Then too he received the strangest visitors, odd looking men of suspicious appearance, and fellows of ill-favoured and sinister aspect.
This irregular way of living had robbed the old fellow of much consideration.

Many believed they saw in him a shameless libertine, who squandered his income in disreputable places.

They would remark to one another, "Is it not disgraceful, a man of his age ?" He was aware of all this tittle-tattle, and laughed at it.

This did not, however, prevent many of his tenants from seeking his society and paying court to him.

They would invite him to dinner, but he almost invariably refused.
He seldom visited but one person of the house, but with that one he was very intimate, so much so indeed, that he was more often in her apartment, than in his own.