test. Ostentatiously generous, buying pictures of the
most expensive kind, he passes for an honorable man
and patron of the arts. In the papers they speak of
him with great respect.
"And that other big, stout fellow whose fleshy, wrinkled face is eternally split by an idiotic laugh? He is but a child! . . . Hardly eighteen years old. He has a mistress known to all, with whom he appears in public every Monday at the Bois, and also has a teacher, an Abbot whom he takes to the lake every Tuesday in the same carriage. His mother has thus conceived of the education of her son, wishing him to lead a life of religious saintliness on the one hand and of gallant adventures on the other. Aside from that he gets drunk every evening, and horse-whips his old fool of a mother. A real type!" Jesselin summed up.
"That duke over there, who bears one of the most illustrious names in France! Ah! that swell duke! the king of spongers! He comes in timidly like a frightened dog, looks through his monocle, takes in the smell of supper, sits down and devours some ham and minced liver pie. Perhaps he has not dined yet, this duke; undoubtedly he has just come back from an unsuccessful daily visit to the cafe Anglais, or the Maison Dore or Bignon's, in quest of some friend who will treat him to a meal. Being on very good terms with women and horse dealers, he runs errands for the former and rides the horses for the latter. Instructed to say wherever he goes: 'Oh! What a charming woman!'. . . 'Oh! what a wonderful horse!' he receives a few louis for this service with which he pays his valet.
"Here is another great nobleman who is gradually and hopelessly sinking into the mire of illicit business and secret promotion of vice. Once upon a time that fellow was quite the rage of society. Despite his
