to attend a meeting of our society for the distribution of sanitary
dust-bins; and Humphry got quite disagreeable waiting for me outside,
although he was well wrapped up in comforters and mits. My dear Anna (this
to Madame Nekrovitch), _do_ tell him that he is most absurd and
egoistic, and that it is his duty to think less of personal comfort and
more of humanity."

At this last word the injured Humphry, who had approached the fire, and
was attempting to thaw his nose and toes, gave utterance to a suppressed
groan; but a cup of steaming tea and some appetising buttered toast
diverted his spouse's thoughts, and she was soon deep in a confidential
chat with Anna.

At last, long after eleven, appeared the new-comer of whom I had heard so
much. I must confess that my preconceived notions (one always has a
preconceived notion of the appearance of a person one has heard much
spoken of) fell to the ground. I had imagined him dark and audacious, and
I saw before me a tall, big, well-built man, with a slight stoop in his
shoulders, fair of skin, with a blonde beard and moustache, lank long
hair, a finely-cut, firm-set mouth, and blue dreamy eyes, altogether a
somewhat Christ-like face. He was clad in a thick, heavy, old-fashioned
blue overcoat with a velvet collar, which he refused to remove, baggy
nondescript trousers, and uncouth-looking boots. He saluted his host and
hostess in an undemonstrative style, bowed awkwardly to the other guests,
and settled down to crouch over the fire, and look unostentatiously
miserable.

From the first moment Kosinski interested me. His manners were not
engaging; towards women especially he was decidedly hostile. But the
marked indifference to opinion which his bearing indicated, his sincerity,