, less taken by show, less prone to set an undue value on outside excellence⁠—to make much of the attentions of people remarkable chiefly for so many feet of stature, des couleurs de poupée, un nez plus ou moins bien fait , 167 and an enormous amount of fatuity⁠—I might yet prove an useful, perhaps an exemplary character. But, as it was⁠—And here, the little man’s voice was for a minute choked.

I would have looked up at him, or held out my hand, or said a soothing word; but I was afraid, if I stirred, I should either laugh or cry; so odd, in all this, was the mixture of the touching and the absurd.

I thought he had nearly done: but no; he sat down that he might go on at his ease.