10. Like some familiar face gone strange at last.
Meaning of “gone strange at last”?
In this and the next three pages note the sincerity and the boyishness of Jamie’s affection and grief. It is necessary to understand Jamie now that the reader may interpret his later conduct.
Define: eld, blear.
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6. Had wiped the pictured features from a slate! etc.
Note two powerful similes in these lines. Do they convey adequately the horror of the spectator? This “ruined face” of Hugh’s has much in the remainder of the story. The lines are not pleasant to read, but life is not always pleasant. Homer and Shakespeare often wrote lines that shock by their naked truth.
15. Still painted upon black that alien stare
Why “alien stare”?
16. To make the lad more terribly alone.