He was an extremely spare man, of extraordinary height, and the bend of his
shoulders gave to his small head a comical thrust forward. His black hair
was without curl, and it would tolerate no other arrangement than being
combed back straight. It was allowed to grow downward until it scraped the
back of Newgag's collar, a device for concealing the meagreness of his
neck.
He had a smooth, pale face, slanting from ears to nose like a wedge, and
the dimness of the blue eyes added to its introspective cast. He blushed,
as a rule, when he met new acquaintances or was addressed suddenly. He had
a gloomy look and a hesitating way of speech. An amusing spectacle was his
mechanical-looking smile, which, when he became conscious of it, passed
through several stages expressive of embarrassment until his normal
mournful aspect was reached.
As he usually appeared in a sack coat when off the stage, the length of his
legs was divertingly emphasized. After the fashion of great actors of a
bygone generation, he wore a soft black felt hat, dinged in the crown from
front to rear.
He had entered "the profession" from the amateur stage, by way of the comic
opera chorus, and to that chance was due his being located in the comic
opera wing of the great histrionic edifice.
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