228 AN ANGLER AT LARGE 



is all one. The fellow is an object of false curiosity 

 and his position should be detestable to him. But 

 is it ? In the case of the man with a port- wine 

 mark probably, in the case of the hunchback 

 possibly, but in the case of the mock celebrity, 

 not at all. He revels in it. The nudge that goes 

 between the oncoming couple never escapes him. 

 He is on the look out for it. His wife will tell 

 you how often people have remarked Andrew's 

 resemblance to Napoleon with almost as much 

 pride as if she had been married to that scourge 

 of humanity. He goes to all the fancy dress balls 

 there are in the costume appropriate to his un- 

 fortunate condition, and the murmurs of surprise 

 which follow his triumphant progress about the 

 rooms are sweeter to his ears than the whispers of 

 love. 



And in his ordinary clothes, should he be an 

 imitation of Nelson, or Lord Charles Beresford, 

 he rolls seamanlike ; if the Duke of Wellington is 

 his model he makes every inch of him try to look 

 martial, yea ! though he cheapen bananas on a 

 barrow. He shaves his beard, not because he 

 is cleaner so, but because Mr. George Alexander 

 has particular views about his hair. And surely 

 there is no wilder folly than to do any particular 

 thing solely because someone else has done it 

 before you. What may be highly convenient if 



