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As soon as she had gone, he took his hat and overcoat and went out. A cold sun in a misty blue sky cast a pale, rather artificial and melancholy light on the city. After he had walked for a while, his quick, irritated steps jostling startled passersby, for he refused to allow himself to deviate fro…

In his turn her husband spoke of his affairs, which he enjoyed revealing at dinner, this evening’s palaver being devoted to the chamber’s discussion of some newly proposed regulations against the adulteration of food.

apparently quite as comfortable with badinage as with mourning

Recognizing this, he invariably suffered an involuntary twinge of vainglory, the almost haughty yet well-concealed manners of a parvenu treated as an equal by princes and princesses

The artist had always been disposed to raillery, a French preference for mingling ironic touches with the most serious sentiments.