His trousers were narrow, as though intended to be tucked into cavalry boots.

His coat with two rows of buttons had the contracted waist with very full skirt and upstanding lapels, suggesting vaguely a military great coat.

The reddish moustachios, strong jaw and shaved head completed his would-be martial appearance; but his eyes, large, dark-circled and near-sighted, were the eyes of a student taking refuge behind great thick glasses which gave him the aspect of a man of peace.
Desnoyers knew that he was an assistant professor of the University, that he had published a few volumes, fat and heavy as bricks, and that he was a member of an academic society collaborating in documentary research directed by a famous historian.

In his lapel he was wearing the badge of a foreign order.
Julio's respect for the learned member of the family was not unmixed with contempt.

He and his sister Chichi had from childhood felt an instinctive hostility toward the cousins from Berlin.