The author sketches the life and character of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos through correspondence and recollection, emphasizing his preeminence as a translator, facility with multiple languages, and modest, playful temperament. Drawing on letters, clubroom anecdotes and wartime civil service experience, the sketch traces his emergence from seclusion into public recognition, his sociability at the bridge-table, and the heart illness that curtailed his later years. Rather than a full biography, the narrative preserves impressions of wit, generosity and the private friendships that defined his life and work.