Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/46

sented a striking contrast of types. Rondelet, who was well over middle height, looked almost short beside Robert Feuardent, whose great size raised him above the heads of other men. So perfect were his proportions that he always had the effect of dwarfing other people rather than of towering above them. He was a younger man than his companion, and could not have seen more than twenty-five years. His head, which he habitually held rather high, was small and of a Greek mould, and was finely set upon the broad shoulders by a round smooth throat, beautiful as a woman's. His complexion was of the color of a late autumn peach which has hung long upon the tree and acquired a bronze tinge, through which the red shows with a splendid warmth of color. Thick eyebrows, which looked as if they might frown ominously, arched a pair of eyes fearless, open, and with a certain savage beauty, like those of some untamed creature of the woods. His thick dark-brown hair was without curl, but looked full of life and electricity, as did the small mustache which hid the upper lip. When he laughed and showed his small, even, white teeth, the impression of a wild, untamed being was deepened; it was such a hearty, unconventional laugh, they were such firm, dangerous-looking white teeth. Margaret Ruysdale had told him once that his civilization was only a