NOTES RESPECTING ALEXANDRE DUMAS THE YOUNGER
Between this man and ourselves, the absolute and exclusive poets, whether Parnassians, Décadents, or Romans, to whom I have the honour to belong, and who form the sole object and proof of my life, the bonds of unison are so vague that they are scarcely visible.
Then we thought we had cornered him, and we said softly : « Why dont’t you do it if it’s so easy ? »
« Why don’t I ? » said the philosopher. « Why don’t I ? Why — I think it must be because I am a man of education, and it’s beneath me. »
We could not refrain from smiling, albeit lie was not so unmitigated a Wessex mann as he had seemed at first, and in Fleet Street we know the vernacular of the pressman does not entirely coincide with his editorial style.
« I can do it », said the philosopher, snap-
