to their object. A sagacious physiognomist would have said of him, “That man has a story to tell; life has been to him no holiday frolic.” In the expression of his eyes Mrs. Berwick was reminded of Sir Joshua’s fine picture of “The Banished Lord.” This stranger, as he passed by, looked at her gravely but intently, as if struck either by her beauty or by a fancied resemblance to some one he had known. There was that in his glance which so drew her attention, she said to her husband, “Who is that man?”
“I have not seen him before,” replied Mr. Berwick. “Probably he came on board at New Madrid.”
They walked to the extent of their promenade forward, and turning saw this stranger leaning against the bulwarks. His low-crowned hat of a delicate, pliable felt, with its brims half curled up, his well-cut pantaloons of a coarse but unspotted fabric, and his thin overcoat of a light gray, showed that the Broadway fashions of the hour were not unfamiliar to the wearer. This time he did not look up as the three passed. His gaze seemed intent on the children; and the soft smile on his lips and the dewy suffusion in his eyes betrayed emotion and tender meditation.
“Well, Leonora, what is your judgment? Is he, too, a gentleman?” asked Mr. Berwick of his wife.
“Yes; I will stake my reputation as a sibyl on it,” she replied.
“Ah! you vain mother!” said Berwick, laughing. “You say that, because he seems lost in admiration of our little Clara. Isn’t her weakness transparent, Mr. Onslow? What think you of this new-comer?”
“He certainly has the air of a gentleman,” said Onslow “and yet he looks to me very much like a fellow I once had up before me for horse-stealing. Was he too much interested in looking at your wife, or did he purposely abstain from letting me catch his eye? I shouldn’t wonder if he were either a steamboat gambler or a horse-thief!”
“Atrocious!” exclaimed Mrs. Berwick. “I don’t believe a word of it. That man a horse-thief! Impossible!”
“On closer examination, I think I must be mistaken,” rejoined Mr. Onslow. “If I remember aright, the fellow with whom I confound him had red hair.”
“There! I knew you must be either joking or in error,” said the lady.