He counted the
white hairs already visible on the temples--he pulled out the ones in the
moustache--let the sunbeams play over his hair and, turning and bending
his head, saw that it was growing thinner and, from the brow to the
crown, showed the smooth scalp shining through. The investigation lasted
a long while, he performed it with cruel thoroughness, locking himself
into his room meanwhile, since he would not allow even his valet to be a
witness of the painful discoveries of which he believed that he alone was
aware.
Perhaps he was not mistaken in this comforting supposition. His
appearance as a whole was still handsome and stately. Time had not
marred the lines of his slender figure, no increase of flesh enlarged his
girth, no weakness made his shoulders droop and rounded his back, and
when dressed with exquisite taste, and carrying his head proudly erect,
he walked with a light, elastic step through the streets or across the
carpet of a drawing-room, he would have been taken at a distance, or if
one was a little near-sighted, not only for a handsome man, but even for
one still young.
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