A peculiar tic, a convulsive twitch of the nose, would agitate his
face from time to time, and it was this that completed his
resemblance to a rabbit. His merriment was just as likely to find
issue in a nervous, metallic, sonorous outburst as in a muffled,
clownish guffaw. He would stare at people from top to bottom and
from bottom to top in a manner all the more insolent for its jesting
character, and to add to the mockery he would detain his gaze upon
his interlocutor's buttons, and his eyes would dance from the cravat
to the trousers and from the boots to the hat. He took special care
to dress in the most ridiculous fashion and he liked to adorn his
cap with bright cock feathers, strut about in riding boots and
commit similar follies.
He was fond, too, of confusing folks with his lies, and so firmly
did he state the tales of his own invention that it was hard to tell
whether he was fooling or speaking in all seriousness.
"Haven't you heard what happened this afternoon to the Bishop of
Madrid-Alcala over at Las Cambroneras?" he would say to some
acquaintance.
"Why, no."
"Sure. He was on a visit bringing alms to Garibaldi and Garibaldi
gave the Bishop a cup of chocolate. The Bishop sat down, took a sip,
when zip! ... Nobody knows just what happened; he dropped dead."
"Why, man! .
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