United States or Trinidad and Tobago ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And the philosopher titillated his nostril until he sneezed again and again. "And the Doctor," continued Papiol, "does he suspect nothing?" "Nothing. He has counselled me to make what amends I may by marrying you know whom." "Pardieu! he is a good innocent, that old friend of yours!" "Better than you or I, Papiol." "Cela va sans dire, mon ami. And la petite, the little bright-eyes, what of her?"
"Who is she?" says Maverick, in a great tremor. "Do the dead come to haunt us?" "You are facetious, my friend," said Papiol. But in the next moment the lady opposite had raised her eyes, showing that strange double look which had been so characteristic of Madame Arles, and poor Papiol was himself fearfully distraught. "It's true! It's true, mon ami!" he whispered his friend.
"Papiol!" said he, "mon ami, Julie is dead!" "Parbleu! And among your Puritans, yonder? She must have made a piquant story of it all!" "Not a word, Papiol! She has kept by her promise bravely." "Tant mieux: it will give you good appetite, mon ami."
To tell truth, Papiol, had she been alive, loving Adèle as I do, I believe I should have been tempted to follow the parson's admonition, cost what it might." "And then?" "And then I should give petite an honest name to bear, honest as I could, at least; and would have lavished wealth upon her, as I mean to do; and made the last half of my life better than the first."
And now, now the chief actress in this drama that had touched him so nearly lay buried in a New England grave, with his own Adèle her solitary mourner! "It was your friend the Doctor who gave the good woman absolution, I suppose," said Papiol, tapping his snuff-box, and gathering a huge pinch between thumb and finger. "Not even that comfort, I suspect," said Maverick. "Bah! pauvre femme!"
"Mon Dieu!" said Maverick, with a sudden pallor on his face, "who is she?" The eyes of Papiol fastened upon the figure which had arrested the attention of Maverick, a lady of, may-be, forty years, fashionably, but gracefully attired, with olive-brown complexion, hair still glossy black, and attended by a strange gentleman with a brusque and foreign air.
No, of a truth, such a letter had never been received by Maverick, and he cursed the mails royally for it, since it might have prevented the need of any such disclosure as he had made to his friend Johns. When the present missive of Adèle came to him, he was entering the brilliant Café de L'Orient at Marseilles, in company with his friend Papiol. The news staggered him for a moment.
I think the death was set forth in the Gazette, eh, Maverick?" "It certainly was," said Maverick, "honestly, for the child's good." "Ha! honestly, bon! I beg pardon, mom ami." And Papiol took snuff again. "Set forth in the Gazette, en règle, and came to Julie's knowledge, as I am sure; and she sailed for the East with her brother, who was a small trader in Smyrna, I believe, poor woman!
Word Of The Day