THOM
ewancummins wrote:THE PORT-GUARD escorts Thom out of the impound warehouse.
From there, Thom is free to make inquiries in the city: glaziers, importers, riverboat officers, etc., looking for the origins of the mirror.
Thom spends much of the afternoon making inquiries.
He does not learn the definite source of the mirror, but he does learn from an ironmonger that the steel frame and antler handle resembles the imported craftwork of some of the townsmen of Arkandale.
Later, Thom visits a glass-maker's shop.
The aged glazier explains that the silvered glass of the hand-mirror was probably made separately from the frame, and fitted later. Likely, that artisan tells Thom, the mirrored panel was made in Dementlieu or some other country with a glazing industry--maybe even right here in Pont-a-Mouseau.Examining the item closely, he suggesats the glass can be removed by sliding a clasp at the top of the steel casing.
And when the man shows Thom how to open the clasp and --carefully-- slide out the glass,-- they're both surprised to see a flat, folded piece of yellow paper fall out from the backside of the mirror-glass.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)