Facing John, he set an elbow on the horse's back and a hand on his own cheek.

This was no unusual attitude.

He did not mount, but stood still.

The ruddy good-humoured face, clean-shaven and large of feature, had lost its look of constant good-humour.

In fact, the feature language expressed the minute's mood in a way which any one less familiar with the man than John might have read with ease.