Wilkie Collins

“ Ambrose and Silas both approached me hospitably, with their open cigar-cases in their hands.
"You were quite right to say 'No,'" Ambrose began. "Never smoke with John Jago. His cigars will poison you."
"And never believe a word John Jago says to you," added Silas. "He is the greatest liar in America, let the other be whom he may." ”

“ Meadowcroft, the father.
The old man had become a confirmed invalid, confined by chronic rheumatism to his chair. He received me kindly, and a little wearily as well. His only unmarried daughter (he had long since been left a widower) was in the room, in attendance on her father. She was a melancholy, middle-aged woman, without visible attractions of any sort—one of those persons who appear to accept the obligation of living, under protest, as a burden which they would never have consented to bear if they had only been consulted first. ”

“ He was short, spare, and wiry; singularly pale for a person whose life was passed in the country. The face was in other respects, beside this, a striking face to see. As to the lower part, it was covered with a thick black beard and moustache, at a time when shaving was the rule, and beards the rare exception, in America. As to the upper part of the face, it was irradiated by a pair of wild, glittering brown eyes, the expression of which suggested to me that there was something not quite right with the man's mental balance. ”