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The Confidence-Man Chapter 34 Summary

In Which the Cosmopolitan Tells the Story of the Gentleman Madman

  • Charlemont was young. He was French. He was well-off. He was cool.
  • Everybody loved Charlemont, and Charlemont loved everybody.
  • Then one day something happened.
  • Nobody knows what happened, but all of a sudden, out of the blue, without warning, Charlemont…stopped…loving…people. Oh, no.
  • Charlemont ditched all his casual friends, and he straight-up burned all his bridges with his good friends.
  • Charlemont disappeared.
  • Some said Charlemont went into debt.
  • Then, just as randomly as before, Charlemont was back.
  • Charlemont made up with everybody and bought them gifts, and they all loved him again. No one ever asked what happened when he went all emo.
  • Until…
  • One day…
  • When…
  • The last guest at one of Charlemont's parties worked up the nerve, after drinking a lot of wine, to ask: What's your damage, Heather?
  • Charlemont got quiet. He called for more wine but gave a mystifying response basically amounting to: You wouldn't get it. You weren't there.
  • Charlemont's guest then just left, knowing that even if his outside was happy, Charlemont still had some dark stuff going on inside.