United States or Kazakhstan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
How delightful it is!" "Listen!" exclaimed Genestas. "Let us wait a moment." A distant sound of singing came to their ears. "Is it a woman or a man, or is it a bird?" asked the commandant in a low voice. "Is it the voice of this wonderful landscape?" "It is something of all these things," the doctor answered, as he dismounted and fastened his horse to a branch of a poplar tree.
The four children belonging to the woman all appeared to be of the same age an odd circumstance which struck the commandant. A fifth clung about her skirts; a weak, pale, sickly-looking child, who doubtless needed more care than the others, and who on that account was the best beloved, the Benjamin of the family. Genestas seated himself in a corner by the fireless hearth.
"Why, my history has been simply the history of the army," answered Genestas. "Soldiers are all after one pattern. Never in command, always giving and taking sabre-cuts in my place, I have lived just like anybody else. I have been wherever Napoleon led us, and have borne a part in every battle in which the Imperial Guard has struck a blow; but everybody knows all about these events.
"You must not thank me, mother," said the officer; "it is all through M. Benassis that the money had come to you." The old woman raised her eyes and gazed at Genestas. "Ah! sir," she said, "he has left his property to our poor countryside, and made all of us his heirs; but we have lost him who was worth more than all, for it was he who made everything turn out well for us." "Good-bye, mother!
An old woman suddenly appeared on the threshold of one of the cabins, and the young peasant girl passed on into a cowshed, with a gesture that pointed out the aforesaid old woman, towards whom Genestas went; taking care at the same time to keep a tight hold on his horse, lest the children who were already running about under his hoofs should be hurt.
The powerful heads of Genestas and Benassis contrasted admirably with M. Janvier's apostolic countenance; and in the same fashion the elderly faces of the justice of the peace and the deputy-mayor brought out the youthfulness of the notary. Society seemed to be represented by these various types.
Genestas promptly retreated into the sitting-room when he heard these words, and in another moment a slender girl, well and gracefully made, appeared in the doorway. She wore a gown of cambric, covered with narrow pink stripes, and cut low at the throat, so as to display a muslin chemisette.
Benassis and Genestas looked at each other for a moment after reading the two letters, each full of sad thoughts, of which neither spoke. "As you see, this is only a rough copy of my last letter," said Benassis; "it is all that remains to me to-day of my blighted hopes. When I had sent the letter, I fell into an indescribable state of depression.
"That would be impossible, mademoiselle," Genestas answered respectfully. "When I was sixteen years old," La Fosseuse began, "I had to beg my bread on the roadside in Savoy, though my health was very bad. I used to sleep at Echelles, in a manger full of straw. The innkeeper who gave me shelter was kind, but his wife could not abide me, and was always saying hard things.
"Parbleu!" said Genestas, "hundreds of times!" "Oh! how I should like to know something about the army!" "Perhaps we will come to take a cup of coffee with you to-morrow, and you shall hear 'something about the army, dear child," said Benassis, who laid his hand on her shoulder and kissed her brow.
Word Of The Day