Kenelm Chillingly Book IV by Edward Bulwer-lytton

KENELM turned from the sight of Punch and Punch's friend the cur, as his servant, entering, said a person from the country, who would not give his name, asked to see him.

Thinking it might be some message from his father, Kenelm ordered the stranger to be admitted, and in another minute there entered a young man of handsome countenance and powerful frame, in whom, after a surprised stare, Kenelm recognized Tom Bowles. Difficult indeed would have been that recognition to an unobservant beholder: no trace was left of the sullen bully or the village farrier; the expression of the face was mild and intelligent, -- more bashful than hardy; the brute strength of the form had lost its former clumsiness, the simple dress was that of a gentleman, -- to use an expressive idiom, the whole man was wonderfully "toned down."