He might be too late, the alternative might be no longer in his hands.

But his discomposure was heightened a moment later by the actual apparition of the returning Pendleton.
He was dressed in a tightly buttoned blue frock-coat, which fairly accented his tall, thin military figure, although the top lappel was thrown far enough back to show a fine ruffled cambric shirt and checked gingham necktie, and was itself adorned with a white rosebud in the button-hole.

Fawn-colored trousers strapped over narrow patent-leather boots, and a tall white hat, whose broad mourning-band was a perpetual memory of his mother, who had died in his boyhood, completed his festal transformation.

Yet his erect carriage, high aquiline nose, and long gray drooping moustache lent a distinguishing grace to this survival of a bygone fashion, and over-rode any irreverent comment.

Even his slight limp seemed to give a peculiar character to his massive gold-headed stick, and made it a part of his formal elegance.
Handing George his stick and a military cape he carried easily over his left arm, he greeted Paul warmly, yet with a return of his old dominant manner.
"Glad to see you, Hathaway, and glad to see the boy has served you better than the last time.