I thought of your letter directly, and I have given you the most tremendous recommendation--part of it quite true, I suspect, though I am not a judge of learning.

I explained, however, that you are a master of languages, of elegant though subdued deportment, and I extolled at length your saintly habits.
Altogether, I fear there may have been too much of the virtuoso in my interpretation of you; few would have recognized from it the gentleman who closed a table at Monte Carlo and afterwards was closed himself in the handsome and spectacular fashion I remember with both delight and regret.

Briefly, I lied like a master.

He almost had me in the matter of your age; it was important that you should be middle-aged.

I swore that you were at least thirty-eight, but, owing to exemplary habits, looked very much younger.