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Shake!"
And Denton shook.
The moving platform was rushing by the establishment of a face moulder,
and its lower front was a huge display of mirror, designed to stimulate
the thirst for more symmetrical features. Denton caught the reflection
of himself and his new friend, enormously twisted and broadened. His own
face was puffed, one-sided, and blood-stained; a grin of idiotic and
insincere amiability distorted its latitude. A wisp of hair occluded one
eye. The trick of the mirror presented the swart man as a gross
expansion of lip and nostril. They were linked by shaking hands. Then
abruptly this vision passed--to return to memory in the anæmic
meditations of a waking dawn.
As he shook, the swart man made some muddled remark, to the effect that
he had always known he could get on with a gentleman if one came his
way. He prolonged the shaking until Denton, under the influence of the
mirror, withdrew his hand. The swart man became pensive, spat
impressively on the platform, and resumed his theme.
"
Whad I was going to say was this," he said; was gravelled, and shook
his head at his foot.
Denton became curious. "Go on," he said, attentive.
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