But he had not wasted his time, though he was more than metaphorically threadbare, and his waist would have made a sensation at a staymaker's.

The long, thin, delicately formed hands were emaciated and bloodless; they clasped with a nervous eagerness a rosary and crucifix of ebony and silver,the only mark of luxury that could be discerned in a costume unusually threadbare and squalid.

On the other hand, he wore heavy, coarse shoes; his clothes, though well brushed, were visibly threadbare, and his clean white stock was frayed at the edge and almost worn out.