It is only fair to mention that more frequent contact with the Prince had a certain effect on Sedàra too. Until that moment he had met aristocrats only on business (of buying and selling) or through their very rare and long-brooded invitations to parties, circumstances in which this most singular of social classes does not show at its best. During such meetings he had formed the opinion that the aristocracy consisted entirely of sheeplike creatures, existing merely in order to give their wool to his clipping shears and their names and incomprehensible prestige to his daughter.
