and respectability. Edgar has gained for him that
admission to uncompromising salons which he so
long coveted. Through Edgar he has at last over-
come the resistance of society to his race. At the
club they talk of the famous "victory of the baron
over England." The English have taken Egypt
from us, but the baron has taken Edgar from the
English, and that restores the equilibrium. If he
had conquered the Indies, he would not have been
more loudly acclaimed. This admiration is
accompanied, however, by deep jealousy. They
would like to get Edgar away from him, and so
there goes on around Edgar all sorts of intrigues,
and corrupting conspiracies, and flirtations, like those that go on around a beautiful woman. As for the newspapers, they, in their respectful enthusiasm, have reached a point where they are no
longer able to tell exactly which of the two, Edgar
or the baron, is the admirable stud-groom, and
which the admirable financier. They confound
the two in the mutual glories of one and the same
apotheosis.
Provided you have been curious enough to circulate among aristocratic crowds, you certainly must have met Edgar, who is one of their most precious ornaments and one who is most commonly displayed. He is a man of average height, very ugly,—that comical English ugliness,—and having an immoderately long nose, with doubly royal
