"In the peculiar gloom of an overcast afternoon, there stood a gaunt, angular figure—more shadow than man—clad in prison-like stripes and cr...

"In the peculiar gloom of an overcast afternoon, there stood a gaunt, angular figure—more shadow than man—clad in prison-like stripes and crowned with a cockeyed beret, the sort of hat that suggests an interest in poetry or petty crime. His face was long and drained of warmth, obscured further by obsidian ...