And though Rome is not exactly the place, of all others, where one might expect to find such an estimate of human value prevailing,--unless, indeed, smallness of that which a man has above his brow be deemed the desirable thing,--it was undeniable that little Signor Ercole carried a mass of forehead which might have been the share of a much taller man.
Nor were the pretensions put forward by the impresario on this score altogether vain.

He was no fool;--a shrewd as well as a dapper little man, active and clever at his business, and well liked both by the artists and by the public, for which he catered, despite of being one of the vainest of mortals.

Vanity makes some men very odious to their fellows;--in others it is perfectly inoffensive; and though damaging to a claim to respect, is perfectly compatible with a considerable amount of liking for the victim of it.
A very dapper little man was Signor Ercole, as he stepped forth, about eight o'clock, entirely refitted, to wait upon the Marchese at the Palazzo Castelmare.

He was dressed in complete black, somewhat threadbare, but scrupulously brushed.

He had a large frill at the bosom of his shirt, and more frills around the wristbands of it; one or two rings of immense size and weight on his small fingers; boots with heels two inches high, and a rather long frock-coat buttoned closely round his little body.