This impression of age was based on no tangible evidence.

It came from the abstracter facts of the man, from what he had endured and survived, which was far beyond that of ordinary men.

He had lived life naked and tensely, and something of all this smouldered in his eyes, vibrated in his voice, and seemed forever a-whisper on his lips.
The lips themselves were thin, and prone to close tightly over the even, white teeth.

But their harshness was retrieved by the upward curl at the corners of his mouth.

This curl gave to him sweetness, as the minute puckers at the corners of the eyes gave him laughter.