He never asked her, he was too
sure of her.
He learned French from her as one bird feeds from another's bill,
or as one who looks at his image in a fountain, as be drinks from
it.
One day, as mother and son were at breakfast, she glanced quietly
across at him. "I heard of an excellent preparatory school of
mechanics at Rouen," she said, "so I wrote to inquire about it,
and here is the answer. I approve of it in all respects, as you
will do when you read it. I think that we shall go to Rouen; what
do you say to it?"
He grew first red, then white; then put down his bread, his table
napkin; got up and left the room. Later in the day she asked him
whether he would not read the letter; he left her without
answering. At last, just as he was going to meet Lucie on the
quay, she said, and this time with determination, that they were
to leave in the course of an hour. She had already packed up; as
they stood there the man came to fetch the luggage. At that moment
he felt that he could thoroughly understand why his father had
beaten her.
As they sat in the carriage which took them to the station he
suffered keenly.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55