The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 21

When Dick Naseby was in Paris he made some odd acquaintances, for he was one of those who have ears to hear, and can use their eyes no less than their intelligence. He made as many thoughts as Stuart Mill; but his philosophy concerned flesh and blood, and was experimental as to its method. He was a type-hunter among mankind. He despised small game and insignificant personalities, whether in the shape of dukes or bagmen, letting them go by like sea-weed; but show him a refined or powerful face, let him hear a plangent or a penetrating voice, fish for him with a living look in some one’s eye, a passionate gesture, a meaning or ambiguous smile, and his mind was instantaneously awakened. “There was a man, there was a woman,“ he seemed to say, and he stood up to the task of comprehension with the delight of an artist in his art.