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Updated: June 29, 2025
One day little Babet, who was now five years old, saw, as she was coming to school, an old woman sitting at a corner of the street beside a large black brazier full of roasted chestnuts.
And in that light I perceived an immense black mass in front of us which blocked the way, and towards which we were being carried with all the violence of the current. We were lost, we would be broken there. Babet had stood upright. She held out little Marie to me: "Take the child," she exclaimed. "Leave me alone, leave me alone!" Jacques had already caught Babet in his arms.
Foremost among the ladies were the two rival beauties, equally famous for their conquests in the ecclesiastical as well as the secular nobility, the Princess Santacroce and the Princess Altieri, vying with each other in the magnificence of their diamonds and of their lace, and each upon the arm of a prince of the Church who had the honour of being her orthodox cavaliere servente; the Princess Altieri led in by Cardinal Giovan Francesco Albani, the very gallant and art-loving nephew of Winckelmann's Cardinal Alessandro; the Princess Santacroce escorted by the French Ambassador Cardinal de Bernis, the amiable society rhymester of Mme. de Pompadour, whom Frederick the Great had surnamed Babet la bouquetière.
Three-quarters of an hour had not elapsed since they had risen in bed in the dark, nail in hand, and their project in their heads. A few moments later they had joined Babet and Montparnasse, who were prowling about the neighborhood. They had broken their rope in pulling it after them, and a bit of it remained attached to the chimney on the roof.
One day little Babet, who was now five years old, saw, as she was coming to school, an old woman, sitting at a corner of the street, beside a large black brazier full of roasted chestnuts.
Besides this he made verses and songs, which gave him great authority. Babet interrogated him: "You say nothing, Brujon?" Brujon remained silent an instant longer, then he shook his head in various ways, and finally concluded to speak: "See here; this morning I came across two sparrows fighting, this evening I jostled a woman who was quarrelling. All that's bad. Let's quit." They went away.
Answer, for mercy's sake." He gently raised one of his hands, as if to beg me to speak lower; then he let it fall again, and said in a weak voice: "I am broken down," he said. "Happiness, at my age, is mortal. Don't make a noise. It seems as if my flesh were becoming quite light: I can no longer feel my legs or arms." Babet raised herself in alarm, with her eyes on uncle Lazare.
We had seated ourselves in front of the chimney; the air, outside, was tepid; but great drops of icy cold damp fell from the ceilings inside the farmhouse. Babet had taken little Marie on her knees; she was talking to her in an undertone, amused at her childish chatter. "Are you coming, father?" Jacques inquired of me. "We are going to look at the cellars and lofts." I went out with him.
My uncle Lazare heard its wail in the dreaminess of his agony. He endeavoured to turn towards Babet, and, still smiling, said: "I have seen the child and die very happy." Then he gazed at the pale sky and yellow fields, and, throwing back his head, heaved a gentle sigh. No tremor agitated uncle Lazare's body; he died as one falls asleep.
I accepted his offer with pleasure, and we seated ourselves in the carriage, the count on my left hand and Babet on both our knees. Burning with amorous passion I thought I would take the opportunity, and, to lose no time, as the coachman was driving fast, I took her hand and pressed it softly. The pressure was returned. Joy!
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