It seemed
to him that his gray hair was finer of texture than it ought to be,
hanging straight and thin, with no strength in it; that his eyes were
too dim, that the flesh underneath them had puffed out loosely, and
that his lower lip was drooping slackly--and he shuddered in disgust.
It seemed to him that his face changed and grew uglier as he looked at
it. It was becoming like an old man's face he had seen years ago.
In spite of the slight shakiness of his hand he managed to shave
himself without a cut, and he was just about to wash the soap away
when he heard a sound of lamentation on the lower floor. It was Norah
loudly bewailing herself. Mavis had gone down-stairs and published his
sentence of banishment.
Suppose that the girl betrayed their secret. Suppose that she was even
now telling his wife what had happened in the wood. Well, he must go
down to them and flatly deny whatever Norah said. But he tingled and
grew hot with a most miserable shame; his heart quailed at the mere
notion of the sickening, disgraceful character of such a scene--he,
the highly respected Mr. Dale, the good upright religious man, being
accused by a little servant girl and having to rebut her accusations
in the presence of his wife.
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