Category: Novels
It was mid-July in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five. The clock on the Treasury building had just struck four, and the clerks, hastily closing the drawers of their desks, replacing documents in their respective boxes and pens on their racks, lost no time in taking thei...
It was mid-July in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five. The clock on the Treasury building had just struck four, and the clerks, hastily closing the drawers of their desks...
2. Part 2Robineau took down a guitar that hung in a corner of the room, went to the open window looking on the courtyard, and hummed a ballad, accompanying himself on the instrument. Whe...
3. Part 3The cab halted in front of a handsome hôtel. There was a long line of private carriages waiting to enter the courtyard; one would have thought that they were taking their owners...
4. Part 4"That is so, isn’t it? But I will show them to you. What I should like more than anything would be to have free admission to the theatres.--Ah! to be able to go behind the scene...
5. Part 5A week had passed since the ball at Monsieur de Marcey’s. The baron had left Paris on the following day, to visit one of his estates some leagues from the capital. He was in the...
6. Part 6The two friends set off at a gallop. Robineau had no desire to ride at that pace; but the mare he bestrode was determined to follow the other horses, and her rider was fain to g...
7. Part 7"A week! dear me! that’s a long while!--But no matter; do whatever is necessary, so that no one can dispute my title. By the way, if you are writing to Auvergne, I should be gla...
8. Part 8"Hallo! here’s the cheese-man again!" muttered the servant. But her master motioned to her to hold her peace, for he feared to offend the traveller. The latter seated himself at...
9. Part 9"No, it isn’t a question of being afraid! But how do you know that he hasn’t friends, confederates in the mountains? He could have taken us wherever he chose, and all of a sudde...
10. Part 10"What! are you so stupid as all that, you unfortunate peasants? You believe in stories of magic and devils? such stout fellows as you, of five feet six! It makes me feel sorry f...
11. Part 11The shepherd made no reply; he had gone to join his wife, by whom he lay down, and ere long their prolonged snoring, reinforced by that of the old man and the three boys, announ...
12. Part 12"I am fully persuaded that we shall have geese and turkeys at your château; but, pending the time when we shall enjoy their society, let us make this young woman’s acquaintance....
13. Part 13Meanwhile, François and some of the peasants, surprised that monseigneur preferred to dismount in the stable of one of his vassals instead of in the courtyard of his château, we...
14. Part 14They left the North Tower, which did not seem destined to be the new owner’s favorite resort. Monsieur Cunette proposed that they should visit the dungeons underneath; but Robin...
15. Part 15"To be sure, monsieur; but I have no desire to go to the town. Why should I go there?--Oh, no! I shall never leave dear, kind André’s house, where my childhood was passed."
16. Part 16"That is a pity; it is deuced hard to find any about here! Never mind,--I will do without it; a man becomes accustomed to everything! Formerly I would never believe that one cou...
17. Part 17"Ha! ha!" said Alfred; "you followed my example, and took a horse. Faith, we are equally well mounted. It is agreed that everything is common between us, until the little one ha...
18. Part 18"No, not that; I mean that you will see beauties of all types; and such wit! and such style! It’s a pity that we haven’t adopted the custom of Turkey; if we had, I would marry t...
19. Part 19"Who? Morbleu! I myself, who ask them; I, who question you! Is there any need of making so much fuss about saying: ‘I love this one better than that one?’"
20. Part 20Monsieur Férulus darted out of the room again like an arrow, and soon musket shots announced the beginning of the fête. The noise of the fusillade almost made Eudoxie ill; but s...
21. Part 21"Monsieur de la Roche-Noire is certainly very gallant; his fête is delightful; if only he won’t have those vulgar peasants fight any more, for that is a spectacle which I cannot...
22. Part 22"No, it was impossible; there was company, a party, at the château at which we are staying! But how long the day seemed to me, amid all that noise, with those people for whom I...
23. Part 23"But how do you know that I do not love her as much as you do? To win her love, you employ sighs and melancholy; I go about it more frankly; I declare myself, I do not conceal m...
24. Part 24"I was never able to find an opportunity to be revenged upon him; but I hope to find one before long, and you may well believe that I shall not let it escape me."
25. Part 25"Monsieur le marquis is right," said Férulus; "we should not speak without knowledge. Everybody talks about the fair Helen, but few people know that she had five husbands: These...
26. Part 26The furniture was old, but seemed to have been used very little; it was covered with dust, but on the dining-table there still stood the remains of a meal, plates, a glass, and...
27. Part 27"If you don’t believe me, assure yourself of it. It is not probable that the man I saw has come into this part of the country for a single day. Your eyes will satisfy you that I...
28. Part 28"Very well, monsieur, that will do," said Cornélie; "after such a beginning, I do not care to hear any more! If the remainder corresponds with the text, it cannot be repeated to...
29. Part 29Alfred pressed his friend’s hand and did not insist upon remaining with him; for he knew that in great grief there are times when even words of comfort are unwelcome. He returne...
30. Part 30"Your friends are very agreeable, are they not, to pass all their time travelling about no one knows where, and coming here only to eat? Hereafter, monsieur, I will invite the p...
31. Part 31"My dear fellow, go back to bed with your wife; there are no thieves or ghosts in the château. It is possible, however, that there may be someone hidden in the old tower; and it...
32. Part 32"Adèle’s daughter, yes, Edouard; but, for heaven’s sake, let me finish this painful story.--I had made my plans long before; that child could not remain with her mother. I rode...
33. Part 33"So here she is in my power, this girl whom the baron secretly comes to these mountains to see, this peasant whose education he has provided for, and whom he adores, no doubt! A...
34. Part 34"You can’t imagine that, my girl, for you have never lived in the world, you have no idea of all that goes on there; you do not know that love is treacherous, friendship is self...
35. Part 35The travellers walked a large part of the day over roads which the snow had made very hard to travel. They passed the night in a village, and, as their search had been no more s...