Their high-sounding
and pompously-expressed platitudes bored him, their absurd views on
politics, their parrot-like and yet self-satisfied remarks on
literature and art filled him with compassion. One guest in
particular, who sat at the head of the table, and generally led the
conversation in the loudest tones, succeeded in making him very
impatient, in spite of the mildness with which Wilhelm usually
judged his fellows. He did business in sewing machines in Paris, but
here gave himself out as an "ingenieur constructeur," and belonged
to that class of persons who cannot endure not to be the center of
observation wherever they happen to be. It has been said of a man of
that stamp, that if he were at a wedding he would wish to be the
bridegroom, and if at a funeral to be in the place of the corpse. At
the dinner table of the Hotel de France he reigned supreme. His
strong point lay in the perpetration of the most ghastly puns, which
he would discharge first to the right and then to the left, and
finally, with a roar of laughter, over the whole table. In his
outward appearance, too, he sought to create a sensation. He was not
dressed, he was costumed. He wore long stockings, knickerbockers and
a tight-fitting jacket, and when he stood up, tried to produce
effects with his calves, spread his legs wide apart as if, like the
Colossus of Rhodes, ships were to pass beneath, and affected
sporting and athletic attitudes generally.
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