kindness and simplicity; then, pointing with her finger to a recess where
lay the count, she added, "There is my father."

I bowed respectfully and without answering, for I felt deeply affected,
and drew near to my patient.

Sperver, standing at the head of the bed, held up the lamp with one hand,
holding his far cap in the other. Odile stood at my left hand. The light,
softened by the subdued light of the globe of ground crystal, fell softly
on the face of the count.

At once I was struck with a strangeness in the physiognomy of the Count
of Nideck, and in spite of all the admiration which his lovely daughter
had at once obtained from me, my first conclusion was, "What an old
wolf!"

And such he seemed to be indeed. A grey head, covered with short, close
hair, strangely full behind the ears, and drawn out in the face to a
portentous length, the narrowness of his forehead up to its summit
widening over the eyebrows, which were shaggy and met, pointing downwards
over the bridge of the nose, imperfectly shading with their sable outline
the cold and inexpressive eyes; the short, rough beard, irregularly
spread over the angular and bony outline of the mouth--every feature of
this man's dreadful countenance made me shudder, and strange notions
crossed my mind about the mysterious affinities between man and the lower
creation.

But I resisted my first impressions and took the sick man's hand. It was
dry and wiry, yet small and strong; I found the pulse quick, feverish,
and denoting great irritability.