It was what he wished to do.

His violent attitudes and his savage dress were studied.

Always seeking to produce effects, it pleased him to seem frightful.
He was a coward himself, and was glad to inspire the fears he often felt.

A moment before, as he was smoking his pipe, he had felt, while seeing the moon swallowed up by the clouds, one of those childish frights that tormented his light mind.

He had come near the Countess to be reassured.
"Arles," he said.