"I think not!" he said coldly, "A certain resemblance between
totally unrelated persons is quite common. For the rest, we are
absolutely different--absolutely!"
Again Miraudin laughed.
"As you will, Marquis!" and he raised his hat with a light, half-
mocking air, "Au revoir!"
Fontenelle scarcely acknowledged the salutation,--he was too much
annoyed. He considered it a piece of insolence on Miraudin's part to
have addressed him at all without previous introduction. It was true
that the famous actor was permitted a license not granted to the
ordinary individual,--as indeed most actors are. Even princes, who
hedge themselves round with impassable barriers to certain of their
subjects who are in all ways great and worthy of notice, unbend to
the Mime who today takes the place of the Court-jester, and allow
him to enter the royal presence, often bringing his newest wanton
with him. And there was not the slightest reason for the Marquis
Fontenelle to be at all particular in his choice of acquaintances.
Yet somehow or other, he was. The fine and sensitive instincts of a
gentleman were in him, and though in the very depths of his own
conscience he knew himself to be as much of a social actor as
Miraudin was a professional one,--though he was aware that his
passions were as sensual, and therefore as vulgar, (for sensuality
is vulgarity), there was a latent pride in him which forbade him to
set himself altogether on the same level.
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