Quick were they to recognize the signs of this evil; and wherever they saw its trace--whether in look, word, or deed; whether they read it in the fresh, vigorous style of a book, or listened to it in interesting, unhackneyed, pure, expressive language--they shuddered, they recoiled. 
 - whether in a book, speech, or person - was to them an evil, and they were quick to recognize its signs, and to shudder and recoil.
