He had the noble aquiline features of the red side of the house, and his dark face was wonderfully set off by a luxuriant, snowy thatch.
Ambrose, indifferent as he was, could not but be struck by the old man's beauty, and his dignity was equal to his good looks.

Young Tole's naive pride in his parent was explained.
Ambrose was introduced to a wide interior of a dignified bareness.
This was the main room of the house; the kitchen they called it, though the cooking was done outside.
It was spotlessly clean; none too common a thing in the north.

Clearly these people had their pride.
Still Ambrose was reminded of the difference between white and red, for the women of the house were ignored, and when later he sat down to sup with Simon and his five strong sons the wives waited humbly on the table.
Afterward the men sat before the door, smoking.

Simon kept Ambrose at his right hand, and conversed with him as with an honored guest.

He avoided all reference to what had brought him.
When Ambrose, not understanding the reason for his delicacy, asked about the coming meeting, Simon said: "When all come you learn what every man thinks.