The Beautiful Lady | Page 8

R. Poor, of the Hotel d'Iena. He
is the father, and the cub is with him. The elder Yankee is primed with
my praises of you, and must engage someone at once, as he sails in a

day or two. Go--with my blessing, an air of piety, and as much age as
you can assume. When the father has departed, throw the cub into the
Seine, but preserve his pocket-book, and we shall have another go at
those infernal tables. Vale! J.G.S."
I found myself smiling--I fear miserably--over this kind letter,
especially at the wonder of my friend that I had not appealed to my
relatives. The only ones who would have liked to help me, if they had
known I needed something, were my two little nieces who were in my
own care; because my father, being but a poet, had no family, and my
mother had lost hers, even her eldest son, by marrying my father. After
that they would have nothing to do with her, nor were they asked. That
rascally old Antonio was now the head of all the Caravacioli, as was I
of my own outcast branch of our house--that is, of my two little nieces
and myself. It was partly of these poor infants I had thought when I
took what was left of my small inheritance to Monte Carlo, hoping,
since I seemed to be incapable of increasing it in any other way, that
number seventeen and black would hand me over a fortune as a waiter
does wine. Alas! Luck is not always a fool's servant, and the kind of
fortune she handed me was of that species the waiter brings you in the
other bottle of champagne, the gold of a bubbling brain, lasting an hour.
After this there is always something evil to one's head, and mine, alas!
was shaved.
Half an hour after I had read the letter, the little paper- flower makers in
the attic window across from mine may have seen me shaving
it--without pleasure--again. What else was I to do? I could not well
expect to be given the guardianship of an erring young man if I
presented myself to his parent as a gentleman who had been sitting at
the Cafe' de la Paix with his head painted. I could not wear my hat
through the interview. I could not exhibit the thick five days' stubble, to
appear in contrast with the heavy fringe that had been spared;--I could
not trim the fringe to the shortness of the stubble; I should have looked
like Pierrot. I had only, then, to remain bald, and, if I obtained the post,
to shave in secret--a harmless and mournful imposition.
It was well for me that I came to this determination. I believe it was the

appearance of maturity which my head and dining upon thoughts lent
me, as much as my friend's praises, which created my success with the
amiable Mr. Lambert R. Poor. I witness that my visit to him provided
one of the most astonishing interviews of my life. He was an instance
of those strange beings of the Western republic, at whom we are
perhaps too prone to pass from one of ourselves to another the secret
smile, because of some little imperfections of manner. It is a type
which has grown more and more familiar to us, yet never less strange:
the man in costly but severe costume, big, with a necessary great
waistcoat, not noticing the loudness of his own voice; as ignorant of the
thousand tiny things which we observe and feel as he would be careless
of them (except for his wife) if he knew. We laugh at him, sometimes
even to his face, and he does not perceive it. We are a little afraid that
he is too large to see it; hence too large for us to comprehend, and in
spite of our laughter we are always conscious of a force--yes, of a
presence! We jeer slyly, but we respect, fear a little, and would trust.
Such was my patron. He met me with a kind greeting, looked at me
very earnestly, but smiling as if he understood my good intentions, as
one understands the friendliness of a capering poodle, yet in such a way
that I could not feel resentment, for I could see that he looked at almost
everyone in the same fashion.
My friend had done wonders for me; and I made the best account of
myself that I could, so that within half an hour it was arranged that I
should take charge of his son, with an honourarium which gave me
great rejoicing for my nieces and my accumulated appetite.
"I think I can pick men," he said, "and I think that you are the man