Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 6, 2025
'Yes, about five o'clock. 'Well, that's all right then. We'll go down to dinner directly he comes. Are you ready? The hand more to the left, and your head a little more forward. Having arranged some cushions, Sandoz settled himself on the couch in the required attitude.
At last he thought he understood. It was Sandoz who had not changed, who remained as obstinate as regards his habits of friendship, as regards his habits of work, as radiant at being able to receive his friends at the board of his new home as he had formerly been, when sharing his frugal bachelor fare with them. A dream of eternal friendship made him changeless.
Two big tears which stood motionless between his eyelids prevented him from seeing clearly. And it seemed to him as if he would never have time to see enough. Then Sandoz, in his deep compassion, pretended he did not perceive his old friend; it was as if he wished to leave him there, beside the tomb of his wrecked life. Their comrades once more went past in a band.
'Ah! your lot is a fine one, all the same, old fellow! continued Sandoz. 'The art of to-morrow will be yours; you have made them all. Claude thereupon opened his mouth, and, with an air of gloomy brutality, said in a low voice: 'What do I care if I have made them all, when I haven't made myself? See here, it's too big an affair for me, and that's what stifles me.
Then Claude turned round to Fagerolles, and surprised him by this tardy reply: 'A fellow can only be an idiot according to his own lights, my dear chap, and it looks as if I am going to remain one. So much the better for you if you are clever! Fagerolles at once patted him on the shoulder, like a chum who had only been in fun, and Claude allowed Sandoz to take his arm. They led him off at last.
'And at "the Rejected," asked Sandoz; 'how goes it there? 'Superb; you'll see. Then turning towards Claude, and keeping both the young man's hands in his own, 'You, my good fellow, you are a trump. Listen! they say I am clever: well, I'd give ten years of my life to have painted that big hussy of yours. Praise like that, coming from such lips, moved the young painter to tears.
Claude was on the point of inquiring about their comrades in Paris, but he kept silent. Not even a word was said respecting Christine, and he was reluctantly deciding to quit Dubuche, holding out his hand to take leave, when, in spite of himself, this question fell from his quivering lips: 'And is Sandoz all right? 'Yes, he's pretty well. I seldom see him. He spoke to me about you last month.
Sandoz shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of despair. He also bewailed the fact that he had been born at what he called the confluence of Hugo and Balzac. Nevertheless, Claude remained satisfied, full of the happy excitement of a successful sitting. If his friend could give him two or three more Sundays the man in the jacket would be all there. He had enough of him for the present.
The two friends hurried off, upset by the sight of that dim figure, seized as it were with a childish fear of ghosts. They parted in the Rue Tourlaque. 'Ah! that poor devil Dubuche! said Sandoz as he pressed Claude's hand, 'he spoilt our day for us.
At intervals, however, his agitation subsided, and he remained silent, with his eyes wide open, gazing vacantly into space at something which he fancied was calling him. 'Ah! old man, he said to Sandoz, 'I finished reading your book last night. It's deucedly clever; you have shut up their mouths this time! They both talked standing in front of the chimney-piece, where some logs were blazing.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking