"
His lordship visibly and involuntarily shuddered, as at the memory
of something he had seen: into that region he had probably wandered
in his visions.
"He was a fierce and furious savage--worse than anything you can
imagine. The only sign of any influence of civilization upon him was
that he was cowed by the eye of his keeper. Never, except by rarest
chance, was he left alone and awake: no one could tell what he might
not do!
"He was of gigantic size, with coarse black hair--the brawniest
fellow and the ugliest, they say--for you may suppose my description
is but legendary: there is no portrait of him on our walls!--with a
huge, shapeless, cruel, greedy mouth,"--
As his lordship said the words, Donal, with involuntary insight, saw
both cruelty and greed in the mouth that spoke, though it was
neither huge nor shapeless.
--"lips hideously red and large, with the whitest teeth inside
them.--I give you the description," said his lordship, who evidently
lingered not without pleasure on the details of his recital, "just
as I used to hear it from my old nurse, who had been all her life in
the family, and had it from her mother who was in it at the
time.--His great passion, his keenest delight, was animal food. He
ate enormously--more, it was said, than three hearty men. An hour
after he had gorged himself, he was ready to gorge again. Roast meat
was his main delight, but he was fond of broth also.
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