These pushed out over his lips. His lips had remarkable ruddiness which showed astonishing vitality in a man of his age. For the rest, his ears were pale, and the tops of the ears extremely pointed. His chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm but thin. Generally he seemed to be extremely pale.

Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on the Count's knees in the firelight. They had seemed rather white and delicate. But seeing them now close to me, I could not help noticing that they were actually rather coarse and broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut into sharp points. As the Count leaned over me his hands touched me. I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was very bad, but I suddenly had a horrible feeling of nausea. I tried hard to not to show that I felt this way, but I did not succeed.

The Count evidently noticed it, and stepped back. He smiled a grim sort of smile. This showed his teeth again, sticking down further than ever. He sat down again on his own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while, and as I looked towards the window I saw the first dim light of the coming dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything. But as I listened, I heard the howling of many wolves down below in the valley.

Vocabulary:

Ruddiness: Redness
Vitality: Being full of life
Hitherto: Until now
Coarse:Rough, heavy
Squat: Short and solid
Palm: The front of the hand under the fingers
Shudder: A strong shiver
Nausea: Sickness
Grim: Dark and without humour