quite sadly the broad , but tenderly timid , smile of absolutely better-knowing-butter spread over what had been the lower half of his glad , gleaming face , and yet there was something noble , something protective , in the way he tried ably to cover up his own certainty , his self-assured bemusement , using an old mans catastrophic cough and the feigned search for an elusive , essential peppermint ; patting in turn all his pant pockets and then the baggy depths of the pockets in his sweater which were like great valleys .