be Pro-proctor. He resigned in a month, and none of his acquaintances
ever afterward dared to allude to the experience. If you could
have got at his inmost mind, it was affirmed, the persons most
obnoxious there would have been found to be the scout, who intrusively
asked him every morning what he would have for breakfast, and the
college cook, who, till such a course was strictly forbidden him,
mounted to his room at half-past nine to inquire whether he would
"dine in." Being a scholar of considerable eminence, it pleased
him to assume on all questions an exasperating degree of ignorance;
and the wags of the college averred that when asked if it rained,
or if collections took place on such and such a day, it was pain
and grief to him to have to affirm positively, without qualifications,
that so it was.

Such a man was not very likely, one would have thought, to captivate
an ardent, impulsive boy like Elsmere. Edward Langham, however,
notwithstanding undergraduate tales, was a very remarkable person.
In the first place, he was possessed of exceptional personal beauty.
His coloring was vividly black and white, closely curling jet-black
hair and fine black eyes contrasting with a pale, clear complexion
and even, white teeth. So far he had the characteristics which
certain Irishmen share with most Spaniards. But the Celtic or
Iberian brilliance was balanced by a classical delicacy and precision
of feature. He had the brow, the nose, the upper lip, the finely-molded
chin, which belong to the more severe and spiritual Greek type.
Certainly of Greek blitheness and directness there was no trace.
The eye was wavering and profoundly melancholy; all the movements
of the tall, finely-built frame were hesitating and doubtful. It
was as though the man were suffering from paralysis of some moral
muscle or other; as if some of the normal springs of action in him