If the count had no other reason for wishing the death of this disowned son poor Etienne would still have been the object of his aversion.

In his eyes the misfortune of a rickety, sickly constitution was a flagrant offence to his self-love as a father.

If he execrated handsome men, he also detested weakly ones, in whom mental capacity took the place of physical strength.

To please him a man should be ugly in face, tall, robust, and ignorant.

Etienne, whose debility would bow him, as it were, to the sedentary occupations of knowledge, was certain to find in his father a natural enemy.