United States or Egypt ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And each day a friendly intercourse was established between the working-women of the pavement and the idlers of the boarding school. Pere Piquedent was really a comical sight. He trembled at being noticed, for he might lose his position; and he made timid and ridiculous gestures, quite a theatrical display of love signals, to which the women responded with a regular fusillade of kisses.
She picked up her basket which she had laid down at her feet. "Well, we'll see," she said. And she went away. Presently when I had reached the boarding school, I took Pere Piquedent aside, and said: "You must write to her; she is infatuated with you."
I was eighteen, and I had been for a long time looked upon at the lycee as a sly practical joker. So it was agreed that Pere Piquedent and I should set out in a hack for the ferry of Queue de Vache, that we should there pick up Angele, and that I should take them into my boat, for in those days I was fond of boating. I would then bring them to the Ile des Fleurs, where the three of us would dine.
For the past ten years, the Robineau Institute beat the imperial lycee of the town at every competitive examination, and all the colleges of the subprefecture, and these constant successes were due, they said, to an usher, a simple usher, M. Piquedent, or rather Pere Piquedent.
You are very nice." "In short, mademoiselle, do you think that, later on, we might " She hesitated a second; then in a trembling voice she said: "Do you mean to marry me when you say that? For on no other condition, you know." "Yes, mademoiselle!" "Well, that's all right, Monsieur Piquedent!"
I was eighteen, and I had been for a long time looked upon at the lycee as a sly practical joker. So it was agreed that Pere Piquedent and I should set out in a hack for the ferry of Queue de Vache, that we should there pick up Angele, and that I should take them into my boat, for in those days I was fond of boating. I would then bring them to the Ile des Fleurs, where the three of us would dine.
At the corner of the Rue de Serpent a shop caught my eye. Over the door were the words: "Colonial Products Piquedent"; then underneath, so as to enlighten the most ignorant: "Grocery." I exclaimed: "'Quantum mutatus ab illo!" Piquedent raised his head, left his female customer, and rushed toward me with outstretched hands. "Ah! my young friend, my young friend, here you are!
Beneath the parasol was the little laundress in her Sunday clothes. I was surprised. She was really pretty, though pale; and graceful, though with a rather suburban grace. Pere Piquedent raised his hat and bowed. She put out her hand toward him, and they stared at one another without uttering a word. Then they stepped into my boat, and I took the oars. They were seated side by side near the stern.
It was a frightful catastrophe. Our escapade was discovered, with the result that Pere Piquedent was dismissed. And my father, in a fit of anger, sent me to finish my course of philosophy at Ribaudet's school. Six months later I took my degree of Bachelor of Arts. Then I went to study law in Paris, and did not return to my native town till two years later.
She was a woman of about twenty, small, rather thin, pale, rather pretty, with a roguish air and laughing eyes beneath her ill-combed fair hair. Pere Piquedent, affected, began murmuring: "What an occupation for a woman! Really a trade only fit for a horse." And he spoke with emotion about the misery of the people.
Word Of The Day