CHAPTER XXIX 434
moorland home -- to prepare our own meals when we are so inclined , or when Hannah is baking , brewing , washing , or ironing ."
She closed the door , leaving me solus with Mr . St . John , who sat opposite , a book or newspaper in his hand . I examined first , the parlour , and then its occupant .
The parlour was rather a small room , very plainly furnished , yet comfortable , because clean and neat . The old-fashioned chairs were very bright , and the walnut-wood table was like a looking-glass . A few strange , antique portraits of the men and women of other days decorated the stained walls ; a cupboard with glass doors contained some books and an ancient set of china . There was no superfluous ornament in the room -- not one modern piece of furniture , save a brace of workboxes and a lady ' s desk in rosewood , which stood on a side-table : everything -- including the carpet and curtains -- looked at once well worn and well saved .
Mr . St . John -- sitting as still as one of the dusty pictures on the walls , keeping his eyes fixed on the page he perused , and his lips mutely sealed -- was easy enough to examine . Had he been a statue instead of a man , he could not have been easier . He was young -- perhaps from twenty-eight to thirty -- tall , slender ; his face riveted the eye ; it was like a Greek face , very pure in outline : quite a straight , classic nose ; quite an Athenian mouth and chin . It is seldom , indeed , an English face comes so near the antique models as did his . He might well be a little shocked at the irregularity of my lineaments , his own being so harmonious . His eyes were large and blue , with brown lashes ; his high forehead , colourless as ivory , was partially streaked over by careless locks of fair hair .
This is a gentle delineation , is it not , reader ? Yet he whom it describes scarcely impressed one with the idea of a gentle , a yielding , an impressible , or even of a placid nature . Quiescent as he now sat , there was something about his nostril , his mouth , his brow , which , to my perceptions , indicated elements within either restless , or hard , or eager . He did not speak to me one word , nor even direct to me one glance , till his sisters returned . Diana , as she passed in and out , in the course of preparing tea , brought me a little