Summary

The assembled crowd cheers for Old Stony Phiz, and several people exclaim that Phiz’s face bears an exact resemblance to the Great Stone Face. Ernest compares the faces, and at first he does see a partial resemblance in the strong features of Phiz and the Face. However, Ernest notes that Phiz lacks the Face’s expression of “divine sympathy” (369). Instead, Phiz appears to be weary and gloomy, as if he has some awareness that his profound talents were never put to any truly worth use. Ernest turns away from the crowd and is sad, for he believes that Phiz may have fulfilled the prophecy if he had truly aimed to do so. The crowd moves on with Phiz, but Ernest remains in place, looking at the Face, the Face maintains its expression of encouragement, and Ernest regains hope that he will live to...