Villager after villager had made his appearance and taken his place without calling for observation; and, indeed, so busily were all employed, that he who should have made his _entree_ at such a time with an emphasis commanding notice, might, not without reason, have been set down as truly and indefensibly impertinent.

So might one have thought, not employed in like manner, and simply surveying the prospect.
Forrester alone contrived to be less selfish than those about him, and our hero found his attentions at times rather troublesome.

Whatever in the estimation of the woodman seemed attractive, he studiously thrust into the youth's plate, pressing him to eat.

Chancing, at one of these periods of polite provision on the part of his friend, to direct his glance to the opposite extreme of the table, he was struck with the appearance of a man whose eyes were fixed upon himself with an expression which he could not comprehend and did not relish.

The look of this man was naturally of a sinister kind, but now his eyes wore a malignant aspect, which not only aroused the youth's indignant retort through the same medium, but struck him as indicating a feeling of hatred to himself of a most singular character.