M. de Lesdiguières, the Roturier and The Robe

In the chapter entitled, fortuitously, "The Robe", Rafael Sabatini in his novel, Scaramouche, describes in detail the difficulty and the hazard befalling a person of lowly rank finding it necessary to appeal for justice from one whose inflated station in life has rendered him arrogant and ridiculous:

"André-Louis found him ridiculous. He knew pretentiousness for the mask of worthlessness and weakness. And here he beheld pretentiousness incarnate. It was to be read in that arrogant poise of the head, that scowling brow, the inflexion of that reverberating voice. Even more difficult than it is for a man to be a hero to his valet--who has witnessed the dispersal of the parts that make up the imposing whole--is it for a man to be a hero to the student of Man who has witnessed the same in a different sense."