d maidens without any
other decorations of civilization than the fillets and the caps that
covered their heads.

He insisted on freedom, perfect freedom, but for him, men were divided
into two castes, decent people and those who were not. Among the first
figured en masse all the young fellows of the Gran Pena, the old men of
the Casino, together with some people whose names appeared in the
papers, a certain evidence of their merit. The rest was the rabble,
despicable and vulgar in the streets of the cities, repulsive and
displeasing on the road, whom he insulted with all of the coarseness of
ill-breeding and threatened to kill when a child ran in front of his car
with the vicious purpose of letting itself be crushed under the wheels,
to stir up trouble with a decent person, or when some workingman,
pretending he could not hear the warnings of his horn, would not get out
of the way and was run over--as if a man who makes two pesetas a day
were superior to machines that cost thousands of francs! What could you
do with such ignorant, commonplace people! And some wretches were still
talking about the rights of man and revolutions!

Cotoner, who expended incredible care in keeping his single suit
presentable for calls and dinners, questioned Lopez de Sosa with
astonishment in regard to the progress of his wardrobe.

"How many ties have you now, Rafael?"

"About seven hundred." He had counted them recently. And ashamed that he
did not yet own the longed-for thousand, he spoke of fitting himself out
on his next trip to London when the principal British automobilists were
to contend for the cup. He received his boots from Paris, but they were
made by a Swiss boot-maker, the same one who provided the foot-gear of
Edward of England; he counted his trousers by the dozen, and never wore
one pair more than eight or ten times; his linen was given to his valet
almost before it was used, his hats all came from London. He had eight
frock-coats made every year, that often grew old without ever being
worn, of different colors to suit the circumstances and the hours when
he must wear them. One in particular, dead black with long skirts,
gloomy and austere, copied from the foreign illustrations that
represented duels, was his uniform on solemn occasions, which he wore
when some friend looked him up at the Pena, to get his assistance in
representing him with his customary skill in affairs of honor.

His tailor admired his talent, his ma