The perfect preservation of the body attested the paternal care of the murderer.

It was truly a remarkable preparation, and would have borne comparison with the finest European mummies described by Vicq d'Azyr in 1779, and by the younger Puymaurin in 1787.
The part best preserved, as is always the case, was the face.

All the features had maintained a proud and manly expression.

If any old friend of the colonel had been present at the opening of the third box, he would have recognized him at first sight.
Undoubtedly the point of the nose was a little sharper, the nostrils less expanded and thinner, and the bridge a little more marked than in the year 1813.

The eyelids were thinned, the lips pinched, the corners of the mouth drawn down, the cheek bones too prominent, and the neck visibly shrunken, which exaggerated the prominence of the chin and larynx.