He had not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his bones, and leanness goes a great way towards gentility.
Elizabeth GaskellNay, nay!โ said the Squire. โItโs not so easy to break oneโs heart. Sometimes Iโve wished it were. But one has to go on livingโโall the appointed days,โ as is said in the Bible.
Elizabeth GaskellMargaret liked this smile; it was the first thing she had admired in this new friend of her father's; and the opposition of character, shown in all these details of appearance she had just been noticing, seemed to explain the attraction they evidently felt towards each other.
Elizabeth GaskellOh! that look of love!" continued he, between his teeth, as he bolted himself into his own private room. "And that cursed lie; which showed some terrible shame in the background, to be kept from the light in which I thought she lived perpetually! Oh, Margaret, Margaret! Mother, how you have tortured me! Oh! Margaret, could you not have loved me? I am but uncouth and hard, but I would never have led you into any falsehood for me.
Elizabeth Gaskell