Occasionally he
raised the glass to his lips, but he did not seem to be at all intent upon
his drinking. When he entered the room, there had been a gentleman and a
lady there, whose festive moments seemed to be disturbed by some slight
disagreement; but Howard, as he gazed at the lamp, paid no attention to
them whatever. They soon left the room, their quarrel and their drink
finished together, and others dropped in and out. Mr. Howard's "warm" must
almost have become cold, so long did he sit there, gazing at the gas lamps
rather than attending to his brandy and water. Not a word did he speak to
any one for more than an hour, and not a sign did he show of impatience.
At last he was alone; but had not been so for above a minute when in
stepped a jaunty little man, certainly not more than five feet high, about
three or four and twenty years of age, dressed with great care, with his
trousers sticking to his legs, with a French chimneypot hat on his head,
very much peaked fore and aft and closely turned up at the sides. He had a
bright-coloured silk-handkerchief round his neck, and a white shirt, of
which the collar and wristbands were rather larger and longer than suited
the small dimensions of the man.
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