Grantaire follows her glance but registers little; more faces in the same crowd, none of them particularly familiar, none of them nearly so enchanting as the one who stands before him. He would be a fool to look away — just think! she might vanish in an instant, taking her leave without adieu — and his focus remains fixed on her alone. He had been pleased to hear her respond so promptly, and jumps immediately into a response.

"But of course. When I speak the name Adonis, do you not hear echoes of astonishing beauty — beyond mere handsomeness — and a calling to desire? Today, a man named Adonis must live up to this name or make it into his own, giving new resonance and surprising expectations; if he chooses to ignore his name and slinks through life in mild existence, neither achieving the beauty that we may expect or offering qualities to take its place, he will appear a blur on the surface of existence. He will be scarcely perceptible, torn between what is expected and what he refuses to discover. And severed as such, he may be aptly labeled nameless, a ghosted figure without base or definition."