United States or Norway ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Seated idly before his canvas, the whole procession of his Paris life unwound before him from the first tumultuous hour, when he had entered the Hôtel Railleux on fire for freedom, to this moment when, with dull resentful eyes, he confronted the sum of his labors an unfinished, sorry study devoid of inspiration.
Again his head went up, again his shoulders stiffened, and, smiling to himself at some secret thought, he swung round the corner and plunged into the unexplored. Half way down the rue de Dunkerque stands the Hôtel Railleux.
They did not keep a sufficiency of servants at the Hôtel Railleux. But doubtless monsieur had noticed that? The boy met her inquisitive glance with disarming frankness, but his words when he answered gave little information. 'No. He had not as yet had time to notice anything. 'But of course! Monsieur was a new arrival? He had come when was it ? Madame appeared to search her memory.
He had lived for ten years in the Hôtel Railleux, working as six men and six women together would not have worked in the fashionable quarter, and he had never been shaken in his belief that Paris held no more inviting hostelry. The boy obediently stepped forward into the tiny apartment, in which a big wooden bedstead loomed out of all proportion.
Madame looked slowly round at the waiter and ordered coffee, then her glance returned to the boy. 'How good, how refreshing it was to see him eat! How easy to comprehend that he was young! She sighed again, this time more softly. 'Youth was a marvellous thing and Paris was the city of the young! Was monsieur making a long stay at the Hôtel Railleux?
"I know we bought something quite unique in the matter of cups, but where the deuce we put them For the love of God and the honor of the family, boy, tell me where they are!" Max's eyes were shining. "They are in the chest, mon cher. We put them there for safety as we went out last night." "Good! Give me the key." "The key, mon ami, I have left at the Hôtel Railleux!"
Then the boy, laying his hat and coat aside, seated himself at the table and entered upon the business of the hour, while madame became tactfully absorbed in her odoriferous stew. 'What did monsieur desire? The waiter stood anxiously attentive, his head inclining gravely to one side, his dirty napkin swinging from his left hand. The boy glanced up. 'What could the Hôtel Railleux offer?
"You have not asked me where I live." "Never thought of it! Where is it?" "The Hôtel Railleux, in the rue de Dunkerque." "Not a very festive locality! But sufficient for the day, eh? Well, I'll be outside the door of the Hôtel Railleux at nine o'clock." "At nine o'clock. I shall be awaiting you." "Right again! Good-bye! It's been a good morning."
He drew the boy across the road to the doorway of a little café, over the door of which hung the somewhat pretentious sign Maison Gustav. The Maison Gustav was scarcely a more appetizing place than the Hôtel Railleux.
Blake's lips parted to reply, but closed again. "Never mind, boy!" he said, gently. "Come along back to your hotel; you've seen enough life for one night." With a new day began a new epoch. On the morning following the night, of first adventure Max woke in his odd, mountainous bed at the Hôtel Railleux kindling to fresh and definite sensations.
Word Of The Day