He was tall, gaunt, and thin, seldom smiled, and when he did, the smile produced a still further distortion.
Mr Jolliffe was the son of a warrant officer.

He did not contract this disease until he had been sent out to the West Indies, where it swept away hundreds.

He had now been long in the service, with little or no chance of promotion.

He had suffered from indigence, from reflections upon his humble birth, from sarcasms on his appearance.

Every contumely had been heaped upon him at one time or another, in the ships in which he served; among a crowd he had found himself desolate--and now, although no one dared treat him to his face with disrespect, he was only respected in the service from a knowledge of his utility and exemplary performance of his duties--he had no friends or even companions.