It is your nature to be enigmatic.

Shall we go out?
If I stay here much longer I shall be petrified instead of embalmed.

I shall turn into dirty old red marble like Tycho's effigy there, an awful warning to future philosophers, and an example for the edification of the faithful who worship here." They walked towards the door, and the contrast between the appearance of the two brought the ghost of a smile to the thin lips of the pale sacristan, who was occupied in renewing the tapers upon one of the side altars.

Keyork Arabian might have stood for the portrait of the gnome-king.

His high and pointed head, his immense beard, his stunted but powerful and thickset limbs, his short, sturdy strides, the fiery, half-humorous, half-threatening twinkle of his bright eyes gave him all the appearance of a fantastic figure from a fairy tale, and the diminutive height of his compact frame set off the noble stature and graceful motion of his companion.
"So you were pursuing an idea," said the little man as they emerged into the narrow street.