foundation; fleshly indulgence and laziness, I said to myself, were
written all over him. The snatches of his monologues which I caught
from time to time seemed to me to consist chiefly of epigrams almost
mechanically constructed of proverbs and familiar sayings turned
upside down. Two of Balzac's characters, it will be remembered,
practised this form of humour. The desire to astonish and dazzle, the
love of the uncommon for its own sake, was so evident that I shrugged
my shoulders and avoided him. One evening, however, at Mrs. Jeune's, I
got to know him better. At the very door Mrs. Jeune came up to me:
"Have you ever met Mr. Oscar Wilde? You ought to know him: he is so
delightfully clever, so brilliant!"
I went with her and was formally introduced to him. He shook hands in
a limp way I disliked; his hands were flabby, greasy; his skin looked
bilious and dirty. He wore a great green scarab ring on one finger. He
was over-dressed rather than well-dressed; his clothes fitted him too
tightly; he was too stout. He had a trick which I noticed even then,
which grew on him later, of pulling his jowl with his right hand as he
spoke, and his jowl was already fat and pouchy. His appearance filled
me with distaste. I lay stress on this physical repulsion, because I
think most people felt it, and in itself, it is a tribute to the
fascination of the man that he should have overcome the first
impression so completely and so quickly. I don't remember what we
talked about, but I noticed almost immediately that his grey eyes were
finely expressive; in turn vivacious, laughing, sympathetic; always
beautiful. The carven mouth, too, with its heavy, chiselled,
purple-tinged lips, had a certain attraction and significance in spite
of a black front tooth which shocked one when he laughed. He was over
six feet in height and both broad and thick-set; he looked like a
Roman Emperor of the decadence.
We had a certain interest in each other, an interest of curiosity, for
I remember that he led the way almost at once into the inner drawing
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