THE MAN WHO SMILES
There is to be met in society a man who is particularly provoking and
supremely objectionable and offensive. He is about forty, very
gentlemanly, self-possessed, irreproachably dressed, well informed,
interesting talker, with a somewhat patronizing air, and an eternal
smile of self-satisfaction on his face.
This man has compromised more women than many a 'devil of a fellow.' If
you say before him, 'Mrs. X. is very beautiful, isn't she?' he says
nothing, but smiles complacently. So you look at him and add:
'Oh, you know her, then?' He smiles again. 'You don't say so!' you
remark. 'I should have thought her a woman above the breath of
suspicion.'
He smiles still. You become persuaded that he is, or has been, on the
most intimate terms with the lady in question.
Mention before him the name of any woman you like to choose, and if the
woman is in the least fashionable, or renowned for her beauty or
position, he smiles.
If at a ball he asks a lady to give him the pleasure of her partnership
for a waltz or a polka, he leans close toward her, smiling at her in
such a strange way that people believe he is telling her words of love,
or, worse, that he is granted permission to do so.
If he calls on a lady on her reception day, he has a way to salute her,
to kiss her hand, to look at her in a patronizing way that seems to say
to the other callers:
'See how ceremonious I am with her before other people, and what a good
comedian I am!'
And he smiles, smiles, and smiles.
Women are ill at ease in his presence. They hate him, but as he is
content with smiling, and goes no further, what are they to do? They
avoid him when they can, his smiles are so compromising.
And they are right. His smiles are more compromising than _bona fide_
slander and calumny.
The men hate him, too, but they feel as powerless as the women do. They
would like to slap his face, but you cannot say to a man:
'I slap your face because I saw you smile on hearing my wife's name.'
No, that would be too absurd. He knows it, and that is why he goes on
smiling. He is safe.
When he hears a bit of gossip on a woman, he immediately takes her
defence, but in such a weak manner, and with such a smile on his face
all the time, that people immediately come to the conclusion that 'it
must be all true.'
What is most provoking is that the man has not a bad reputation. He has
never been openly mixed in any intrigue, and even his intimate friends
have never heard of any love affair connecting him with any woman. For
some people he is an enigma, for others a clever comedian, a maniac, a
bore, or a fop.
For men who justly hold that women should be treated with such respect
that no act of man should cause anyone to even breathe a light remark on
their character, the man who smiles is a cur.