United States or Ethiopia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


Phrosine screamed behind the counter as if she herself had received the blow; the domino players also entrenched themselves behind their table in fear lest the soldiers should draw their swords and massacre them. However, Doucet and Morandot pinioned the captain to prevent him from springing at the major's throat and forcibly let him to the door.

The regimental inspection was to take place at the end of the month. The major had ten days before him. On the very next morning, however, he crawled, limping, as far as the Cafe de Paris, where he ordered some beer. Melanie grew pale when she saw him enter, and it was with a lively recollection of a certain slap that Phrosine hastened to serve him.

He then grew a little calmer, caught hold of Burle's wrists and forced him to rise. "Come!" he said gruffly. "Something must be done at once, for I cannot go to bed with this affair on my mind I have an idea." In the front room Melanie and Phrosine were talking eagerly in low voices.

The widow, deserting her seat in the front room, where she left her little servant Phrosine, spent her evenings in the inner apartment, ministering to a few customers, the usual frequenters of the place, those who were currently styled "the gentlemen of the divan." When a man belonged to that set it was as if he had a label on his back; he was spoken of with smiles of mingled contempt and envy.

One evening the gentlemen of the divan, who had ended by tolerating each other's presence, experienced a disagreeable surprise on finding Captain Burle at home there. He had casually entered the cafe that same morning to get a glass of vermouth, so it seemed, and he had found Melanie there. They had conversed, and in the evening when he returned Phrosine immediately showed him to the inner room.

Used as she was to alternate brutality and flattery, she immediately became confident, believing in a sudden whim of gallantry on the part of the "old wreck," as she was wont to style the major when talking with Phrosine. Doucet and Morandot looked at each other in surprise. Was the major actually stepping into Petticoat Burle's shoes? The regiment would be convulsed if that were the case.

She almost felt the gust of the expected blow, and then, white with rage, she joined Phrosine in the outer room. When the two men were alone Major Laguitte walked up to Burle, looked at him and, slightly stooping, yelled into his face these two words: "You pig!" The captain, quite dazed, endeavored to retort, but he had not time to do so. "Silence!" resumed the major.

At every fresh oath which came from the major they glanced around, scandalized by such an unusual accession of customers and ready to threaten Melanie that they would leave her for the Cafe de la Gare if the soldiery was going to invade her place like flies that buzzed about, attracted by the stickiness of the tables which Phrosine scoured only on Saturdays.

Suddenly, however, Laguitte, who kept his eye on the square, gave a start. "Hallo, there's Burle!" he exclaimed. "Yes, it is his time," explained Phrosine. "The captain passes every afternoon on his way from the office." In spite of his lameness the major had risen to his feet, pushing aside the chairs as he called out: "Burle! I say come along and have a glass."

The major, now soaked to the skin and leaving a stream behind him, strode up to the small counter where Phrosine was reading a novel. "You little wretch," he yelled, "you have dared to gammon an officer; you deserve " And then he lifted his hand as if to deal a blow such as would have felled an ox. The little maid shrank back, terrified, while the amazed domino players looked, openmouthed.