In gleams, in glances, the past did perhaps peep out of it; but such lights were faint and instantly merged.

Chad was brown and thick and strong, and of old Chad had been rough.

Was all the difference therefore that he was actually smooth?
Possibly; for that he WAS smooth was as marked as in the taste of a sauce or in the rub of a hand.

The effect of it was general--it had retouched his features, drawn them with a cleaner line.

It had cleared his eyes and settled his colour and polished his fine square teeth--the main ornament of his face; and at the same time that it had given him a form and a surface, almost a design, it had toned his voice, established his accent, encouraged his smile to more play and his other motions to less.