Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEH'ELL.

Dumas has been spoken of sneeringly
by some critics, who say nothing more
severe. after all, than that he is diff
cult to place"
His Characterization are supposed to
be incomplete. yet admirers of this ro-
mancer. this necromancer with words,
can instance many admirable portraits.
The following picture of Master Lo-
riot. from "The She-Wolves of Mache-
coul," might have been done by Charles
Dickens:
Master Loriot, notary of Machecoul.
was little fellow. thin and meagre, and
appearing half as spare again as ne
really was by the habit he had adopted
of bending himself double When ne
smoke and assuming an attitude of most
profound respect. r..
"a long. pointed nose served him Tor
a face In developing that one feature
beyond all measure, Nature had chosen
to recoup herself on the other features,
and had measured out to him, with in
credible stingineSs, whatever did not
pertain to the salient part OF his coun-
tenance: so that it was necessary 10
look at Master Loriot at very short
range. and for long while, in order TO
discover that he had eyes and mouth
like other men. But when one had
made that discovery, one noticed that
the eyes we're full of animation ana
that the mouth did not lack express
sion. Compere Loriot fulfilled
all the promises of his physiognomlcal
prospectus. He was clever enough 10
squeeze thirty thousand francs out OF
position in which his predecessors had
succeeded, only with great difficulty, IN
making both ends meet.
ITO reach this result. looked upon as
impossible up to that time, M. Lorlot
had made men, not the Code, the sub
iect of his studies, and had come to
the conclusion that pride and valnglory
were their predominant qualities. He
had, consequently, sought to render
himself serviceable to those two wees,
and. had soon become necessary to those
who we're ruled by them.
I'm Master Loriot, by reason of this
system of his, courtesy degenerated into
obsequiousness. He did not bow, he
Frustrated himself; and, like the Indian
fakirs. he had bent his body so much
and SO often that he had literally be-
come accustomed to that position. He
was a parentheSiS always open, In
which we're inclosed the titles of his
clients, which he repeated in every
phrase with ineXhaustible variety. Were
his interlocutor baron or knight or
a simple gentleman, the notary never
spoke to him except in the third person.
However his gratitude for such con-
descending kindness was both humble
and eXuberant. And as he also mani
tested exaggerated devotion for the
interests which were intrusted to him,
he had succeeded in winning so many
e,llooi,,roS that he had gradually
acquired a very considerable clientele
among the nobility of the neighbour
hood"
He is introduced to us as the Marquis
de Souday saw him, as he opened at a
knocking, which he thought to be that
of soldiers. Instead:
Instead of the sabreS and bayonets
which he expected to see glistening in
the darkness, instead of the warlike
mustachioed faces whose acquaintance
he expected to make, the marquis saw
nothing in the world but the top OF an
enormous blue cotton umbrella coming
on toward him, point foremost, climb
ing the steps one by one.
"As this umbrella, which marched
steadily onward like the callapaSh of a
tortoise, threatened to put his eye out
with the point which protruded from its
center like the point of an ancient
shield, the marquis lifted the outer circle
of the shield and found himself face to
face with a martins nluZZle. Surmounted
by two little shining points, like car
buncles, and wearing a very high
crowned, narrow brimmed hat which
had been brushed and rebruShed so
often that it shone in the darkness as
If it had been vanished"