On the evening of the same day the usual guests were assembled at the Zasyekins鈥�. I was among them.
Many were here the ejaculations of astonishment at such audacity.
鈥� Oh! I will
Henry鈥檚 eyes flashed with rage for a moment, then, bowing, he answered with a sneer, Lady Julia L. is pleased to condescend!鈥� and, looking at her insolently from head to foot, he laughed with an expression which it was impossible to comprehend, yet which, evidently,[207] had some horrible meaning; and, snatching up her hand, he almost crushed the delicate fingers together ere he again released it; saying, as he did so, Julia, you little know what is before you! Faith, I cannot help laughing,鈥� he continued, when I think how you shall change your tone one of those days.鈥�
At the moment Julia first remarked this, voices in the choir were singing the verse, Though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is their strength but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.鈥� No eye wandered, no limb was restless, while the very stillness of each motionless figure possessed expression. It was not repose; it was not listlessness; it was the fixedness of serious attention.