Volume Ii Part 35 (1/2)

”Not particularly active, but a stout, healthy lad.”

”Disposed to be tall?”

”Tallish; the last time he was here, he must have measured about five feet ten.”

”Oh, more than that,” interposed Mrs. Lawson; ”he was taller than our eldest brother, I know--full six feet one, I should say.”

”No, no, Sophia; certainly not more than five feet nine or ten.

Remember, you were a little thing yourself at the time.”

”Do you remember the colour of his eyes, Mrs. Lawson?”

”Yes, perfectly; they were blue.”

”Brown, I should say,” added the doctor.

”No, John, you are quite mistaken; his eyes were blue, Mr.

Hazlehurst--very dark blue.”

”I could have taken my oath they were brown,” said the doctor.

Hazlehurst looked from one to the other in doubt.

”You were away from home, doctor, more than I was, and probably do not remember William's face as distinctly as I do. I am quite confident his eyes were a clear, deep blue.”

”Well, I should have called them a light brown.”

”Were they large?” asked Harry.

”Of a common size, I think,” said the brother.

”Remarkably small, I should say,” added the sister.

”What colour was his hair?” asked Harry, giving up the eyes.

”Black,” said the doctor.

”Not black, John--dark perhaps, but more of an auburn, like his father's portrait,” said Mrs. Lawson.

”Why, that is black, certainly.”

”Oh, no; auburn--a rich, dark auburn.”

”There is a greyish cast in that portrait, I think,” said Harry.

”Grey, oh, no; Mr. Stanley's hair was in perfect colour when he died; I remember him distinctly, seeing him as often as I did,”

said the lady. ”The hair of the Stanley family is generally auburn,” she added.

”What do you call auburn?” said the doctor.