And these rare qualifications would count for nothing if this creatureof fancy had not the most amiable temper, a fine figure, intelligence,and, above all, if he were not slender. To be lean, a personal gracewhich is but fugitive, especially under a representative government,was an indispensable condition. Mademoiselle de Fontaine had an idealstandard which was to be the model. A young man whom at the firstglance did not fulfil the requisite conditions did not even get asecond look.