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Updated: May 31, 2025
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.
When they were in the restaurant, she took it on herself to speak, and ordered dinner, fried fish, a chicken, and salad; then she led us on toward the isle, which she knew perfectly. After this, she was gay, romping, and even rather tantalizing. Until dessert, no question of love arose. I had treated them to champagne, and Pere Piquedent was tipsy.
A perfidious idea came into my mind. One day, on entering our room, I said to the old usher in a low tone: "You would not believe it, Monsieur Piquedent, I met the little washerwoman! You know the one I mean, the woman who had the basket, and I spoke to her!" He asked, rather worried at my manner: "What did she say to you?" "She said to me why, she said she thought you were very nice.
"And what about Latin, Monsieur Piquedent?" "Oh, good heavens! Latin, Latin, Latin you see it does not keep the pot boiling!" It was nothing but an accident, an accident pure and simple. On that particular evening the princess' rooms were open, and as they appeared dark after the brilliantly lighted parlors, Baron d'Etraille, who was tired of standing, inadvertently wandered into an empty bedroom.
If I go out I find the streets full of people, and, when I am tired of walking, I go into some cafe crowded with smokers and billiard players. I tell you what, it is the life of a galley slave." I said: "Why did you not take up some other line, Monsieur Piquedent?" He exclaimed: "What, my little friend? I am not a shoemaker, or a joiner, or a hatter, or a baker, or a hairdresser.
I replied intrepidly: "Faith, he has lost his head about you!" "Then he must invite me to dinner on Sunday at the Ile des Fleurs." I promised that she should be invited. Pere Piquedent was much touched by everything I told him about her. I added: "She loves you, Monsieur Piquedent, and I believe her to be a decent girl. It is not right to lead her on and then abandon her."
A perfidious idea came into my mind. One day, on entering our room, I said to the old usher in a low tone: "You would not believe it, Monsieur Piquedent, I met the little washerwoman! You know the one I mean, the woman who had the basket, and I spoke to her!" He asked, rather worried at my manner: "What did she say to you?" "She said to me why, she said she thought you were very nice.
"And what about Latin, Monsieur Piquedent?" "Oh, good heavens! Latin, Latin, Latin you see it does not keep the pot boiling!" It was nothing but an accident, an accident pure and simple. On that particular evening the princess' rooms were open, and as they appeared dark after the brilliantly lighted parlors, Baron d'Etraille, who was tired of standing, inadvertently wandered into an empty bedroom.
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.
These private lessons were given in a little room looking out on the street. It so happened that Pere Piquedent, instead of talking Latin to me, as he did when teaching publicly in the institution, kept telling me his troubles in French. Without relations, without friends, the poor man conceived an attachment to me, and poured out his misery to me.
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