he shared the enthusiasm, the rapture, and the gladness. He was, of
course, in an assembly of very wealthy persons,
standing very high. He sailed in a sea of blood purely blue, so he hid
away irony, contempt, and yawning, and
had on the outside only smoothness itself, affability, and general
pleasantness of manner, speech, and
smiles. That was also a labor, rewarded at once with a certain degree
of lively enjoyment. In lordly drawing-rooms, himself the equal of the
highest, while passing the time in a friendly manner and conversing
with princes he was unconscious at first that he raised his smooth,
lofty forehead and gave himself out as greater than he was in reality,
and inhaled with distended
nostrils the odor of that grandeur which surrounded him as well as that
which was his own. But soon this condition
yielded to something embarrassing, not quite clearly defined, but
causing this, that he did not feel altogether certain of himself and the
fitness of his whole self to the surrounding. For though the politeness
of those about
him was unquestioned
and most exquisite, though words of praise in recognition of
