Page "belles_lettres" Paragraph 274

This man's isolation is not merely momentary, it is permanent.

He is a widower, his three children are dead, he has no one left on earth ; ;

also he is a drunk, and has lost his job on that account.

His name is Praisegod Piepsam, and he is rather fully described as to his clothing and physiognomy in a way which relates him to a sinister type in the author's repertory -- he is a forerunner of those enigmatic strangers in `` Death In Venice '', for example, who represent some combination of cadaver, exotic, and psychopomp.