"He was a very good man, sir; I could not help liking him."

     "A good man. Does that mean a respectable well-conducted man of fifty? Or what does it mean?"

     "St John was only twenty-nine, sir."

     "'Jeune encore,' as the French say. Is he a person of low stature, phlegmatic, and plain. A person whose goodness consists rather in his guiltlessness of vice, than in his prowess in virtue."

     "He is untiringly active. Great and exalted deeds are what he lives to perform."

     "But his brain? That is probably rather soft? He means well: but you shrug your shoulders to hear him talk?"

     "He talks little, sir: what he does say is ever to the point. His brain is first-rate, I should think not impressible, but vigorous."

     "Is he an able man, then?"

     "Truly able."

     "A thoroughly educated man?"

     "St. John is an accomplished and profound scholar."