The Bite of Benin Author:Robert Simpson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III EMULATING CLAUDE DUVAL As he stood there, helmet in hand, the personification of cool ease and courtesy, a casual observer would never have bel... more »ieved him to be the man report said he was; that he had robbed and ravaged and killed just for the love of it. But in riding breeches and puttees, with his soft blue shirt thrown open at the neck, just hinting at the breadth and depth of the chest and the freedom of the wild life he led, he instantly gave the impression of a wealth of strength and an inordinate ability to do things with much speed and, probably, startling effect. One would never have questioned his ability to take care of himself. A little over six feet in height and built in admirable proportion, he radiated action and a restless, untiring dynamic force that not only ignored the laws of man but seemingly of nature as well. His features were lean, almost sharp, all the strength and vivacity in his face being centered in his gleaming white teeth and in the glistening blackness of his eyes. Both smiled or snapped; in the latter case his mouth showed thin and somewhat cruel. His eyebrows were heavy, of a darker shade than his hair, which, closely trimmed for comfort, was rather thin above the temples. Davie regarded him in mingled dismay, admiration, and horror; but Miss Severoid, to whom the situation was even more strange, was neither dismayed nor horrified—simply interested. She studied Clavering for a moment or two as though she were but mildly questioning the reason for the intrusion; then, with a slight inclination of the head and a smile that acknowledged his introduction of himself, she said sweetly: "You will pardon me if I do not quite understand the meaning of these melodramatic effects? I've just arrived, you know, and, being ...« less