There had come now a little pause in my father’s revelations, and my fancy wandered away upon a flight of discovery.  Who, I again thought, could this intending visitor be, who was to come, armed with the prerogative to make my stay-at-home father forthwith leave his household goods—­his books and his child—­to whom he clung, and set forth on an unknown knight-errantry?  Who but Uncle Silas, I thought—­that mysterious relative whom I had never seen—­who was, it had in old times been very darkly hinted to me, unspeakably unfortunate or unspeakably vicious—­whom I had seldom heard my father mention, and then in a hurried way, and with a pained, thoughtful look.  Once only he had said anything from which I could gather my father’s opinion of him, and then it was so slight and enigmatical that I might have filled in the character very nearly as I pleased.

It happened thus.  One day Mrs. Rusk was in the oak-room, I being then about fourteen.  She was removing a stain from a tapestry chair, and I watched the process with a childish interest.  She sat down to rest herself—­she had been stooping over her work—­and threw her head back, for her neck was weary, and in this position she fixed her eyes on a portrait that hung before her.

It was a full-length, and represented a singularly handsome young man, dark, slender, elegant, in a costume then quite obsolete, though I believe it was seen at the beginning of this century—­white leather pantaloons and top-boots, a buff waistcoat, and a chocolate-coloured coat, and the hair long and brushed back.

There was a remarkable elegance and a delicacy in the features, but also a character of resolution and ability that quite took the portrait out of the category of mere fops or fine men.  When people looked at it for the first time, I have so often heard the exclamation—­’What a wonderfully handsome man!’ and then, ‘What a clever face!’ An Italian greyhound stood by him, and some slender columns and a rich drapery in the background.  But though the accessories were of the luxurious sort, and the beauty, as I have said, refined, there was a masculine force in that slender oval face, and a fire in the large, shadowy eyes, which were very peculiar, and quite redeemed it from the suspicion of effeminacy.

‘Is not that Uncle Silas?’ said I.

‘Yes, dear,’ answered Mrs. Rusk, looking, with her resolute little face, quietly on the portrait.

‘He must be a very handsome man, Mrs. Rusk.  Don’t you think so?’ I continued.

’He was, my dear—­yes; but it is forty years since that was painted—­the date is there in the corner, in the shadow that comes from his foot, and forty years, I can tell you, makes a change in most of us;’ and Mrs. Rusk laughed, in cynical good-humour.

There was a little pause, both still looking on the handsome man in top-boots, and I said—­

‘And why, Mrs. Rusk, is papa always so sad about Uncle Silas?’