Smart and very quietly absorbed in study from the east (6)
I believe the answer is:
dapper
'smart' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'very quietly absorbed in study from the east' is the wordplay.
'very quietly' becomes 'pp'.
'absorbed in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'study' becomes 'read' ('read' can be a synonym of 'study').
'from the east' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'pp' put inside 'read' is 'reppad'.
'reppad' back-to-front is 'DAPPER'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dapper that I've seen before include "(Of a man) neat and trim" , "Neat, spruce" , "angler letting bait bob on water?" , "Smart; jaunty" , "Neatly turned out" .)