From all these guesses I drew one conclusion, which told against the
insight of my companions. They might be close observers in their own
way, and read the manners in the face; but it was plain that they did
not extend their observation to the hands.
To the saloon passengers also I sustained my part without a hitch.
It is true I came little in their way; but when we did encounter,
there was no recognition in their eye, although I confess I sometimes
courted it in silence. All these, my inferiors and equals, took me,
like the transformed monarch in the story, for a mere common, human
man. They gave me a hard, dead look, with the flesh about the eye
kept unrelaxed.
With the women this surprised me less, as I had already experimented
on the sex by going abroad through a suburban part of London simply
attired in a sleeve-waistcoat. The result was curious. I then
learned for the first time, and by the exhaustive process, how much
attention ladies are accustomed to bestow on all male creatures of
their own station; for, in my humble rig, each one who went by me
caused me a certain shock of surprise and a sense of something
wanting.
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