CHAPTER XXIX 435 cake , baked on the top of the oven .
" Eat that now ," she said : " you must be hungry . Hannah says you have had nothing but some gruel since breakfast ."
I did not refuse it , for my appetite was awakened and keen . Mr . Rivers now closed his book , approached the table , and , as he took a seat , fixed his blue pictorial-looking eyes full on me . There was an unceremonious directness , a searching , decided steadfastness in his gaze now , which told that intention , and not diffidence , had hitherto kept it averted from the stranger .
" You are very hungry ," he said .
" I am , sir ." It is my way -- it always was my way , by instinct -- ever to meet the brief with brevity , the direct with plainness .
" It is well for you that a low fever has forced you to abstain for the last three days : there would have been danger in yielding to the cravings of your appetite at first . Now you may eat , though still not immoderately ."
" I trust I shall not eat long at your expense , sir ," was my very clumsily-contrived , unpolished answer .
" No ," he said coolly : " when you have indicated to us the residence of your friends , we can write to them , and you may be restored to home ."
" That , I must plainly tell you , is out of my power to do ; being absolutely without home and friends ."
The three looked at me , but not distrustfully ; I felt there was no suspicion in their glances : there was more of curiosity . I speak particularly of the young ladies . St . John ' s eyes , though clear enough in a literal sense , in a figurative one were difficult to fathom . He seemed to use them rather as instruments to search other people ' s thoughts , than as agents to reveal his own : the which combination of keenness and reserve was considerably more calculated to embarrass than to encourage .