Society there
assembled disdained any pantomime on his account, perhaps because he
had gauged its real nature too well.
"His complaint is contagious."
"The president of the Club ought to forbid him to enter the salon."
"It is contrary to all rules and regulations to cough in that way!"
"When a man is as ill as that, he ought not to come to take the
waters----"
"He will drive me away from the place."
Raphael rose and walked about the rooms to screen himself from their
unanimous execrations. He thought to find a shelter, and went up to a
young pretty lady who sat doing nothing, minded to address some pretty
speeches to her; but as he came towards her, she turned her back upon
him, and pretended to be watching the dancers. Raphael feared lest he
might have made use of the talisman already that evening; and feeling
that he had neither the wish nor the courage to break into the
conversation, he left the salon and took refuge in the billiard-room.
No one there greeted him, nobody spoke to him, no one sent so much as
a friendly glance in his direction. His turn of mind, naturally
meditative, had discovered instinctively the general grounds and
reasons for the aversion he inspired. This little world was obeying,
unconsciously perhaps, the sovereign law which rules over polite
society; its inexorable nature was becoming apparent in its entirety
to Raphael's eyes.
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