Page:Whyte-Melville--Bones and I.djvu/14

He is a well-formed and very complete skeleton of middle height—perfect in every respect, and in all his articulations, with the exception of two double teeth absent from the upper jaw. The arch of his lower ribs is peculiarly symmetrical, and his vertebræ are put in with a singular combination of flexibility and strength. As I look at him now leaning back in a graceful attitude, with one thigh-bone thrown carelessly over the other, he reminds me of so many people I knew when I lived in the world, that I seem to fancy myself once more a denizen of that revolving purgatory which goes by the name of general society Poor A—— was almost as fleshless, B—— much more taciturn, and C—— decidedly not so good-looking. "Bones," however, possesses a quality that I have never found in any other companion. His tact is beyond praise. Under no circumstances does he become a