In the center was a man of advanced years, and whose whole
exterior bore the stamp of early and long-tried military habits. This
was the president of the court; and Frances, after taking a hasty and
unsatisfactory view of his associates, turned to his benevolent
countenance as to the harbinger of mercy to her brother. There was a
melting and subdued expression in the features of the veteran, that,
contrasted with the rigid decency and composure of the others, could
not fail to attract her notice. His attire was strictly in conformity to
the prescribed rules of the service to which he belonged; but while his
air was erect and military, his fingers trifled with a kind of
convulsive and unconscious motion, with a bit of crape that entwined the
hilt of the sword on which his body partly reclined, and which, like
himself, seemed a relic of older times. There were the workings of an
unquiet soul within; but his military front blended awe with the pity
that its exhibition excited. His associates were officers selected from
the eastern troops, who held the fortresses of West Point and the
adjacent passes; they were men who had attained the meridian of life,
and the eye sought in vain the expression of any passion or emotion on
which it might seize as an indication of human infirmity.
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