On entering the studio of this friend, he experienced a disagreeable feeling, which troubled him and made him uneasy; he had not given his name, and counting on the change made by the cutting of his hair and beard, he said to himself that his friend, who had not seen him for a long time, certainly would not recognize him.
He had taken but a few steps, his hat in his hand, like a stranger who is about to accost another, when the photographer came toward him with outstretched hand, and a friendly smile on his face.
“You, my dear friend! What good fortune is worth the pleasure of your visit tome? Can I be useful to you in any way?”
“You recognize me, then?”
“What! Do I recognize you? Do you ask that because you have cut your hair and beard? Certainly it changes you and gives you a new physiognomy; but I should be unworthy of my business if, by a different arrangement of the hair, I could not recognize you.
“Besides, eyes of steel like yours are not forgotten; they are a description and a signature.”
Then this means in which he placed so much confidence was only a new imprudence, as the question, “You recognize me, then?” was a mistake.
“Come, I will pose you at once,” the photographer said. “Very curious, this shaved head, and still more interesting, I think, than with the beard and long hair. The traits of character are more clearly seen.”
“It is not for a new portrait that I have come, but for the old one. Have you any of the proofs?”
“I think not, but I will see. In any case, if you wish some they are easily made, since I have the plate.”