CHAPTER III.

SANDRO'S WAY.

First to the City, then to the doctor, then to the House, then to the
dinner of the Imperial League; this was Quisante's programme for the
second Wednesday in April. It promised a busy day. But of the doctor and
the House he made light; the first was a formality, the second held out
no prospect of excitement; the City and the dinner were the real things.
They were connected with and must be made to promote the two aims which
he had taken for his with perfect confidence. He wanted money and he
wanted position; he saw no reason why he should not attain both in the
fullest measure. Recent events had filled him with a sure and certain
hope. Not allowing for the value of the good manners which he lacked, he
failed to see that he excited any hostility or any distaste. Unless a
man were downright rude to him, he counted him an adherent; this streak
of a not unpleasing simplicity ran across his varied nature. He was far
from being alive to his disadvantages; every hour assured him of his
superiority. Most especially he counted on the aid and favour of women;
the future might prove him right or wrong in his expectation; but he
relied for its realisation not on the power which he did possess but on
an accomplishment of manner and an insinuating fascination which he most
absolutely lacked. The ultra-civility which repelled May Gaston was less
a device than an exhibition; he embarked on it more because he thought
he did it well than (as she supposed) from a desire to curry favour. He
was ill-bred, but he was not mean; he was a vaunter but not a coward; he
demanded adherence and did not beg alms. This was the attitude of his
mind, but unhappily it was often apparently contradicted by the cringing
of his body and the wheedling of his tongue. In attempting smoothness he
fell into oiliness; where he aimed at polished brilliance, the result
was blazing varnish. Had he known what to pray for, he would have
supplicated heaven that he might meet eyes able to see the man beneath
the ape. Such eyes, dimly penetrating with an unexpected vision, he had
won to his side in the Benyon brothers; the rest of the world still
stuck on the outside surface. But the brothers could only shield him,
they could not change him; they might promote his fortunes, they could
not cure his vices. He did not know that he had any vices; the first
stage of amendment was still