The Prince-Nez Man This is the strange name that Danny gave to the cigar-smoking
man in the hat and pince-nez whose photo he found in the box holding the family
snapshots. Nobody knew who the Pince-Nez Man was, and they couldn?t understand
how he?d got in the box. So who could he have been? And what was his connection
with the beautiful Emily, who was looking so downcast all the time? Only Danny
knows, for it is he who discovered their story. Illustrations of László Réber
Translated by Andrew C. Rouse * What was a pince-nez [ponz-nay]? It was a kind
of spectacles popular at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th
centuries. As it didn?t have any side-pieces, you pinched it on your nose (pince
= pinch, nez = nose). Although people don?t wear them any more ? they can?t have
been very comfy on the nose! ? they keep on turning up in stories, films and
even computer games like Harry Potter, Poirot, or Sonic the Hedgehog.