t, to talk well, to be
liked by everybody, and to accomplish everything by persuasion; he
seemed to enjoy the world and his position in it, and it was part of his
plan of life to acknowledge his little vanities, and to make others feel
that they need only take a sufficient pride in themselves to become as
shining lights in the social world as Paul Patoff. At a small cost to
himself, he favored the general opinion in regard to his eccentricity,
because the reputation of it gave him a certain amount of freedom he
would not otherwise have enjoyed. He undertook many obligations, in his
constant readiness to be agreeable to all men, and perhaps, if he had
not reserved to himself the liberty of some occasional repose, he would
have found the burden of his responsibilities intolerable. It was his
maxim that one should never appear to refuse anything to any one, and it
is no easy matter to do that, especially when it is necessary never to
neglect an opportunity of gaining an advantage for one's self. For the
whole aim of Patoff's policy at that time was selfish. He believed that
he possessed the secret of power in his own indomitable will, and he
cultivated the science of persuasion, until he acquired an infinite art
in adapting the means to the end. Every kind of knowledge served him,
and though his mind was perhaps not really profound, it was far from
being superficial, and the surface of it which he presented when he
chose was vast. It was impossible to speak of any question of history,
science, ethics, or aesthetics of which Patoff was ignorant, and his
information on most points was more than sufficient to help him in
artfully indorsing the opinions of those about him. He was full of tact.
It was impossible to make him disagree with any one, and yet he was so
skillful in his conversation that he was generally thought to have a
very sound judgment. His system was substantially one of harmless
flattery, and he never departed from it. He reckoned on the unfathomable
vanity of man, and he rarely was out in his reckoning; he counted upon
woman's admiration of dominating characters, and was not disappointed,
for women respected him, and were proportionately delighted when he
asked their opinion.

In this, as in all other things, the professor was the precise opposite
of the diplomatist. Cutter affected an air of sublime simplicity, and
cultivated a straightforward bluntness of expression which was not
without weight. He prided h