The Tragic Comedians, Complete

She put the question at the firs

t natural sign of horror was comforting:

want to know about a creature who is the worst o

she had asked only who

re for upsetting the Throne and Society to grati

s he c

a really dangerous, bad man. You could n

ally, yo

ourse

f any other kind of danger

she could not meditate on him without softening the outlines given him by report; all because of the likeness between them; and, therefore, as she had knowingly been taken for furious by very foolish people, she settled it that Alvan was also a victim of the prejudices he scorned. It had pleased her at times to scorn our prejudices

imiles of the family for whatsoever grunted in grossness, wriggled with meanness, was Jew: and it was noteworthy from the

; and an insolent impudence with Jew features, the Jew nose and lips, is past endurance repulsive. She dismissed her contem

anything Jewish, still remaining clean and Christian; and by her astonishing practice of the art she could at any time blo

who was her close relative residing in the capital city where the brain of her race is located. There it occurred that a dashing officer of social be

once

icer high above Alvan in social rank; and she shrugged, im

lady who could talk and think as you do wi

both startled

d yet secretly rejoiced on hearing him, a noble of her own circle, and a dashing officer, rejoin: 'Come, come, let us be honest. That is all ver

t, that he is a total stranger to me,' she said, s

tua

hono

ver seen him, never rea

heard his nam

ing of Pompeius, and you said "Plutarch's Pompeius," and more for it is almost incredible under the supposition that you do not know and have never listened to Alvan-you said that Pompeius appeared to have been decorated with all the gifts of the Gods to make the greater sacrifice of him to Caesar, who was not personally worth a pretty woman's "bite." Come, now-you must believe me: at a supper at Alvan's table the other night, the talk hap

meless plagiaris

said Coun

'Plutarch's Pompeius,' may be traceable to a reading of some professorial article on the common portrait-painting of the sage of Chaeroneia. The dainty savageness in the 'bite' Plutarch mentions, evidently struck on a similarity of tastes in both, as it has done with others. And in regard to Caesar, Clotilde thought much of Caesar; she had often wished that Caesar (for the additional pleasure in thinking of him) had been endowed with the beauty of his rival: one or two of Plutarch's touches upon the earlier history of Pompeius had netted her fancy, faintly (yo

peared that his bravery was as well proved as his genius, and a brilliant instance of it had been given in the city not long since. He had her ideas, and he won multitudes with them: he was a talker, a writer, and an orator; and he was learned, while she could not pretend either to learning or to a flow of rhetoric. She could prattle deliciously, at times pointedly, relying on her intuition to tell her more than we get from books, and on her sweet impudence for a richer original strain. She began to appreciate now a reputation for profound acquirements. Learned professors of jurisprudence and history were as enthusiastic for Alvan in their way as Count Kollin. She heard things related of Alvan by the underbreath. That circle below her own, the literary and artistic, idolized him; his talk, his classic breakfasts and suppers, his undisguised ambition, his indomitable energy,

peech was wine. The prince nodded; if she had these opinions, it must be good for him to have them too, and he shared them, as it were, by the touch of her hand, and for the length of time that he touched her hand, as an electrical shock may be taken by one far removed from the battery, susceptible to it only through the link; he was capable of thinking all that came to him from her a blessing-shocks, wounds and disruptions. He did not add largely to her stock of items, nor did he fetch new colours.

sake, and to criticize a popular hero. It was inconceivable that any one popular could approach her standard, but she was curious; flame played about him; she had some expectation of easing a spiteful sentiment created by the recent subjection of her thoughts to the prodigious little Jew; and some feeling of closer pity for Pr

ling: 'Such a breakfast, my dear!' The costly profusion, the anecdotes, the wit, the fun, the copious draughts of the choicest of life-was there ever anything to match it

d Clotilde, catching excit

f my husband's

know Alvan? And everybody is to know him except me? why? I proclaim it unjust. Because I am u

,' and the lady responded to it cordially; for it is pleasant to have some one to show, and pleasant to assi

row,' she said. 'Come to one of our ga

invit

promise, and Alvan never fails. Was it not Frau v. Crestow w

d agreed to join them after the sitting of the Chamber upon a military-budget vote. The whole plan was nicely arranged and went well. Clotilde dressed carefully, letting her gold-locks cloud her fine forehead carelessly, with finishing touches to the negligence, for sh