at--whose hands I will not say; but I think it might be guessed
notwithstanding."

During this conversation, the eyes of the prophetess were fixed upon the
student, with an expression of the deepest and most intense interest.
His personal appearance was indeed peculiar and remarkable. He was
about the middle size, somewhat straggling and bony in his figure; his
forehead was neither good nor bad, but the general contour of his face
contained not within it a single feature with the expression of which
the heart of the spectator could harmonize. He was beetle-browed, his
mouth diabolically sensual, and his eyes, which were scarcely an inch
asunder, were sharp and piercing, and reminded one that the deep-seated
cunning which lurked in them was a thing to be guarded against and
avoided. His hands and feet were large and coarse, his whole figure
disagreeable and ungainly, and his voice harsh and deep.

The fortune-teller, as we have said, kept her eyes fixed upon his
features, with a look which seemed to betray no individual feeling
beyond that of some extraordinary and profound interest. She appeared
like one who was studying his character, and attempting to read his
natural disposition in his countenance, manner, and conversation.
Sometimes her eye brightened a little, and again her death-like face
became overshadowed with gloom, reminding one of that strange darkness
which, when the earth is covered with snow, falls with such dismal
effect before an approaching storm.

"I grant you, my worthy old grinder, that you did indoctrinate me, as
you say, to some purpose; but, my worthy old grinder, again I say to
you, that, by all the gerunds, participles, and roots you ever ground
in your life, it was my own grinding that got me the third place in the