He was standing by the library table , a tall , broad-shouldered man , with the light striking upward on his dark , sensitive face and iron-grey hair . When he saw me he came quickly forward . `` So you know -- and you are not angry -- your letters told me so much . I have loved you since that day in the beech wood , Isobel -- Isobel . '' His eyes were kindling into mine . He held my hands in a close , impetuous clasp . His voice was infinitely caressing as he pronounced my name . I had never heard it since Father died -- I had never heard it at all so musically and tenderly uttered . My ancestors might have turned in their graves just then -- but it mattered not . Living love had driven out dead hatred . `` Isobel , '' he went on , `` there was one letter unanswered -- the last . '' I went to my desk , took out the last letter I had written and gave it to him in silence . While he read it I stood in a shadowy corner and watched him , wondering if life could always be as sweet as this . When he had finished he turned to me and held out his arms . I went to them as a bird to her nest , and with his lips against mine the old feud was blotted out forever . The Life-Book of Uncle Jesse Uncle Jesse ! The name calls up the vision of him as I saw him so often in those two enchanted summers at Golden Gate ; as I saw him the first time , when he stood in the open doorway of the little low-eaved cottage on the harbour shore , welcoming us to our new domicile with the gentle , unconscious courtesy that became him so well . A tall , ungainly figure , somewhat stooped , yet suggestive of great strength and endurance ; a clean-shaven old face deeply lined and bronzed ; a thick mane of iron-grey hair falling quite to his shoulders ; and a pair of remarkably blue , deep-set eyes , which sometimes twinkled and sometimes dreamed , but oftener looked out seaward with a wistful question in them , as of one seeking something precious and lost . I was to learn one day what it was for which Uncle Jesse looked . It can not be denied that Uncle Jesse was a homely man .
His spare jaws , rugged mouth , and square brow were not fashioned XXXXX the lines of beauty , but though at first sight you thought him plain you never thought anything more about it -- the spirit shining through that rugged tenement beautified it so wholly .
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