Physiognomy
delights me. Men and women as I meet them represent to me
varying types of humanity, all interesting, all appealing to my
peculiar love of the science of psychology. You, my dear Mr.
Tavernake, if I may venture to be so personal, represent to me,
as you sit there, the exact prototype of the young working
Englishman. You are, I should judge, thorough, dogmatic, narrow,
persistent, industrious, and bound to be successful according to
the scope and nature of your ambitions. In this country you will
never develop. In my country, sir, we should make a colossus of
you. We should teach you not to be content with small things; we
should raise your hand which you yourself kept to your side, and
we should point your finger to the skies. Waiter," he added,
turning abruptly round, "if the quails are not yet ready I will
take another of these excellent cocktails."
Tavernake was embarrassed. He saw that Beatrice was anxious to
talk to her father; he saw, also, that her father was determined
not to talk to her. With a little sigh, however, she resigned
herself to the inevitable.
"I have lectured, sir," the professor continued, "in most of the
cities of the United States, upon the human race. The tendencies
of every unit of the human race are my peculiar study. When I
speak to you of phrenology, sir, you smile, and you think,
perhaps, of a man who sits in a back room and takes your shilling
for feeling the bumps of your head.
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