Thanks to powerful influence, he had just been appointed a member of the official expedition on board the Requin, which was to be sent to the Arctic Circle in search of the survivors of the D'Artoi's expedition, of whom nothing had been heard for three years.

Meanwhile, he was enjoying a long furlough which would not be over for six months; and already the dowagers of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were pitying the handsome and apparently delicate stripling for the hard work in store for him.
The shyness of the sailor-lad--I was almost saying his innocence--was remarkable.

He seemed to have but just left the women's apron-strings.
As a matter of fact, petted as he was by his two sisters and his old aunt, he had retained from this purely feminine education manners that were almost candid and stamped with a charm that nothing had yet been able to sully.

He was a little over twenty-one years of age and looked eighteen.

He had a small, fair mustache, beautiful blue eyes and a complexion like a girl's.
Philippe spoiled Raoul.