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Updated: June 25, 2025
"Come," said the colonel, "will you accept me as arbitrator?" "I beg your pardon, Colonel," interrupted the major; "I have brought you my resignation. Here it is. That settles everything. Please name the day for the duel." Burle looked at Laguitte in amazement, and the colonel thought it his duty to protest. "This is a most serious step, Major," he began.
And after that no sound broke upon the pelting downpour save the slight rustle of the boy's pen traveling over the paper. Mme Burle had resumed her seat near the chimney piece, still rigid, with her eyes fixed on the dead embers, preserving, indeed, her habitual attitude and absorbed in her one idea.
Laguitte had released his hold upon his sword and stood gazing at that poor old rascal Burle, who was stretched upon his back with his fat stomach bulging out. "Oh, my God! My God!" repeated the major furiously and despairingly, and then he began to swear. They led him away, and, both his legs failing him, he had to be supported on either side, for he could not even use his stick.
He shook himself, and little rivulets fell from his huge boots onto the floor. Then he looked round him. "I particularly want to see Burle. Is the lazy beggar already in bed?" "No, he is not in yet," said the old woman in her harsh voice. The major looked furious, and, raising his voice, he shouted: "What, not at home? But in that case they hoaxed me at the cafe, Melanie's establishment, you know.
Being prevented from leaving the army, as he was incapable of embracing any other profession, he applied for and obtained the position of captain quartermaster, "a kennel," as he called it, "in which he would be left to kick the bucket in peace." That day Mme Burle experienced a great internal disruption.
Many of the 'burle' are thoroughly comic, but many are only real or supposed evidence of personal superiority, of triumph over another.
Mme Burle was sitting up before a meager fire of vine stocks, while her little grandson Charles pored over his lessons by the pale light of a lamp. The apartment, rented at one hundred and sixty francs per annum, consisted of four large rooms which it was absolutely impossible to keep warm during the winter.
The child, while listening, had become almost hysterical, and his head was racked as with some ghastly nightmare. Mme Burle asked the major to let her finish the perusal. "Long live the republic!" She solemnly closed the volume. Charles was as white as a sheet. "You see," said the old lady, "the duty of every French soldier is to die for his country." "Yes, Grandmother."
However, the major did not linger there he pushed the divan door open and appeared before Melanie and Burle just as the widow was playfully making the captain sip his grog in small spoonfuls, as if she were feeding a pet canary. Only the ex-magistrate and the chemist had come that evening, and they had retired early in a melancholy frame of mind.
A fortnight later Major Laguitte came one evening to invite himself to dinner. He felt some awkwardness at the prospect of meeting Burle again, not on his own account but because he dreaded awakening painful memories. However, as the captain was mending his ways he wished to shake hands and break a crust with him. He thought this would please his old friend.
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