s
from which he gained the polish that made him acceptable in the Paris
salons of which he was later an habitue, When he was but seventeen years
of age there occurred an incident, which, if it did not have so serious an
effect upon his life as he himself believed, at least was not without its
influence in fostering that spirit of observation and inquiry, not to say
scepticism, with regard to the motives that influence his fellow man,
which was so prominent a characteristic of this writer. Marivaux describes
the incident in the first _feuille_ of the _Spectateur francais_, and,
inasmuch as the sketch gives an excellent idea of the man, I translate it
in full.

"At the age of seventeen I became attached to a young girl, to whom I owe
the sort of life which I adopted. I was not uncomely then, I had a mild
disposition and affectionate ways. The decorum which I noticed in the girl
had drawn my attention to her beauty. I found in her, moreover, so much
indifference to her charms, that I would have sworn she was ignorant of
them. How simple minded I was at that time! What a pleasure, said I to
myself, if I can win the love of a girl who does not care to have lovers,
since she is beautiful without observing it, and hence is no coquette! I
never left her without my affectionate surprise increasing at the sight of
so many graces in a person who was not the more vain because of it. Were
she seated or standing, speaking or walking, it always seemed to me that
she was absolutely artless, and that she thought of nothing less than
appearing to be what she was.

"One day in the country, when I had just left her, a forgotten glove
caused me to retrace my steps to get it. I perceived the beauty in the
distance, regarding herself in a mirror, and I noticed, to my great
astonishment, that she was picturing herself to herself in all the phases
in which, during our conversation, I had seen her face, and it turned out
that the expressions of her countenance, which I had thought so
unaffected, were, to name them correctly, only tricks; I judged from a
distance that her vanity adopted certain ones, that it improved upon
others; they were little ways that one might have noted down and that a
woman might have learned like a musical air. I trembled for the risk which
I should have run, if I had had the misfortune to experience again in good
faith her deceptions, at the point of perfection to which her cleverness
had carried them; but I had believ