this way would have taken him either for a genuine original or for a composite personality like an actor playing a part. The second hypothesis would have been the right one.
This important man, who by virtue of his wealth and even more his station had a voice in fairly considerable interests, had something of the childishness of his brother, the fruit of a similar upbringing, totally divorced from life. M. Élie, at different periods of his life, and even at different hours of the day, was wont to think of himself now as an officer, now as a Nimrod, now as a lady's man, and so on. Sometimes, indeed, his ideal was much more modest. One day, for example, an old friend of his passed him in the street and seeing him gradually stop, then start up in the same way, then stop again, at the same time continually turning the handle of his cane, said to him, 'I say, Élie, old man, what are you up to?' And M. Élie, still swinging his cane energetically without immediately stopping, threw him a 'Do be careful! You might give me time to put the brake on,' as he passed. For the moment, M. Élie believed himself to be a tram. On a somewhat higher level, M. Octave also had his little games. He played at being the 'modern man' — more specifically the 'modern man, American variety'.
The profound eccentricity inherent in the character of the Coëtquidans revealed itself in M. Octave at about the age of twenty-five in this form: I shall be the modern man of the family. In no time the idea had become mixed up with Americanism, and subsequently it had determined all the baron's opinions and attitudes. For example, it had prompted him to love or feign to love the democratic system, to scorn or feign to scorn people's rank, to take an interest or feign to take an interest in the machinery of business and economics, to disparage slightly or feign to disparage slightly the Deity to the point of affecting a dash of Voltairianism. But quite apart from such lofty matters, this bias also extended to the most trivial things. The desire to be a modern man, American style, explained why the baron's table was systematically vile (a businessman must have an unprejudiced mind, and therefore an unprejudiced stomach — gastronomy was anyway 'out-of-date'); why he' did' his shoes himself (an up-to-date man must be able to look after himself — though in fact it was his servant, Papon, who did the polishing and brushing, while M. de Coëtquidan merely gave a final flick with the cloth); why he had a rocking-chair in which he suffered agonies for fear of toppling over backwards but which he had seen described as an American speciality in a picture paper of 1875; why at the slightest excuse he corresponded by express letter or telegram, as if, by such speedy communication, he hoped to make up for being a hundred years behind the times by reason of his birth; and so on. All this, apart from the pleasure the baron enjoyed in being different, had the added attraction of annoying his family and thus gratifying the rebellious spirit which is one of the characteristics of the Breton nobility. M. Élie for his part deliberately exaggerated the shabbiness of his clothes, with the sole aim of annoying his brother and his sisters.
M. Octave de Coëtquidan had risen to the position he now occupied thanks to his close friendship ever since their college days with M. Héquelin du Page, who was now chairman of Latty's Bank. His business capabilities were more than questionable. In spite of his position, he shared his brother's and his nephew's ignorance of the realities of life, and their inability to adapt themselves to it. He lived almost entirely according to his own idea of himself. The rule is for a man to put on blinkers around his twentieth year and then, for the rest of his life, carry straight on like a carthorse. M. Octave had not failed to keep this rule. One remembers Michelet's cruel remark about Molière: 'Molière knew nothing of the people. But what did he
This important man, who by virtue of his wealth and even more his station had a voice in fairly considerable interests, had something of the childishness of his brother, the fruit of a similar upbringing, totally divorced from life. M. Élie, at different periods of his life, and even at different hours of the day, was wont to think of himself now as an officer, now as a Nimrod, now as a lady's man, and so on. Sometimes, indeed, his ideal was much more modest. One day, for example, an old friend of his passed him in the street and seeing him gradually stop, then start up in the same way, then stop again, at the same time continually turning the handle of his cane, said to him, 'I say, Élie, old man, what are you up to?' And M. Élie, still swinging his cane energetically without immediately stopping, threw him a 'Do be careful! You might give me time to put the brake on,' as he passed. For the moment, M. Élie believed himself to be a tram. On a somewhat higher level, M. Octave also had his little games. He played at being the 'modern man' — more specifically the 'modern man, American variety'.
The profound eccentricity inherent in the character of the Coëtquidans revealed itself in M. Octave at about the age of twenty-five in this form: I shall be the modern man of the family. In no time the idea had become mixed up with Americanism, and subsequently it had determined all the baron's opinions and attitudes. For example, it had prompted him to love or feign to love the democratic system, to scorn or feign to scorn people's rank, to take an interest or feign to take an interest in the machinery of business and economics, to disparage slightly or feign to disparage slightly the Deity to the point of affecting a dash of Voltairianism. But quite apart from such lofty matters, this bias also extended to the most trivial things. The desire to be a modern man, American style, explained why the baron's table was systematically vile (a businessman must have an unprejudiced mind, and therefore an unprejudiced stomach — gastronomy was anyway 'out-of-date'); why he' did' his shoes himself (an up-to-date man must be able to look after himself — though in fact it was his servant, Papon, who did the polishing and brushing, while M. de Coëtquidan merely gave a final flick with the cloth); why he had a rocking-chair in which he suffered agonies for fear of toppling over backwards but which he had seen described as an American speciality in a picture paper of 1875; why at the slightest excuse he corresponded by express letter or telegram, as if, by such speedy communication, he hoped to make up for being a hundred years behind the times by reason of his birth; and so on. All this, apart from the pleasure the baron enjoyed in being different, had the added attraction of annoying his family and thus gratifying the rebellious spirit which is one of the characteristics of the Breton nobility. M. Élie for his part deliberately exaggerated the shabbiness of his clothes, with the sole aim of annoying his brother and his sisters.
M. Octave de Coëtquidan had risen to the position he now occupied thanks to his close friendship ever since their college days with M. Héquelin du Page, who was now chairman of Latty's Bank. His business capabilities were more than questionable. In spite of his position, he shared his brother's and his nephew's ignorance of the realities of life, and their inability to adapt themselves to it. He lived almost entirely according to his own idea of himself. The rule is for a man to put on blinkers around his twentieth year and then, for the rest of his life, carry straight on like a carthorse. M. Octave had not failed to keep this rule. One remembers Michelet's cruel remark about Molière: 'Molière knew nothing of the people. But what did he
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