He chooses to have a combat _en
champ clos_.
'Take care,' he added, 'and do not have too many _sommites._ They watch
one another, are conscious that they are watched, and a coldness creeps
over the table.'
'We had two pleasant breakfasts,' I said, 'a fortnight ago. You were
leader of the band at one, Z. at the other, and the rest left the stage
free to the great actor.'
'As for me,' he answered, 'I often shut myself up, particularly after
dinner, or during dinner if it be long. The process of digestion, little,
as I can eat, seems to oppress me.
'Z. is always charming. He has an _aplomb_, an ease, a _verve_ arising
from his security that whatever he says will interest and amuse. He is a
perfect specimen of an ex-statesman, _homme de lettres_, and _pere de
famille_, falling back on literature and the domestic affections. As for
me, I have intervals of _sauvagerie_, or rather the times when I am not
_sauvage_ are the intervals. I have many, perhaps too many, acquaintances
whom I like, and a very few friends whom I love, and a host of relations.
I easily tire of Paris, and long to fly to the fields and woods and
seashore of my province.
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