The peculiar contrast of his pallor and his dark hair
had become more marked, his skin was deader, his features seemed
more prominent and his expression intenser. His eyes were very
bright and more sunken under his brows. He had suffered from yellow
fever in the West Indies, and these it seemed were the marks left by
that illness. And he was much more detached from the people about
him; less attentive to the small incidents of life, more occupied
with inner things. He greeted White with a confidence that White
was one day to remember as pathetic.
"It is good to meet an old friend," Benham said. "I have lost
friends. And I do not make fresh ones. I go about too much by
myself, and I do not follow the same tracks that other people are
following. . . ."
What track was he following? It was now that White first heard of
the Research Magnificent. He wanted to know what Benham was doing,
and Benham after some partial and unsatisfactory explanation of his
interest in insurgent Hindoos, embarked upon larger expositions.
"It is, of course, a part of something else," he amplified.
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