gations
imposed by his flowery title. It happened to him, as to many a mediocre
actor, that the day when the public granted him their full attention he
became, one may almost say, superior. Feeling at his ease, he displayed
the fine qualities which accompanied his defects. His wit had
nothing sharp or bitter in it; his manners were not supercilious; his
intercourse with women expressed the respect they like,--it was neither
too deferential, nor too familiar; his foppery went no farther than a
care for his personal appearance which made him agreeable; he showed
consideration for rank; he allowed young men a certain freedom, to which
his Parisian experience assigned due limits; though skilful with sword
and pistol, he was noted for a feminine gentleness for which others were
grateful. His medium height and plumpness (which had not yet increased
into obesity, an obstacle to personal elegance) did not prevent his
outer man from playing the part of a Bordelais Brummell. A white skin
tinged with the hues of health, handsome hands and feet, blue eyes with
long lashes, black hair, graceful motions, a chest voice which kept to
its middle tones and vibrated in the listener's heart, harmonized well
with his sobriquet. Paul was indeed that delicate flower which needs
such careful culture, the qualities of which display themselves only in
a moist and suitable soil,--a flower which rough treatment dwarfs, which
the hot sun burns, and a frost lays low. He was one of those men made
to receive happiness, rather than to give it; who have something of the
woman in their nature, wishing to be divined, understood, encouraged; in
short, a man to whom conjugal love ought to come as a providence.

If such a character creates difficulties in private life, it is gracious
and full of attraction for the world. Consequently, Paul had great
success in the narrow social circle of the provinces, where his mind,
always, so to speak, in half-tints, was better appreciated than in
Paris.

The arrangement of his house and the restoration of the chateau de
Lanstrac, where he introduced the comfort and luxury of an English
country-house, absorbed the capital saved by the notary during the
preceding six years. Reduced now to his strict income of forty-odd
thousand a year, he thought himself wise and prudent in so regulating
his household as not to exceed it.

After publicly exhibiting his equipages, entertaining the most
distinguished young men of the plac