Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/206

 window, chatting with his son, when his eye fell on the gold piece.

"A recollection of the past crossed his mind.

Fifty years ago, when I went to Paris,' he said, 'I had a louis. Why have people accused me of prodigality? I have always kept that louis. See—there it is!

"And he showed his son the coin, smiling feebly as he did so."

We may add, by way of appendices, three character-sketches which will supplement the impression given by our own. They present by way of contrast, a view of Dumas's character, which is, as it were, focussed and compact.

The first is a phrenological description given by Dr Castle, a professor of that "pseudo-science," which purports to be a cold-blooded estimate of its subject's virtues and vices:

"Frank in the expression of all that he feels and thinks, he is loath by nature to take any roundabout way of attaining his end: his is the very opposite of the intriguing instinct.

"He is expansive, affectionate, and caressing in manner; and his affection is of that kind which extends itself in all directions, being in fact, the confession of his need for comradeship. This tendency to make friends of all whom he meets