The Rush for the Spoil, Book Two of Rougon-Macquart Cycle by Émile Zola Part 1/2 | Full Audio Book

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The Rush for the Spoil, Book Two of Rougon-Macquart Cycle by Émile Zola (1840 – 1902)
Genre(s): Culture & Heritage Fiction, General Fiction, Historical Fiction

Read by: Mark Leder in English

Parts:
Part 2 https://youtu.be/848RYm2YsRE

Chapters:
00:00:00 – 00 – Preface
00:15:01 – 01 – Chapter One, Part One
01:09:23 – 02 – Chapter One, Part Two
02:08:01 – 03 – Chapter Two, Part One
03:17:20 – 04 – Chapter Two, Part Two
04:20:07 – 05 – Chapter Three, Part One
05:02:42 – 06 – Chapter Three, Part Two
06:06:00 – 07 – Chapter Four, Part One

Book Two of Zola’s 20-volume Rougon-Macquart Cycle. ‘The Rush for the Spoil’ (‘La Curee’) concerns Aristide Siccard (once Aristide Rougon) and his family, who come to Paris during the Second Empire, and ‘make a killing’, as they say, in land speculation. – Summary by Mark Leder

More information: https://librivox.org/the-rush-for-the-spoil-book-two-of-rougon-macquart-cycle-by-emile-zola/

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Section zero of the rush for the spoil this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org read by Mark leader the rush for the spoil by em Zola translated by Henry bitelli section zero preface the public and the Press have

Agreed that La is M sh against this verdict I have no objection to offer I believe it will meet with posterity’s endorsement but although lamur May lift its head the highest there are many other volumes in the rugon MAA series which stand on and speak from equally

Loft platforms of Art in my opinion these are and La cure I have spoken before of zolah as an epic poet he is this more than he is anything and as he is more epic in La than elsewhere and La M always accepted it follows that it must be one of the best

And most character istic of his works the qualities that endow a book with immortality exist independent of the artist’s will and the process of penetrating of animating the whole with life is accomplished as silently and unconsciously as the seed grain germinates in the earth as the child quickens with life in the

Womb and doubtless zolah intended in the beginning to write merely the passionate love story of a woman who oppressed and wearied of luxxury is forced to seek in violent ways and fierce fancies Oblivion of golden idleness of an aimless and satiated existence this idea might have been

Worked out and adequately worked out in the analysis of the Mind of a Duke’s daughter who after five years of husband hunting in London drawing rooms runs away and lives with her groom at Hamstead and taken out of it setting Miss Zola’s story is quite as simple

Renee is a young girl of the upper middle classes she’s been seduced she is on it is necessary to find her a husband under such circumstances it would be vain to be too particular and an adventurer called sear is chosen he is a genius who’s waiting for a few pounds to

Make a million Rene’s Fortune enables him to do this he places her in a magnificent house in the par moo he gives her everything but an interest in life to gain this she falls in love with her stepson Maxim sakar the story of this incestuous passion becomes the

Theme of the book and when Maxim deserts his stepmother to get married she dies of consumption that is all but this slight outline soon began to grow to take gigantic proportions in Zola’s mind and was not long before he saw that his story was an allegory of the Second

Empire Renee became Paris her dress maker worms became the emperor her dresses the material of which cost 60 the making up of which with the accumulated interest cost 600 are the boulevards and buildings with which the city was adorned at ruinous expense in the clamor of the fat in the

Park mono for the demands of the creditors are silenced and when Renee dies her debts are paid by her father that is to say by the Republic of missier Renee is a Venus but not the Greek Venus the white breasted woman born of the seaf foam andh heralded by Cupids and

Tritons she is not even the Obscure Venus of the Hollow Hill that bod Lair describes as having grown diabolic among ages that would would not accept her as Divine Renee is the Venus of the counting house her hair is yellow as pale gold her drawing room is hung with

Yellow draperies and her golden head seen there on as she leans back in her richly upholstered chairs seems like a Setting Sun that sinks little by little drowned in a bath of gold but unlike her earlier prototypes she does not find the flesh sufficient the sensualities are not the

Dark desire of the animal but the nervous erism of a human mind that satiated with pleasure Longs and hungers for some strange and acute note to break the clawing sweetness the monotonous Melody of her life here there is no touch of pagan or medieval thought Maxim fears no God he

Knows not remorse nor even desire he is the son of the capitalist he is the weed sprung from but not the intelligence that is built up the gold Heap and he festers and rots like a weed in an overpoweringly rich soil sakar is Mammon nothing exists for

Him but gold thoughts dreams love have long since disappeared he’s not even vicious in the lust of speculation all other passions have been submerged have sunk out of sight forever men and things only suggest to him ideas for the accumulation of wealth and from the heights of M he looks down

Upon Paris like a wolf upon its prey his eyes flashed with Fierce light his lips twitched with a wild mental hunger that manifests itself in physical actions with his hand he divides Paris into sections he sees how he will distribute it into bull ards squares and streets

And he hears Envision the cries of the Huntsman and he longs to put himself at the head of the hounds and to descend with open Jaws upon the splendid Quarry that even now run to death lies panting and bleeding before him the book is Paris Paris as she

Feasted and flattered under the Second Empire a Paris of adventurers of cortis a Paris of debts a Paris of women’s shoulders Cotillion champagne of violins and pios a Paris of Opera hats a Paris of gold pieces of fraud of liars of speculation of supper tables a Paris

Sonorous and empty as a Wheel of Fortune a Paris of sweet meats rendevu Bank notes a Paris of Tresses of false hair forgotten in hacky carriages yes a Paris of this and of little else there is the famous scene of the return from the boah under the pale October Sky

In which towards the port de louet there still floats the dim light of an Autumn Sunset the carriages are blocked and the uncertain Rays dance through the brightly painted Wheels touching with intense Splendor the buckles of the harness for large buttons on the liveries and the burnished C

Arcades the artificial lake lies still reflecting in its Crystal Clarity the innumerable Graces of the popers and pine trees that grow down to the very Banks of a trim Island the walks are as bits of gray ribbon lost in the dark foliage the scene looks like a newly varnished toy

All Paris is there cortis diplomatists and speculators Renee is there she’s with Maxim who’s pointing out and telling her about his father’s new mistress she is the celebrated LA to whose house Renee goes with Maxine because she’s anxious to know what a cot’s ball is really like afterwards they s in a cabinet

Partic at the cafe R Renee is sipping a glass of chartreuse the gas is hissing the room has grown hot they throw open the window Paris rolls beneath them the boulevard is alive with a flashing lights of carriages women go by in hundreds they pass into the darkness of

A traversing Street they reappear again like Shadows thrown by a magic lantern groups of men sit round the tables at the door of the cafe some are talking to women some sit smoking vacantly while watching the interminable procession that passes and repasses before them one woman wears a green silk she

Sits with her legs crossed Renee feels strangely interested by and by wearied of the boulevard she examines the Looking Glass scratched all over with diamond rings and she asks Maxim questions concerning the women whose names are scrolled thereon Maxine pleads ignorance putting his cigar aside he advances toward her

They look into each other’s eyes she falls into his arms there is the ballroom scene sard is on the brink of Ruin but he gives a fet that costs him £4,000 he’s anxious that his son should marry a little Hunchback who has an immense Fortune thato Von are over and

The dancers in the costumes of gods and goddesses are dancing the Renee who’s cognizant of her husband’s project is wandering about mad with nervous rage and despair she pursues Maxim drags him with her into her bedroom and tells him that he must fly with her to America that she will

Never consent to give him up and I must not forget that requisite bit of description 10 lines not more which for a rapidity of observation and precision and delicacy of touch seems to me unsurpassable indeed to find anything that might be said against it I should have to turn to that Supreme success

That final Vindication of a divine power of words fluc sanal the passage I allude to is when Renee goes to the great fet at the twery she wears a wonderful dress composed entirely of white muslin and black velvet the bodice is in Black Velvet the skirt in white muslin

Garnished with a million flounces and all cut up and adorned with bows made out of black velvet no ornament but one diamond in her for colored hair suddenly the people draw into lines and the corpulent Emperor walks down the room on the arm of one of his generals Renee shrinks back but she

Cannot get away she’s in in the front Rank and when Napoleon fixes his All Eyes Are Fixed upon her a heaven of lusters is above her head a velvety carpet beneath her feet and she hears the general whisper to the emperor there’s a carnation that would suit our button holes uncommonly

Well the rest of the FED is lost in this m d is an acute note that vibrates long in the monotonous Melody of her life whether lur is a faithful picture true to the smallest detail of Life under the Second Empire I cannot say nor

Do I care I’m content to take it for what it seems to me to be a gorgeous a golden poem born of the author’s contemplation of the scenes he describes although a tyrant the PO I theii was a demagogue at heart when he came into office Paris was starving to

Govern he saw that he would have to feed the people and to do this the ingenious plan of creating an immense debt living upon it and giving the city a security was adopted he appeased his enemies by calling new names to the front he Unchained and he gave them unlimited

Means of gratifying their appetites in a house of ill Fame politics do not occupy men’s Minds why not turn Paris into a house of ill Fame but what is true for individuals is true for Nations sedan was the suicide of the prostituted city this is the view Miss zolah takes of the Second

Empire La is but a corner of it but I do not know any Corner more beautifully furnished more perfectly proportioned of course faults may be urged it may be said and I admit with a certain show of reason that the characters are more representative of the classes to which

They belong than individual men and women the same argument may be used and with equal effect against Hamlet against orestes against every beautiful drawing of Hokusai and hokai who impossible and impossible faults have been found and all visible and invisible flaws taken note of I believe it will be admitted by

The blind the dumb and the lame that when the last page of laare is read the impression left upon the mind is one of intense artistic Beauty George Moore end of section zero section one of the rush for the spoil by Emil zolah translated by Henry batelli this LibriVox recording is in

The public domain read by Mark leader section one on the return home the carriage could only move slowly along amidst the mass of vehicles winding round the Lake of the badong at one moment the block became such that the horses were even brought to a stand

Still the sun was setting in the faint gray October Sky stre with Slender clouds on the horizon a last Ray which came from above the distant Shrubbery of the Cascade streamed across the roadway bathing the long line of now stationary carriages in a pale Ruddy light the golden glimmers the bright flashes

From the wheels seem to have become fixed to the straw colored fillets wilst the dark blue panels of the carriage reflected portions of a surrounding landscape and higher up full in the Ruddy light which illumined them from behind and which gave a sparkle to the Brass buttons of their overcoats folded

Over the back of the box seat The Coachman and the footman dressed in a livery consisting of dull blue coats putty colored breaches and black and yellow striped wcets sat erect grave and patient like well-trained Lackey whose temper is above being ruffled by a block of vehicles their hats embellished with

Black Cades gave them a most dignified appearance the superb bay horses were alone snorting impatiently hello said Maxim there’s Laura dorini over there and that BR look Renee Renee raised herself slightly and blinking her eyes with that Exquisite pout which was caused by the weakness of her sight

Said I thought she was traveling she’s changed the color of her hair has she not yes replied Maxim with a laugh her new lover detests everything red Renee bent forward her hand resting on Bel low door of the carriage continued looking awakened from the sad dream which for an hour past had kept

Her silently reclining on the back seat as though in an invalid’s easy chair over a mauve dress with an upper skirt and tunic and trimmed with broad plated flounces she wore a little white cloth jacket with more velvet facings which gave her a very dashing air her extraordinary pale fawn colored hair the

Hue of which recalled that that of the finest butter was scarcely concealed beneath a slender Bonnet adorned with a cluster of crimson roses she continued to Blink her eyes in the style of an impertinent boy her pure brow crossed by one long wrinkle her upper lip protruding just like a sulky

Child’s then as she was unable to distinguish very well she raised her double eyeglass a regular man’s eyeglass with a tortoise shell frame and holding it up in her hand without placing it on her nose she examined Stout Laura D at her ease in a perfectly calm manner the block still

Continued amidst the uniform dull colored patches caused by the long line of Broms extremely numerous in the baah on that Autumn afternoon the glass of a window a horse’s bit a plated lamp holder or the gold or silver lace on the Livery of some Lackey seated up on high sparkled in the

Sun here and there an open land I displayed of a glimpse of a dress some woman’s costume in silk or velvet little by little a profound silence had succeeded the hubub of the now stationary mass in the depths of the carriages one could overhear the remarks of the

Pedestrians there was an exchange of speechless glances from vehicle to vehicle and all conversation ceased during this deadlock The Silence of which was only broken by the creaking of harness and the impatient pouring of some horse the confused murmurs of the boah were dying away in the

Distance in spite of the lateness of the Season all Paris was there The Duchess Stern in a chariot Madame deloren in a Victoria drawn by some very fine Cattle Baron de minol in a delicious dark brown private cab Countess vona with her pie Bol ponies Madame daste in her famous black

Steppers Madame dend and Madame Tessier in a bro little Sylvia in a deep blue land and Don Carlos too in morning with his ancient and solemn looking Livery Seline Pasa with his feiz and without his tutor Puch d r Roan in her single- seated Braum and with her powdered

Lackes K to shib in a dog cart Mr Simpson on a well-appointed mail coach the whole of the American colony finally two members of the academy in a cab the leading carriages were at length released and the whole line was soon able to move slowly onwards it was like

And Awakening a thousand scintillations danced around rapid flashes play to and fro amidst the wheels whilst the harness shaken by the horses emitted a galaxy of Sparks along the ground and on the trees were broad reflections of fleeting glass this glistening of harness and of Wheels this blaze of varnished panels

All AG glow with the red fire of besetting sun the bright touches of The Gorgeous liveries perched up on eye and of the rich costumes bursting from the confined space of the equipages passed along in the midst of a hollow continuous rumbling timed by the pace of a thoroughbreds and the procession

Continued accompanied by the same sounds and the same scintillations unceasingly and at one spurt as though the leading Vehicles had been dragging all the others after them Renee had yielded to the slight jolting of the carriage as it once more started off and dropping her eyeglass she’d resumed her half reclining posture

On the cushions she shivering Drew towards her a corner of the bare skin which filled the interior of the vehicle with a silky Snow White Mass her gloved hands became lost amidst the long soft curly hairs The North Wind was beginning to blow the warm October afternoon which in

Giving to the baah an appearance of spring had brought out the most fashionable ladies in their open carriages threatened to end in an evening of piercing chilliness for a while the young woman remained huddled up enjoying the warmth of her corner and abandoning herself to the voluptuous lullabi of all those

Wheels turning before her eyes then raising her head towards Maxim whose glances were quietly UNR robing the women displayed in the adjoining BRS and landow she asked really now do you think her pretty that Laura you were praising her up so much the other day when someone spoke of the

Sale of her diamonds by the way you’ve not seen the necklace in the agret that your father brought me at the sale ah he does everything well said Maxim with a spiteful laugh and without answering her question he manages to pay Laura’s debts and to make his wife presents of

Diamonds the young woman slightly Shrugged her shoulders Rascal murmured she with a smile but the young man had lent forward following with his eyes a lady whose green dress interested him Renee was resting her head her eyes half closed idly glancing at both sides of the Avenue but without

Seeing on the right were copses and low bushes with Slender branches and rened leaves now and again on the track reserved for Riders passed slim built gentlemen whose Galloping steeds raised little clouds of dust on the left at the foot of the narrow sloping Lawns intersected by

Flower beds and shrubberies the lake as clear as Crystal reposed without a ripple as though neatly trimed Med All Around by the Spades of the gardeners and on the opposite side of this limpid mirror the two islands with the connecting Bridge forming a gray bar between them displayed their Pleasant

Shores arraying against the pale sky with theatrical lines of their Furs and of their Evergreens the dark foliage of which similar to The Fringe of curtains skillfully hung on the very edge of the Horizon was reflected in the still water this corner of nature having the appearance of a piece of scenery freshly

Painted was bathed in a slight shadow in a Bluey Vapor which finished giving an Exquisite charm to the background an air of adorable falsity on the other bank the Chalet deil looking freshly varnished shown like a new toy and those gravel Contours those narrow Garden walks which wind in

And out out of a lawns in border of a lake and are hedged with cast iron Hoops imitating rustic woodwork stood out more curiously from the soft green of the water and of the grass at this last hour of daylight used to The Graces of these skillfully arranged points of view Renee

Again yielding to her feeling of weariness had completely lowered her eyelids no longer observing ought but her tapering fingers as she twined around them the long hairs of the be skin but there came a kind of jerk in the even Trot of a line of carriages and raising her head she bowed

To two young women reclining side by side with Amorous Langer in a barou which was noisily leaving the road that skirts the lane to turn down one of the lateral Avenues the Marist desp whose husband at that time one of the emperor’s Aid the comp had just rallied

With a good deal of fuss to the scandal of a sulking old nobility was one of the most illustrious Society queens of the Second Empire the other Madame Hoffner had married a famous manufacturer of Colmar 20 times millionaire and whom the empire was turning into a political

Personage Renee who had known at school the two inseparables as they were slightly termed always called them by their Christian names adelene and suzan thought he did this will make him quite a favorite with the ladies again but dear fellow I never interfere with him she smiled she uttered the dear

Fellow in a tone of voice full of friendly indifference and all on a sudden becoming quite sad again and casting around her that despairing glance of women who know not how to amuse themselves she murmured oh I should be only too delighted but no I’m not jealous not in the least

Jealous she stopped hesitating you see I feel bored she at length said abruptly then she relapsed into silence her lips pressed firmly together the L of vehicle still wended its way round the lake with a uniform Trot and a noise greatly resembling that of some distant cataract now on the left between the

Water and the roadway Rose little clumps of Evergreens with thin straight stems forming curious clusters of tiny columns on the right the copses and low bushes had come to an end the B had expanded into large Lawns immense carpets of turf with groups of tall trees planted here

And there the greens were continued with gentle undulations as far as the P la muet below iron gates of which looking like a piece of black lace drawn across the ground could be seen far away in the distance and on the slopes at the parts where the Earth sank in the grass had

Quite a Bluey look Renee gazed with fixed eyes as though this enlargement of the Horizon these soft Meades all wreaking with the night Dew had caused her to feel more keenly than ever The Emptiness of her existence at the end of a pause she repeated with the accents of subdued

Anger oh I feel bored I feel bored to death you are not over Lively you know said Maxim quietly it’s your nerves I’m sure the young woman threw herself back again on her cushions yes it’s my nerves retorted she sharply then she became quite maternal I am growing old my dear child

I shall soon be 30 it’s terrible I take pleasure in nothing at 20 you cannot understand this did you ask me to come with you to listen to your confession interrupted the young man it will be terribly long she received this impertinent remark with a feeble Smile as though

Dealing with a spoiled child to whom everything is permitted you’re a nice one to complain continued Maxim you spend more than 100,000 Franks a year on your dress you live in a splendid Mansion you possess some superb horses your Caprices become law and the newspapers mention every new dress you

Wear as though they were relating something of the highest importance all the women are jealous of you every man would give 10 years of his life just to kiss the tips of your fingers is it not so she nodded her head affirmatively but did not otherwise

Answer with eyes cast down she was again curling the hairs of the bare skin ah do not be modest resumed Maxim admit at once that you are one of the pillars of the Second Empire between ourselves we can speak of these things everywhere at the twery at the

Ministries at the Mansions of the mere millionaires over the highest and lowest you reign with Sovereign power there’s not a pleasure you’ve not partaken of and if I dared if the respect I owe you did not restrain me I would say he paused for a few seconds laughing

The while then he cavalierly finished his sentence I would say that you’ve tasted of every Apple she did not wince and yet you feel bored continued the young man with ludicrous vivacity but it’s downright suicide what is it you want whatever is it you are dreaming

Of she Shrugged her Shoulders by way of saying she did not know though she held her head down Maxim saw such a serious such a gloomy look on her face that he left off speaking he watched the line of vehicles which on reaching the end of the lake

Spread out and filled the vast Cur the carriages no longer being so closely packed together turned around with a superb Grace wilst The Accelerated Trot of the horses resounded loudly on the hard ground on going the round to rejoin the line the carriage oscillated in a way which filled Maxim with a vague

Voluptuousness then yielding to a desire to overwhelm Renee he resumed ah you deserve to never ride in anything better than a cab it would serve you right why just look at this crowd returning to Paris this crowd ready to fall down and worship you you’re hailed as a queen and your dear

Friend Miss deusi can scarcely restrain himself from blowing kisses to you and indeed Ryder was at that moment bowing to Renee Maxim had been speaking in a hypocritically mocking way but Renee scarcely turned around and contented herself by shrugging her shoulders this time the young man made a desp sparing

Gesture really said he is it as bad as all that but good Heavens you have everything what more do you want Renee raised her head her eyes had a warm bright look the Ardent desire of unsatiated curiosity I want something else replied she in a low voice but you have

Everything resumed Maxim laughing something else is no answer what is the something else you want ah what repeated she and she said nothing further she had turned completely round and was contemplating the strange picture which was disappearing behind her it was now almost dark dusk was gradually enveloping all like a fine

Dust the lake when looked at frontways in the PIR light which still hovered over it seemed to become rounder and had the appearance of an immense plate of brass on either side the plantations of Evergreens the slim straight stems of which looked as though they issued from

The Still Water assumed at this hour the aspect of violet tinted colonades describing with their regular architecture the elaborate curves of the shores then right at the back rose groups of shrubs and trees confused masses of foliage broad black patches closing the Horizon Behind These patches there Shone

A bright glimmer an expiring Sunset which merely lit up a very small portion of the gray immensity Above This motionless Lake and these copses this point of view so peculiarly flat The Vault of Heaven opened infinite deeper and more expanded still this great extent of Sky over this

Tiny corner of nature caused a shutter and undefinable sadness and they descended from these pale altitudes such an autumnal melano so sweet and yet so heartbreaking a darkness that the B enveloped little by little in a veil of obscurity lost its worldly Graces and breaking its bounds became filled with all the

Powerful charm of a forest the rumble of the vehicles the bright colors of which became lost in the dim light sounded like the distant murmur of leaves and water courses everything had an expiring air in the center of the lake amidst the universal evess the Latin sail of a large pleasure boat

Stood out vigorously defined against the last glow of the sunset and one could no longer distinguish anything but this sail this triangle of yellow canvas inordinately enlarged in the midst of her satiety Renee experienced the Singular Sensation of unavowable desires at the sight of his landscape she no longer recognized

IED of this bit of nature so artistically worldly and which by its great shivering Darkness seemed changed into some sacred wood one of those ideal Glades in whose recesses the gods of antiquity used to hide their giant loves their Divine adulteries and incests and as the carriage drove away

It seemed to her that the Twilight carried off behind her hidden in its trembling Veil The Land of her dreams the shameful and unearthly Al Cove where she might at last have swaged her suffering heart her wearied flesh when the lake and the copses rapidly Vanishing in the shades of night

Merely appeared as a black bar against the sky the young woman turned abruptly around and in a voice full of tears of vexation she resumed her interrupted sentence what why by something else of course I want something else how can I tell what if I only

Knew but you see I’m sick of balls of supper parties of Merry makings it’s always the same thing over again it’s mortal men are unbearable oh yes unbearable Maxim burst out laughing Ardent desires pierced through through the fashionable Beauty’s aristocratic bearing she no longer blinked her eyes

The wrinkle on her forehead became more harshly accentuated her lip like a sulky child’s stood out full of passion in quest of those enjoyments for which she longed though unable to name them she beheld her companion laughing but she was too transported to stop half reclining and swayed by the motion of

The carriage she continued in short jerky sentences yes really you are unbearable I don’t say that for you Maxim you’re too young but if I only told you how arus wearied me in the early days and the others too those who have loved me you know we are too good

Friends I don’t stand on ceremony with you well really there are days when I’m so tired of living my life of a rich adored and honored woman that I should like to be a lord one of those ladies who live like men and as Maxim laughed louder than

Ever she laid more stress upon her words yes it would surely be less insipid not so much always the same thing she kept silent a few minutes as though she were Conjuring up the life she would lead or she Laura then she was resumed in a tone of discouragement after all those ladies

Must have their troubles also there’s decidedly nothing really amusing it’s enough to make one sick of life I was right when I said there was something else wanting I can’t guess what you know but something else something which does not happen to everyone which one does not

Meet with every day which would give a rare and unknown enjoyment her voice had softened she uttered these last words as though she were seeking something gradually falling into a deep revery The Carriage was then ascending the Avenue which leads to the way out of the boah the darkness increased the

Undergrowth on either side flew past them like two gray walls the yellow painted iron chairs on which the holiday making citizens Lounge on fine evenings sped along the sidewalks unoccupied and wrapped in that black Melancholy peculiar to garden furniture overtaken by winter and the rumble the dull and

Cadenced sound of the returning Vehicles was wafted over the deserted way like some sad whale no doubt Maxim felt all the bad form there was in finding life amusing if he was still young enough to yield to an outburst of delighted admiration he possessed an egotism too vast an

Indifference too scoffing he already felt too much real weariness to do other than declare himself sick of everything satiated done for he was usually in the habit of glorifying in this avow he stretched himself out like Renee and assumed a doleful tone of voice really now you’re right said he

It’s enough to kill one ah I don’t amuse myself any more than you you may be sure I too have often dreamed of something else nothing is stupider than traveling as for making money I prefer far more to spend it though that is not always as amusing as one would fancy at

First then there’s love making being loved one soon has more than enough of it is it not so ah yes one soon has more than enough of it as the young lady did not answer he continued washing to astonish her by something grossly impious I should like to be loved by a

Nun hey perhaps there would be some amusement in that have you never dreamed of loving a man of whom you could never think without committing a crime but she remained gloomy and Maxim seeing that she still kept silent thought that she was not listening to him with the nape of her neck leaning

Against the padded edge of the carriage she seemed sleeping with her eyes open she was wrapped in thought inert full of her dreams which kept her thus depressed and at times a nervous twinge passed over her lips she was softly overcome by the shadow of a Twilight all but the shadow

Contained of undefined sadness of discreet voluptuousness of unavowed Hope penetrated her bathed her in a sort of languid and morbid atmosphere wilst looking fixedly at the round back of the footman on the box seat she was thinking no doubt of those joys of former days of those parties she

Now found so dull and for which she no longer cared she looked back on on her past life the immediate satisfaction of every whim the fomen of luxury the crushing monotony of similar affections and similar betrayals then like a hope there arose in her as she quivered with desire the

Thought of this something else which her overwrought mind was unable to fix upon there her Ry wandered she made effort upon effort but each time the sought for word disappeared in the Gathering night became lost in the continuous Rumble of the vehicles the gentle motion of the carriage was a

Hesitation the more which prevented her formulating her desire and an immense Temptation ascended from out of this vagueness from these copses slumbering in the Shadows on either side of the Avenue from this noise of wheels and from the soft oscillation which filled her with the delicious torper a thousand little thrills passed

Over her flesh unfinished dreams nameless ecstasies confused wishes all the grace and monstrosity which returned from the baah at the hour when the heavens assume a palet hue can introduce Into the wearied Heart of a woman she kept her hands buried in the bare skin she felt quite hot in her

White cloth jacket with more velvet facings on thrusting out her her foot as she stretched herself with bodily enjoyment her ankle rubbed against Maxim’s warm leg but he did not even notice the contact of her flesh a jerk roused her from her lethargy she raised her head and her

Gray eyes looked in a bewildered sort of way at the young man who was seated in the most elegant attitude at this moment the carriage left the boah the Avenue de latri extended in a straight line in the Twilight with the two green borders of wooden fence which seemed to meet at The

Horizon in the distance a white horse on the side path reserved for Riders appeared like a bright Speck in the midst of the gray Shadow here and there on the opposite side of the roadway were groups of black dots belated pedestrians slowly wending their steps towards Paris and right at the top

At the end of the mixed and moving line of vehicles the ACT Triumph placed sideways stood out all white against the vast stretch of Sky the color of soot wilst The Carriage ascended at a faster Pace Maxim Charmed with the English appearance of a landscape examined the whimsically designed Villas

On either side of the Avenue with their lawns sloping down to the foot paaths Renee still wrapped in Ry amused herself by watching at the edge of the Horizon the gas lamps of the plaset as they were lighted up one by one and as fast as their bright glimmers

Speckled the expiring light with little yellow flames she fancied she could hear secret calls it seemed to her that the flaring Paris of a Winter’s Night was being illuminated on her account and Was preparing for her the unknown enjoyment after which her satiated body hangered The Carriage turned down the

Avenue de Len ense and Drew up at the end of the Roso a few steps from the Boulevard malis in front of a Grand Mansion situated between a courtyard and a garden the two iron gates loaded with guilt ornaments which gave admittance to the Courtyard were each flanked by a

Pair of lamps shaped like urns and also covered with gilding in which flared great flames of gas between the two gates the doorkeeper occupied An Elegant Lodge which vaguely resemble a little greek temple at the moment the carriage was about to enter the courtyard Maxim jumped nimbly out you know said Renee as

She caught hold of his hand to detain him we D at halfast 7 you have more than an hour to dress in don’t keep us waiting and she added with a smile we are expecting the mar your father wishes you to be very attentive to Louise Maxim Shrugged his

Shoulders what a boore murmured he in a sullen tone of voice I don’t mind marrying but as for courting it’s too stupid ah it would be so nice of you Renee if you would deliver me from Louise this evening he put on his most comical look mimicking the Grimace and the accent of

The actor Lush as he did every time he was about to make one of his funny remarks will you my pretty darling Mama Renee shook hands with him as with a comrade and rapidly with an audacity full of a nervous she answered ah if I had not married your

Father I really believe you would Court me this idea must have struck the young man as highly comical for he had turned the corner of the boulevard malaz before he’d done laughing The Carriage entered and Drew up at the foot of the steps these steps which were Broad and

Low were sheltered by a vast glass fanda edged with a scallop imitating golden Fringe and tassels the two stories of the Mansion Rose above the domestic offices the Square Windows of which glazed with ground Glass appeared almost on a level with the soil at the top of the steps

The whole door stood out flanked by slender columns fixed in the wall forming thus a kind of forart pierced at each floor by a round Bay and ascending as high as the roof where it terminated in a point on either side each story had five Windows placed at regular intervals

Along the facade and surrounded by a simple stone border the roof with its attic Windows was Square shaped with broadsides almost perpendicular but the facade on the garden side was far more Sumptuous a Regal flight of steps led to a narrow Terrace which extended the whole length

Of the ground floor the ballustrade of this Terrace in the style of the railings of the park mono was even more covered with guilt than the Vera and the lamps of the courtyard Above This Rose the mansion with a wing at either end like two towers half inserted in the body of the

Building and which contained rooms of circular shape in the center another Tower even deeper inserted still formed a slight curve the windows tall and narrow in the wings wider apart and almost Square on the flat portions of the facade had Stone ballustrades on the ground floor and gilded rought iron handrails at the

Upper stories it was a display a profusion a super super abundance of riches the Mansion disappeared beneath the carvings around the windows along the cornices were Scrolls of flowers and branches there were balconies resembling masses of verdure supported by great nude women with strained hips and protruding breasts then here and there were

Fantastic Al es cussions Bunches of fruit roses every Blossom it is possible to represent in stone or marble as fast as one’s glance ascended the building seemed to bloom the more around the roof was a ballustrade bearing at equal distances urns on which burnt flames of stone and there beneath

The oval Windows of the attics which opened amidst an incredible medley of fruits and foliage expanded the crowning portions of this amazing ornamentation the pediments of the two Wings in the center of which reappeared the great nude women playing with apples and standing in every conceivable posture among sheaves of

Reads the roof loaded with these ornaments surmounted besides with galleries of carved lead with two lightning conductors and with four enormous symmetrical chimney Stacks sculptured like all the rest seemed to be the final flare up of this architectural firework to the right was a vast Conservatory fixed to the side of the

Mansion and communicating with the ground floor by means of a French window opening out of a little drawing room the garden separated from the park Mono by a low iron railing hidden by a hedge sloped rather sharply too small for the house and so narrow but a lawn and a few

Clumps of Evergreens occupied the entire space it simply formed a kind of null a verdant pedestal on which the Mansion was proudly planted decked out in its gayest attire seen from the park towering above the bright grass and The Shining foliage of the shrubs this great building

Looking still new and quite sickly had the salow complexion the stupid and moneyed importance of some female upstart with its heavy headdress of slates its gilded ballustrades and its flood of sculpture it was a reproduction of V new lou on a smaller scale one of the most characteristic specimens of the style of

The Second Empire that opulent bastard of every Style on summer evenings when the last rays of the sun lit up the guilt of the ballustrades against the white facade the strollers in the park would stop to look at the red silk curtains hanging at the ground floor windows and through

Pain so large and clear but they seemed like those of the great modern emporiums placed there to display the interior wealth to the outer World these families of modest citizens would catch glimpses of Articles of furniture of portions of hangings and of corners of ceilings of dazzling Splendor the side of which

Would root them to the spot with admiration and envy right in the center of the pathways but at this hour the trees cast their Shadows over the facade which was wrapped in Gloom in in the courtyard on the other side the footman had respectfully assisted Renee to a light

From the carriage The Stables with red brick dressings opened on the right their Wide Doors of polished Oak at the end of a glass roofed yard on the left as though to counterbalance was a richly ornamented recess in the wall of the adjoining house with a fountain of water

Perpetually flowing from a shell which two Cupids supported in their outstretched arms the young woman stood a moment at the foot of the steps gently tapping her skirt to get it to hang right the courtyard through which the noise of the return had just passed resumed its Solitude its aristocratic silence broken

By the Eternal sing song of a dripping water and as yet amidst the great black mass of the Mansion the chandeliers of which were so soon to be illuminated on the occasion of the first of the grand dinner parties of of the Autumn only the lower windows were lighted up all a glow

And casting the bright reflection of a conflagration on the small paving stones of the courtyard as neat and regular as a draft board as Renee pushed open the hole door she found herself face to face with her husband’s valet who was on his way to the servant’s quarters and carrying a

Silver Kettle dressed all in black tall strong pale-faced this man looked superb with the whiskers of an English diplomatist and the grave and dignified air of a magistrate Baptist inquired the young woman has your master come in yes madame he’s dressing replied the valet with a bow worthy of a prince acknowledging the

Plotts of the crowd Renee slowly ascended the staircase withdrawing her gloves the while the hole was fitted up most luxuriously on entering one experienced the slightly suffocating sensation the thick carpets which covered the floor and the stairs the broad red velvet hangings which hid the walls and the do made the atmosphere

Heavy with the silence and the warm fragrance of a chapel the draperies hung from on high and the lofty ceiling was ornamented with Salient arabesques on a golden trellis the staircase with its double ballustrade of white marble and handrail covered with red velvet opened out into two slightly winding branches between

Which was placed the entrance to the Grand drawing room right at the back an immense mirror covered the whole of the wall on the first landing down below at the foot of the branching staircase two bronze guilt female figures on marble pedestals and nude down to the waist supported

Gigantic lamp posts carrying five burners the brilliant light from which was softened by ground glass globes and on either side was a row of Splendid vases in molica where in which Blossom the rarest plants Renee ascended and at each step she took her reflection in the mirror

Increased in size she was asking herself with that doubt entertained by the most popular actresses whether she were really delicious as everyone told her then when she’d reached her apartment which was on the first floor and overlooked the park moso she rang for Celeste her maid and had herself dressed for

Dinner this operation lasted a good 3/4 of an hour when the last pin had been fixed she opened the window as the room was very close and leaning out remained there wrapped in thought behind her Celeste was moving moving discreetly about tidying the room down below the park was immersed in

A sea of Shadow the inky colored masses of the tall trees shaken by sudden gusts of wind swayed to and fro like the tide with that rustling of Dead Leaves which recalls the breaking of the waves on a shingly strand piercing now and again this EB

And flow of Darkness the two yellow eyes of a carriage would appear and vanish between the shrubberies bordering the road which connects the Avenue Deen ense with the Boulevard maler in the face of all this autumnal Melancholy Rene’s sad thoughts returned she fancied herself once more a

Child in her father’s house in that silent Mansion of the E San Louie where for two centuries past the be chatel had sheltered their gloomy maerial gravity then her thoughts turned to her sudden marriage to that widower Who Sold himself to become her husband and who had trucked his name of

Rugon for that of sakar the two sharp syllables of which had sounded in her ears when first pronounced before her with all the brutality of two rakes Gathering up gold he took her and cast her into this life of turmoil amidst which her poor brain became a little more cracked every

Day then she set to dreaming with a childish joy of the happy games at battledore and shuttlecock she’d played in the old times with her young Sister Christine and some morning she would awake from a dream of enjoyment she’d been indulging for 10 years past crazy and befouled by one of her husband’s

Speculations in which he himself would also sink this passed before her like a rapid presentent the trees were lamenting in a louder tone troubled by these thoughts of Shame and Punishment Renee yielded to the old and worthy middle class Instinct slumbering within her she promised the Black Knight she would reform that she

Would no longer spend so much on her dress and that she would seek some innocent occupation to amuse her like in the happy school days when she and her Playmates sang beneath the plain trees and danced in her ring at this moment Celeste who had been downstairs turned and murmured in her mistress

Ear Master would be glad if Madame would go down there are already several persons in the drawing room Renee started she not felt the chilly air which was freezing her shoulders as she passed before her Looking Glass she stopped and glanced at herself mechanically with an involuntary smile she went

Down and indeed most of the guests had arrived there were her sister Christine a young lady of 20 very simply dressed in white muslin her aunt Elizabeth the Widow of the notary Oberto in black satin a little old woman of 60 of most Exquisite amiability her husband’s sister sidoni

Rugon a gentle Scraggy woman of no particular age with a face like soft wax and whose dull colored dress a faced still further then the mar the father M de Mar who just gone out of mour for his wife a tall handsome man empty-headed and serious bearing a striking resemblance

To the valet Baptist and the daughter that poor Louise as people called her a young girl of 17 puny and slightly humpbacked who wore with a sickly Grace a soft white silk dress with red spots then quite a group of serious men gentlemen wearing many decorations official personages with pale and solemn

Faces and farther off another group young men with an air of Vice about them and wearing low cut wcets surrounding five or six ladies of the greatest Elegance amongst whom thrown the inseparables the little marianist espan in yellow and the fair Madam Hoffner in Violet M deusi the Cavalier whose bow

Rene had ignored was also there with the uneasy look of a lover expecting to receive his dismissal and in the midst of a long train spread out over the carpet two contractors Masons who’d made their fortunes named M and Shier with whom sakar had some business to settle on the

Marrow were moving heavily about on their big feet holding their hands behind their backs and feeling most uncomfortable in their dress suits standing near VOR Ares sakar managed to greet each new arrival Wist holding forth to the group of serious men with all his Southern animation and

Snuffling he shook the guest’s hand and spoke a few amiable words short and pitiful looking he bobbed up and down like a puppet and of all his puny dark and crafty person the most prominent object was the red bow of his ribbon of a Legion of Honor which he wore very large

When Renee entered There Rose a murmur of admiration she was truly Divine over a lower skirt of tulle trimmed behind with a mass of flounces she wore a tunic of pale green satin edged with a broad border of English lace and gathered up and fastened by large Bunches of violets

A single flounce adorned the front of a skirt over which was a light muslin grapery kept in its place by more bunches of violets joined together by garlands of Ivy the gracefulness of the head and bust were adorable above a skirt of Royal amplitude and slightly overdone

Richness uncovered at the neck as low as the breast her arms bare with tfts of violets on her shoulders the young woman seemed to be delighted with this semi Freedom that one expected at every moment to see the bodice in the skirts slip down like the costume of a baby her

In love with her flesh her tall headdress her fine yellow hair gathered up in the form of a helmet and amidst which twined a sprig of Ivy held in its place by a bunch of violets increased still more her air of nudity by displaying the nape of her neck

Slightly shaded by little dowy hairs resembling threads of gold round her neck she wore a diamond necklace with pendants of the first water and on her brow an agret formed of stem of silver set with the same precious stones and she stood thus for a few seconds on the threshold of the room

Erect in this magnificent costume her shoulders shining in the warm glow as she’d come down quickly she was rather out of breath her eyes which the darkness of the paramal so had filled with shadow blinked in that sudden flood of light and gave her that hesitating air of shortsighted people which with

Her was full of graceful on perceiving her the little maress Rose hastily from her seat and running up to her seized hold of her hands whilst examining her from her head down to her feet she murmured in a fluty tone of voice ah pretty darling pretty darling then there was considerable

Commotion all the guests came to pay their respects to the beautiful Madame sakar as Renee was called in society she shook hands with nearly all the men afterward she embraced Christine and inquired after her father who never visited the mansion in the park moo and she remained standing smiling

And still bowing with her arms held indolently open before the circle of ladies who were examining with curious eyes the diamond necklace and Egret feir Madame Hoffner could not resist the temptation she Drew nearer and after looking a while phopa Jewels said in a jealous tone of voice they are

The necklace and the Egret are they not Renee nodded her head affirmatively then all the women gave vent to their praise the jewels were enchanting Divine then they began to speak with an admiration full of Envy of Laura darini seret which sakar had bought them for his wife they complained that those

Frail creatures always secur the best things there would soon be no diamonds at all for virtuous women and out of their complaints pierce the desire to feel on their bear skin one of those Jewels which all Paris had beheld on the shoulders of some illustrious cortisen and which would perhaps whisper in their

Ear the alov scandals on which the thoughts of these Grand ladies love to linger they knew the high prices realized they quoted a superb cashmere some magnificent lace the agret had cost 15,000 Franks for necklace 50,000 butam desp was quite enthusiastic about these figures she called sakar exclaiming come and be congratulated you

Are a good husband this ends section one section two of the rush for the spoil by Emil zolah translated by Henry vitelli this LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Mark leer section two AR seard went up to the ladies bowed and did the modest but his grimacing

Features betrayed a great delight and out of the corner of his eye he watched the two contractors the two Masons who’d made their fortunes who were standing a few Paces off listening with visible respect to the mention of such sums as 15,000 and 50,000 Franks at this moment Maxim who had just

Entered the room looking adorable in his well-cut dress coat lint familiarly on his father’s shoulder and spoke to him in a low tone as though to a comrade calling his attention to to the Masons with a glance zakar smiled discreetly like an applauded actor a few more guests arrived there

Were quite 30 persons in the drawing room the conversations were resumed during the pauses one could hear on the other side of the wall a jingling of Crockery and plate at length Baptista opened the folding doors and majestically uttered the sacramental phrase my is served then the procession slowly formed

Sakar gave his arm to the little maranes Renee took an old gentleman’s a senator Baron guro before whom everyone bowed down with great humility as for maxim he was obliged to offer his arm to Louise de Then followed the rest of the guests in couples and right at the end the two contractors

Swinging their arms the dining room was a vast Square Apartment with a high dato all round of stained and varnished Parry ornamented with thin fillets of gold the four large panels had probably been intended to be filled with paintings of inanimate objects but they had remained empty the

Owner of the Mansion having no doubt hesitated before a purely artistical outlay they had simply been covered over with dark green velvet the the furniture the curtains and the door hangings of the same material gave to the room a grave and sober appearance calculated to concentrate on the table all the

Splendor of the illumination and indeed at this hour in the center of the vast somber turkey carpet which deadened the sound of the footsteps beneath the glaring light of a chandelier the table surrounded by chairs the black backs of which relieved by fillets of gold framed it with a dark

Line appeared like an altar like some illuminated Chapel as the bright scintillations of the crystal glass and the silver plate sparkled on the dazzling whiteness of the cloth in the floating Shadow beyond the carved chairbacks one could just catch a glimpse of the Wayne’s cutting of a

Large low sideboard and of portions of velvet hangings trailing about one’s eyes forcibly returned to the table and became filled with all this splend blender an admirable unpolished silver eper glittering with chased work occupied the center it represented a troop of fawns bearing away some nymphs and issuing from an

Immense Cornucopia above the group an enormous bouquet of natural flowers hung down in clusters at either end of a table were some vases also containing Bunches of flowers two candelabra matching the center group and each consisting of a sder in full flly bearing on one arm a

Swooning woman wilst with the other he grasped the 10 branched candal abam added the bright light of their candles to the radiance of the central chandelier between these principal objects the hot dishes both large and small bearing the first course were symmetrically arranged in Lines flanked by shells filled with the orda and

Separated by China bowls Crystal vases flat plates in tall comports containing all the dessert placed upon the table along the line of plates the army of glasses the water bottles the decanter the tiny salt cellers in fact the whole of the glass was as thin and slender as

Muslin uncut and so transparent that it did not cast the least Shadow and the aier and the other large ornaments looked like Fountains of fire the polished sides of the dishes sparkled the fork the spoons and theives with mother of pearl handles were so many bars of flame rainbows illuminated the

Glasses and in the midst of the shower of Sparks of this incandescent Mass the decanters of wine cast a ruby glow over the cloth which seemed heated to a white heat on entering an expression of discreet beatitude overspread the countenances of the gentlemen who were smiling to the lady on their arms the

Flowers gave a freshness to the warm atmosphere slight fumes from the dishes hung about and mingled with the perfume of the roses and the tart smell of crawfish with the sourish odor of lemons dominated all then when everyone had found his name written on the backs of the bills

Affair there was a noise of chairs a great rustling of silk dresses the bear shoulders studded with diamonds and flank by black dress coats which set off their paleness added their milky whiteness to the radiance of the table the dinner commenced in the midst of smiles exchanged between Neighbors in

A semi silence as yet only broken by The Gentle rattling of the spoons Baptist performed the duties of Butler with the grave manners of a diplomatist he had under his orders besides the two footmen four assistants whom he engaged only for the grand dinner parties at each dish which he

Took to cut up on a side table at the end of the room three of the servants passed noiselessly behind the guests dish in hand and offering in a low voice the Vons by name the others poured out the wines attended to the bread and the decanters the re and the entree were

Thus slowly discussed and removed without the lady’s pearly laughter becoming a wit more shrill the guests were too numerous for the convers ation to easily become General yet at the second course when the roasts and the side dishes had replaced the relev in the entree and the grand burgundy wines pomar and shamban

Had succeeded to Theo and chat lafit the sound of the voices swelled and bursts of laughter caused the Slender glasses to tinkle Renee seated at the middle of the table had Baron guro on her right and on her left Miss tutan Laos a retired candle manufacturer at that time a

Municipal counselor a director of the credit V viol and member of the board of supervision of the Societe general of the ports of Morocco a Scraggy and important individual whom seart seated opposite between Madame desan and Madame anner addressed at One Moment In flattering tones as my dear colleague

And at others as our great administrator then came the politicians Mr Opel deu a prefect who spent eight months of the year in Paris three deputies amongst whom Miss Hoffner displayed his broad alaan countenance then miss de safre a Charming young man secretary to a cabinet minister and M

Michelan the head of the commission of public ways and other heads of Department besides M de a Perpetual candidate for the Chamber of deputies faced the prefect at whom he kept casting sheep’s eyes as for mure desan he never accompanied his wife into society the ladies of the family were placed between

The most distinguished of these personages sard had however reserved his sister sidoni whom he had seated farther away between the two contractors miss shakier being on the right and Miss Minon on the left and as though at a post of trust where it was a question of

Vanquishing Madame melan the wife of the head of the commission of public ways a pretty plump brunette found herself beside Miss de safre with whom she was carrying on an animated conversation in a low voice then at the either end of a table were the young people Auditors attached

To the Council of State the sons of influential fathers little sprouting millionaire s Miss deusi who kept casting despairing glances in the direction of Renee and Maxim who seemed fast succumbing to Louise de M Seated on his right little by little they take into laughing very loudly it was from their

Corner but the first gay notes were heard meanwhile missel denu was gallantly inquiring shall we have the pleasure of seeing his Excellency this evening I’m afraid not answered sard with an important air which hid a secret annoyance my brother is so busy he sent us his secretary to excuse

Him the young secretary whom Madame melan was most decidedly monopolizing raised his head on hearing his name uttered and thinking someone had spoken to him exclaimed yes yes there’s to be a meeting of the cabinet this evening at 9:00 at the residence of the keeper of the

Seals during this time M tutan Laos who had been interrupted was continuing Gravely as though he were delivering a speech amidst the attentive Silence of the municipal Council the results are indeed superb this city loan will remain as one of the finest Financial operations of the epoch

Ah gentlemen but here again his voice was smothered by the laughter which suddenly broke out out at one end of the table in the midst of this Outburst of Mirth one could hear Maxine’s voice as he concluded some anecdote wait a bit I haven’t finished yet the poor rider was

Picked up by a road laborer it is said she’s having him brilliantly educated as she intends to marry him later on she will not allow that any other man than her husband can flatter himself that he has seen a certain Brown mole situated somewhere above her knee the laughter

Redoubled Louise herself heartily louder even than the men and noiselessly in the midst of all this mirth just as though deaf a Lackey at this moment thrust his pale graay face between the guests offering some slices of wild duck in a low tone of voice arestin sakar was annoyed at a

Little attention paid to miss tutan laros to show him that he’d been listening he resumed the city loan but miss tutan L Ro was not the man to lose the threat of an idea ah gentlemen continued he when the laughter had subsided yesterday was a great consolation to us whose

Administration is exposed to such vile attacks the council is accused of bringing the city to ruin and yet you see the moment the City opens alone everyone brings us their money even those who cry out you have performed Miracles said sakar Paris has become the capital of the

World yes it is really prodigious interrupted missel denu just fancy that I who am an old Parisian can no longer find my way about Paris I lost myself yesterday when going from the hotel DeVille to the luxemborg it is prodigious prodigious a short pause ensued all the serious people were listening

Now the transformation of Paris continued Miss tutan laush will be the glory of the Reign the lower classes are ungrateful they ought to kiss the emperor’s feet I was saying only this morning at the council where the great success of alone was being discussed gentlemen let those Brawlers of the

Opposition say what they like to upset Paris is to fertilize it zard smiled and closed his eyes as though the better to relish the smartness of the dictum he lent behind Madame Des span’s back and said to miss upu loud enough to be heard he is most adorably

Witty now that the conversation had turned on the alterations being made in Paris M shakier was stretching his neck as though to take part in it his partner minion was fully occupied with Madame sidoni who was giving him plenty to do ever since the beginning of a dinner

Sakar had been watching the two contractors from out of the corner of his eye the administration said he has met with so much devotion everyone has wished to contribute to the great work without the rich companies which came to its assistance the city would never have done so well all so

Quickly he turned around and added with a sort of brutal flattery miss m and sharier know something of this they who have had their share of Labor and who will have their share of Glory the two Masons who’d made their Fortune received this compliment beatifically full in the

Chest M to whom Madame sidon was saying in a lacad isical manner ah sir you flatter me no I’m too old to wear pink interrupted her in the middle of her sentence to reply to sakar you are too kind we merely did our business but sharier was more polished

He finished his glass of pomard and found means to make an observation The Works about Paris said he have enabled the Workman to live say also resumed miss chanos that they’ve given a magnificent spur to all financial and Industrial undertakings and don’t forget the artistic side of the question the new

Thores are Majestic added Mel danu who flattered himself on his good taste yes yes it is a fine piece of work murmured Miss de for the sake of saying something as for the cost Gravely declared the deputy Hoffner who only opened his mouth on Grand occasions our

Children will pay it and that is only Justice and as when saying that he looked at Miss de safre who had not seemed to be getting on so well with the pretty Madame melan for the last few minutes the young secretary wishing to appear thoroughly acquainted with what

Was being said repeated that is indeed only Justice everyone had had his say in the group formed by the serious men at the middle of the table M melan the head of Department smiled and wagged his head it was his usual way of joining in a conversation he had Smiles for greeting

For answering for approving for thanking for wishing goodbye quite a pretty collection of smiles which enabled him to dispense almost entirely with the use of his tongue an arrangement he no doubt considered far more polite and more favorable to his own advancement another personage also had remained silent that was Baron guro who

Was slowly chewing like a drowsy Ox up till then he had appeared absorbed in the contemplation of his plate Renee full of little attentions towards him only obtained faint grunts of satisfaction therefore everyone was surprised to to see him raise his head and to hear him observe as he wiped his greasy

Lips I am a landlord and when I do up and redecorate any Apartments I raise the rent Mr hoffner’s remark our children will pay had succeeded in Awakening the senator they all discreetly applauded and M de safre exclaimed ah Charming Charming I shall send that tomorrow to the newspapers

You are quite right gentlemen we live in Good Times said the worthy Min by way of conclusion amidst the smiles and the praise which The Baron’s observation had called forth I know more than one who have nicely built up their fortunes everything is lovely you see when it enables one to make

Money these last words quite froze the grave men the conversation stopped short and each one seemed to avoid looking at his neighbor the Mason’s remark unfortunately might have been applied to all these gentlemen Michela who was just then looking at sakar in a most agreeable manner suddenly ceased smiling greatly

Afraid of having appeared for a moment to apply the contractor’s words to The Master of the House the latter glanced at Madame sidoni who once more monopolized Minion saying so you’re fond of pink sir then zakar paid Madame desan a long compliment his dark mean looking face almost touched the Milky shoulders of

The young woman as she lent back in her chair and laughed they had now arrived at the dessert the Lackey turned more quickly round the table there was a slight pause wilst the cloth was being covered with the rest of the fruit and the sweet meats at Maxim’s end the laughter was

Bec more silvery one could hear Louise’s shrill voice saying I assure you that Sylvia wore a blue satin dress in her part of D Donette and another childish voice added yes but the dress was trimmed with white lace the air was Laden with the warm fumes from ad dishes the faces of the

Guests had assumed a Rosier Hue and seemed softened by an internal beatitude two Lackey made the round of a table filling the glasses with Alon and to ever since the commencement of the dinner Renee had seemed absentminded she fulfilled her duties as Mistress of the house with a mechanical sort of smile at

Each burst of Mirth which came from the end of a table where Maxim and Louise were sitting side by side choking like two comrades she cast the glistening glance in their Direction she felt dreadfully Bo the serious men were too much for her Madame desp and Madame Hoffner looked at her in

Despair and the coming elections how do they promise to turn out suddenly inquired sakar of missel den Anu very well indeed replied the latter smiling only as yet no candidates have been decided upon for my department the minister is hesitating it appears you the mar who had thanked

Sakar with a glance for having introduced the subject looked as though he was sitting on RedHot Cinders he blushed slightly and made a few awkward bows when the prefect addressing him continued I’ve heard a great deal about you in the country sir you have asked Estates have one you a

Great many friends there and it’s known how devoted you are to the emperor you have every chance in your favor papa is it not true opposite to her the martianus was stifling a yawn and as sakar was again about to join in his wife said to him with a delightful

Smile for goodness sake my dear take compassion upon us do try and forget your horrid politics then missel danu Gallant as a prefect should be protested saying but the ladies were right and he forth with commenced the story of a rather smutty Affair which had occurred in the chief

Town of his Department The maress Madame Hoffner and the other ladies laughed immensely at some of the details the prefect related in a very peccant Style interspersed with hints reticences and inflections of the voice which gave a very naughty meaning to the most innocent Expressions then they talked of the

Duchess’s first Tuesday at home of a burlesque that had been produced the night before of the death of a poet and of the last of the Autumn races M tutan who at certain times could be very amiable compared women to roses and M de amidst the confusion in which

His electoral hopes had plunged him was able to make some profound remarks respecting the new shape for bonnets Renee continued absent-minded the guests were no longer eating a warm breath seemed to have passed over the cloth clouding the glasses scattering the bread blackening the fruit pairings in the plates and

Upsetting all the beautiful symmetry of the table the flowers were fading in the great chased silver Cornucopia and the guests lingered there a moment in presence of the remnants of a dessert full of contentment and lacking the courage to rise from their seats one arm on the table and bend

Slightly forward they had a vacant look in their eyes and showed the vague depression of that measured and decent inebriation of fashionable people who become intoxicated by degrees fter had subsided and the conversation flagged a great deal had been eaten and drank and that gave a still deeper

Gravity to the group formed by the decorated men in the close atmosphere of the apartment the ladies felt a moisture about their necks in temples they were awaiting the moment to adjourn to the drawing room looking serious and slightly pale as though they felt a swimming in their

Heads Madame desan was quite Rosy wilst Madame hoffner’s shoulders had assumed a waxy whiteness Mel danu was examining the handle of a knife m tutan l Ro was still addressing a few disconnected remarks to miss anner who nodded his head in reply M de was musing as he looked at Miss

Mishan who was slightly smiling upon him as for the pretty Madame mishan she’d not been talking for a long while she was very red in the face Wist the cloth hung over one of her hands which Miss de safre was no doubt holding in his for he

Was leaning awkwardly on the edge of a table with his brows knit and grimacing like a man trying to solve some problem in algebra Madame sidon also had conquered the m m and Shier both turned towards her and with their elbows on the table appeared delighted at being taken into

Her confidence she was owning that she had a great liking for milky things and that she was afraid of ghosts and arist sard himself with his eyes half closed and plunged in that beatitude of the master of a house conscious of having honestly intoxicated his guests had no thought of leaving the

Table he was contemplating with respectful affection Baron guro painfully digesting with his right hand stretched over the white cloth a sensual old man’s hand short and thick studded with purple blotches and covered with reddish hairs Rene slowly drank up the few drops of toquet which remained in her glass her face tingled

The little light hairs on her temples and at the nape of her neck were rebellious and would not remain in their places as though moistened by some damp breath her lips and her nose were contracted nervously her face bore the expression of a child whose drank pure

Wine if good middle class thoughts had come to her wilst in the presence of the Shadows of the park mono these thoughts had now succumbed in the excitation of the Vons of the wines and of lights of these disturbing surroundings impregnated with noisy mirth and warm breaths she was no longer exchanging

Quiet Smiles with her sister Christine and her aunt Elizabeth both of them modest and retiring and scarcely uttering a word with a harsh look she forced poor mure de Mery to lower his eyes in her apparent absent mindedness though she was careful to avoid turning around and remained leaning against the

Back of her chair whilst the satin of her dress body gently crackled she allowed an almost imperceptible shudder of the shoulders to escape her each time a burst of laughter reached her from the corner where Maxim and Louise were joking still as loudly as ever in the expiring Buzz of the

Conversations and behind her just on the edge of the Shadow His tall person dominating the satiated guests and the disordered table stood Baptist looking pale and Grave in the disdainful attitude of a Lackey who has feasted his Masters he alone in the atmosphere heavy with drunkenness beneath the Vivid light

Now turning to a yellowish Hue of the chandelier remained faultless with his silver chain around his neck his cold eyes in which the sight of the women’s bear shoulders did not even Kindle a spark and his air of a waiting on some parisians in the time of their Decline and maintaining his

Dignity at length Renee rose with a nervous movement everyone followed her example they adjourned to the drawing room where coffee awaited them the principal drawing room of the Mansion was a vast oblong apartment a sort of gallery going from one of the Wings to the other and occupying the

Whole of the facade on the garden side a large french window opened onto the steps this Gallery was resplendent with gilding the ceiling which was slightly arched was covered with fanciful Scrolls winding about enormous gilded medallions which glittered like Shields arabesques and dazzling garlands formed the Border fillets of gold like

Jets of molten metal were scattered about the walls framing the panels hung with red silk clusters of roses crowned with tfts of fullblown blossoms Trail down the sides of the mirrors and uant carpet displayed its purple flowers over the flooring the furniture upholstered in red damus silk

The door hangings and the curtains of the same material the enormous rockwork clock on the mantle the China vases standing on the consoles the legs of the two long tables ornamented with Florentine mosaics even the flower stand placed in the window recesses were so to say wreaking and dripping with gold at

The Four Corners were four great lamps standing on red marble pedestals to which they were attached by chains of gilded bronze which hung with symmetrical Grace and from the ceiling were suspended three Crystal lusters streaming with pink and blue scintillations and the Ardent glare from which was dazzlingly reflected by all

The gilding in the apartment the men soon withdrew to the smoking room Miss Dei who those six years older had known Maxim at College took him familiarly by the arm he let him out onto the Terrace and after they lighted their cigars he complained bitterly of

Renee but tell me whatever is the matter with her when I saw her yesterday she was most charming and now today she treats me as though all all were over between us what crime can I have been guilty of it would be so kind of you my

Dear Maxim to ask her and to tell her how she makes me suffer not if I know it replied Maxim laughing Rene’s nerves are upset I have no wish to receive the brunt of her ill humor settle your differences between yourselves and after slowly puffing out

The smoke of his Savanah he added it’s a PR part you want me to play but miss deusi talked of his great friendship and assured the young man he was only awaiting an opportunity to show him how devoted he was to him he was very miserable he loved Renee

So very well it’s agreed said Maxim at length I will speak to her but you know I can promise nothing she’s pretty sure to send me about my business they re-entered the smoke room and stretched themselves out into capacious easy chairs and during a good half hour M

Deus related all his tribulations to Maxine he told him for the 10th time how it was he’d fallen in love with the young man’s stepmother and how she’d been gracious enough to notice him and wilst finishing his cigar Maxine gave him some advice explaining Rene’s nature

To him and showing him how he should set to work to overcome her zard having taken a seat a few steps away from the young men M deusi lapsed into silence and Maxim said in conclusion were I in your place I would treat her very cavalierly she likes

It the smoking room occupied at one end of the principal drawing room one of the round Apartments formed by the towers it was fitted up in a style both very rich and very sober papered with a material imitating cavan leather it had alerian curtains and door hangings and a Wilton Carpet of Persian

Design the furniture was upholstered with shagreen leather the color of wood and comprised ctis easy chairs and a circular div which went nearly all around the room the little Chandelier the ornaments of a table and of the fireplace were of pale green Florentine bronze there had only remained with the ladies

A few young fellows and some PE and flabby faed old men who held tobacco in horror in the smoking room there was a great deal of laughing going on and some very broad jokes were being bandied about Mel deu diverted the gentleman immensely by again relating the story he

Told during dinner but completing it this time by some most indecent details he had a specialty for this sort of thing he always had two versions of an anecdote one for ladies the other for men then artit sard entered and was at once surrounded and complimented and as

He pretended not to understand what it was all about Miss deph told him in a greatly applauded speech that he had deserved well of his country for having prevented the beautiful La Dar from going over to the English no really gentlemen you’re mistaken St sakar with false

Modesty oh don’t try to excuse yourself cried Maxim chaffing it’s very meritorious at your age the young man who had just thrown away the stump of his cigar returned to the drawing room a great number of visitors had arrived the gallery was full of men in evening dress standing up

And conversing in low tones and of ladies in ample skirts which they spread out on the couches some Lackey were taking around some silver salvers bearing ices and glasses of punch Maxim who wished to speak to Renee passed right through the drawing room knowing very well where to find the

Lady’s favorite spot at the opposite end of the smoking room was another round apartment adorably fitted up as a budoir its curtains and hangings of satin the color of buttercups gave it a voluptuous charm of quite an original and exquisite taste but lights of a chandelier which was of a very delicate workmanship

Appeared quite pale amidst all this sunlike Splendor the effect resembled a flood of the subdued lights from a sunset on a field of ripe corn the light expired at one’s feet on an auson carpet strewn with Dead Leaves an ebony piano inlaid with Ivory two little cabinets the glass doors of which

Displayed a host of knick-knacks a Louis say’s table and flower stand holding an enormous sheath of flowers sufficed to furnish the room the small couches the easy chairs and the setes were covered with padded Buttercup satin divided at intervals with broad black bands of the same material embroidered with gay colored

Tulips and there were also low seats lounge chairs and every variety of stool both elegant and Fantastical not a glimpse of the woodwork of these articles was visible the satin and the padding covered all the backs were so curved as to be as comfortable as bolsters they were like so many discreet

Beds on which one could sleep and love amidst the down to the accompaniment of a sensual Symphony of the pale yellow light Renee had an ESP special liking for this little room one of the French Windows of which opened into the Magnificent Conservatory fixed to the side of the

Mansion during the daytime she spent most of her leure hours there instead of softening her light hair the yellow hangings gave it a strangely golden hue her head stood out all pink and white in the midst of a dawn likee glimmer like that of a fair Diana Awakening at the

Break of day and this was no doubt why she loved this little room which gave a Heavenly setting to her beauty at this hour she was there with her intimate friends her sister and her aunt had just Departed there were none but madcaps in the sanctum leaning back

In the depths of a sofa Renee was listening to the secrets of her friend Adeline who was whispering in her ear with feline playfulness and sudden bursts of laughter Suzanne Hoffner was in great request she was holding her own against a group of young men who were pressing her closely without losing any

Of her German Langer her provoking ER frony as bare and cold as her shoulders in a corner Madame sidon was enlightening in a low voice a young woman with the eyes of aversion farther off Louise was standing talking with a big timid fellow who blushed violently whilst Baron Goro was

Dozing in an easy chair full in the light displaying his flabby flesh his pale elephantine form in the midst of the frail Graces and the silky daintiness of a ladies and all about the room on the stiff satin skirts shining like China on the Milky white shoulders sted with

Diamonds a light of Fairyland fell in a golden dust a soft voice a laugh no louder than the cing of a dove had as limpid a ring as Crystal it was very warm in there fans were moving slowly to and fro like wings disseminating at each breath in the sultry atmosphere the

Musked perfumes of the bodices when Maxim appeared in the doorway Renee who was listening to the marchess in an absent-minded way Rose up hastily pretending to have to play her part as Mistress of the house she passed into the principal drawing room where the young man followed her after

Smilingly taking a few steps there and shaking hands with different people she Drew Maxim aside well whispered she ironically the task seems an easy one you don’t appear to find courting as stupid as you imagined I don’t understand you replied the young man who was about to plead for M

Deusi why I think I did well not to deliver you from Louise you don’t waste any time you two and she added with a sort of vexation at table too it was quite indecent Maxim burst out laughing ah yes we were telling each other’s stories I

Did not know her the chit she’s very funny she’s just like a boy and as Rene’s face still bore the irritated look of a prude the young man who had never known her so indignant before resumed with smiling familiarity do you think pretty mama that I pinched her legs under the table

Hang it all one knows how to behave towards one’s betroth I have something far more serious to tell you listen to me you are listening are you not he lowered his voice still more more this is what’s the matter M Dei is very miserable he’s just told me so you

Know it’s not for me to bring you together again if you’ve had a row but you understand I was at college with him and as he really seems to be in despair I promised him I would speak to you he stopped Renee was looking at him in a very strange

Manner you don’t answer sir continued he anyhow I’ve done what I promised settle the matter between you as you like but really now I cannot help thinking you cruel I quite feel for the poor fellow in your place I would send him at least a kind

Message then Renee who had not taken the bright fixed look of her eyes off Maxim replied go and tell Miss deusi that he bores me and she resumed her slow walk amidst the groups smiling bowing and shaking hands Maxine stood for a moment lost in Surprise then he quietly laughed to

Himself not at all desirous of delivering the message to M Dei he took a turn around the principal drawing room the party was drawing to a close marvelous and Common Place like most parties it was close upon midnight the guests were slowly parting not wishing to retire with a feeling of

Unpleasantness he decided to seek Louise he was passing before the whole door when he caught sight of the pretty Madame mishela being wrapped up by her husband in a little pink and blue cloak he was most Charming most Charming the young woman was saying we talked to

Few the whole of dinner he will speak to the minister only it’s not in his Province and as close to them a fortman was assisting Baron guro on with a big fur coat that’s the old fellow who could settle the matter added she in her husband’s ear whilst he was tying the

String of her Hood under her chin he does just as he likes at the ministry at the mar tomorrow we must try M michelan smiled he took his wife off with the greatest care as though he had on his armor most fragile and precious object after assuring himself by a

Glance that Louise was not in the hole Maxim went straight to the little drawing room she was still there almost alone and awaiting her father who had probably spent the evening in the smoking room with the politicians the maress and Madame Hoffner had taken their departure there only remained Madame sidoni telling the

Wives of some functionaries how much she loved animals ah here’s my little husband exclaimed Louise come and sit down and tell me in what shair my father can have fallen asleep he must already be fancying himself in the chamber Maxim answered her in a similar strain the two young people were soon

Again laughing as loud as during dinner Seated on a very low chair at her feet he ended by taking hold of her hands and by playing with her just the same as with a comrade and in truth with her High made dress of soft white silk studded with red spots her flat chest

And her ugly and cunning little urchin’s head she resembled a boy disguised as a girl but at times her puny arms her crooked form assumed negligent postures and gleams of passion would appear in the depths of her eyes still full of childishness without her blushing the least in the world at Maxim’s

Playfulness and they both laughed away just as though they were by themselves without even noticing Renee who was standing half hidden in the center of the conservatory watching them from a distance a moment ago as she was crossing a path the sight of Maxim and Louise had suddenly brought the young

Woman to a sand behind a shrub all about her the warm Conservatory similar to the Nave of a church and the glass arched roof of which was supported on Slender iron columns displayed its fertile vegetation its masses of gigantic leaves its clumps of luxuriant

Ver in the center in an oval tank on a level with the ground lived in the mysterious Manor of water plants all the Aquatic Flora of the land of the Sun a border of cantee raising their tall green plumes surrounded with a Monumental belt the fountain which resembled the truncated capital of some

Cyclopian column then at either end two enormous Telus reared their Strang looking bushes above the water their dry bare stems twisted like agonizing serpents and emitting aerial Roots which had an appearance of fishermen’s Nets hung up to dry close to the edge a pandanis from java expanded a sheath of greenish

Leaves stre with white as thin as swords prickly and serrated like Melee daggers and floating amid the warmth of a gently heated sheet of slumbering water some NY opened their Rosy Stars wilst some muriale trail their round and lepos looking leaves over the surface appearing like the backs of so many

Monstrous toads covered with pules by way of carpeting a broad edging of Cel Janella surrounded the tank this dwarf Fern formed a thick moss-like sword of a tender green and Beyond the wide circular path four enormous groups of exotic plants shot right up to the arched roof The Palms slightly drooping

In their gracefulness spread out their fan-like leaves displayed their rounded heads hung down their branches like so many ores wearied by their Eternal voyage and the Azure of the air the great bamboos from India ascended erect slender and hard with their fine shower of leaves falling from on high a ranala

The Traveler’s tree held up its bunch of immense Chinese screens and in a corner banana tree loaded with fruit stretched out in all directions its long horizontal leaves on which two lovers might easily recline providing they kept pretty close to each other in the corners were some Euphoria from abisinia those prickly ill-shaped

Torch thistles covered with horrid excrescences and wreaking with poison and the ground beneath the taller plants was carpeted by dwarf ferns including the adiantum and the Terrace with frons as delicate as the finest lace work a taller species the alsophis tapered upwards with their rows of symmetrical and sex angular foliage so

Regular that it had the appearance of enormous pieces of Crockery intended to hold the fruits of some gigantic dessert then an edging of Bonas and ium surrounded the beds the bonias with their Twisted leaves superbly stre with green and red the caladiums the leaves of which shaped like Lance heads white

And veined with green resemble the wings of some monstrous butterfly bizarre plants which vegetate strangely with the somber or palish glow of noisome flowers behind the beds a second path a narrower one one right around the conservatory and there on stages half hiding the pipes of the heating apparatus bloomed

Mortis as soft of a touch as velvet gloxinias with their purple bell-shaped flowers drus resembling Blades of old lacquer but one of the charms of this winter garden consisted in alcoves of Verger in the four corners roomy Arbor shut in by thick curtains of tropical creepers bits of Virgin forests had

Weaved in these spots their walls of leaves their impenetrable medley of stems of supple shots clinging to the branches traversing Space by a bold leap and hanging from the arched roof like the tassels of some rich drapery a root of vanilla with its ripe pods exhaling a penetrating perfume

Trailed about the arch of a moss covered porch wilst the Indian Berry deck the little columns with its round leaves binias with their red bunches and the quisqualis the flowers of which hung like necklets of glass beads glided twined and entangled themselves like Slender snakes endlessly playing and

Stretching amidst the depths of the foliage and Beneath The Archers placed here and there between the beds and held by wire chains hung baskets filled with orchids those bizarre plants of the air which spread in all directions their stunted and knotted shoots bent and twisted like crippled limbs

There were ladies slippers the flowers of which resemble a marvelous shoe adorned on the heel with the wings of a dragonfly arities with their delicate perfume and Stan hopus the pale streak flowers of which like the bitter mouth of some convalescent exhale to a distance of strong and accurd

Breath but that which from every point of view was the most conspicuous object was a great hibiscus from China its immense expanse of flowers flowers and foliage covering the whole side of the Mansion to which the conservatory was fixed the large purple flowers of this gigantic mow are ever being renewed and

Live but a few hours one could almost fancy them a woman’s sensual opening mouths the red soft moist lips of some giant mesalina bruised by kisses and get ever Reviving with their eager and bleeding smile Renee stood near the tank and shivered in the midst of all these superb

Blossoms behind her a great black marble Sphinx squatting on a block of granite its head turned towards the water wore on its features the wary and cruel smile of a cat and it looked like the dark Idol with shining thighs of that land of fire at this hour ground glass globes

Cast a Milky light over the surrounding foliage statues women’s heads with the necks thrown back and swelling with mirth stood out white from the recesses of the groups of shrubs with patches of Shadow which contorted their mad laughter strange Rays played about the Deep Still Water of a tank lighting up

Vague forms in Glaucus masses resembling rough designs of monsters over the smooth leaves of the ravenala on the glassy fans of the lanus streamed a flood of white light wilsted from malce work of the ferns fell a gentle rain of Sparks up above Shone the reflections from the glass roof amongst the somber

Heads of the tall Palms then all around everything was wrapped in Shadow the Arbors with their drapery of tropical creepers became lost in the darkness like the nests of slumbering reptiles and Renee stood musing in the bright light as she watched Louise and Maxim in the distance it was no longer the floating

Fancies the vague temptation of Twilight in the chilly Avenues of the boah her thoughts were no longer lulled and sent to sleep by the Trot of her horses along the fashionable walks and The Glades in which middle class families picnic on a Sunday now it was a definite a keen

Desire which filled her whole being an immense love a need of voluptuousness floated above this close Nave full of the Ardent sap of the tropics the young woman was enveloped in these Mighty Bridal of the Earth engendering around her this dark verg these colossal stems and the acate

Confinement of his candent mother this forest-like growth this mass of vegetation all glowing with the entrails which nourished it surrounded her with perturbing aluia of of most intoxicating power at her feet the tank the mass of warm water thickened by the juices of the floating Roots steamed and wrapped

Her shoulders in a mantle of heavy Vapor a Mist which heated her skin like the contact of a hand moist with voluptuousness on her head she felt a breath from The Palms as the tall leaves sprinkled their Aroma and more than the close warmth of the atmosphere than the bright lights

And the large dazzling flowers resembling faces laughing or grimacing amongst the foliage the odors especially overpowered her an undefinable perfume powerful and exciting hung about composed of a thousand others human perspiration women’s breaths the scent of hair and zephyr’s sweet and insipid almost to faintness were blended with coarse in pestilential smells loaded

With poison but amidst the strange amalgamation of odors the one which dominated all stifling the delicateness of the vanilla and the sharpness of the orchids was that penetrating sensual human odor that odor of Love which escapes of a morning from the closed chamber of a young married

Couple Renee had slowly lent against the granite pedestal in her green satin dress with her face and shoulders of a Rosy Hue and sparkling with the pure scintillations of her diamonds she resembled some great pink and green flower One V nyia of the tank swooning from the heat at this hour of Clear

Vision all her good resolutions vanished forever the intoxication of a dinner regained possession of her faculties imperious triumphant and rendered mightier than before by the Flames of the conservatory she no longer remembered the chill night air which had calmed her nor those murmuring Shadows of the park

The voices of which had counseled a happy peacefulness her Ardent woman’s senses her satiated woman’s capriciousness were aroused and above her the great black marble Sphinx laughed a mysterious laugh as though it had read the at length expressed desired which was galvanizing this dead heart the desire which had

Remained so long elusive the something else so vainly sought by Renee amidst the oscillating motion of her carriage in the ashy Gloom of the Gathering night and which had been so abruptly revealed to her beneath the glaring light of his garden of Fire by the sight of Louise

And Maxim laughing and playing together hand in hand at this moment a sound of voices issued from a neighboring Arbor where arist sard had led the mure Minon and sharet no really miss sakar the latter was saying in a thick voice we cannot take it back from you at more than 200 Franks

The meter and sakar retorted in his shrill tones but in my share you valued it at 250 Franks well listen we’ll make a 225 Franks and the voices continued harsh and ringing strangely beneath the dro Palms but they merely traversed Rene’s dream like some vain noise as There Rose

Before her conjured up by her delirium an unknown enjoyment hot with crime and more vehement than all those she had already exhausted the last that remained to her to partake of she no longer felt weary the shrub behind which she remained half hidden was an accursed

Plant a tangia from mad Asar with broad box-like leaves and whitish stems the smallest veins of which distill a poisonous juice and at one moment as Louise’s and Maxim’s mirth became louder in the yellow reflection in the sunset of a little drawing room Renee her mind wandering her mouth parched and

Irritated took between her teeth a sprig of a tangia which was on a level with her lips and closed them on one of of the bitter leaves this ends section two section three of the rush for the spoil by Emil zolah translated by Henry vitelli this LibriVox recording is in the public

Domain read by Mark leer section three arist rugon swooped down upon Paris on the marrow of the Keta with that scent of birds of prey which sniffed the field of Carnage from afar he came from placant a subprefecture of the South where his father had at length netted in

The troubled waters of events an office of tax collector for which he’d long been angling as for himself still young and having compromised his position like a fool with neither Glory nor a profit he could only feel very fortunate in issuing safe and sound from the squabble

He came with a rush enraged at his mistake cursing the country speaking of Paris with a wolf-like greed and swearing that he would never be caught napping again and the Keen smile with which he accompanied these words assumed a terrible significance on his thin lips he arrived in the early days of

1852 he was accompanied by his wife anel a fair and insignificant creature whom he placed in a small lodging in the Rus sanjac like some awkward piece of furniture he was anxious to be rid of the young woman had been unwilling to be separated from her daughter little clo a

Child four years old whom the father would willingly have left behind to be taken care of by his relations but he had only yielded to his wife wish on condition that the college at placon should retain their son Maxim a youngster of 11 who would be looked after by the

Grandmother ariste wished to have his hands free a woman and a child already seemed to him a crushing weight to encumber a man decided to overcome all obstacles though he graveled in the mud or perished in the attempt the very evening of his arrival Wist Angel was unpacking he felt an

Eager longing to explore Paris to hear his heavy countryman’s boots striking that burning pavement from which he hoped to cause Millions to Spring forth it was a regular taking of possession he walked for the sake of walking following the footpaths just as though in a conquered country he had a very clear

Conception of the battle he was about to offer and it was not in the least repugnant to his feelings to compare him himself to a skillful picklock who by artifice or violence was about to take his share of the Commonwealth which had been wickedly refused him until

Then had he felt the need of an excuse he would have invoked his every desire denied him for 10 years his wretched country existence his faults especially for which he held Society at large responsible but at this moment in that emotion of a gambler who had last places

His eager hands on the Green Bays of the gaming table he was filled with joy a joy of his own in which Blended the gratification of covetousness and the expectation of an unpunished Rogue the atmosphere of Paris intoxicated him he fancied he could hear in the rumbling of the vehicles the

Voices from McBeth calling to him you will be rich during close upon two hours he wandered thus from Street to Street enjoying the voluptuousness of a man roaming amidst his own Vice he had not been in Paris since the happy year he’ passed there as a student night was falling his dream grew

In the bright lights which the shops and the cafes cast on the pavement he lost himself when he raised his eyes he found himself towards the middle of the faor San onor one of his brothers Yen rugon lived in a street close by the r Deon in coming to Paris hares had

Especially counted upon uen who after having been one of the most active agents of the kud had now become an occult power a lawyer of no particular standing but who was shortly to blossom into a great political personage but superstitious as a gambler he was unwilling to knock at his

Brother’s door on that evening he slowly retraced his steps to the ru sanjac inwardly envying ean’s lot glancing down at his own shabby clothes still covered with the dust of a journey and seeking to console himself by resuming his dream of riches even this dream had become bitter

To him having started out through a necessity for expansion joyfully enlivened by The Busy activity of Paris trade he returned home irrit ated at the happiness which seemed to him to be rampant in the streets feeling more ferocious than ever imagining all kinds of desperate struggles in which he would

Take pleasure in defeating and duping that crowd which had jostled him on the pavement never before had he felt so keen and vast an appetite so immediate and Ardent a necessity for enjoying on the tomorrow he was at his brothers almost at Daybreak euen occupied two large cold rooms very

Barely furnac and which quite chilled ared he had expected to find his brother sprawling in the lap of luxury the latter was seated working at a little black table he merely said in his slow voice accompanying his words with a smile ah it’s you I was expecting your

Visit ared was very bitter he accused Ean of having left him to vegetate of not even having bestowed upon him so much as a word of advice during the time he’d been dabbling about in in his native Province he would never be able to forgive himself for having remained

Republican up to the very day of the kudeta it caused him the most poignant regret and filled him with eternal confusion euen had quietly taken up his pen again when the other had finished speaking he observed ba all mistakes can be rectified you have a fine future before

You he uttered these words in so clear a tone of voice and with so penetrating a glance that ariste bowed his head feeling that his brother was descending into the innermost depths of his being the latter continued with a sort of friendly bluntness you’ve come to me to get you

Something to do have you not I’ve already thought of you but I found nothing as yet you see I can’t put you into the first position that offers you need an occupation that will enable you to carry on your little game without danger either to yourself or to me don’t

Protest We’re alone here and can say anything to each other harist thought it best to laugh oh I know that you’re intelligent continued euen and that you’re not likely to do anything foolish again without you reap some benefit from it so soon as a good opportunity offers

I’ll do something for you meanwhile if you should happen to be in want of a 20 Frank piece come to me for it they talked for a few minutes about the Insurrection in the South through which their father had gained his appointment of tax collector Ean dressed

Himself while talking just as he was parting from his brother outside in the street he detained him a moment longer to say in a lower tone of Voice by the way you’ll oblige Me by not loafing about but by quietly waiting at home for the birth I promise you it

Would annoy me to see my brother dancing attendance on anyone ariste had a high respect for Jen who seemed to him a wonderfully smart fellow he did not however forgive him his mistrust nor his rather rough frankness nevertheless he obedi ly went and shut himself up in the r

Sanjac he had arrived with 500 Franks which his wife’s father had lent him after paying the expenses of the journey he made the 300 Franks that remained to him last a month Angel was a hearty eater moreover she thought it necessary to retrim her best dress with some more

Ribbons this month of waiting appeared interminable to ariste he was burning with impatience each time he leaned out of his window and felt the gigantic labor of Paris beneath him he experienced the Mad longing to throw himself into the furnace with one bound so as to mold the

Gold with his quivering fingers as though it had been wax he inhaled those still vague Vapors which rose from the great City that breath of aent Empire Laden already with the odors of Alco and financial Hells with the warm aluia of every kind of enjoyment the faint fumes that reached

Him seemed to tell him that he was on the right scent that the Quarry was scotting along before him that the grand Imperial hunt the pursuit of Adventures of women and of millions was about to begin his nostrils quivered his Instinct of a famished Beast caught in a

Marvelous manner as they passed the slightest signs of that Fierce division of spoil of which the city was to be the scene twice he called on his brother to urge him to be more expeditious euan received him rather ungraciously repeating that he was not forgetting him but that it was necessary to wait

Patiently at length arist received a letter requesting him to call in the rud de pant he hastened thither his heart beating violently as though he were on his way to a lovers meeting he found euan seated before the same little black table in the large cold room which he used as a

Study on his appearance the lawyer held the document towards him saying there I settled your matter yesterday you are appointed Deputy Trustee of roads at the hotel de V you will be in receipt of a salary of 2,400 Franks arist had remained standing he turned ghastly pale he did

Not take the document thinking that his brother was poking fun at him he had at least expected an appointment worth 6,000 Franks A year Ean guessing what was passing within him wheeled his chair around and folded his arms are you a fool after all he asked angrily you’ve been building castles in

In the air like a girl have you not you would wish to have a grand establishment with footmen to live on the fat of the land sleep in silk gratify your desires at once in no matter whose arms in a budoir furnished in a couple of

Hours you and those like you if we allowed you to have your way would empty the coffers even before they were full now in the name of all that’s good do have a little patience see how I live and do at least take the trouble to stoop to pick up a

Fortune he spoke with profound contempt of his brother’s school boy impatience one could feel in his rough speech a loftier ambition a longing for untarnished power that naive appetite for money no doubt appeared to him both poultry and perel he continued in a gentler voice and with a crafty

Smile no doubt your propensities are excellent and I have not the least desire to thwart them men like you are precious we have every intention of choosing our friends from among the most hungry you may be quite easy we shall keep open house and the greatest appetites will be satisfied and this is

After all the easiest way of reigning but for goodness sake wait till the clock CL is laid and if you’ll accept my advice just go yourself and fetch your knife and fork from the kitchen arist continued to look very glum his brother’s Pleasant comparisons were unable to bring a smile to his

Countenance then the latter again gave way to anger ah he exclaimed my first opinion was the right one you’re a fool what on Earth did you expect what ever did you imagine I was going to do with your illustrious person you didn’t even have the courage to finish your reading

For the bar you went and buried yourself for 10 years in The Wretched birth of a clerk at a sub prefecture and you come to me with the detestable reputation of a republican whom the kudeta was alone able to convert do you think that with such a

Past there is the making of a cabinet minister in you oh I know that you have in your gave her a ferocious desire to reach the goal by any means possible that is a great virtue I admit and it was precisely on that account that I obtained your admittance into the hotel

Deville and rising from his seat he placed the document containing the appointment in ares’s hands take it continued he you’ll thank me someday it’s I who chose the birth I know what you’ll be able to get out of it all you’ll have to do will be to look

About you and keep your ears open if you are intelligent you’ll soon understand and know how to act now pay particular attention to what I’m about to say to you make piles of money I permit it only do nothing foolish no noisy Scandal otherwise I shall suppress you instantly this threat produced the

Effect his promises had been unable to obtain all ares’s artor was rekindled at the thought of the fortune to which his brother eluded it seemed to him that he was at last let loose in the thick of the fry authorized to slaughter right and left but legally and without causing too much

Commotion Jan gave him 200 Franks to enable him to wait till the end of the month then he remained wrapped in thought I’m thinking of changing my name said he at length you ought to do the same we should interfere with each other less as you like answered ariste

Quietly you need not trouble yourself about anything I will attend to the necessary formalities how would you like to call yourself by your wife’s name Cato aristy glanced up at the SE ceing repeating the name and listening to the sound of the syllables AR cardo no on my word it’s clownish and

Has a suggestion of bankruptcy about it think of something better then said Eugen I would prefer siik card without the O resumed the other after a pause ariste SI car that isn’t bad is it perhaps a bit jaunty he stood thinking a few moments longer then triumphantly

Exclaimed I’ve got it I found it at last saard ared saard with a double C there’s money in such a name as that it has a sound like the counting out of five Frank pieces Eugen was rather brutal in his jokes he dismissed his brother saying to him with a

Smile yes a name that will make you a convict or a millionaire a few days later haris sard found himself at the Odell de he there learned that his brother must have commanded considerable influence to get him appointed without the customary examinations then the couple began the monotonous life of the underpaid paid

Clerk arist and his wife resumed their old placon ways only they fell from a dream of sudden fortune and their poverty-stricken existence weighed heavier upon them now that they looked upon it as a time of probation for duration of which they were unable to

Fix to be poor in Paris is to be doubly poor Angel accepted the wretchedness of their position with all the listlessness of a chlorotic woman she spent days in her kitchen or else lying on the floor playing with her daughter and never lamenting except when she reached her last 20 Sue

Piece but ariste quivered with rage in the midst of this Poverty of this narrow existence out of which he sought an issue like some caged Beast to him it was a period of ineffable suffering his pride was wounded his unsated Cravings goated him furiously and he suffered all the more on learning

That his brother had been elected to represent placant in Parliament he felt too much ean’s superiority to be foolishly jealous but he accused him of not doing all that he might have done for him on several occasions absolute necessity forced him to knock at his door for the purpose of borrowing a

Trifle Jen lent the money but at the same time roughly reproached him with being Des destitute of both courage and will then ariste took the bull indeed by the horns he swore to himself that he would never again borrow so much as a Sue from anyone and he kept his oath the

Last eight days of each month Angel would eat dry bread and sigh this apprenticeship completed sard’s terrible education his thin lips became narrower still he was no longer so stupid as to of millions out loud his Scraggy person became dumb and no longer expressed but one will one fixed idea

Nursed that every hour of a day when he hurried along from the Rus San jaac to the hotel DeVille his boots worn downed Hill resounded harshly on the pavement and he buttoned himself up in his shabby old Overcoat as though with an asylum of hatred while his weasel likee snout

Sniffed the air of the streets he was an angular figure of the jealous misery that one sees roaming along the Paris sidewalks carrying with him his plan for conquering a fortune and the dream of the eventual gratification of his appetite early in 1853 artit sart was appointed Trustee of

Roads he now received a salary of 4,500 Franks this rise came at an opportune moment Angel was slowly wasting away little cloti was looking quite pale he retained his small lodging of two rooms the dining room furnished in Walnut and the bedroom in Mahogany continuing to lead an austere life

Carefully avoiding getting into debt unwilling to touch other people’s money until he could bury his arms into it to the elbows he thus bellied his instinct disdaining the few extra Sue he received preferring to remain on the watch Angel felt completely happy she bought herself some new clothes and had

A joint to roast every day of the week she could no longer understand the reason of her husband’s suppressed passion his gloomy ways of a man working out the solution of some formidable problem acting on ean’s advice arised was keeping his eye and ears open when he went to thank his brother

For his promotion the latter understood the revolution that had taken place within him he complimented him on what he called his good appearance the clerk whom Envy was inwardly rendering inflexible had outwardly become pliant and insinuating in a few months he was transformed into a marvelous comedian all his Southern animation had awakened

And he carried the art so far that his comrades at the hotel DeVille looked upon him as a jolly good fellow whose near relationship to a deputy designed beforehand for some Grand appointment this relationship also secured him the Good Will of his Chiefs he thus enjoyed a kind of authority

Superior to his position which enabled him to open certain doors and to poke his nose into certain portfolios without his indiscretion appearing in the least culpable for 2 years he was seen roaming about all the passages lingering in all the rooms getting up from his seat 20

Times a day to talk to a comrade carry an order or take a stroll through the different departments endless wanderings which caused his colleagues to say that devil of a southerner he can’t keep still a minute he must indeed have Quick Silver in his legs his own particular friends took him

For a lazy fellow and the worthy man laughed when they accused him of seeking to rob the service of a few minutes he never committed the mistake of listening at keyholes but he had a bold way of opening doors and Crossing rooms apparently deeply intent upon some

Document or other in his hand and with so slow and regular a walk that he never lost the word of whatever was being said they were the tactics of a genius people ended by no longer interrupting their conversation when this energetic clerk passed by gliding so to say in the

Shadow of the offices and seemingly so wrapped in his own business he had yet another method he was extremely obliging and would offer to assist his comrades whenever they were behind hand with their work and then he would study the registers and the documents that passed through his hands with quite a meditative

Tenderness but one of his favorite padillos was to form acquaintance with the messengers he would even shake hands with them for hours together he would keep them talking in doorways stifling little bursts of laughter telling them stories and drawing them out these worthy fellows quite worshiped him and

Were in the habit of saying there is a gentleman who isn’t a bit proud the moment there was the least Scandal he knew of it before anyone it was thus that at the end of two years the otel devil held no mysteries for him he knew everybody employed there even to

The lamp cleaners and was acquainted with every paper the place contained not omitting the washing books at this time Paris formed for a man like arist sakar a most interesting spectacle the Empire had just been proclaimed after that famous Journey during which which the prince president had succeeded in arousing the enthusiasm

Of some bonapar departments silence reigned both at the Tribune and in the Press society saved once more was congratulating itself and indolently resting now that a strong government was protecting it and relieving it even of the trouble of thinking and of attending to its own business the great preoccupation of

Society was to know in what way it should kill time as Eugen rugon so happily expressed it Paris was dining and anticipating no end of pleasure at dessert politics produced a universal scare like some Dangerous Drug the wearied minds turned to pleasure and money-making those who had any of the

Latter brought it out and those who had none sought in all the outof theeway places for forgotten Treasures a secret quiver seemed to run through the multitude accompanied by in nent jingling of five Frank Pieces by the Rippling laughter of women and the yet faint clatter of Crockery and murmur of

Kisses amidst the great Silence of the rain of order the profound peacefulness brought by the change of government there arose all sorts of pleasant rumors gilded in voluptuous promises it was as though one were passing in front of one of those little houses that the carefully drawn curtains

Of which reveal no more than the shadows of women and where one can overhear the jingling of gold on the marble mantle pieces the empire was about to turn Paris into the Bano of Europe the handful of adventurers who had just stolen a throne needed a reign of Adventure of shadowy business

Transactions of consciences sold of women bought of furious and Universal intoxication and in the city where the blood of December was scarcely wiped away there slowly uprose timidly as yet that mad desire for enjoyment which was destined to bring the country to the lowest drgs of corrupt and Dishonored

Nations from the very first days Aris sard had felt the approach of this Rising tide of speculation the foam of which was soon to envelop the whole of Paris he watched its progress with profound attention he found himself right in the very midst of the warm downpour of

Silver crowns falling thick and fast onto the roofs of the city in his constant wanderings through the hotel DeVille he had obtained an inkling of the vast project for the transformation of Paris of the plan of a demolitions and of the new thoroughfares in the altered districts of the formidable

Jobbery with respect to the sale of the land and the buildings which was kindling all over the town the Battle of interests and the flare up of unbridled luxury from that moment his activity had an object it was at this Epoch that he became quite a jolly good fellow he even

Grew a trifle Stout he no longer hurried about the streets like a half starved cat in search of something to devour at his office he was more talkative more obliging than ever his brother to whom he paid occasional visits in some measure official congratulated him on so happily putting his councils into

Practice in the early days of 1854 seart confided to him that he had several Affairs in view but that he would require some rather large advances in the way of money you should look about said Eugen you’re right I’ll look about he replied without the least trace of ill

Humor and without appearing to notice that his brother declined to furnish him with the necessary funds how to procure this money had now become his constant thought his plan was formed he grew maturer every day but he was as far as ever from obtaining that first few thousands of Franks he

Required his faculties became Keener he began to look at people in a profound and nervous manner as though he were seeking A lender in every passer by Andel continued to lead at home her secluded and happy existence he was forever watching for an opportunity and his laugh of a jolly good fellow became

More bitter as this opportunity delayed in presenting itself arese had a sister living in Paris sidor rug had married a solicitor’s clerk at placon who’d come with her to the Rous San hore to start business as a dealer in southern Commodities when her brother came across her the husband had disappeared and the

Business had long ago gone to the dogs she occupied in the rud du foror ponier a small mezzanine floor consisting of three rooms she also leased the shop beneath a narrow and mysterious shop in which she pretended to carry on the business of a dealer in

Lace true enough there was a display of Valen and malty Lace suspended from guilt rods in the window but inside the place had more the look of an anti room with its polished Wings cutting and a total absence of goods of any description light curtains hung before the glazed door and the window

Intercepting the glances of the passers by and helping to give the shop the veiled and discreet appearance of a waiting room at the entrance to some strange Temple it was very seldom that any customer was seen to call at Madame sidon the handle was even generally removed from

Mador she spread a report in the neighborhood that she went personally to offer her Wares to ladies of Fortune the convenient arrangement of the place she would say had alone caused her to rent the shop and the floor above which communicated by a staircase hidden in the wall and indeed the lace dealer

Was constantly Out of Doors she might be seen hurrying in or out at least 10 times a day F trade however was not her only business she utilized her Upper Floor cramming it full of merchandise of one sort or another at different times she dealt there and got to perch a Goods

Such as waterproof coats shoes braces Etc then had followed a new oil to promote the growth of the hair various Orthopedic instruments and an automatic coffee pot a patented invention the working of which gave her a great deal of trouble the first time her brother came

To see her she’d gone in for posan to such an extent that her apartment were full of them they were even in her bedroom a very daintly decorated room which contrasted violently with the commercial untidiness of the two others she carried on her two businesses with perfect method the customers who

Came for the goods on the mezzanine floor entered and departed by means of a carriage entrance which gave admittance to the house from the r puyo only those acquainted with the mysterious little staircase were able to form an idea of the lace dealer’s underhand trading up in her Apartments she was

Known as Madame tou which was the name of her husband whilst she had had only her Christian name painted on the shop door which was the reason for her being generally addressed as Madame sidoni Madame sidoni was 35 years of age but she dressed so carelessly she had so

Little of the woman in her appearance that one would have taken her to be much older in truth she was a person whose age it would have been difficult to tell she was old always seen in the same black dress frayed at the edges rumpled and discolored by constant wear

Reminding one of a lawyer’s old gown become threadbear through years of daily attendance in court with a black bonnet which came as low as her farad and hid all her hair and a pair of thick heavy shoes she scurried along the streets carrying on her arm a little basket the

Handles of which had been mended with pieces of string this basket which never left her was quite a little world in itself whenever she raised the lid samples of All Sorts issued forth Diaries pocketbooks and especially bundles of stamped documents the almost illegible writing of which she deciphered with extraordinary

Dexterity she comprised in her person something of a broker and of the man of law she lived amidst protests rits and Orders of the Court when she had secured an order for 10 Franks worth of pomatum or lace she would insinuate herself into the good graces of her customer and

Become her man of business calling in herstead on solicitors barristers and judges she would thus carry for weeks together at the bottom of her basket all the documents relating to a case taking no end of trouble about it going from one end of Paris to the other with the

Same regular little trot trot never for a moment thinking of riding to save her leg it would have been difficult to say what profit she obtained from such a business in the first place she engaged in it through an instinctive taste for questionable matters a love for caving

Besides this however it enabled her to secure a host of little profits invitations to dinner in every direction innumerable Frank pieces pocketed here and there but her clearest gain was undoubtedly the numerous Secrets confided to her wherever she went which showed her where a good stroke of

Business was to be done or a handsome windfall to be obtained living in the homes of others and wrapped up in their Affairs she had become a veritable reparatory existing on offers and demands she knew where there was a daughter ready to be married at once a family in need of 3,000 Franks

An Old Gentleman willing to lend the 3,000 Franks but on substan Cal security and at a high rate of interest she knew of matters more delicate still the sadness of a fair lady whose husband did not understand her and who longed to be understood the secret desires of a good

Mother who dreamed of settling her daughter advantageously the taste of a certain Baron for little supper parties and very young girls and smiling faintly she went about walking these offers and these demands she would walk a couple of leagues to bring her clients together she sent the

Baron to The Good Mother prevailed upon the Old Gentleman to lend the 3,000 Franks to the needy family obtained the necessary consolation for the fair lady and a not over scrupulous husband for the young girl in a hurry to marry she was also engaged in some very important business business that there

Was no occasion to keep secret and with which she pestered whoever went near her an interminable lawsuit that a noble but ruined family had entrusted her with and a debt owing by the English to the French Nation since the time of the Stewarts and which amounted with a compound interest to nearly three

Milliards of Franks this debt of three milliards was our hobby horse she would explain the case with no end of particulars launching out into quite a course of history and a flush of enthusiasm would rush to her cheeks usually yellow and flabby like Wax at times between a call on a lawyer

And a visit paid to her lady friend she would secure an order for a coffee pot a Macintosh a piece of lace or a piano on higher these were matters arranged in a moment then she would hurry back to her shop where a lady customer had an

Appointment with her to see a piece of chantilli the customer arrived and glided like a shadow into the discreet and veiled shop and it often happened that a gentleman entering by way of the carriage entrance in the r papion called at the same time to see Madame tusa’s Pian on the floor

Above if Madame sidoni had not made a fortune it was because she often worked for love of the thing with a great hankering after legal business forgetting her own Affairs for those of others she allowed herself to be fleeced by the lawyers which procured her however an enjoyment unknown to any but litigious

Persons there were scarcely anything womanly left about her she’d become nothing more nor less than a man of business an agent ever bustling about the four corners of Paris carrying in her legendary basket articles of the most equivocal description selling everything dreaming of milliards and even going to the courthouse for a

Favorite client to plead in the case of a disputed 10 Franks short skinny and pale dressed in that thin black garment which looked as though it had been cut out of a Bar’s gown she seemed to have shriveled up and to see her scuttling along close to the

Houses one would have taken her for an errand boy disguised as a girl her complexion had the mournful Wess of stamped paper her lips parted in a dim smile whilst her eyes seemed to be wandering amidst the hubub of business matters of every description with which she loaded her

Brain of discreet and timid ways moreover combined with a vague odor of the confessional and a midwife sanctum she always appeared as gentle and maternal as a nun who having renounced all the affections of this world takes pity on the sufferings of the heart she never mentioned her husband neither did

She allude to her child Hood her family or her Affairs there was only one thing she did not deal in and that was herself not that she had any Scruples about the matter but because the idea of such a bargain could never occur to her she was

As dry as an invoice as cold as a protest and at heart as brutal and indifferent as a bum bayith sakar all fresh from his Province could not at first fathom the delegate depths of Madame sidon’s numerous callings as he had during 12 months studied for the bar she one day spoke to

Him of a three milliards with a very grave air which gave him but a poor opinion of her intelligence she came and rummaged in all the corners of the loding in the Rus sanjac weighed Angel at a glance and never again put in an appearance excepting when her own Affairs brought

Her into the neighborhood and when she felt a desire to again discuss the question of a three milard andelle had swallowed the bait of the story of the English debt the woman of business mounted her Hobby and made it rain gold for an hour or more it was the

Crack in this shrewd intellect the gentle myth with which he deluded her life wasted in her wretched traffic the magical lure that intoxicated not only herself but the more credulous of her clients thoroughly convinced moreover she ended by speaking of a three milliards as of some private Fortune

Which the judges would have to restore to her sooner or later and this she had a marvelous orola around her shabby black bonnet on which hung a few faded violets attached to brass wire stems be of all covering Angel would open her eyes wide with amazement on several occasions she

Spoke to her husband of her sister-in-law with great respect saying that Madame sidoni would perhaps make them all rich one day zakar merely Shrugged his shoulders he had gone and inspected the shop and floor above in the rud Fier and the only impression he had taken away with him was that of an

Approaching bankruptcy he wished to know Jen’s opinion of their sister but his brother became grave and merely replied that he never saw her that he knew she was very intelligent though perhaps rather compromising however as sart was returning to the rud de panier for some little while afterwards he fancied he saw Madame

Sidon’s black dress leave his brother’s Abode and glide rapidly along the houses he hastened forward but lost all trace of the black garment the woman of business had one of those spare figures which so easily lose themselves in a crowd this set him thinking and it was

From this moment that he commenced to study his sister more attentively it was not long before he began to understand the immense task performed by that pale and shadowy little body whose entire face seemed to squint and melt away he came to look upon her with

Respect she had the true gon blood in her veins he recognized that appetite for money that longing for every kind of intrigue which was characteristic of the family only in her case thanks to the surroundings amidst which she’d grown old thanks to that Paris where every morning she’d been obliged to set forth

To seek her evening meal the common temperament had deviated from its usual course to produce this extraordinary hfic ISM of a woman changed into a being without a gender both man of business and procuress at the same time when sard after having fixed upon his plan was seeking for the means for

Putting it into execution he naturally be thought him of his sister she shook her head and with a sigh alluded to the three mards but the civil servant would not humor her with whim he pulled her up rather roughly each time she mentioned theet connected with the stewards such a

Chimera seemed to him to dishonor so practical and intelligence butam cidoni who quietly swallowed the most cutting irony without in any way allow allowing her convictions to be shaken next explained to him in a very lucid manner that he would never raise a sue having no security to offer this conversation took place

Opposite the borce where she No Doubt dabbled with her savings towards 3:00 one was sure to find her leaning against the railing to the left near the post office it was there that she gave audience to individuals as fishy and shadowy as herself her brother was on the point of

Leaving her when she murmured regretfully ah if only you were not married this reticence the full and exact sense of which he was unwilling to ask made sakar singularly thoughtful months passed by the Crimean War had just been declared Paris quite unaffected by a war so far away was launching with more

Ardor than ever into speculation and women wi sard stood by gnawing his fists as he assisted at this ever increasing Mania which he’d long before foreseen the Hammers in the gigantic Forge beating the gold upon the Anvil made him quiver with rage in impatience his intelligence and his will

Were worked up to such a pitch that he lived as in a dream like a somnambulist walking along the edge of a roof a prey to some fixed idea he was therefore surprised and annoyed one evening to find Angel ill and in bed his home life regulated like

A clock was getting out of order and this exasperated him like some intentional spitefulness of Destiny poor anel complained in a gentle voice she had taken a severe chill when the doctor arrived he appeared very anxious he told the husband outside on the landing that his wife was suffering from inflammation of

The lungs and that he could not answer for her life from that moment the civil servant tended the invalid without a vestage of anger he no longer went to his office he remained beside her watching her with an indefinable expression as she lay sleeping flushed and panting with

Fever Madame sidoni in spite of the overwhelming business which claimed her attention found time to call each evening to make diet drinks which he pretended were Sovereign remedies to all her other trades she could add that of a sick nurse by vocation taking an interest in suffering in medicaments

And in the heart- rening conversations which go on at the bedsides of those about to depart this life besides this she seemed to be full of a tender friendship for anel she loved women of amorous Natures showing her affection by a thousand little caressing ways no doubt because of the

Pleasure they gave mankind she treated them with the delicate attentions which dealers show towards the more precious of their Wares calling them my beauty my darling cing and almost swooning before them like a lover in the presence of his mistress though Angel was one of those from whom she expected nothing she

Petted her up like the others just by way of principle when the young woman took to her bed Madame sidon’s affusions became quite pathetic she filled the silent chamber with demonstrations of her devotion her husband watched her moving about his teeth tightly set and looking as though utterly wrapped up in a silent

Grief the disease took a turn for the worse one evening the doctor informed them that the patient would not live through the night mam sidon had called early with a preoccupied air and and she kept looking at artine and Angel out of her watery eyes lighted up every now and

Then by sudden flashes of fire when the doctor had taken his departure she turned down the lamp and a great silence enveloped all death was slowly entering into this warm and dampish room where the irregular breathing of a Dying woman resembled the spasmodic ticking of a clock about to

Stop Madam sidoni had given up the DI drinks and now allowed the disease to go course she had seated herself before the fireplace at the side of her brother who was stirring the Cals with a feverish hand and casting now and again an involuntary glance at the

Bed then as though innervated by the close atmosphere and by the sad spectacle he withdrew into the adjoining room little clo had been shot in there and was playing very quietly with her doll on the edge of the rug his daughter was smiling up at him when Madame sidon

Creeping to where he stood Drew him into a corner and commenced to speak in a hushed voice the door had remained a jar one could hear the faint rattle in Angel’s throat your poor wife sobbed the businesswoman I fear the end is at hand you heard what the doctor

Said for all answer sard mournfully bowed his head she was a good creature continued the other speaking as though Angel were already dead and buried you may find many richer women and one’s more used to the world but you’ll never meet with another heart like hers and as she stopped and set to

Mopping her eyes as though seeking a means of bringing the conversation to the subject she was driving at you have something something to tell me asked sard without any beating about the bush yes I’ve been busying myself about you in reference to the matter you spoke

Of and I think I have found something but at such a moment you see my heart is bursting she mopped her eyes again sard let her have her way and did not utter a word then she made up her mind to speak it’s a young girl her relations wish to

See her married at once said she but dear child has met with a misfortune there is an aunt will be willing to make any sacrifice she interrupted herself she was continuing to moan draing out her words as though she were still pitying poor Angel she did this with the view of

Making her brother lose patience and forcing him to question her so as not to have the whole whole responsibility of the offer she was about to make him and indeed an inward feeling of irritation began to work upon the civil servant come say what you have to say said he

Why do they wish to see this young girl married she had just left school resumed the woman of business in a doleful voice and a man seduced her down in the country at the home of one of her School Fellows where she was staying the father has just discovered her

Condition he wished to kill her the aunt to save a dear child made herself her accomplice and they both of them told the father a story to the effect that the Seducer was a worthy fellow who was longing to redeem his momentary error therefore said sakar in a tone of

Surprise as though annoyed the man in the country is going to marry the Young girl no he cannot he’s already married a pause ensued the rattl in Angel’s throat resounded more painfully in the quivering atmosphere little CTI had ceased playing she was now looking at Madame sidon and

Her father with her great eyes of a thoughtful child as though she had understood their words zakar began to put a few brief questions how old is the young girl 19 how long has she been in her present condition 3 months there will no doubt be a

Miscarriage and the family is a wealthy and honorable one an old middle class family the father was a judge a very handsome Fortune what is the Aunt prepared to give a 100,000 Franks another pause ensued Madam sidoni was no longer blubbering she was on business her voice assumed the metallic

Jingle of a secondhand dealer trying to drive a bargain her brother took a covert glance at her and added with some slight hesitation and you what will you want we’ll talk of that later on replied she you can do me a service in your turn she waited a few seconds and as he

Remained silent she asked him plainly well what have you decided these poor women are in despair they wish to prevent a scandal they have promised the father to tell him tomorrow the name of the Seducer if you accept I will send them one of your cards by a commissionaire

Zard seemed to awaken from a dream he started and turned with a frightened air towards the adjoining room where he faned he had heard a slight noise but I cannot he said with anguish you know very well that I cannot Madame sidon looked at him fixedly with a cold and disdainful

Gaze all the rugal blood all his Ardent longings came rushing back to his throat he took a card from his pocketbook and gave it to his sister who after carefully scratching out the address placed it in an envelope she then went out it was barely 9:00 left alone sard went and pressed

His flid against the icy cold window panes he forgot himself so far as to beat the tattoo on the glass with the tips of his fingers but the night was so black but Darkness outside hung about in such strange masses that he could not help experiencing a feeling of uneasiness and

He mechanically returned to the room in which Angelo was dying he had quite forgotten her and received a terrible shock on finding her half raised up in bed on her pillows her eyes were wide open a flush of Life seemed to have returned to her lips and

Cheeks little clo still holding her doll was Seated on the edge of the bed the moment her father had turned his back she had quickly glided into that Chamber from which she had so long been kept and to which her gladsome childish curiosity attracted her his head full of what his

Sister had been saying to him sakar suddenly beheld his dream dashed to Pieces a frightful thought must have glared from out his eyes seized with Terror Angel tried to bury herself in the bed clothes right up against the wall but death was nigh this Awakening

In the midst of a last Agony with a supreme flicker of the lamp going out the dying woman was unable to move and as her Last Remnant of strength left her she continued to keep her wide open eyes fixed on her husband as though to watch his every

Movement zakar who for a moment had believed in some diabolical Resurrection invented by Destiny to keep him in poverty became reassured on seeing that The Wretched woman had scarcely another hour to live his other feelings gave way to one of Intolerable uneasiness angel’s eyes said plainly enough that she’d overheard the

Conversation between her husband and Madame cidoni and that she feared he would strangle her if she did not die quick enough and her eyes were also full of the horrible amazement of a gentle and Ina sense of nature which learns at the last moment the infamies of this world

And shutters at the thought of having passed years side by side with a bandit by degrees her look became more kind she was no longer frightened she no doubt found excuses for the wretch as she recollected the desperate struggle he’d been maintaining so long against fate followed by the dying woman’s gaze

In which he read such bitter reproach sard clung to the furniture for support and saw the darkest corner of the room then feeling on the point of fainting he tried to drive away this nightmare which was maddening him and advanced into the light of the lamp but

Angel motioned him not to speak and she continued looking at him with that air of Terror stricken anguish to which was now joined a promise of pardon then he stooped to take up cloti in his arms and carry her into the other room she again forbade him with a

Movement of her lips she insisted upon his remaining where he was she slowly passed away not once removing her gaze from him and as he paed beneath it this gaze grew more and more benign she forgave with her last sigh she died as she had lived tamely

Her Defence in life attending her till death sard stood shivering before the dead woman’s eyes which remained wide open and transfixed him by their very immobility little cloti nursed her doll on the edge of the sheet very gently though so is not to wake her mother when Madame sidoni got back it

Was all over like a woman in the habit of Performing such operations she deafly closed angel’s eyes with a touch Touch of her fingers and this was an immense relief to sard then after putting the little girl to bed she quickly arranged the room as befits the Chamber of death when she’d

Lighted two candles on the chest of drawers and carefully drawn the sheet up to the chin of the corpse she cast A Satisfied glance around her and ins sconed herself in an easy chair where she dozed till Daybreak sakar passed the night in the adjoining room writing letters announcing his wife’s death he

Interrupted himself now and again musing and adding up Columns of figures on odd Bits of Paper on the evening of the day of the funeral Madame sidon took SAR to her apartment on the mezanine floor and Grand resolutions were formed there the civil servant decided that he would send

Little clle to one of his brothers Pascal rugon a doctor at pan who led a bachelor life rap up in the love of silence and who had often offered to take his niece to live with him to enliven his silent home Madam sidoni then made sakar understand that he could no longer

Sojourn in the rousan shac she would take an elegantly furnished apartment for him for a month somewhere in the neighborhood of the hotel DeVille she would try to find this apartment in a private house so that the furniture should appear to belong to him as to the

Chattles in the Rus sanjac they should all be sold so as to a face every trace of the past he could use the money in buying himself a truso and some decent clothes 3 Days Later clil was handed over to an old lady who it so happened

Was just starting for the South and arist sakar triumphant and Rosy cheek looking fatted up in 3 days by the first Smiles of Fortune occupied in a quiet and respectable house in the rup payen situated in the mar quarter a Charming floor of five rooms through which he wandered with embroidered slippers on

His feet they were the apartments of a young Abe who had been suddenly called to Italy and who had instructed his servant to let the rooms during his absence this servant was a friend of Madame sidon who rather fancied the cloth she loved priests with the same

Love that she showered on women through instinct no doubt establishing a certain nervous relationship between cix and silk skirts from that time sart was ready he arranged the part he was to play with exquisite art he awaited without portraying the least emotion the difficulties and niceties of a situation which he had

Accepted on the Dreadful evening when Angel died Madam sidoni had Faithfully told in a few words The Misfortune which had overtaken the beo the father Miss bero duel a fine old man of 60 was the last representative of an ancient middleclass family who could trace their origin much further back than many a

Noble house one of his ancestors was a companion ofm Marcel in 1793 his father perished on the scaffold after saluting the Republic with all the enthusiasm of a Paris citizen in whose veins flowed the Revolutionary blood of the city he himself was one of those Spartan Republicans who dream of a government of

Full Justice and wise Liberty grown old in the magistracy where he had contracted quite a professional stiffness and severity he resigned his post of presiding judge in 1851 at the time of the kudeta after refusing to be a member of one of those mixed commissions which Dishonored French

Justice since that time he’d been living solitary and retired in his mansion on the e s Louie situated at the extremity of the island almost opposite the Mansion of vamb his wife had died young some secret drama the wound from which still remained unhealed probably added to the

Gloom of the judge’s grave countenance he was already the father of a girl of eight Renee when his wife expired on giving birth to a second daughter this latter who was named Christine was taken care of by a sister of M Batel the wife of Oberto the notary Renee was sent to a

Convent Madame Oberto who had no child of her own was filled with quite a maternal affection for Christine whom she brought up herself her husband dying she took the little one back to her father and remained between the silent old man and his smiling fair-haired daughter grene was forgotten at her school

During the holiday she filled the house with such an uproar that her Aunt heaved a great sigh of relief when she at length escorted her back to the ladies of the visitation where the child had been a border since she was 8 years old she did not leave the convent for

Good until she was 19 and then she went to pass the summer at the home of her friend Adeline whose parents owned a beautiful estate in the N when she came back in October her aunt Elizabeth was surprised to find her very grave and profoundly sad one evening she discovered her

Stifling her sobs in the pillow writhing on her bed in an attack of mad grief in the misery of her despair the child told her a most heart-rending story a man of 40 Rich married and whose wife a young and Charming person was also staying at the house had violated her during her

Visit in the country with without her daring or knowing how to defend herself this confession terrified Aunt Elizabeth who accused herself as though she felt she were an accomplice she regretted her preference for Christine and could not help thinking that if she had also kept Renee beside her the poor

Child would not have succumbed hence forward to drive away that bitter remorse which her tender nature still further exaggerated she did her best to sustain the aring one she bore the brunt of the father’s anger when they both apprised him of the horrible Truth by the very excess of

Their precautions in the bewilderment of her solicitude she invented that strange project of marriage which to her idea was to arrange everything appease the father and rehabilitate Renee and the shamefulness and fatal consequences of which she was unwilling to see it was never known how Madame sidoni

Had got wind of This Magnificent piece of business the honor of the BAU had been dragged about in her basket amongst the protested bills of every dolly mop of Paris when she learned the story she almost forced them to accept her brother whose wife lay at death’s door Aunt

Elizabeth ended by thinking that she was under an obligation to this lady so gentle and humble and who was so devoted to poor Renee that she even found her a husband in her own family the first interview between sakar and thean took place in the little apartment

On the Upper Floor of the rudu FAO ponier the civil servant who had gained admittance through the carriage entrance in the r papon understood on beholding Madame OBO arve by way of the shop and little staircase all the ingenious mechanism of the two entrances he was full of tact and good

Manners he treated the marriage as a matter of of business but like a man of the world about to settle his gambling debts Aunt Elizabet was by far the more trembling of the two she stammered not daring to mention the 100,000 Franks which he had promised it was he who

First brought forward the money question in the manner of a solicitor discussing a client’s case according to him 100,000 Franks was a ridiculous Fortune for madm moiselle Rene’s husband to start housekeeping upon and he laid a gentle stress on the word madm moisel Mel would despise still more a

Poor son-in-law he would accuse him of having seduced his daughter for the sake of her money perhaps it might even occur to him to make some secret inquiries Madame Alberto greatly frightened and scared by Sak’s calm and polite way of talking lost her head and consented to double the sum when he

Declared cled that he would not dare to ask for Rene’s hand for less than 200,000 Franks not wishing to be considered an Infamous Fortune Hunter the worthy lady departed quite confused scarcely knowing what to think of a fellow who could be so indignant and yet enter into such an arrangement this ends section

Three section four of the rush for the spoil by Emil zolah translated by Henry vatelli this LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Mark leer section four this first interview was followed by an official visit which aunt Elizabeth paid seart and is a apartments in the ru

Payen this time she came in the name of Miss beo the retired judge had refused to see that man as he called his daughter’s Seducer so long as he was not married to Renee to whom he had also closed this door Madan Oberto had full powers to arrange everything she

Appeared delighted with the civil servants luxurious surroundings she had feared that the brother of that Madame C Don with the draggled skirts might be a blackgard he received her arrayed in a delicious dressing gown it was at the time when the adventurers of the 2nd of December after having paid their debts

Were pitching their worn out boots and frayed coats into the sewers having their dirty chins shaved and becoming respectable members of society zard was at length joining the band he took to cleaning his nails and using at his toilet the most invaluable powder and perfume he was quite Gallant

He changed his tactics and showed himself most prodigiously disinterested when the old lady broached the subject of the marriage contract he made a gesture as though to say that it was a matter of indifference to him for a week past he’d been studying the code considering this grave question upon

Which his future Liberty of action in his underhand dealings would depend for goodness sake said he let’s say no more about this disagreable money question my opinion is that MMO should remain Mistress of her fortune and I master of mine the notary will settle all that Aunt Elizabeth approved this

Arrangement she trembled for fear this fellow whose iron grip she could vaguely feel should wish to thrust his fingers into her niece ‘s DIY she next gave the particulars of this DIY my brother said she possesses a fortune consisting mainly of landed property and houses he is not the man to

Punish His Daughter by reducing the share he intended for her he gives her an estate in Salon valued at 300,000 Franks as well as a house in Paris said to be worth about 200,000 Franks sard was quite dazzled he had not expected such an amount he slightly

Turned away his head so as to hide the rush of blood which died his face that makes 500,000 Franks continued the aunt but I must not hide from you that the solonia property only yields 2% he smiled and repeated his disinterested gesture wishing to imply but that could not affect him as he

Declined to meddle with his wife’s Fortune he was seated in his easy chair in an attitude of adorable indifference with an absentminded air his foot playing with his slipper and he appeared to be listening purely out of politeness Madame Oberto with the good nature of a worthy old soul spoke with

Difficulty choosing her words so as not to wound him besides that however I wish to make Renee a present she resumed I I have no children of my own my fortune will one day devolve to my nieces and it is not because one of them is in grief that I

Would now close my hand the wedding presents for both of them have been long ready Rene’s consists in some vast plots of ground near cheron which I have reason to believe are worth 200,000 Franks only at the word ground sart slightly started in spite of his pretended indifference he was l

Listening with profound attention Aunt Elizabeth became confused at a loss for words to express what she wished to say turning very red she at length continued only I wish that the ownership of this ground should be settled on Rene’s first child you no doubt understand my reason I do not desire

That this child should one day be an expense to you should it die the property will become solely Rene’s he did not display the least sign of disappointment but his knit brow showed How Deeply he was thinking the plots of ground that shiron had awakened a host of ideas within him

By them Oberto feared she had offended him by speaking of Rene’s child and she remained abashed and quite unable to continue the conversation you have not told me in what street the house property valued at 200,000 Franks is sit situated said he resuming his Pleasant

Air in the RO de la peper she replied almost at the corner of the rud this simple answer produced a decisive effect upon him he could no longer conceal his Delight he drew his easy chair nearer the lady and with his Southern volubility and en coxing tone

Said dear Madam have we not said enough must we still continue to disc discuss this horrid money question listen I wish to speak to you with all frankness for I should be in despair did I not Merit your esteem I lost my wife lately I have two

Children to look after I’m practical and sensible by marrying your niece I shall be doing everyone a good turn if you have still any prejudice against me you’ll lose it later on when I shall have dried all your tears and made the fortunes of all my descendence success

Is a Golden Flame which purifies everything I will force Miss berrow himself to hold out his hand to me and thank me he went rattling on speaking for a long while in the same strain with mocking impedence which showed at times beneath his Pleasant air he talked of

His brother the deputy and of his father the receiver of taxes at pleason he ended by completely ingracia getting himself with Aunt Elizabeth who beheld with involuntary Joy the drama through which she’d been suffering for a month past terminate almost in a merry comedy in the hands of this clever man it was

Settled that they should see the notary on the tomorrow as soon as Madame Oberto took her departure he went to the hotel deil and spent the day there examining certain documents with which he was acquainted at the meeting at the notaries he raised the difficulty he said that as Rene’s doy consisted solely

In landed property he feared it would give her no end of trouble and he thought it would be wise to sell at least a house in the rud deeper and to invest the money for her in the funds Madame Alberto wished to refer the matter to miss berel who continued to

Shut himself up in his room zacard went out again until the evening he visited the rout De le peper he heard about Paris with the thoughtful air of a general on the eve of a decisive battle the next morning Madame Oberto stated that M Batel left everything to

Her the marriage contract was drawn up on the basis already discussed sard brought 200,000 Franks Rene’s di consisted of the salon property and the house in the rud de la peper which later she undertook to sell besides this she would in the event of her first child dying be sole owner

Of the plots of ground the shahon given by her aunt the contract was in accordance with the system of separate Estates which preserves to the husband and wife the entire administration of their respective fortunes Aunt Elizabeth who is listening attentively to the notary appeared to be satisfied with this Arrangement which

Seemed to ensure her niece’s independence by placing her Fortune beyond the reach of any attempt that might be made upon it a vague smile played upon sard’s countenance as he saw the worthy lady approve each Clause with a nod the marriage was fixed to take place at the shortest possible

Date when everything was settled zard went and paid a ceremonious visit to his brother Ean to announce to him his Union with mm moiselle this master stroke astonished the deputy as he did not attempt to conceal his surprise the civil servant said you told

Me to look about I did so and I have found what I wanted Eugen quieted see at first then began to see the truth and in a Charming tone of voice he observed come now you’re a clever fellow you’ve called to ask me to be your best man have you not

You may count upon me if necessary I will bring all the members of the right of the core legislative to your wedding that would be a famous thing for you then as he’d opened the door he lowered his voice to add but tell me I must not compromise

Myself too much just now for we have a very difficult law to pass the lady’s condition is not too apparent is it sard gave him such a bitter look that Ean said to himself as he closed the door that is a joke that would cost me dear were I not a

Rugon the marriage was performed at the church of s Lou Anil seard and Renee did not see each other until the eve of the great day the interview took place in the evening just at nightall in a low room of the beo Mansion they examined each other with curiosity since arrangements had been

Entered into for her marriage Renee had regained her giddy ways her light-heartedness she was a tall girl of an Exquisite but turbulent Beauty who’d grown up at random amidst her school girl Caprices she found sard little and ugly but of a restless and intelligent ugliness which did not displease her he

Was moreover perfect both in manners and conversation he made a slight Grimace on first seeing her she no doubt appeared to him too tall taller than he was himself they exchanged a few words without embarrassment had the father been present he might indeed have thought that they had known each other a long

While but they had committed some Grievous fault together Aunt Elizabeth assisted at the interview and blushed for them on the day after the wedding which was quite an event in the E San Louie thanks to the presence ofin hug whom a recent speech had brought to the four

The newly married couple were at length admitted to the presence of Miss B chatel Renee wept on finding her father looking older Graver and more mournful sard whom nothing had put out of countenance till then was frozen by the chilliness and the dim light of the apartment by the sad austerity of the

Tall old man whose piercing eyes seemed to him to search into the very depths of his conscience the retired judge slowly kissed his daughter on the forehead as though to tell her that he forgave her and then turning to his son-in-law sir said he simply we have

Suffered much I count upon you to make us forget the wrong you have done us he held out his hand to him but sakar stood shivering he was thinking that if Miss bead duel had not been bent Low by the tragic grief of Rene’s shame he

Would at a glance and without an effort have seen through Madame sidon’s m a inations the latter after having brought her brother and Aunt Elizabeth together had prudently made herself scarce she had not even gone to the wedding he made a point of being very Frank with the old man having read in

His look his surprise at finding his daughter’s Seducer to be a little ugly fellow 40 years old the newly married couple were obliged to pass the first nights at the B Mansion a month before Christine had been sent away so that the child of 14 should have no suspicion of a drama that

Was being enacted in that house as Serene and undisturbed as a cloer when she returned home she gazed with astonishment at her sister’s husband whom she also thought old and ugly Renee was the only one who did not seem to notice either her husband’s age or his sorry appearance she treated him

Without contempt as without affection with an absolute Tranquility through its occasionally gleamed a touch of ironical disdain Zar strutted about and made himself at home and really thanks to his frankness and good spirits he little by little won the Friendship of one and all when they took their departure to occupy

A superb Suite of apartments in a new house in the rude de rali Mel’s look no longer displayed any astonishment and little Christine romped with her brother-in-law was with an old friend Renee was at that time 4 months gone in the family way her husband was

On the point of sending her into the country when in accordance with Madame sidon’s prophecy she had a miscarriage she had laced herself up so tightly to hide her condition which moreover disappeared beneath the fullness of her skirts that she was obliged to keep her bed for several

Weeks he was delighted with the adventure Fortune was at length smiling upon on him he’ made a golden bargain a magnificent doy a wife lovely enough to have him decorated in six months and not the least encumbrance he’d been paid 200,000 Franks to give his name to a fetus which

The mother would not even look at from that moment his thoughts lovingly lingered on the plots of ground at cheron but for the time being he was giving all his attention to a speculation which was to form the base of his fortune not withstanding the high

Position of his wife’s family he did not at once resign his post at otel devil he talked of work on hand to be finished and of some other occupation to be sought for the truth was he wished to remain till the end on the battlefield where he was playing his first cards he

Was so to say at home and could cheat more at his ease his plan for making his fortune was simple and practical now that he possessed more money than he had ever hoped for to commence his operations he intended to put his designs into execution on a grand

Scale he knew Paris by heart he knew that the shower of gold which was already beating against the walls would fall heavier every day clever people had only to open their pockets he placed himself among the clever ones by reading the future in the offices of the hotel DeVille

His duties had taught him what can be stolen in the buying and selling of houses and ground he was fully acquainted with all the classic swindles he knew how to sell for a million that which only cost 500,000 Franks how to pay the right to ransack the cash boxes

Of the state which smiles and shuts its eyes how by making a Boulevard pass over the entrails of some old neighborhood to juggle with six stored houses amidst the Applause of all the dupes and that which in those still clouded days when the chance of speculation was not beyond the

Period of incubation made him a terrible Gambler was that he foresaw more than his Chiefs themselves respecting the future of stone and plaster reserved to Paris he’ fered about so much collected together so many clues that he might have prophesied the spectacle the new districts would offer in

1870 at times as he walked along Ong the streets he would look at certain houses in a singular manner as though they were old friends whose Destiny known to him alone affected him deeply two months previous to Angela’s death he had taken her one Sunday to debut M the poor woman delighted in

Eating at restaurants she was never more pleased than when after a long walk he would take her to dine at some Suburban eating house that day they’d had their dinner right at the top of of the hill in a restaurant with Windows overlooking Paris that ocean of houses with Bluey

Roofs looking like surging Billows filling the immense Horizon their table was placed before one of the windows the sight of the Paris roofs enlivened sakar at dessert he called for a bottle of burgundy he smiled at space he was most unusually gallant and his look kept lovingly returning to that living swarming Sea

From which issued the deep voice of the crowd it was Autumn beneath the vast pale Sky the city lay languishing soft and tender gray in Hue started here and there with dark green foliage which resembled great leaves of Nars floating on a lake the sun was setting behind a

Red Cloud and whilst the background was filled with a slight Haze a golden dust an orous Dew was falling upon the city on the right Bank of the river River in the neighborhood of the madaline and the twer it was like the enchanted corner of some city of the Arabian knights with

Trees formed of emeralds roofs of sapphires and weathercocks of rubies there came a moment when a ray of sunshine gliding between two clouds was so resplendent the houses seemed to flare up and melt away like an inot of gold in a crucible oh look said sard with a

Childish laugh a shower of 20 Frank pieces has burst over Paris Angel began to laugh too accusing these pieces of not being easy to gather up but her husband had risen from his seat and leaning against the handrail of the window he continued that’s the vom column shining over there isn’t it there

More to the right is the meline a fine neighborhood where there’s plenty to be done ah this time it’ll all be a blaze do you see one could almost fancy that the whole neighborhood was boiling in some chemist still his voice was becoming grave and agitated the comparison he drawn seemed

To strike him immensely he drank a few glasses of burgundy and was musing and he went on stretching out his arm to show the different sights of Paris to anel who was also leaning over the handrail on her side of the window yes yes what I said was right

Enough more than one district will be melted down and the gold will stick to the fingers of those who heat and stir the copper that great noodle Paris see how immense he is and how innocently he Slumbers such great towns are always fools he has no idea of the army of pcks

That will attack him One of These Fine mornings and some of the mansions in the rudu will not shine so bright beneath the Setting Sun if they knew they had no more than three or four years to live anel fancied her husband was joking he had at times a taste for immense and

Disquieting jokes she laughed but with a vague fear at seeing the little man Tower above the giant crouched at his feet and shake his fist at him while ironically pursing his lips it’s already begun continued he but nothing to speak of as yet look over there beside that

The H Paris has been cut into four and with his extended hand open and sharp edged like a Cutlass he made a motion as though separating the city into four portions you are alluding to the rud Riv and the new boulevar they’re making aren’t you asked his wife yes the great

Window of Paris as it it’s called they’re clearing away the buildings that hide the Lou and the hotel DeVille but that’s mere Child’s Play It’s only good to Rouse The public’s appetite when the first improvements are completed the grand work will begin the city will be pierced in every direction to unite the

Suburbs to the main artery the houses will fall amidst clouds of plaster look follow the direction of my hand a minute from the boulevard to Tampa to the barrier duton will be one Gap then more this way from the mine to the pl moo will be another and a third in this

Direction another along here another over there and still another farther away in fact gaps everywhere Paris hacked about as with a saber its veins opened feeding a 100,000 navies and Masons traversed right and left by Splendid strategical ways which will bring the very forts right into the

Heart of the old quarters of the city night was coming on his dry and nervous hand kept hacking about in space Angel slightly shuddered before this living knife these iron fingers mercilessly chopping up the boundless mask of Dusky roofs for some little while past the haze of the Horizon had been slowly

Descending from the heights and she fancied she could hear beneath the Gloom that was gathering in the hollows a distant and prolonged sound of cracking as though her husband’s hand had really made the openings he’d been speaking of opening up Paris from one end to the other severing beams crushing masonry

Leaving in its wake long and frightful wounds of demolished walls the diminutiveness of this hand implacably hovering over a giant prey ended by becoming alarming and Wist it tore open the entrails of the enormous City without an effort it seemed to assume a strange Shimmer of Steel in the bluey

Twilight there will be a third artery continued sakar at the end of a pause as though speaking to himself but that one is too distant I see it less plainly I’ve come across only a few signs of it but it will be pure Madness the infernal Gallop of millions Paris intoxicated and

Overwhelmed he again relapsed into silence his eyes ardently fixed on the city where the Shadows were gathering deeper and deeper he was probably interrogating that too distant future which escaped him then night enveloped all the city became lost in a confused Mass one could hear it breathing

Plentifully like some seea the crest of the pale waves of whiches all the eye can distinguish here and there a few walls still preserve to whest you and the yellow flames of the gas jets pierced the Gloom one by one similar to stars shining amidst the darkness of a stormy

Sky Angel shook off her feeling of uneasiness and continued the Gest her husband had commenced at dessert ah well said she with a smile there’s been a good shower of those 20 Frank pieces the parisians are counting them now look at the fine piles they’re making at our

Feet she pointed to the streets which descend from the bo malmar with their double rows of lighted gas lamps looking like piles of gold and over there cried she indicating a Galaxy of Lights that is surely the treasury the remark made seard laugh they remained a few minutes longer at

The window delighted with this flood of 20 Frank pieces which was ending by covering the whole of Paris on returning from MRA the civil servant no doubt regretted having gossiped so much we put it down to the burgundy and requested his wife not to repeat the nonsense he’d been saying he

Wished said he to be considered a serious person for a long time past s had been studying these three lines of streets and Boulevard the pretty correct plan of which he had so far forgotten himself as to place before anel when the latter died he in no wise

Regretted that she carried with her into the tomb the recollection of all he had said up on the b m it was there that his fortune lay in those famous gaps which his hands had so to say opened in the very heart of Paris and he had made up his mind to share

Idea with no one knowing well enough that on the day of the sharing of the spoil there’d be plenty of crows hovering over the gutted City his original plan had been to purchase on low terms some building or other which he knew beforehand was condemned to shortly come down and to

Realize an immense profit by obtaining a substantial Indemnity he would perhaps have decided to make the attempt without a sue to buy the building on credit and merely to pocket the difference afterwards like people do on the borce when his second marriage bringing him in a premium of

200,000 Franks fixed and developed his plan he had now made his calculations under the name of an intermediary and without appearing personally in the matter he would purchase the house in the rud de la peper from his wife and treble his outlay thanks to the knowledge he had acquired in his

Perambulations through the hotel deil and to his friendly relations with certain influential personages the reason he started when Aunt Elizabeth told him where the house was situated was because it happened to be in the line of a contemplated thoropa the piercing of which was at that time

Kept secret outside the sanctum of the prefect of the sen this thoroughfare the boulevard maler would necessitate the clearance of the entire house it was one of the first Napoleon’s old projects which it was proposed to put into execution to give a normal Outlet so said serious people to districts lost

Behind the Labyrinth of narrow streets on the slopes of the hills which hem in Paris this official phrase did not of course admit the interest the Empire had in the turning over of money in those vast alterations about the city which left the working class is no time to

Think one day at the prefects sard had ventured to consult that famous plan of Paris on which an August hand had marked in red ink the principal thores of the second network of streets these gory looking Strokes from a pen cut deeper into Paris even than did the civil servants

Hand the boulevard maler which raised to the ground some superb mansions in the rudu and the r de and which necessitated some very considerable leveling works was to be laid out one of the first when sakar went to inspect the building in the r de la peper his thoughts were verted to

That Autumn evening to that dinner he’d eaten with anel up on the bo M and during which while the sun was setting so thick a shower of gold had seemed to fall about the neighborhood of the meline he smiled he fancied that the dazzling Cloud had burst right over his

Own Courtyard and that all he had to do was to go and gather up a 20 Frank pieces wilst Renee luxuriously installed in the apartments in the rud rivali in the very midst of that new Paris of which she was about to become one of the Queens was meditating on her future

Tolet and trying her hand at leading the life of a great lady of fashion her husband was devoutly nursing his first great scheme he first of all purchased of his wife the house in the rud de la peper thanks to the intermediary of a certain L Sono whom he’d come across prying like

Himself into the secrets of the otel devil but who’d been foolish enough to get caught one day that he was examining the contents of the prefect’s drawers lareno had set up in business as an agent at the end of a dark and dank Courtyard at the foot of the Rus

Sanac his pride and his covetousness suffered cruy there he found himself in the same position as sakar before his marriage he had he would say also invented a machine for coining five Frank pieces only he was minus the funds necessary to take advantage of his invention it needed only a few words for

Him to come to an understanding with his former colleague and he set to work with so good a will that he obtained the house for 150,000 Franks Renee was already at the end of a few months in need of considerable sums of money the husband did not appear in the matter

Except to authorize his wife to sell when everything was settled she asked him to invest 100,000 Franks for her in the funds and confidently handed him the money no doubt as an appeal to his feelings and to shut his eyes regarding the 50,000 Franks she retained he smiled in a knowing manner

It Formed part of his calculations that she should squander her money these 50,000 Franks which were about to disappear in jewelry and Lace or to bring him incent percent he carried his honesty so far for he was so well satisfied with his first Affair as to really invest Rene’s 100,000 Franks and

To hand her the certificates his wife could not realize upon them he was certain of finding them in the nest if ever he happened to want them my dear this will do for your dress said he gallantly when when he was in possession of the house he was skillful enough to

Sell it twice in a month to fictitious persons increasing each time the amount paid the last purchaser gave no less than 300,000 Franks meanwhile Leno who alone appeared as representative of the successive landlords worked upon mat tenants he pitilessly declined to renew vases unless they consented to a formidable

Increase of rent the tenants who had had an inkling of the approaching dispossession were in despair they entered by agreeing to the increase especially when lareno added in a conciliatory manner but this increase should remain a fictitious one during the first 5 years as for the tenants who continued

Nasty they were replaced by persons to whom the apartments were let for nothing and who signed everything they were asked to there was thus a double profit the rent was raised and the indemnity reserved of ATT tenant for his lease was to go to sakar Madame SED was willing to assist

Her brother by starting a piano dealers in one of the shops it was then that sard and lareno were Carried Away by their Greed for gain and rather overreached themselves they concocted the books of a regular business they falsified accounts so as to establish a sale of pianos on an enormous footing

During several nights they sat scribbling away together worked in this skillful manner the house increased in value threefold thanks to the last sale to the raising of the rent to the false tenants and to Madame sidon’s piano business it might be considered worth 500,000 Franks when the indemnity

Commission came to inquire into the matter the mechanism of the instrument of dispossession of that powerful machine which during 15 years turned Paris Topsy Turvy breathing for and ruin the while is of the simplest directly a new thoroughfare is decided upon the road inspectors draw up the plan in

Separate portions and appraise the various buildings to be removed they generally after making inquiries arrive at the total amount of the rents and can thus fix upon the approximate value the indemnity commission consisting of members of the municipal Council always offer something beneath this sum knowing that the interested parties will be sure

To demand more and that there will be a mutual concession when they are unable to come to terms the matter is brought before a jury which decides without appeal between the offer of the municipality and the claims of a dispossessed landl lord or tenant sakar who had remained at the

Hotel devil for the decisive moment had at one time the impedence to wish to be appointed to appraise his own house when the Boulvard maler was Comm M mened but he feared by so doing to paralyze his influence with the members of the indemnity commission he caused one of

His colleagues to be chosen a gentle and smiling young man named mishela whose wife an adorably beautiful creature came at times to offer her husband’s excuses to his Chiefs when he absented himself through indisposition zakar had noticed that pretty Madame michelan who glided so humbly through the half closed doorways

Was all powerful michelan gained some advancement at each illness he made his way by taking to his bed during one of his absences when his wife was calling nearly every morning at the office to say how he was getting on sakar came across him twice on the outer

Boulevard smoking his cigar with the tender and delighted air which never left him this filled sard with Sympathy for the good young man for the happy couple so genius and so practical he had a great admiration for all money-making machines cleverly worked when he’ got melan appointed he

Called on his Charming wife insisted on introducing her to Renee and talked before her of his brother the deputy the illustrious orator Madame michelan understood from that day her husband kept his most select Smiles for his colleague the latter who had no intention of taking the worthy fellow

Into his confidence contented himself by being present as if by chance on the day when the other proceeded to appraise the house in the r de la pinier he assisted him michelan who had the stupidest and emptiest head it is possible to imagine followed his wife’s instructions which were to satisfy Miss

Sard in all things moreover he had not the slightest suspicion of anything he imagined that his friend was in a hurry to see him finish his work so as to take him off to a cafe the leases the receipts for rent Madame sidon’s famous books passed through his colleagues hands beneath his

Eyes without his even having time to check the figures which the other read out lareno was there also treating his accomplice as a perfect stranger come put down 500,000 Franks sard ended by saying the house is worth more more hurry up I think there’s going

To be a change in the staff of the hotel Deville and I want to talk to you about it so that you may let your wife no the business was thus carried through but he still had other fears he was afraid that the sum of 500,000 Franks would appear rather

Excessive to the indemnity commission for a house which was notoriously only worth 200,000 the formidable ride in the value of the buildings had not then taken place an inquiry would have caused him to run the risk of serious unpleasantness he recalled his brother’s words no noisy Scandal or I shall

Suppress you and he knew that euen was the man to put his threat into execution it was necessary to blindfold the gentleman forming the commission and to ensure their good will he cast his eyes on two influen men whom he had made his friends by the way in which he

Saluted them in the passages whenever he met them the 36 members of the municipal Council were carefully selected by the emperor himself from a list drawn up by the prefect comprising the Senators deputies lawyers doctors and great manufacturers who prostrated themselves the most devotedly before the power that

Was but amongst them all Baron guro and M tutan especially deserve the Good Will of Aeries by their fervor all Baron guro’s history is contained in this short biography made a baron by Napoleon the for supplying bad biscuits to the Grand Army he had successively been a peer

Under Louie VI 18th Charles I 10th and Louis Philip and he was now a senator under Napoleon III he was a worshipper of the throne of the four gilded boards covered with velvet it mattered little to him who the man was that sat upon it with his enormous stomach his oxlike

Countenance his elephantine manner he boasted a delightful rascality he would sell himself majestically and commit the greatest infamies in the name of Duty and conscience but this man surprised one still more by his vices stories were told of him which could only be whispered from ear to ear his 78 years

Flourished amidst the most monstrous dulery on two occasions it had been necessary to hush up some filthy Adventures so that his embroidered senator’s coat should not be dragged through the Dock of the assai Court Miss tutan L Ro who was tall and thin and the inventor of a mixture of

Sewart and steering for the manufacturer of candles had a hankering to enter the Senate he stuck to Baron guro like a leech he rubbed up against him with the vague idea that his doing so would bring him lock in reality he was thoroughly practical and had he come across a

Senator’s chair to be sold he would have fiercely higgledy the empire was about to bring out this greedy non-entity this narrow mind which had a genius for dabbling in industrial Affairs he was the first to sell his name to a Bo Fus company one of those associations which sprouted up like

Poisonous toad stools on the dung Hill of Imperial speculations at that time one could have seen on all the walls a poster bearing the following words in bold black letters so general of the ports of Morocco and beneath which the name of M tutan L RO with his title of Municipal

Counselor appeared at the head of a list of directors all more or less unknown personages this proceeding which has become far more popular since succeeded wonderfully the shares were snapped up though the question of the ports of Morocco was not very clear and the worthy people who brought their money

Were themselves unable to explain to what purpose it was to be put the poster announced in a superb manner the project of establishing commercial stations along the Mediterranean Coast for two years past certain newspapers had been celebrating this magnificent undertaking which they declared to be more and more

Prosperous every 3 months amongst the municipal Council Miss tutos had the reputation of being a first class administrator he was one of the strong minds of the neighborhood and his acrimonious tyranny over his colleagues was only equaled by his devout platitude in the presence of the prefect he was

Already engaged in founding a great finan fincial company the c viol a sort of loan office for Vine Growers and to which he would allude in a grave and reticent manner which aroused the cous of the fools around him sakar secured the protection of these two personages by rendering them

Certain Services of the importance of which he cleverly pretended to be ignorant he brought his sister and the baron together the latter being then compromised in a very OB objectionable Affair he took her to him under the pretense of soliciting his support in the favor of the dear woman who’d been

Petitioning for a long time to obtain an order for the supply of curtains to the twer but it so happened that when the road in Spectre left them together it was Madame sidoni who promised the baron to enter into negotiations with certain people who were stupid enough not to

Have felt honored by the attention that a senator had dained to bestow on their daughter a little girl 10 years old sakar took Miss tutos in hand himself he maneuvered so as to obtain an interview with him in a corridor and then brought the conversation round to the famous K

Vio at the end of five minutes the great administrator dazed and astounded by the amazing things told him took the civil service clerk familiarly by the arm and detained him a full hour in the passage sard whispered in his ear some Financial deals which were prodigiously ingenious

When m tutan l took his departure he shook his hand in an expressive Manner and gave him the glance of a Freemason you shall belong to it murmured he you must really belong to it sakar surpassed himself throughout this affair he carried his Prudence so far as

Not to make Baron guro and Miss tutan Laos accomplices he visited them separately letting drop a word or two in their ear in favor of one of his friends who is about to be dispossessed of his house in the rud de la peper he was careful to tell each of his

Confederates that he would mention the matter to no other member of the commission that it was all very uncertain but that he counted on his friendliness the road inspector had done right to fear and to take his precautions when the documents relating to his house came before the indemnity

Commission it so happened that one of the members lived in the rud and knew the house this member protested against the sum of 500,000 Franks which according to him should have been reduced to less than half aresa had the impedence to have a claim sent in for

700,000 Franks on that day Miss tutan Laos who was usually very disagreeable towards his colleagues was even of a more detestable temper still he became quite angry and took the part of a landlords we’re all of us landlords gentlemen cried he the emperor wishes to do Grand things don’t let us stick at

Trifles this house is no doubt worth the 500,000 Franks it’s one of our own people a city inspector who fixed this price really one would almost fancy we were living Amongst Thieves you’ll see we shall End by suspecting one another Ang guro sitting heavily on his chair watched in a surprised manner from

Out of the corner of his eye Miss tanler Rush storming away in favor of the owner of the house in the rud de la peper he had a suspicion but after all as this violent Outburst saved him the trouble of speaking he set to slowly nodding his

Head as a sign of his complete approval the member healing from the rud dor indignantly resisted determined not to yield to the two IR of the Commission in a matter in which he felt himself to be the more competent than they it was then that Miss tutan Laos

Noticing The Baron’s marks of approval hastily pounced upon the documents relating to the case and said curtly very well we’ll dispel your doubts if you will allow it I’ll take the matter in hand and baron guro shall join me in the inquiry yes yes said the baron in

Gravely there must be no underhand dealings to suly our decisions the documents had already disappeared inside Miss tutan L Ro’s capacious Pockets the commission had no choice but to accept the arrangement as they stood outside the key on leaving the meeting the two cronies looked at each other without

Smiling they felt themselves to be Confederates and this added to their Assurance two vulgar would have sought an explanation they continued to plead the case of the landlords as though they could still be overheard and to deplore the spirit of mistrust which was insinuating itself everywhere just as they were about to

Separate the baron observed with a smile ah I was forgetting my dear colleague I am just about to leave for the country you would be very kind to make this little inquiry without me and above all don’t Peach our colleagues are already complaining that I take too many

Holidays be easy replied Miss tutan L Ro I will go at once to the rud de la peper he went quietly home with a certain feeling of admiration for the baron who so cleverly got out of the most ticklish positions he kept the documents in his

Pocket and at the next sitting of the commission he declared in a peremptory tone of voice both in his own name and in the bar that between the offer of 500,000 Franks and the claim of 700,000 they should take a medium course and award 600,000 Franks there was not the slightest

Opposition the member hailing from the rudas having no doubt reflected said with great Simplicity that he had been mistaken he had thought it was the next house it was thus that AR sard won his first Victory he quadrupled his outlay and secured two accomplice one thing alone made him

Uneasy when he wished to destroy Madame sidon’s famous books he was unable to find them he hen to lareno who boldly avowed that he had them and that he meant to stick to them the order did not lose his temper he inferred that he’d only been anxious on his dear friend’s

Account who was far more compromised than he by the entries which were almost entirely in his handwriting but that he was quite easy now that he knew they were safe in reality he would willingly have strangled his dear friend he remembered a very compromising document a bogus inventory which he’d been

Foolish enough to draw up and which must have been left in one of a ledgers handsomely remunerated lareno started a business agency in the rud de Riv where he had offices furnished as luxuriously as any Coran’s apartments on leaving the hotel deil sakar having a considerable amount of

Funds at his disposal launched madly into speculation Wist Renee Carried Away by her intoxication filled Paris with the clatter of her equipages the sparkle of her diamonds and the Whirl of her noisy and adorable existence now and again the husband and wife those two enthusiasts of money and pleasure penetrated into the chilly

Mists of the E San Louie they felt as though they were entering a dead City the Bome Mansion built in the early part of the 17th century was one of those Square buildings gloomy and severe looking with tall narrow windows so numerous in the mar district and which

Are L to school Masters manufacturers of seltzer water and bonders of wines and spirits the building however was in an admirable state of preservation on the sanil side it consisted of only three stories stories 15 and 20 ft High the ground floor not near so lofty had its Windows protected

By enormous iron bars Windows would sunk dismally into the dreary thickness of the walls whilst the arched door almost as broad as high and bearing a cast iron knocker was painted in deep green and strengthened with enormous nails forming stars and lenes on either panel this St

Was typical with blocks of granite on each flank half buried in the soil and protected by broad bands of iron one could see that formerly a gutter had run under the center of this door the pavement of the porch sloping gently down on either side but miss BAU had

Decided to close up this gutter by having the entrance laid with bachuman this was moreover the only sacrifice he was ever willing to make to modern architecture the windows of the upper floors were ornamented with Slender handrails of rough iron which allowed a full view of the Colossal sashes of

Substantial brown wood frames and little greenish panes of glass right at the top opposite the attics the roof came to an end and the gutter alone continued on its way to discharge the rainwater into the pipes placed for the purpose and what tended to increase still further the auster

Baress of the frontage was the total absence of any blind or shutter for at no season of the year did the sun ever shine on these pale and Melancholy Stones this Frontage with its venerable air its middle class severity slumbered solemnly amid the peacefulness of a neighborhood The Silence of a street

Seldom disturbed by the passage of vehicles in the interior of the Mansion was a square Courtyard surrounded by arcades a kind of PL Royale on a reduced scale paved with enormous Flags which finished giving to this lifeless abod the appearance of a cloer facing the porch a fountain a

Lion’s head half worn away the gaping jaws of which were alone distinguishable discharged from an iron tube of thick and monotonous water into a trough all green with moss its edges Polished by wear this water was icy cold tfts of grass sprouted up between the flagstones in summertime a narrow ray of

Sunshine entered the courtyard and this occasional visit had widened the corner of the frontage on the South Side whilst the three other walls morose and blackish were stre with mildew there in the depths of this Courtyard is chilly and Silent as a well lighted with the white glimmer of a

Wintry day one could have thought oneself A Thousand Leagues away from that New Paris wherein was flaring every passionate enjoyment amidst the hubub of the millions the apartments of the Mansion possess the sad calm the cold solemnity of the courtyard reached by a broad staircase with an iron handrail where

The footsteps and the coughing of visitors resounded as in the aisle of a church they extended in Long Suites of vast and lofty rooms in which the ancient Furniture of dark Woodwork and squat design seemed lost and the pair light was only peopled by the figures on metries Whose great colorless bodies

Were just vaguely distinguishable all the luxury pertaining to the old Parisian middle classes was there a stiff and wear resisting luxury chairs the oak seats of which are scarcely covered with a handful of toe beds of inflexible material linen chests in which the roughness of the boards would peculiarly

Compromise the Slender existence of modern dresses M Batel had selected his apartments in the darkest portion of the Mansion on the first floor between the street and the courtyard he was there in a marvelous surrounding of peacefulness silence and shade when he pushed open the doors traversing the semity of the rooms with

His slow and serious step one could have fancied him one of those members of the old parliaments whose portraits adorned the walls returning home wrapped in Ry after discussing and refusing to sign an Edict of the Kings but in this still house in this Cloister there existed a warm nest full

Of life a corner of sunshine and gayy and a boat of adorable childhood fresh air and bright light one had to ascend a host of little staircases pass along 10 or 12 corridors go down and come up again in fact make quite a journey and then one at last reached a vast chamber

A kind of beler built up on the roof at the back of the Mansion right above the key deun it was in a full Southern aspect the window opened so wide that the heavens with all their Rays fresh air and Azure blue seemed to enter there

Perched a loft like a pigeon house the apartment contained long boxes full of flowers an immense Avary but not a single article of furniture they were simply some matting spread over the floor it was the children’s room throughout the Mansion it was known and called by this name the house was so

Cold the courtyard so damp that Aunt Elizabeth had dreaded some harm might come to Christine and Renee from this chill breath which hung about the walls more than once had she scolded the children for running about the arcades and taking a delight and dipping their little arms in the icy water of the

Fountain then she had the idea to turn this out of the way Garrett to account for them the only Nook wherein the sunshine had been entering and rejoicing all by itself for two centuries past in the midst of the cobwebs she gave them some matting some birds and some

Flowers the little girls were delighted during the holidays Renee lived there bathing in the yellow Sunshine which seemed pleased with the embellishments made to its Retreat and with the two Fair heads sent to keep it company the room became a paradise ever resounding with the chirping of the birds and the

Chatter of the children it had been given up to them entirely they called it our room it was their domain they even went so far as to lock themselves in to prove to their satisfaction that they were the sole mistresses of it what an abode of Happiness a massacre of play things lay

Expiring on the matting in the midst of the bright sunshine and the great Delight of a children’s room was after all the vast Horizon from the other windows of the Mansion there was nothing to gaze upon but Black Walls a few feet off but from this one one could see all that portion

Of Asen all that District of Paris which extended from the to the P de B flat and immense and which resembles some primitive City in Holland Down Below on the Kon were some tumbled down wooden sheds accumulations of Bean and Fallen roofs amidst which the children often amused themselves by

Watching enormous rats Scamper about with a vague dread of seeing them crawl up the high walls but it was beyond this that the real Delight of the view began the boom with its tears of Timbers its butresses resembling those of some Gothic Cathedral and the Slender PTO

Constantine swaying like a piece of lace beneath the footsteps of passengers crossed each other at right angles seemed to Dam up and keep in check the enormous mass of water right in front P trees of the Al oan and further away the shrubberies of a Jan de PL were a

Massive green and spread out as far as the Horizon wilst on the other side of the river the key on ratra and the key deap extended their low and irregular buildings the row of houses which looked at from above resembl the tiny wooden cardboard houses the little girl kept in

Boxes in the background to the right the slate roof of a salt petrier rose with a bluish hinge above the trees then in the center descending right down to bend the broad paved Banks form two long gr tracks streak here and there by a row of

Casks a horse and cart or an empty coal or wood bodge lying stranded high and dry but the soul of all this the soul which filled the landscape with the th the living River it came from afar from the vague and trembling border of the Horizon it emerged from over there as

From a dream to flow straight to the children in the midst of its tranquil Majesty its Mighty expansion which spread and became a flood of water at their feet at the extremity of the island the two Bridges which crossed it the p and the pitz seemed like necessary

Bonds placed there to keep it in check and prevent it rising to the room the little ones loved the giant they filled their eyes with its colossal flow with that ever murmuring flood which rolled towards them as though to reach to where they were and wish they could feel RVE

And disappear to the right and left into the unknown with the dity of a conquered Titan un Fine Days mornings with a blue sky overhead they were Charmed with the beautiful dresses the sin assumed varying dresses which changed from blue to green with a thousand infinitely delicate tints one could have fancied

Them of silk spotted with white flames and trimmed with Frills of satin wilst the boats drawn up at either Bank formed an edging of Black Velvet Ribbon in the distance especially the material became quite admirable and precious like some fairy’s tunic of Enchanted gauze beyond the strip of dark

Green satin with which the shadow of the bridges girdled the end were plastrons of gold and skirts of some plated material the color of the sun the immense Sky formed a Ved roof above this water these low rows of houses this foliage of the two parks Weary at times of this boundless

Horizon Renee already a big girl and full of a carnal curiosity picked up at school would take a peep at peti floating swimming baths more to the extremity of the island she sought to catch a glimpse between the waving linen clothes hung up on lines in place of a

Roof of the men in their bathing drawers and with their chests all bare this ends section 4 chapter five of the rush for the spoil by Amil zolah translated by Henry vitelli this LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Mark leer section five Maxim remained at the College of

Placant until the holidays of 1854 he was 13 years and a few months old and had just passed through the fifth class it was then that his father decided that he should come to Paris reflecting that a son of Maxim’s age would consolidate his position and

Establish him for good in the part he played as a rich and serious remarried widower when he mentioned his plan to Renee towards whom he prided himself upon being extremely Gallant she negligently answered quite so let the little fellow come he will amuse us a bit one is Bor to death of a

Morning the little fellow arrived a week afterwards he was already a tall spare urchin with an effeminate face a delicate Wide Awake look and pale flaxen hair but how he was rigged out good Heavens cropped to the ears with his hair so short that the whiteness of his

Skull was barely covered with a slight Shadow he moreover wore a pair of trousers too short for his legs Carter shoes and a frightfully threadbear tunic which was much too full and made him almost look hunchbacked lus autter surprised by the new things he saw he looked around him

Not at all timidly but with the Savage cunning air of a precocious child who hesitates about trusting himself to anyone at once a servant had just brought him from the railway station and he was in the large drawing room delighted with the gilding of the furniture in the ceiling

Completely happy at sight of his luxury amid which he was going to live when Renee returning from her tailor swept in like a gust of wind she threw off her hat and the white berous which she had placed upon her shoulders to Shield her from the cold which was already keen and

She appeared before Maxim stupified with admiration in all the glow of her marvelous costume the child thought she was disguised over a delicious skirt of blue file with deep flounces she wore a kind of G Fran Habit in pale gray silk the labbits of the Habit lined with blue

Satin of a Deeper Shade than the file of the skirt were coquettishly caught up and secured with bows of ribbon the Cuffs of a tight sleeves the broad facings of the bodice expanded on either side trimmed with the same satin and as a supreme seasoning as a bold stroke of

Eccentricity large buttons imitating Sapphires and fastened on Blue rosettes Adorn the front of the Habit in a double row it was at once ugly and adorable as soon as Renee perceived Maxim it’s the little fellow isn’t it she asked of the servant she was surprised to find him as tall as

Herself the child was eating her with his eyes this lady with so white a skin whose bosom could be seen through a gap of her plated shemy set this sudden and Charming Apparition with her hair raised high on her head her gloved slender hands and her little masculine boots

With pointed heels delighted him she seemed to be the good fairy of this warm gilded room he began to smile and he was just awkward enough in manner to retain his urgin like gracefulness why he’s funny exclaimed Renee but how horrible how they have cut his hair listen my little fellow your father

Will probably only come home for dinner and I shall be obliged to settle you here I’m your stepmama sir will you kiss me willingly answered Maxim without any fuss and he kissed the young wife on both cheeks taking hold of her by the shoulders whereby the G Fran says habit was a trifle

Crumbled she freed herself laughing and saying dear me how funny he is the little shearling then again approaching him and more serious we shall be friends shant we I want to be a mother to you I reflected about it while I was waiting for my tailor who was engaged and I said to

Myself that I ought to be very kind and bring you up quite properly I will be very nice Maxim continued looking at her with his blue mink likee eyes and suddenly how old are you he asked but that is a question one never asks she exclaimed clasping her hands together he

Doesn’t know it poor little fellow it will be necessary to teach him everything fortunately I can still confess my age I am 21 I shall will soon be 14 you might be my sister he did not finish his sentence but his eyes added that he had expected

To find his father’s second wife much older he was very near her and looked at her neck so attentively that she almost finished by blushing besides her giddy head was turning it could never dwell for long on the same subject and she began to walk about and talk of her tailor forgetting

That she was addressing a child she ought to have been here to receive you but just fancy worms brought me this costume this morning I tried it on and found it rather successful it is very stylish isn’t it she had placed herself before a mirror Maxim was coming and going behind her to

Examine her on all sides however as I put on the coat she added I noticed there was a large fold there on the left shoulder do you see that fold is very ugly it makes me look as if I had one shoulder higher than the other he had approached and passed his

Finger over the fold as if to smooth it down and his vicious school boy hands seemed to T on the spot with a certain amount of satisfaction well she continued I couldn’t wait I had the horses harnessed and I went to tell worms what I thought of his inconceivable carelessness he

Promised me he would set it right then she remained in front of the mirror still looking at herself lost as it were in a sudden revery she ended by placing a finger on her lips with an air of thoughtful impatience and in a low voice as if talking to herself she said there’s

Something wanting yes really there’s something wanting then with quick motion she turned and stationed herself in front of Maxim and asked him is it really the thing don’t you think there’s something wanting trifle a bow somewhere the school boy reassured by the young woman’s familiarity had regained all the Assurance of his

Forward nature he drew back Drew near blinked his eyes and muttered no no nothing’s wanting it’s very pretty very pretty I rather think that there’s something too much he slightly blushed despite his audacity Drew still nearer and tracing with his fingertip an acute angle on Rene’s breast in your place he continued I

Should round that lace like that and put on a necklace with a large cross she clapped her hands and looked radiant that’s it that’s it she cried I had the large cross on the tip of my tongue She folded back her shimy set disappeared for a couple of minutes and

Then returned with the neck neace and the cross and placing herself again in front of the mirror with an air of Triumph oh that’s the ticket quite the ticket she muttered the little shearling isn’t at all a fool did you dress women in the country then I see that we shall

Really be good friends but you must listen to me to begin with you must let your hair grow and you mustn’t wear that frightful tunic anymore besides you must pay proper attention to my less in good manners I want you to be a nice young man why of course said the child naively

As papa is Rich at present and as you are his wife she smiled and with her usual vivacity then let us Begin by thee and thowing one another I say thou and you in the same breath it’s stupid you love me a great deal I’ll love you with all

My heart he answered with the effusive manner of an urchin towards his sweetheart such was Maxim and Rene’s first interview valad did not go to school till a month later during the earlier days his stepmother played with him as with a doll she polished off his countryfied air and it must be added

That he seconded her with extreme willingness when he appeared dressed from head to foot in New Clothes supplied by his father’s tailor she gave gave a cry of joyous surprise he was as pretty as a heart such was her expression the only thing was that his hair grew with most annoying

Sluggishness the young woman frequently said that all one’s face was in one’s hair she tended her own devoutly for a long while she’d been greatly worried by its color that particularly pale yellow tint which reminded one of the best butter but when the fashion of wearing

Yellow hair set in she was delighted and to make people believe that she did not follow the fashion by compulsion she declared that she dyed her hair every month Maxim was already terribly knowing for his 13 years he was one of those frail precocious Natures in which the senses assert themselves early he

Practiced Vice even before he knew desire on two occasions he had all but been expelled from from the college had Rene’s eyes been accustomed to provincial Graces she would have noticed that despite his ill-fitting clothes the little shearling as she called him smiled turned his neck and extended his

Arms in a pretty way with the feminine air of those who serve as school boys girls he was very careful about his hands which were slight and long and although his hair remained cropped short by order of the principal an ex colel of Engineers years he possessed the little

Looking Glass which he pulled out of his pocket during lesson time which he placed between the pages of his book and into which he gazed for whole hours examining his eyes his gums making pretty faces at himself and learning various kinds of coquetry his schoolfellows hung around

His blouses round a skirt and he buckled his belt so tightly that he had a grown woman’s slim waist and undulation of the hips to tell the truth he received as many blows as caresses the College of placant a den of little Bandits like most provincial colleges thus proved to be a

Hot bit of contamination in which Maxim’s neutral temperament and childhood fraught with evil owing to some mysterious hereditary cause were singularly developed fortunately age was about to alter him but the trace of his childish abandonments the affination of his whole being the time when he had thought

Himself a girl were destined to remain in him and strike him forever in his virility Renee called him mad moiselle without knowing that 6 months earlier she would have spoken the truth to her he seemed very obedient very loving and indeed his caresses often made her ill at ease he had a

Manner of kissing that heated her skin but what Delight Ed her was his artfulness he was exceedingly funny and bold already speaking of women with a smile and holding his own against Rene’s friends dear Adeline who had just married M desan and fat Suzanne married quite recently to the great manufacturer

Hoffner when he was 14 he had a passion for the latter he had taken a stepmother into his confidence and she was greatly amused for myself I should have preferred Adeline she said she’s prettier perhaps so replied the urchin but Suzanne is ever so much fatter I

Like fine women it would be very kind of you to speak to her for me Renee laughed her doll This Tall urchin with a girl’s manners seemed to her more amusing than ever since he was in love the time came when badam Hoffner seriously had to defend herself moreover

The ladies encouraged maxi with their stifled laughter their unfinished sentences and the coquettish attitudes which they assumed in his presence there was a touch of very aristocratic debauchery in all this the three of them scorched by Passion amid their tumultuous life lingered over the urchin’s delightful depravity as over a

Novel harmless spice which tickled their pallets they let him touch their dresses and pass his fingers over their shoulders when he followed them into the ant room to help them on with their rappers they passed them along from hand to hand laughing like lunatics when he kissed their wrists near the veins on

The spot where the skin is so soft then they became maternal and learnedly taught him the art of being a fine gentleman and pleasing women he was their toy a little fellow of ingenious mechanism who kissed and corded who had the most delightful vices in the world

But who remained a play thing a little card Bo puppet whom they did not much fear though just enough to quiver very agreeably at the touch of his childish hand after the holidays Maxim went to theis bonapart it was the College of fashionable Society the one that sard

Was bound to choose for his son however soft and lightheaded the little fellow might be he still had a keen intelligence but he applied it to something very different to classical studies however he was a tolerably efficient pupil who never fell to the Bohemian level of Dunces but remained

Among the well-dressed and properly conducted young gentleman of whom nothing was ever said all that remained to him of his early youth was a perfect worship for dress Paris opened his eyes made him a swell young man tightly buttoned up in his clothes and following the

Fashions he was the brumel of his class Before the college door and said to the footman at half 4 shock e the neighboring shopkeepers were delighted with the grace of this fair-haired youngster whom twice a day at regular hours they saw arrive and start off in his trap on returning home he sometimes

Gave a lift to a friend whom he sat down at his door the two children smoked looked at the women and splashed the passers by as if they were returning from the races it was an a pishing Little World a conceited foolish brood that could be seen each day in the rudah correctly

Attired in Mashers jackets aping rich and wearied Men wilst the Bohemian contingent of the college the real school boys arrived shouting and shoving stamping on the pavement with her heavy shoes and with her hooks hanging at the end of a strap over their backs Renee who wished to consider the

Part she played as a mother and a school mistress a ser ious one was delighted with her pupil it is true that she neglected nothing to perfect his education she was then passing through a period full of mortification and tears a lover had abandoned her in scandalous

Style in sight of all Paris to attach himself to The Duchess the St she dreamt that Maxim would be her consolation she made herself older she endeavored to be maternal and became the most eccentric Mentor that can be imagined Maxim’s Tilbury often remained at home it was Renee who came to fetch the

Collegian with her roomy Carriage they hid the brown portfolio under the cushion and went to the Buu bolognia then in its freshness she there gave him a course of lectures on high Elegance she pointed out to him the upper tent of Imperial Paris fat and happy still ecstas by the

Warm touch which changed the starlings and pigs of a day before into great Lords and millionaires puffing and fainting under the weight of their cash boxes but the youngster particularly questioned her about women and as she was very familiar with him she gave him precise particulars Madame dend was stupid but

Admirably formed the wealthy Countess Vana had been a street singer before she married a pole who was said to beat her as for the marianist espan and suzan ha they were inseparable and although they were Rene’s intimate friends she added compressing her lips as if to prevent herself from saying anymore that some

Very nasty stories were told about them beautiful Madame de laen was also a very compromising woman but she had such pretty eyes and after all everyone knew that she herself was IR approachable although somewhat too much mixed up in the intrigues of the poor po Little Women who frequented her Madame dast

Madame Tessier and the bar deine hold Maxim wished to have the lady’s portraits and with them he adorned an album which remained on the drawing room table with that vicious artfulness which was his predominant characteristic he tried to embarrass his stepmother by asking her for particulars concerning

The fast women at the same time pretending to take them for women of society Renee becom moral and serious said that they were frightful creatures and that he ought to carefully avoid them then forgetting herself she talked about them as if they were people whom she had known

Intimately one of the youngster’s great Delights was to set her talking about The Duchess to Stanish every time that her carriage passed theirs in the boah he never missed naming The Duchess with cruel artfulness and an underg glance which proved that he was acquainted with Rene’s last adventure

Then she in a harsh voice tore her rival to Pieces how old she was looking poor woman she painted her face she had lovers hidden in all her cupboards she had given herself to a Chamberlain so as to be in the Imperial bed and Renee ran

On and on while Maxim to exasperate her declared that he thought Madame D stes Charming such lessons singularly developed the Collegian intelligence and this all the more as his young teacher repeated them everywhere in the baah at the theater and in the drawing rooms the pupil thus became very

Proficient Maxim adored living amid women’s skirts finery and rice powder he always remained somewhat girlish with his tapering hands his beardless face and his white fleshy neck Renee Gravely consulted him about her dresses he knew the good costumier of Paris and pronounced judgment upon each of them in

A word he talked about the Savor of such a one’s Bonnets and the logic of such a one’s dresses at 17 there was not a millonaire whom he had not proved not a boot maker whose heart he had not penetrated and studied this strange abortion who during

The English lessons at College read the perspectives that his per sent him every Friday would have delivered a complete discourse on parisians Society customers and trades people included at an age when country youngsters don’t dare look a housemade in the face on his way home he often brought a

Bonnet a box of soap or an article of jewelry that his stepmother had ordered the day before some strip of musk scented lace always lingered in his pockets however his great Affair was to accompany Renee when she called on the illustrious worms the tailor of Genius before whom the queens of a Second

Empire fell on their knees the great man’s waiting room was vast square and furnished with roomy divans Maxim entered it with a feeling of religious emotion dresses certainly have a special perfume satin velvet lace had there mingled their light Aroma with that of women’s hair and Amber shaded shoulders

And the atmosphere of the room retained an odoriferous warmth an incense of Flesh and luxury which transformed the apartment into a chapel consecrated to some secret Divinity it was often necessary for Renee and Maxim to dance attendance during hours a series of feminine solicitors were there waiting their turn

Dipping biscuits into glasses of Madera taking a snack on the lar Central table covered with bottles and plates full of Little Cakes the ladies were at home they talked freely and when they Encon themselves around the room you would have thought that a flight of lesbian

Nymphs had lighted on the divans of a Parisian drawing room Maxine whom they put up with and even liked on account of his girlish air was the only man admitted into the circle he there tasted Divine Delight he glided along the divans like a Supple snake he was discovered under a skirt

Behind the bodice or between two dresses where he made himself as small as possible and kept very quiet inhaling the perfumed warmth of his feminine neighbors that youngster pokes himself everywhere said the baroness to mold tapping him on the cheeks he was so slightly built that the

Ladies did not think him more than 14 they amused themselves by intoxicating him with the illustrious worms Madera whereupon he said some astounding things which made them laugh till they cried however it was the Martian espan who hit upon the right remark for the circumstance as Maxim was discovered one

Day in a corner of a Dean behind her back that boy ought to have been a girl she murmured seeing him so Rosy and blushing so penetrated with the Delight he had experienced it being close to her then when the Great worms finally received D Renee Maxim followed her into

The study he had ventured to speak two or three times wilst the master became absorbed in contemplating his customer just like Leonardo da Vinci in presence of the shakon according to the pontiffs of art the master had DED to smile at the appropriateness of Maxim’s remarks he made Renee stand upright before a

Mirror rising from the Parry to the ceiling and he pondered with a contraction of the eyebrows wilst the young woman affected caught her breath so as not to stir and after a few minutes the master as if seized and shaken by inspiration roughly and jerkily described the work of art he had

Just conceived exclaiming in Curt phrases mpan dress in Ash tinted silk the train describing a rounded skirt in front large bow of gray satin catching it up on the hips f fin an apron composed of puffs of pearl gry tulle the Puffs separated by bands of gray

Satin he again reflected seemed to dive to the very depths of his genius and with the triumphant Grimace of a python seated upon the tripod he concluded in the hair upon this smiling head we will place the dreamy butterfly of psyche with wings of chain F Blue but on other occasions inspiration was sluggish the illustrious worms summoned it in vain and concentrated his faculties to no purpose he tortured his eyebrows turned livid took his poor head which he wagged in despair between his hands and conquered throwing himself into an armchair no he would mutter in a

Sorrowful voice no not to today it isn’t possible these ladies presume too much the source is dried up and he would turn Renee Out of Doors repeating impossible impossible dear Madame you must call again another day I’m not in the vein to deal with your style this morning the fine education that Maxim

Received had a first result at 17 the youngster seduced his Stepmother’s maid the worst of the affair was that that girl found herself in the family way it was necessary to send her into the country with the kid and make her a small allowance Renee was terribly vexed by

This adventure zakar occupied himself about it merely to settle the pecuniary side of the question but the young woman roundly scolded her pupil to think he should compromise himself with such a girl when she wanted to make a gentleman of him what a ridiculous shameful beginning what a disgraceful

Prank if he had at least only launched forth with one of those ladies oh quite so he answered quietly if your dear friend Suzanne had only chosen she could have gone into the country instead of the maid oh you naughty fellow muttered Renee disarmed and enlivened by the idea

Of seeing Suzanne retire into the country with an allowance of 1,00 Franks A year then a funnier thought occurred to her and forgetting her part as an irritated mother bursting into pearly laughter which she restrained with her fingers she stammered glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes I say how

Angry Adeline would have been with you and what a scene she would have had with her she did not finish Maxim was laughing with her such was the fine ending of br’s love lecture on this occasion meanwhile sakar troubled himself but little concerning the two children as he called his son and his

Second wife he left them complete Liberty feeling happy at seeing them such good friends whereby the flat was filled with noisy gayety it was a singular flat this first floor in the rud de rival the doors were opening and shutting all day long the servants talked aloud through the fresh bright

Luxury of the place there constantly swept a flight of huge skirts and processions of Trades people and in addition there was all the disorder occasioned by Rene’s friends Maxim’s Chums and Sear’s visitors from 9 till 11:00 a.m. the last named received the strangest throng one could find senators

And lawyers clerks duchesses and old clothes dealers all the scum at the tempests of Paris landed of a morning at his door silk dresses dirty skirts blouses dress coats all of which he received with the same Hasty language and the same impatient nervous gestures he settled the business Affair

In a couple of minutes dealt with 20 difficulties at once and furnished Solutions on the run one would have thought that this Restless little man whose voice was very loud was fighting in his study with his visitors with the furniture turning summer asss knocking his head against the ceiling to make

Ideas flash forth from it and always falling Victorious on his feet again then at 11:00 he went out and was not seen again for the day he lunched and indeed he often dined away from home then the house belonged to Renee and Maxim they took possession of the

Father’s study they unpacked the trades people’s cardboard boxes there and articles of f iny lay about among the business papers at times serious people waited for an hour at the door of a study whilst the Collegian and the young woman seated at either end of sar’s writing table discussed a bow of ribbon

Rene had the horses put two 10 times a day they seldom shared a meal together two of the three were ever on the wing forgetting time and only returning home at midnight it was a dwelling of noise business and pleasure into which Modern Life swept like a gust of wind with a

Sound of chinking gold and rustling dresses AR sard had found his vein at last he had revealed himself as a great Speculator and juggled with Millions after the masterly stroke of the rud de la peper he boldly threw himself into the struggle which was beginning to scatter flashing triumphs and shameful rexs through

Paris at first he executed safe Strokes repeating his first success buying up houses which he knew to be threatened with a pickaxe and utilizing his friends so as to obtain heavy indemnities there came a moment when he had five or six houses those houses that he had looked at so strangely in former

Times as acquaintances of his when he was merely a poor Road inspector but all that was the mere in y of art it did not require much cunning to run out leases to plot with tenants and to rob the state and private people and he considered that the game was not sufficiently

Remunerative for that reason he soon placed his genius at the service of more complicated Affairs sakar at first invented the Dodge of buying houses secretly on behalf of the City of Paris the latter situation had become a difficult one owing to a decision of the Council of state the city authorities had purchased

By private contract a large number of houses in the hope of running out the leases and getting rid of a tenants without the payment of an Indemnity but these purchases were considered by the Council of state to be real expropriations and the city had to pay it was then that sakar offered to

Lend his name to the city he bought houses ran out the leases and for consideration handed the property over to the authorities at theate agreed upon indeed he finished by playing a double game he bought property both for the city and for the prefect when the affair

Was too tempting he stuck to the house himself the state paid in rewards for his Services he obtained the right to cut bits of streets and Open Spaces which had been planned a right which he sold again to someone else before the new thoroughfare was even commenced it

Was a hot game people gambled with the new streets just as with stocks and shares certain ladies pretty prostitutes intimate with high functionaries were in the swing one of them whose white teeth are famous nibbled whole streets on various occasions zakar grew more hungry than ever feeling his desires increase

At the sight of the flood of gold which glided between his fingers it seemed to him as if a sea of 20 Frank pieces expanded around him swelling from a lake to an ocean filling the vast Horizon with a strange wav likee noise a metallic music which tickled his heart

And he grew adventurous becoming each day a bolder swimmer diving Rising again to the surface now on his back now on his belly Crossing this immensity in Fair and foul weather alike and Rel ring on his strength and skill to prevent him from ever sinking to the

Bottom Paris was then disappearing in a cloud of plaster dust the times that sakar had predicted on the heights of M had come the city was being slashed to pieces with saber strokes and he had a finger in every slash in every wound he had piles of building materials derived

From demolished houses in the four corners of a city in their HUD he was mixed up in that astonishing story of a pit which a company dug to carry off five or 6,000 cubic meters of soil and create a belief in a gigantic Enterprise and which had to be filled up again by

Bringing soil from sanan when the company had failed zakar got out of the affair with his conscience at ease and his pockets full thanks to his brother euen who was kind enough to intervene at sh he assisted in cutting through the Heights and throwing them into a hollow to make way for the

Boulevard running from the AR Triumph to the alma bridge in the direction of passi it was he who had the idea of scattering The Refuge cleared away from a truckadero upon the plateau so that the good soil is nowadays two yards below the surface and even weeds refuse to grow amid the

Broken plaster he might have been found in 20 directions at once at every spot where there was some insurmountable obstacle a mass of clearings which no one knew what to do with a hollow which was difficult to fill up a pile of soil mingled with plaster over which the

Engineers in their feverish haste grew impatient but which he sifted with his own hands and which he always finished by finding some sop or other or a speculation in his own peculiar line on the same day he ran from The Works round about the after Triumph to

Those of the bouv San Michelle from the clearings of the boulv maerb to the embankments of Sho dragging with him an army of workmen lawyers shareholders dupes and scamps but his purest Glory was the crit viol which he had established in conjunction with hutan lahos the latter was the official director he himself

Only figured as a member of the board in the this circumstance Jen had again done his brother a good turn thanks to him the government authorized the establishment of the company and watched its operations with great Indulgence on one difficult occasion when an evil-minded newspaper ventured to criticize one of the company’s

Operations the monitor went so far as to publish a note forbidding any discussion concerning so honorable an undertaking which the state deed to patronize the credit viol was based on an excellent Financial system it lent Farmers half of the estimated value of their property obtained a mortgage as

Guarantee for the loan and received interest from the borrowers as well as an annual installment of the principal no Financial system was ever more dignified or proper euen had informed his brother with a Sly smile that the twer wished people to be honest m tutan l interpreted this Wish

By letting the farmers’s loan machine work quietly and by annexing to it a banking house which attracted capital and gambled feverishly launching forth into all sorts of adventurous Enterprises the viol thanks to the formidable impulsion it received from its director soon enjoyed a wellestablished reputation of solidity

And prosperity at the outset in view of offering at the buce at one go a mass of shares freshly detached from their counter foils and to give them the aspect of having long been in circulation seot ingeniously had them trotten on and beaten during a whole night by the bank collectors provided

With Birch brooms the headquarters of the C viol might have been taken for a branch of the bank of France the house where the offices were located seemed to be the grave and dignified Temple of Mammon with its Courtyard full of equipages its solemn iron railings its broad flight of

Steps and its Monumental staircase its Suites of luxurious private rooms and its world of Clerks and Livery Lackey and nothing could fill the public with more religious emotion than the sanctuary the cashier’s office reached by a passage of sacred baress and where one perceived the safe the god crouching

Embedded in the wall Squat and somniferous with its three locks its massive flanks and its air of divine brutishness sakar jobbed a big affair with the city of Paris the lad hard up crushed by its debt dragged into this dance of millions which it had started to please the emperor and fill certain

People’s pockets was now reduced to borrowing covertly not caring to own his violent Fe it Stone and pickaxe Madness it had just begun to issue what it called delegation bonds real bills of exchange at a distant date so as to pay the contractors on the very days that

The agreements were signed and thus enable them to obtain money by having these bonds discounted the KY viol had graciously accepted this paper from the contractors and one day when the city was in need of money zard went to temp it a considerable sum was lent it on the

Security of Delegation bonds which Miss tutan laor swore he had obtained from Contracting companies and which he had dragged through all the gutters of speculation after that the CR viol was above attack it held Paris by the throat the director now only talked with a smile about the famous soal general of

The ports of Morocco and yet still existed and the newspapers continued regularly extoling the great commercial stations one day when M tutan Laos tried to persuade sakar to take some shares in this Enterprise the ladder laughed in his face asking him if he thought him fool enough to invest his money in the

General company of the Arabian Knights this ends section five section six of the rush for the spoil by Emil Zola translated by Henry viselli this LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Mark leader section six zakar had so far speculated successfully with safe profits cheating selling himself making money by

Contracts deriving some sort of gain from each of his operations soon however this jobbing did not suffice him he disdained gleaning picking up the gold which folks like tutan laros and baron guro dropped behind them he plunged his arms into the bag up to the shoulders he went into

Partnership with Mion shahan company the famous contractors who were then just starting and who were destined to make colossal fortunes the City of Paris had already decided not to execute the works itself but to have the boulevards laid out by contract the Contracting companies agreed to deliver a thorough

Fair complete with its trees planted its benches and lamposts duly placed in exchange for a specified Indemnity at times they even delivered the thoroughfare for nothing finding themselves amply remunerated by retaining the board bordering building ground for which they asked a greatly enhanced price the fever of speculation

In land the Furious rise in the value of house property date from this period sakar thanks to his connections obtained a grant to lay out three lots of Boulevard he was the Ardent and somewhat muddling soul of the partnership Miss minion and Shier his dependant at the outset were fat Artful fellows Master

Masons who knew the value of money they laughed slightly at sight of Sea’s equipages they generally retained their blouses never refused to shake hands with a Workman and returned home covered with plaster dust they came from long both of them and into this Burning Never Satisfied Paris they brought their

Champag Prudence their calm brains somewhat obtuse and deficient in intelligence but very quick in profiting of opportunities for filling their pockets free to enjoy themselves later on if sakar promoted the affair and Infused life into it with his fire and rageous appetite Miss minion and Shier by their plotting habits their narrow

Methodical management prevented it a score of times from being capsized by the astonishing imagination of their partner they would never consent to have superb offices in a man ion which he wanted to build to astonish Paris they also refused to entertain the secondary speculations which sprouted in his brain

Every morning such as the erection of concert halls and vast bathing establishments on the building ground bordering their thoroughfare of covered galleries which would have doubled the rent of the shops and have allowed people to circulate through Paris without getting wet to put a stop to these plans which frightened them the

Contractors decided that the building ground should be divided between the three partners and that each should do what he pleased with his share they themselves wisely continued selling their Lots while he built upon his his brain boiled he would in all seriousness have proposed placing Paris

Under a huge bell glass to change it into a conservatory and grow pineapples and sugar cane there turning over money by the shovel full he soon had eight houses on Manu boulevards he had four that were completely finished two in the rud de marinan and two on the Boulvard

Hman the four others situated on the boulevard maerb remained in progress and indeed one of them a vast enclosure of planks where a magnificent Mansion was to rise had only the flooring of the first floor laid at this period his Affairs became so complicated he had so so many strings

Attached to each of her fingers so many interests to watch over and puppets to set in motion that he slept barely 3 hours a night and read his correspondence in his Carriage The Marvelous thing was that his cash boox seemed inexhaustible he was a shareholder in every company built houses with a kind

Of Fury turned himself to every trade and threatened to inundate Paris like a rising tied without once being seen to realize a clear profit or pocket a large sum shining in the sunlight the river of gold of unknown source which seemed to flow from his study in quickly recurring waves

Astonished the Parisian cotney and at one moment made him the prominent man to whom the newspapers ascribed all the witticisms of the borce with such a husband Renee was about as little married as she could be she remained for whole weeks almost without seeing him on the other hand he

Was perfect he threw his cash box wide open for her in point of fact she liked him as she would have liked an obliging Banker when she went to the be Mansion she praised him highly before her father whose severity and coldness did not aate on account of his son-in-law’s Fortune

Her contempt had fled this man seemed so convinced that life is a mere business Affair he was so plainly born to coin money out of whatever fell into his hands women children paving stones sacks of mortar and consciences that she could not reproach him for having made their marriage a

Bargain since that bargain he in a measure looked upon her as upon one of those fine houses which honored him and from which he expected to derive large profits he liked to see her welld dressed noisy making all Paris turn the head it Consolidated his position doubled the probable figure of his

Fortune by his wife he seemed handsome young Amorous and giddy she was a partner and accomplice without knowing it a new pair of horses a dress costing 2,000 crowns a weakness for a lover facilitated often ensured the success of his most remunerative transactions moreover he frequently pretended to be

Worn out and sent her to a ministers or some functionaries to solicit an authorization or receive her apply and be good he said to her in a tone at once jesting and coaxing which only belonged to himself and when she returned when she had succeeded he rubbed his hands

Repeating his famous phrase and you were good Renee laughed he was too active to wish his wife to be a madame mishan he simply liked coarse witticisms and indecent suppositions besides if Renee had not been good he would only have experienced the mortification of having really paid for the ministers or functionaries

Compliance to dup people to give them less than their money’s worth Was A Feast for him he often said if I were a woman I should perhaps sell myself but I should never deliver the merchandise it’s too stupid this mad cap brune who had appeared One Night in the Parisian

Firmament like The Eccentric fairy of fashionable sensuality was the least analyzable of women no doubt if she’d been brought up at home she would by means of religion or some other satisfaction for the nerves have attenuated the desires by which he was at times really maddened she belonged to the middle

Classes by her mind she was perfectly upright with a love for logical things a fear of Heaven and Hell and a huge dose of prejudices she belonged to her father’s side to the calm and prudent race among which Fireside virtues flourish and yet and yet it was in this

Nature of hers that prodigious fancies ever revising inquisitiveness and desires not to be confessed sprouted and grew while she was with the ladies of the visitation free her mind wandering amid the mystical voluptuousness of the chapel and the carnal attachments of her young friends she had framed for herself

A fantastic education learning Vice throwing all the frankness of her nature into it unsettling her young brain to such a point that she singularly embarrassed her Confessor by owning to him that she had felt a most unreasonable longing to get up and kiss him one day during

Mass then she struck her breast she turned pale at the thought of a devil and his cauldrons the fault which later on had brought about her marriage with sakar that brutal rape which she had experienced with a kind of frightened expectation made her despise herself and in a great measure cause the abandonment

Of her whole life she thought that she no longer had to struggle against evil that it was in her that logic authorized her to follow the bad science to the end with her there was yet more curiosity than appetite thrown into the Society of the Second Empire abandoned

To Her Imagination provided with money encouraged in her loudest eccentricities she gave herself regretted it and finally succeeded in killing her expiring principles always lashed always Ed onward by her insatiable Longing To Learn and feel besid she was as yet only at the earlier Pages she willingly talked in a

Low tone and laughing about the extraordinary circumstances of a tender attachment between Suzanne Hoffner and adelene desban of the questionable calling of Madame Deen and of the kisses which the count as V gave at a fixed price but she still contemplated these things from AAR off with a vague notion

Of perhaps tasting them and this indeterminate desire which at evil moments Rose within her increased her turbulent anxiety still more and urged her on in her mad search for an unique Exquisite enjoyment of which she alone would partake her first lovers had not spoiled her she had on three occasions fancied

Herself seized with a great Passion love burst forth in her brain like a cracker the Sparks of which did not reach her heart she was mad for a month showed herself throughout Paris with her dear Lord and then one morning amid all the racket of her love she became conscious

Of depressing silence and immense fuity the first the young Duke Dean was barely more than a breakfast of sunshine Renee who had noticed him on account of his gentleness and excellent manners found him allog together superficial washed out and plaguy when they were alone together Mr Simpson an adese of the

American Embassy who came Next almost beat her and for that reason remained with her for nearly a year then she smiled on an aid de comp of the emperor the count to shra a vain handsome man who was beginning to tire her when the DCH Stanish took it into

Her head to fall in love with him and carry him off from her thereupon she wept for him and let her friends understand that her heart was crushed and that she should never love again she thus progressed to the most insignificant being in the world Miss

Deusi a young man who was making his way in a diplomatic career by conducting cotillon with a special gracefulness she never exactly knew why she’d given her elf to him but she retained him for a long time feeling lazy disgusted with an unknown land which one discovers in half

An hour and deferring the worry attendant Upon A Change until she’d met with some extraordinary Adventure at 28 years of age she already felt terribly wearied an we appeared to her all the more in supportable as her middle class virtues profited by the hours when she was bored to complain and

Worry her she closed her door she had frightful headaches then when the door opened again it was a flood of Silk and Lace that swept forth with a great racket a being of luxury and joy without a care or a flush upon the brow still she had a romance in her

Commonplace fashionable life one day at Sunset after going on foot to see her father who did not like to hear the noise of carriages at his door she noticed while passing along the K Sam Paul on her way home that she was being followed by a young

Man it was warm and the daylight was waning with Amorous softness she who was usually only followed on Horseback in the pathways of the bad Bonia found the adventure spicy and was flattered by it as by a new homage somewhat brutal no doubt but the very coarseness of which titl

Her instead of returning home she took the Ruda and promin her Gallant along the boulevards the man however grew Bolder and became so pressing that Renee somewhat intimidated lost her head followed the rudu fob porier and took refuge in the shop kept by her husband’s sister the man came in behind her Madam

Sid smiled seemed to understand and left them alone and when Renee wished to follow her sister-in-law The Stranger retained her spoke to her with feeling politeness and warn her forgiveness he was a clerk called George whose surname she never asked she went to see him twice going in by the shop

While he arrived by the r papon this chance love affair found and accepted in the street proved one of her keenest Pleasures she always thought of it with a little shame but with a singular smile of regret Madam sidon’s profit in the affair was that she at last became the

Accomplice of her brother’s second wife a part which he’d been anxious to play ever since the wedding day poor Madame sidoni had experienced a deception while she was promoting the marriage he’ hoped in a degree to espouse Renee herself make her a customer and derive a number of little

Profits by her she judged women at a glance like connoisseur judge horses and so after allowing the couple of month to settle themselves her consternation was great when on perceiving Madame Deen enthroned in the center of a drawing room she realized that she came too late

Madame de laen a handsome woman of 26 occupied herself with launching newcomers into the swing she belonged to a very old old family and was married to a man of the upper Financial world who had the fault of refusing to settle tailor in Millers bills his wife a very intelligent person

Coined money and kept herself she held men in horror she said but she supplied all her female friends with them there was always a full stock to choose from in the flat which he occupied in the rud de provance over her husband’s offices little colians took place there

And one met one another in an unforeseen Charming manner there was no harm in a girl going to see her dear friend Madame delence and if chance brought men there who were at all events very respectful and belonged to the best Society why so much the worse the lady of the house was

Charming in her long lace wrappers a visitor would very often have chosen her in preference to her collection of blondes and brunettes but report asserted that she was allog together well conducted the whole secret of the affair lay in that she still held her High situation in society had all the

Men for her friends retained her Pride as a virtuous woman and experienced the secret joy in lowering the others and arriving a profit by their fall when Madame sidoni had enlightened herself as to the mechanism of a new invention she was surely distressed it was the classical school

The woman in an old black dress carrying love letters at the bottom of her basket set in front of the modern School the lady of high degree who sells her friends in her budoir while sipping a cup of tea the modern School triumphed Madame Deen glanced coldly at

The shabby dress of Madame sidoni in whom she sented arrival and it was from her hand that Renee received her first worry the Young duter rzan whom the beautiful finer found it difficult to dispose of it was only later on that the classical school won the day when Madame

Sidoni lent her lodging to her sister-in-law so that she might gratify her fancy for the stranger of the cas San Paul She remained her Confidant Maxim however was one of Madame sidon’s Boon friends when only 15 years old he went on the prowl to his aunt smelling the Forgotten gloves which he

Found lying on the furniture she who hated clear situations and never owned her little Services ended by lending him the keys of her rooms on certain days saying that she would remain in the country until the tomorrow Maxim talked about some friends whom he wished to entertain and whom he

Did not like to take to his fathers it was in the rooms of the rud theob panier that he spent several nights with with the poor girl whom one was afterwards obliged to send into the country Madam sidoni borrowed money from her nephew and went into ecstasies

Before him murmuring in a soft voice that he was without a hair as rosy as a cupid Maxim had grown however he was now a pretty slightly built young man who had retained the rosy cheeks and blue eyes of childhood his curly hair completed that girlish of appearance which so delighted the

Ladies he resembled poor anel with his soft eyes and blonde palar but he was not even the equal of that indolent shallow woman in him the race of the rugang had a tendency to refinement and became delicate and vicious The Offspring of Too Young a mother constituting a strange jumbled and so to

Say unmingled combination of his father’s Furious appetites and his mother’s self-abandonment and weakness he was a defective Offspring in whom the parental failings were completed and aggravated this family of the rugon lived too fast who was dying out already in the person of this frail creature whose sex must have remained in suspense

During formation and who no longer represented a will eager for gain an enjoyment like sakar but a species of cowardice devouring Fortune already made a strange hermaphrodite ushered at the right time into a society that was rottening when Maxim went to the B bolog with his waist tightly compressed like a

Woman’s lightly dancing in the saddle on which he was swayed by the caner of his horse he was the god of the age with his strongly developed hips his long slender hands his sickly lascivious air his correct elegance and his slang learnt at Petty theaters at 20 years of age he placed

Himself above all surprises and all disgusts he had certainly dreamt of the most unusual beastliness but with him Vice was not an abyss as it is with certain old men but a natural external Bloom it curled upon his fair hair smiled upon his lips and dressed him like his

Clothes however his great characteristic was especially his eyes two clear and smiling blue apertures true mirrors for a coet but behind which one perceived all the emptiness of his brain those Harlot eyes were never lowered they courted pleasure a pleasure without fatigue which one summons and receives the Everlasting gust of wind

Which swept into the rooms in the rud de rivi and bang their doors blew stronger and stronger while Maxim grew up rakad enlarged the sphere of his transactions and Renee threw more fever into her search for unknown enjoyment these three beings ended by Leading an astonishing life of Liberty

And Folly it was the ripe and prodigious fruit of a period the street invaded the flat with its Rumble of vehicles its elbowing of strangers and its license of language the Father the stepmother the stepson acted talked and set themselves at ease just as if they had each been alone

Living a bachelor life three Boon friends three students sharing the same furnished room would not have disposed of that room more unceremoniously to install therein their hoby Hoy vices loves and noisy Pleasures descars met with handshakes did not seem to suspect the reasons which United them under the same roof

And behaved cavalierly and joyously towards each other each thus assuming absolute Independence they replaced Family Ties by a kind of partnership the profits of which are divided in equal shares each one drew his share of pleasure to himself and it was tacitly understood that each should dispose of that share as he thought

Fit they went so far as to take their enjoyment in presence of one another to display it and describe it without Awakening ought but a little envy and curiosity Maxim now instructed Renee when he went to the boah with her he told her stories about prostitutes which greatly enlivened her a new woman

Could not appear near the lake without his setting forth on a campaign to ascertain the name of her protector the allowance he made her and the style in which she lived he was acquainted with these homes and with the particulars of their private life indeed he was a

Perfect living catalog in which all the harlots were numbered with a complete description of each of them this Gazette of Scandal was Rene’s Delight on Race days at lamp when she passed by in her carriage she listened eagerly albeit retaining her htin as a woman of good Society to the story of

How blanch Miller deceived her Embassy atache with a hairdresser or how the little Baron had found the count in his drawers in the AL Cove of a skinny red-haired notoriety who was called the Crawfish each day brought its tattle when the story was rather too stiff Maxim lowered his voice but he

Nevertheless went on to the end Renee opened her eyes wide like a child to whom a good trick is related restrained her laughter and then stifled it in her embroidered handkerchief which she gently pressed to her lips Maxim also brought these women’s photographs he had portraits of

Actresses in all his pockets and even in his Cigar Case at times he had a clearing out and plac these women in the album which was always trailing over the furniture in the drawing room and which already contained the portraits of Rene’s female friends there was also some men’s

Photographs in it Miss Dean Simpson the sh and deusi as well as actors writers and deputies who’d come to swell The Collection no one knew how it was a strangely mixed Society the Prototype of a jumble of ideas and personages that crossed Rene’s and Maxim’s lives whenever it rained or whenever one

Was bored this album proved a great subject of conversation it always ended by falling under one’s hand the young woman opened it with a sigh for the h hundredth time perhaps by and by however her curiosity was awakened and the young fellow came and leaned behind her then long

Discussions began about the crawfishes hair Madame deine hold’s double chin Madame Deen’s eyes in blanch Muller’s bosom about the Marian’s nose which was a trifle on one side and about the mouth of little Sylvia who was Notorious for her thick lips they compared the women with each

Other for myself if I were a man said Renee I should choose Adeline that’s because you don’t know Sylvia answered Maxim she has such a funny style for myself I prefer Sylvia the pages were turned over at times the Duke to rosan or Mr Simpson or the count she appeared and Maxim added

Sneering besides your taste is perverted everyone knows it can you see anything more stupid than these gentlemen’s faces rosan and shib look like Gustav my barber Renee Shrugged her shoulders as if to say that this irony did not affect her she still forgot herself in contemplating the W smiling or Stern

Faces which the album contained she tarried longer over the portraits of the fast women and inquisitively studied the exact microscopical details of the photographs for little wrinkles and the little hairs one day she even procured a strong magnifying glass fancying she had perceived a hair on the craw fish’s nose

And indeed the glass revealed a slight golden thread which had strayed from the eyebrows down to the middle of the nose this hair amused them for a long time for a whole week the ladies who called had to assure themselves in Person of the presence of this hair thenceforth

The magnifying glass served to scrutinize the women’s faces Renee made some astonishing discoveries she found some unknown wrinkles rough skins cavities imperfectly filled up with rice powder and Maxim ended by hiding the magnifying glass declaring that one ought not to disgust oneself with a human face like that the truth was that

She scrutinized too closely the thick lips of Sylvia for whom he had a particular affection they then invented a new game they asked this question with whom would I willingly spend the night and they opened the album which was entrusted with the duty of replying this gave rise to some strange

Couplings Rene’s female friends played at the game during several evenings and Renee herself was successively married to the Archbishop of Paris to Baron guro to M sh at which she greatly laughed and to her husband in person at which she was greatly distressed as for maxim either by chance

Or by the maliciousness of Renee who opened the album he always fell upon the maress but there was never so much laughter as when luck coupled two men were two women together the familiarity of Renee and Maxim went so far that she told him her private Sorrows he consoled her and gave her

Advice it seemed as if his father did not exist then later on they began to tell each other about their childhood it was especially during their drives in the Buu bologna that they felt a vague Langer a longing to relate things which are difficult to tell and are not told

The Delight that children take in Whispering about forbidden things the attraction that exists for a young man and young woman to lower themselves to sin be it only in words unceasingly brought them back to suggestive subjects they partake deeply of voluptuousness for which they did not reproach one another but which they

Tasted together lazily reclining in the two corners of their Carriage like two comrades who recall their past freaks they ended by becoming perfect braggards of immorality Renee owned that the little girls at her school were very immodest Maxim improved upon that and made so bold as to relate some of the shameful

Doings of the College of plant oh I can’t tell murmured Renee then she lent forward close to his ear as if the sound of her voice alone would have made her blush and confided to him one of those Convent St stories which appear in disgusting

Songs he on his side had too rich a collection of anecdotes of this kind to remain behind hand he hummed in her ear some very indecent verses and by degrees they found themselves in an ESP special state of beatitude rocked by all the carnal fancies that they stirred titilated by

Little desires which were not expressed The Carriage rolled gently on and they returned home deliciously fatigued more tired indeed than after a night of Love they had sinned like two young fellows who wandering along the country lanes without any mistresses might content themselves with their Mutual Recollections even greater familiarity

And license existed between the father and the son zakar had realized that a great finer ought to love women and do some foolish things for them he was a rough lover and preferred money but it Formed part of his program to hang about alcoves scatter Bank notes on certain

Mantle shelves and from time to time use some Notorious wench as a gilded sign board for his speculations when Maxim had left College he and his father met in the same women’s rooms and laughed over it they were even rivals in a degree at times when the young fellow dined at the Meson

Door with some noisy party he would overhear sar’s voice in a neighboring private room hello Papa’s next door he would exclaim with a Grimace which he borrowed from the actors then in favor and he would go and knock at the door of the private room anxious to see his father’s

Conquest ah it’s you sard would say in a gay Tone come in you make enough noise to prevent one from hearing oneself eat who are you with then why there’s lordin Sylvia the Crawfish and two others I fancy they are awfully funny they poke their fingers in

The dishes and Chuck handfuls of salad at our heads I coat is all greasy with oil the father would laugh thinking this very funny ah Young Folks Young Folks he would mutter that isn’t like us is it my little kitten we’ve DED very quietly and

How we are going to by and by and he would chuck the chin of the woman whom he had beside him and coup with his provansal snuffle which produced strange music for a lover oh the old noodle the woman would cry goodbye Maxim mustn’t I love you eh

To consent to dine with your Scamp of a father one never sees you now come early on the day after tomorrow morning no really I’ve something to tell you zakar would finish eating an ice or some fruit beatifically taking small mouthfuls then he would kiss the woman’s shoulder saying

Humorously you know my ducks if I’m in the way I’ll leave the room you can ring the bell when you’re ready for me to come in again then he would take the woman off four times go with her to join in the racket in the neighboring room Maxim and

He shared the same shoulder ERS their hands met round the same waists they called to one another on the divans and repeated to each other aloud the confidential statements which the women had whispered in their ears and They Carried their good Fellowship so far as to conspire together to carry off from

The Gathering the blonde or brunette which one or the other of them had chosen they were well known at maib they went there arm in arm after some dainty dinner stroll round the garden nodding to the women and tossing them a remark as they passed by they laughed aloud

Without unlocking their arms and came to each other’s assistance whenever business was discussed the father who was very expert on this point negotiated his son’s love affairs advantageously at times they sat down and drank with a party of girls then they changed their table or resumed their stroll and they were seen till

Midnight with their arms always linked like a couple of Chums following the skirts along the yellow Pathways under the glaring flame of the gas jets when they returned home they brought with them from out of doors in their coats a dash of the women they had just left their loose attitudes and the

Afterparty remarks and low gestures made the flat Nuru de roli seemed like a fast woman’s lodging the gentle wanton way in which the father gave his hand to his son of itself proclaimed whence they came it was in this atmosphere that Renee inhaled her sensual Caprices and longings she chaffed them

Nervously where can you have come from she would say to them you smell of tobacco and musk it’s certain that I shall have a headache and indeed the strange smell profoundly Disturbed her it was the regular perfume of this singular domestic Hearth however Maxim was smitten with a

Fine passion for little Sylvia he bored his stepmother with this girl during several months Renee soon knew her from one end to the other from the soes of her feet to the tips of her hair she had a bluish mark on the hip nothing could be more adorable than her knees and

There was this peculiarity about her shoulders that only the left one was dimpled Maxim evinced some maliciousness in devoting his drives with Renee to the description of his mistress’s Perfections one evening on returning from the boah Rene’s carriage and Sylvia’s were caught in a block and had

To draw up side by side in the Sham Z the two women eyed each other with acute curiosity while Maxim whom this critical situation delighted tited on the quiet as his stepmother preserved gloomy silence when the carriage began to roll on again he thought she was in

The sulks and expected one of those maternal scenes one of those strange scoldings with which she still at times occupied her moments of lassitude do you know that person’s jeweler she aoly asked him at the moment when they reached the plast conord alas yes he answered with a smile

I owe him 10,000 Franks why do you ask me that for nothing then after a fresh silence she had a very pretty bracelet the one on the left wrist I should have liked to see it close too they reached home she said no more on the matter then only on the following

Day just as Maxim and his father were going out together she took the young fellow aside and spoke to him in an undertone with an embarrassed air and a pretty smile which corded in Indulgence he seemed surprised and went off laughing in his Wicked way in the evening he brought Silvia’s bracelet

Which his stepmother had begged him to show her there’s what you wanted said he one would th for your sake pretty mama she didn’t see you take it asked Renee who was eagerly examining the bracelet I don’t think so she wore it yesterday so she certainly wouldn’t put it on today

Meantime the young woman approached the window she had put the bracelet on and she held her wrist somewhat raised slowly turning it around delighted and repeating oh very pretty very pretty there are only the eleral that don’t quite please me at this moment sard came

In and as she still held her wrist up in the white light from the window hello he cried in astonishment Sylvia’s bracelet you know this Jewel said she more embarrassed than he was and not knowing what to do with her arm he had recovered himself and he threatened his

Son with his finger muttering that Scamp always has some forbidden fruit in his pockets one of these days he’ll bring us the lady’s arm as well as her bracelet why it isn’t my doing replied Maxim with cunning cowardice it’s Renee who wanted to see it the husband contented himself with

Saying ah and he looked at the bracelet in his turn repeating like his wife it is very pretty very pretty then he quietly went off and Renee scolded Maxim for having betrayed her like that but he declared that his father didn’t care a fig about the matter whereupon she

Returned him the bracelet adding you must call on the Jeweler and Order exactly like it for me only you must have the emeralds replaced by sappers sakar could not keep any living or inanimate object near him for any length of time without trying to sell it

Or derive some profit by it his son was not 20 when he already thought of utilizing him a handsome fellow the nephew of a minister and the son of a great finer ought to be invested well he was certainly rather young still one could always seek a wife and a doy for

Him and afterwards one could have the wedding deferred or hastened according to the financial position of the establishment sakar proved lucky on a board of directors to which he belonged he found a tall handsome man miss deare who in a couple of days belonged to him

M de Mar rightly named Bonet was an ex sugar refiner of after amassing a large Fortune he’d married a young girl of noble birth and also very rich who was looking out for a fool of stylish appearance Bay obtained permission to assume his wife’s name which was a first

Satisfaction for his pride but his marriage had made him madly ambitious and he dreamt of remunerating Helen for this Noble Name by acquiring a high political position from that time forward he invested money in new newspapers bought a large estate in the depths of and by all known means

Prepared for himself a candidate here to the core legislatif so far he’d failed but without losing a of his solemnity his was the most incredibly empty brain that could be met with he was of superb stature with the white pensive face of a great Statesman and as

He listened marvelously well with a deep look and Majestic calmness of face people could readily imagine that a prodigious work of comprehension and deduction was going on in his mind in reality he was thinking about nothing but he succeeded in disturbing people who no longer knew whether they had to

Deal with a man of Superior attainments or a fool M de attached himself to sakar as to a WFT that might save him he was aware that an official candidature would be vacant in the era and he ardently hoped that the minister would select him it was his last card so he handed

Himself up bound hand and foot to The Minister’s brother sakar who sent it a remunerative transaction gradually set him thinking of a marriage between his daughter Louise and Maxim dear then became most diffusive thought that he himself had initiated this idea of a marriage and considered himself very fortunate to enter a

Minister’s family and give Louise to a young man who seemed to have such fine prospects Louise said her father would have a doy of a million Franks deformed ugly and yet adorable she was condemned to Die Young a chest complaint was stealthily undermining her lending her nervous gity and caressing grace young

Girls who are ailing quickly grow old and become women before their time she was sensually ingenuous she seemed to have been born at 15 years of age in full puberty when her father a healthy Bru defied Colossus looked at her he could not believe that she was his

Daughter her mother during her lifetime had also been a strong well-built woman but stories were told about her which explained this child’s stunted her manners of a millionaire Bohemian and her vicious and Charming ugliness people said that elen de maray had died from the most shameful pracy pleasure had eaten into her like

An ulcer without her husband realizing her Lucid Madness though he ought to have had her shut up in a private Asylum developed in this diseased form Louise had left it with impoverished blood and crooked limbs with her brain attacked and her memory already full of a dirty

Life she thought at times that she could confusedly remember another existence she saw strange scenes unfolded before her in a vague dimness men and women kissing one another quite a carnal drama with which her childish curiosity was amused it was her mother that spoke within her this Vice remained in her

Throughout her childhood as she gradually grew up nothing astonished her she recollected everything or rather she knew everything and she went to forbidden things with a sureness of hand that made her in life seem like a person returning home home after a long absence and only having to stretch out his hand

To set himself at ease and partake of the Comforts of his Abode this singular girl whose evil instincts flattered Maxim and who moreover in this second life which she lived as a virgin with all the science and shame of a grown woman possessed an ingenuous Arron a spicy mixture of

Childishness and boldness was bound in the result to please the young fellow and seemed to him very much funnier even than Sylvia who the daughter of a worthy stationer possessed the user’s heart and was horribly middle class at bottom the marriage was arranged with a laugh and it was decided that the

Youngsters should be allowed to grow up the two families lived on a footing of close friendship M deare promoted his candidature sard watched his prey it was understood that Maxim should place his nomination as an auditor of the Council of State among the marriage presence meanwhile the sard’s fortune

Seemed to have reached its culminating point it blazed in the midst of Paris like a colossal bonfire it was the moment when the Ardent sharing of the hounds fees filled the corner of the forest with the Barking of dogs the clacking of whips and the Blazing of

Torches the appetites let loose were at last satisfied in the impedence of Triumph amid the racket of falling houses and of Fortunes built up in six months the city was now but a great saturnalia of millions and women Vice coming from above flowed along the gutters spread itself out in

The sheets of ornamental water reascended in The Fountains of the public gardens to fall again onto the roofs in a fine penetrating rain and at nighttime when one passed over the bridge Bridges it seemed as if the S Drew along with it amid the sleeping Metropolis all the refu of the

City crumbs fallen from tables bows of La left on divans false hair forgotten in calvs Bank notes that had slipped out of bodices everything that the brutality of desire and the immediate satisfaction of instinct fling into the street broken and soiled then amid the feverous sleep of Paris and better still Amit its

Breathless hankering in the broad daylight one realized the unsettling of the brain the golden and voluptuous nightmare of a city madly enamored of its gold and its flesh the violin sounded till midnight then the windows became dark and shadows descended over the city it was like a colossal Al Cove

In which the last candle had been blown out the last virtue extinguished in the depths of the shade there was nothing left save a great rattle of Furious wearied Love while the twer on the River Bank stretched their arms out into the night as if for a huge

Embrace sakar had just had his Mansion of the park moo built on some ground stolen from the city he had reserved for himself on the first floor a superb private room all Violet Ebony and gold with lofty glass doors to the bookcases which were full of business papers but

Where not a book was to be seen the safe embedded in the wall had the depths of an iron alve large enough to accommodate the Amor of a Mard it was here that his fortune bloomed impudently displayed itself everything seemed to succeed with him when he left the rud de Rivoli

Increasing his household doubling his expenditure he talked to his friends about some considerable winnings a according to his account his partnership with M as sharier brought him enormous profits his speculations on house property were more remunerative still and as for the Civ V Cole it was an

Inexhaustible milch cow he had a way of enumerating his riches that bewildered his listeners and prevented them from clearly seeing the truth his provansal snuffling increased and with his Curt phrases and nervous gestures he let off fireworks in which Millions Rose like rockets and which finished by dazzling even the most

Incredulous the reputation which he had acquired as a lucky Gamester was mainly due to this turbulent pantomimic action to tell the truth no one knew him to be possessed of a clear solid Capital his different partners who perforce were acquainted with the situation as regarded themselves explained his

Colossal Fortune by believing him to be invariably fortunate in other speculations those which they were not acquainted with he spent a deal of money the affluence of his cash box continued without the sources of this golden river having so far been discovered it was pure Madness a frenzy for scattering

Money handfuls of Louie flung out of window the safe emptied every evening to its last copper but filling itself again during the night no one knew how and never were supplying such large sums as when sakar pretended he’d lost the keys Rene’s Dary were shaken carried off and drowned in this Fortune which

Clamored and overflowed like a winter torrent the young wife who’ been distrustful in earlier days and desirous of managing her Fortune herself soon grew tired of business matters besides she felt herself poor beside her husband and crushed by her debts she was obliged to have recourse

To him to borrow money from him and place herself at his discretion at each fresh bill which he paid with the smile of a man who’s indulgent towards human weakness she surrendered herself a little more confided State bonds to him and authorized him to sell this or that when

They went to live in the mansion in the park moo she already found herself almost completely stripped he had taken the place of the state and served her the interest of the 100,000 Franks coming from the rud de la peper on the other hand he had induced her to sell

The estate in Las salonia to place the proceeds in a great Affair a superb investment he said she therefore had nothing left her accepting the property at Chiron which she obstinately refused to part with so as not to sadden that excellent Aunt Elizabeth and in this respect again he

Was preparing a stroke of genus with the assistance of his former accomplice Laro she certainly remained under obligations to him if he taken her Fortune he paid her the income it would have furnished five or six times over the interest on the 100,000 Franks with the revenue of the salon money scarcely

Amounted to 9 or 10,000 Franks just enough to pay for her linen and boots he gave her or paid away for her 15 and 20 times that PLL sum he would have worked for a week to rob her of a 100 Franks but he kept her in Regal

Style and thus like everybody she held her husband’s Monumental safe in respect without trying to penetrate the theil of the river of gold which passed under her eyes and into which she threw herself every morning at the P moo there was a mad crisis a flashing Triumph the cge

Doubled the number of their carriages and horses they had an army of servants whom they dressed in a dark blue Livery with putty colored breaches and westcat striped black and yellow somewhat quiet colors that the finer had selected so as to seem altogether serious-minded which

Was one of a dreams he had most caressed they displayed their luxury on the housetop and Drew back the curtain when they have grand dinners the breeze of contemporary life which had banged doors of the first floor in the rud de rali became in the Mansion a perfect

Whirlwind that threatened to carry off the very partitions in the midst of these princely rooms along the Gilded ballustrades over the fine Woolen carpets in this fairy Palace of the parvenu there Trail the smell of ma the fashionable quadril were danc there with all their wriggling Jack

Tiant the whole period passed with its mad stupid laugh it’s Eternal hunger and its Eternal thirst it was the suspicious Abode of fashionable pleasure the pleasure which WID the window so that passers by may see what is transpiring in the alcoves the husband and the wife lived

There freely under the eyes of their servants they had divided the house between them and they camped in it scarcely looking as though they were at home but rather as if tossed at the end of a tumultuous bewildering journey into to some Regal hotel where they’d merely

Taken the time to open their trunks so as to hasten the more speedily to the Delights of a fresh City they lodged there by the night only remaining at home on the days when Grand dinners were given ever Carried Away by a ceaseless paragr through Paris but

Returning at times for an hour as one returns into a room at an inn between two excursions Renee felt herself become more anxious more nervous there her silken skirts glided with snake-like hisses over the thick carpets past the satin of the couches she was irritated by the stupid

Gilding which surrounded her by the high empty ceilings where after fet nights there only lingered the laughter of young fools and the remarks of old Scoundrels and to fill this luxury to abide amidst this effulgence she longed for a supreme Amusement which her curiosity vainly sought for in all the

Corners of the mansion in the little Sun tinted drawing room in the conservatory full of luxurian vegetation as for sakar he began to realize his dream he received great finers miss tutan m deance and great politicians also barang guro and Deputy Hoffner his brother the minister had

Even condescended to come two or three times to consolidate his position by his presence and yet like his wife he experienced nervous anxiety a disquietude which lent a strange sound of broken window panes to his laughter he became so ungovernable so scared that his acquaintances remarked that devil of

A sard he makes too much money it will end by driving him mad in 1860 he had been decorated with a Legion of Honor after rendering a m my serious service to the prefect by lending his name to a lady for the sale of some land it was about the time when they

Went to live near the park moo that an apparition crossed Rene’s life leaving her an ineffaceable impression the minister had so far resisted the supplications of his sister-in-law who was dying with a longing to be invited to the court balls however he gave away at last believing that his brother’s position

Was definitely established on a sound basis for a month Renee did not sleep for thinking of it but the great evening arrived at last and she sat trembling all over in the carriage which was taking her to the twer she wore a costume of prodigious Grace and originality a real gem which

She’ lighted upon during a night of sleeplessness and which three of worms’ work people had come to her house to make up under her eyes it was a simple dress of White Gauze trimmed however with a multitude of little scalloped flounces edged with bands of black velvet the black velvet tunic was cut

Square very low to show her bosom framed with some narrow lace barely a finger broad there was not a flower not a bit of ribbon but round her wrists some bracelets without the least chasing and on her head a narrow diem of gold a plain Circle which seemed to be an

Orola when she reached the reception rooms and her husband had left her for barang guro she experienced a momentary embarrassment but the mirrors in which she saw herself look adorable soon reassured her and she was accustoming herself to the warm atmosphere to the murmur of voices to the crush of dress

Coats and white shoulders when the emperor appeared he slowly crossed the room on the arm of a short fat General who puffed as if he were troubled with a bad digestion the bear shoulders ranged themselves on two lines wilst the dress coats with a discreet air instinctively Drew back a

Step Renee found herself pushed to the end of a line of shoulders near the second door the one that the emperor was approaching with a faltering unsteady step she thus saw him come towards her from one door to the other he wore a dress coat with the red ribbon of the grand

Cordon Renee again seized with emotion retained but imperfect vision and to her this bleeding stain seemed to cast splashes over the whole of the sovereign’s breast as a rule she thought him little with swaying Longs and legs too short for the trunk of his body but now she

Was delighted and as she saw him he looked handsome despite his pale face and the heavy Leen Lids which fell over his lifeless Eyes under his mustaches his lips were languidly parted and his nose alone remained bony amid the hole of his puffy face with a worn out air and vaguely

Smiling the emperor and the old General continued to advance with short steps seemingly sustaining each other they looked at the ladies bending forward and their glances cast to the right and to the left glided into the bodices the general lent on one side said a word to his master and pressed

His arm in the manner of a gay companion and the emperor Supine and nebulous duller even than usual still approached with his lagging step they were in the middle of the room when Renee felt their glances fall upon her the general Gaz at her with a look of surprise while the emperor half

Raising his eyelids let a sensual gleam shoot from his gray hesitating bleed eyes Renee losing countenance lowered her head bowed and saw nothing more but the pattern of the carpet still she watched their shadows and she understood that they were pausing for a few seconds before her and she fancied that she

Heard the emperor that licentious dreamer murmur as he gazed at her immersed in her muslin skirt striped with velvet look here General a flower to be called a mysterious pink variegated white and black and the general answered in a more brutal voice that pink would look awfully well in our button holes

Sire Renee raised her head The Apparition had disappeared the crowd was thronging round about the doorway way after that evening she often returned to the twer she even had the honor of being complimented by his majesty alowed and of becoming a little bit his friend but she always remembered

The Sovereign slow heavy walk along the center of the reception room between the two rows of shoulders and whenever she experienced any new Joy Amit her husband’s growing Prosperity she again saw the emperor over topping the Bowing bosom coming towards her and comparing her to a pink which the general advised him to

Place in his button hole for her this was the high note of her life this ends section six section seven of the rush for the spoil by Emil Z translated by Henry vitelli this LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Mark leader section seven the well-defined ging desire which

Had risen to Rene’s heart amid the troublous perfumes of the conservatory while Maxim and Louise laughed on a couch of a little buttercup room seemed to die away like a nightmare of which not remains save a slight shudder the young woman had retained the bitterness of the tangia on her lips all

Night and it had seemed to her on feeling the burning of the cursed leaf that a mouth of flame was pressing itself to hers blowing her a devouring love then this mouth escaped her and her dream was immersed in vast waves of shade which rolled around

Her in the morning she slept a little and when she awoke she thought she was Ill she had the curtains drawn spoke to her doctor of nausea and headache and for a couple of days actually refused to go out and as she pretended that she was being besieged she forbade her

Door Maxim came and knocked at it fruitlessly he did not sleep in the house as he preferred to be able to dispose freely of his rooms indeed he led the most nomadic life in the world lodging in his father’s new houses selecting whatever floor suited him and

Moving every month often out of sheer Caprice and at times to make room for serious tenants he dried the walls in the company of some mistress accustomed to his Stepmother’s whims he feigned great compassion for her and went upstairs four times a day to inquire after her with a most

Distressed look though in point of fact he merely wished to tease her on the third day he found her in the little drawing room Rosy and smiling and with a calm and rested look well did you amuse yourself very much with celest he asked her alluding

To the long tet she had had with her maid yes she answered she’s a very useful girl she always had such cold hands she placed them on my forward and soothed my poor head a little but that girl’s a remedy then cried the young fellow if I ever have

The Misfortune to fall in love you’ll lend her to me eh so that she may Place her two hands on my heart they joked and went for their usual drive to the ba a fortnight passed by Renee had thrown herself more madly than ever into her life of visits and

Balls her head seemed to have turned once more she no longer comp complained of lassitude and disgust still one might have thought that she had committed some secret sin which he did not speak of but which she confessed by a more strongly marked contempt for herself and by increased

Depravity in her whims as a fashionable woman one evening she confessed to Maxim that she longed to go to a ball which blanch Miller an actress in Vogue meant to give to the princesses of the Footlights and the queens of the fast world this avow surprised and embarrassed even

The young man and yet he was not particularly scrupulous he tried to catechize his stepmother really that wasn’t her place besides she would see nothing very funny there and then if she were recognized it would cause a scandal she answered all these good reasons with clasped hands supplicating and

Smiling come my little Maxim be kind I’m determined on it I’ll put on a very dark Domino we will only pass through the rooms Maxim always ended by giving way and would have taken his stepmother to all the disreputable places in Paris had she but begged him ever so little to do

So so he consented to escort her to blanch Miller’s ball whereupon she clapped her hands like a child to whom an unhoped for holiday is granted ah you are a dear fellow said she it’s for tomorrow isn’t it come and fetch me very early I want to see those

Women arrive you’ll name them to me and we shall amuse ourselves awfully well she reflected and then added no don’t come wait for me in a cab on the boulevard malel I’ll go out by the garden this mysterious way of proceeding was a spice which she added to her

Escapade a simple refinement of pleasure for had she left the house at midnight by the front door her husband would not even have put his head out of window on the tomorrow after telling Celeste to sit up for her she crossed the Dark Shadows of the park moo with

Shutters of Exquisite fear zakar had profited by his good understanding with the otel devil authorities to obtain a key to a little gate of the park and Renee had wished to have one for herself as well she she almost lost her way however and only found the cab thanks to

The two yellow eyes of the lamps at that period the boulevard Mal scarcely finished was still a perfect Solitude at nighttime the young woman glided into the vehicle in great emotion her heart beating as delightfully as if she were going to some love meeting Maxim was philosophically

Smoking half asleep in one corner of the cab he wished to throw away his cigar but prevented him from doing so and as she tried to restrain his arm in the darkness she placed her hand full on his face which greatly amused them both I tell you that I like the smell of

Tobacco she exclaimed keep your cigar besides we’re going on the Spree tonight I’m a man I am the boulevard was not yet lighted up and while the cab rolled down it towards the meline it was so dark inside that they could not see each other every now and then when the young fellow

Carried a cigar to his lips a red Point stood out amid the dense obscurity this red Point interested Renee Maxim who was half covered by the folds of her black satin Domino which filled the inside of the vehicle continued smoking in Silence with a bored air the truth was that his

Stepmother’s whim had prevented him from following to the cafe angay a party of women who had determined to begin and finish blanch Miller’s ball there he was crusty and she discerned his sulkiness in the darkness are you ill she asked him no I’m cold he answered dear me why

I’m burning I feel quite stifled here take part of my skirts on your knees oh your skirts he muttered bad humoredly I already have them up to my eyes but this remark made him laugh himself and by degrees he grew Lively she told him of the Fright she had had in the par

Mono and then she confessed another of her longings she would like one night to go for a row in the boat which she could see from her windows moed at the edge of a pathway on hearing this he considered that she was becoming sentimental the cab still rolled on the

Darkness remained profound and they lean towards one another to hear each other amid the noise of the wheels touching each other when they moved their arms and at times when they approached too closely inhaling each other’s warm breath and at equal intervals Maxim cigar was revivified setting a red blur

On the darkness and casting a pale Rosy flash on Rene’s face she looked adorable seen by this fleeting glimmer so much so that the Young man was struck by it oh oh said he we seem to be very pretty this evening stepmama let’s see a bit he brought a cigar nearer and

Precipitately Drew a few Puffs Renee in her Corner was illumined by a warm and seemingly panting light she’d slightly raised her Hood her bare head covered with a mass of little curls with a simple Blue Ribbon looked like that of a real urchin peering above the large blouse of black satin which rose

To her neck she thought it very funny to be thus looked at and admired by the light of a cigar and she threw herself back with little bursts of laughter which he added with an air of comic Gravity the deuce I shall have to watch

Over you if I am to take you back safe and sound to my father meanwhile the cab turned round the meline and went up the boulevards here it became filled with a leaping light with the reflection of the shops the fronts of which were flaming blanch Miller resided two steps

Off in one of the new houses which have been built on the raised ground of the ru basar as yet there were only a few vehicles at the door it was barely more than 10:00 Maxim wanted to take a turn on the boulevards and wait an hour but Renee

Whose curiosity was becoming more acute straight way declared to him that she should go upstairs alone if he did not accompany her he followed her therefore and felt glad on finding that there was more company upstairs than he had expected the young woman had put on her

Mask and leaning on the arm of Maxim to whom she gave peremptory orders in a low voice and who submissively obeyed her she fered about the rooms raised the corners of the door hangings examined the furniture and would perhaps have searched the drawer Wars had she not feared being

Seen although the rooms were richly upholstered there were Corners suggestive of a Bohemian life and in which one scented the mummer it was particularly in these spots that Rene’s nostrils dilated and that she compelled her companion to walk slowly so as to lose nothing of the sight or the

Smell she especially forgot herself in a dressing room the door of which had been left wide open by blanch Miller who when she entertained company gave everything up to her guests even to her Al Cove in which the bed was pushed back to make room for card

Tables but the dressing room did not satisfy Renee it seemed to her common and and even rather dirty with its carpet which incandescent cigar Ash had pitted with little round Burns and its blue silk hanging stained with pomatum and splashed with soap suds when she had fully inspected to the

Rooms and set every feature of the Abode in her memory so as to be able to describe it later on to her intimate friends she passed on to the people who were present as for the men she knew them they were for the most part the same finers the same politicians the

Same young fellows about town who came to her Thursday at homes she fancied herself in her own drawing room at certain moments when she found herself in front of a group of smiling dress coats who on the previous evening had worn the same smile in speaking to the marianist espan or to

The fair Madame Hoffner at her house and even when she looked at the women her illusion was not completely dispelled Laura Darin was in bright yellow like Suzanne Hoffner and blanch Miller like adelene desan wore a white dress which left her bare down to the middle of her

Back at last Maxim implored Mercy and she consented to sit down on a couch beside him they remained there for a moment the young fellow yawning the young woman asking him these ladies names undressing them with a glance and Counting the yards of lace that they wore around their

Skirts seeing her absorbed in this serious study he ended by slipping away in compliance with a sign which lini made him with her hand she joked him about the lady whom he had on his arm arm and then made him swear to come and join her party at the cafe Ang at

1:00 your father will be there she shouted to him at the moment when he joined Renee again the latter found herself surrounded by a group of women who were laughing very loudly while M de safre had profited by Maxim leaving his seat vacant to Glide beside her and make

Gallant proposals in the style of a cab driver then miss de safre and the women all began to shout and smack their lips to such a degree that Renee fairly deafened and yawning in her turn rose up saying to her companion let us go they are too

Stupid as they were leaving the room Miss deusi came in he seemed delighted to meet Maxim and without paying any attention to the masked woman who was with him ah dear fellow he murmured with a lovesick air she will cause my death I know that she’s better but she still

Forbids me her door tell her you have seen me with tears in my eyes be easy your message shall be delivered said the young fellow with a strange laugh and on the way downstairs well pretty mama didn’t that poor fellow touch you she Shrugged her shoulders without replying outside on the pavement she

Paused before getting into the cab which had brought them looking hesitatingly in the direction of the meline and in the direction of the Boulvard Italian it was scarcely halfast 11 and the boulevard was still very animated so we are going home she murmured regretfully unless you would like to

Take a drive along the boulevard answered Maxim she ascented she had been disappointed in her Feast of feminine curiosity and she was distressed at having to go home like that with an illusion the less and a headache setting in she’d long fancied that an actress’s ball was the height of

Fun as often happens during the last days of October it seemed as if the spring had returned the night air had a Mike warmth and the occasional cold gusts that passed by lent an additional zest to the atmosphere Renee with her head at the window remained in silent looking at the

Crowd the cafes and the restaurants the interminable line of which stretched away before her she had become quite serious absorbed in the depth of the vague wishes which fill the reveries of women this broad sidewalk which was swept by the dresses of harlots and on which the men’s boots rung with peculiar

Familiarity the gray asphalt over which it seemed to her the gallop of fcil love and pleasure was passing awoke her slumbering desires and made her forget the idiotic bow that she just left to allow her to aspy other Delights of enhanced spiciness at the windows of Brant’s private rooms she perceived women

Shadows against the whiteness of the curtains and Maxim thereupon told her a very indecent story of a deceived husband who had thus detected on a curtain the shadow of his wife embracing the shadow of a lover she scarcely listened to him but he growing Lively ended by taking hold of

Her hands and teasing her by talking about that poor M de musi as they drove back and again passed in front of bance do you know she said abruptly that M de safre invited me to supper this evening oh you would have fared badly replied Maxim laughing sephra doesn’t

Possess the least culinary imagination he hasn’t got beond on lobster salad no no he talked of oysters in cold Partridge but he the and vowed me and that Disturbed me she stopped short looked again at the Boulevard and after a moment’s silence added with a distressed

Air the worst of it is that I’m awfully hungry what you’re hungry exclaimed the young man it’s very simple we’ll s together shall we he spoke quietly but she refused at first declaring that Celeste had prepared her collation at home however Maxim who did not wish to

Go to the cafe Ang had stopped the cab at the corner of the ru Le peler in front of the restaurant of the cafe Reish he had even alighted and as his stepmother still hesitated after all said he if you’re afraid that I shall compromise you say

So I’ll get up beside the driver and take you back to your husband she smiled and alighted from the cab with the manners of a bird which is afraid of wetting its claws she was radiant the sidewalk which she felt under her feet warmed her heels and

Imparted to the surface of her skin a delightful quiver of fear and contented Caprice ever since the cab had been rolling along she had had a mad longing to Spring out upon this sidewalk she crossed it with short steps and L as if she derived a greater pleasure from the

Fear that she might be seen her Escapade was decidedly turning into an adventure she certainly did not regret having declined Miss de saf’s coarse invitation but she would have gone home terribly out of sorts if Maxim had not had the idea of letting her taste forbidden

Fruit he went quickly up the stairs as if he had been at home she followed him rather short of breath a slight fume of G game and the fish was wafted about and the carpet secure to the stairs with brass rods had a smell of dust which increased her

Emotion just as they were reaching the first landing they met a dignified looking waiter who drew back to the wall to let them pass in Charles said Maxim you’ll serve us eh give us the white room Charles bowed reascended to The Landing and opened the door of a private

Room the gas was lowered and it seemed to Renee as if if she were penetrating into the Twilight of a suspicious and Charming spot a continuous Rumble swept in through the window which was wide open and in the reflection cast on the ceiling by the cafe below the shadows of

Promenaders passed swiftly by but with a touch of the thumb the waiter turned on the gas the Shadows on the ceiling vanished and the room was filled with a glaring light which fell full upon a young woman’s head she had already thrown her hood back the little curls

Had become slightly disordered in the cab but the Blue Ribbon had not stirred she began to walk about abashed by the manner in which Charles looked at her he blinked his eyes and screwed up their Lids the better to see her in a way which plainly signified I don’t know this one

Yet what shall I serve you sir he asked asked aloud Maxim turned towards Renee Miss de saf supper e he said some oysters a partridge and seeing the young man’s smile Charles discreetly imitated him murmuring then the same supper as last Wednesday if that will suit the supper of last Wednesday repeated

Maxim then suddenly remembering yes it’s all the same to me give us Wednesday supper when the waiter had retired Renee took her eyeglasses and went inquisitively around the little room it was a square apartment all white and gold and furnished with budoir like coquetry in addition to the table and

The chairs there was a low dinner wagon and a large Divan a perfect bed placed between the chimney piece in the window Louis says clock and candlesticks Adorn the white Mar mantle shelf but the Curiosity of the room was the Looking Glass a handsome squat Looking Glass which women’s diamonds had covered with

Names dates murdered verses prodigious sentiments and astounding aows Renee fancied she aspired something beastly but she lacked the courage to satisfy her curiosity she looked at VI Devan experienced fresh embarrassment at the site and to give herself a countenance began gazing at the ceiling and the chandelier of guilt copper with five gas

Jets however the uneasiness she felt was delightful while she raised her brow as if to study the cornice looking grave and holding her eyeglasses in her hand she derived profound enjoyment from the presence of the equivocal Furniture which she knew to be around her that clear cynical Looking Glass the purity

Of which being wrinkled by those dirty Scrolls had proved useful in adjusting so many false Chino that Divan was shocked her by its breadth the table and the carpet itself in which she found the same smell she had detected upon the stairs a vague penetrating and almost religious smell of

Dust then when it was at last necessary for her to lower her eyes what is this Wednesday supper she asked of Maxim nothing he answered a bet that one of my friends lost in any other spot he would without any hesitation have told her that he had

SED there on Wednesday with a lady whom he’d met on the boulevard but since he had entered the private room he had instinctively treated her like a woman whom one has to please and whose jealousy ought to be spared however she did not insist on the

Point but went and leaned on the rail of the window where he soon joined her Charles came in and went out behind them amid a noise of Crockery and plate it was not yet midnight on the Boulvard below Paris was thundering and prolonging the Ardent day

Before making up its mind to go to bed the rows of trees separated in a confused line the whiteness of the footwalk from the vague darkness of the roadway along which pass the rumble and the fleet lamps of the vehicles on either edge of this dim

Strip of ground the king asks of the newspaper vendors shed their light here and there like great Venetian lanterns tall and strangely variagated which had been set at regular intervals on the ground for some colossal illumination but at this time of night their subdued brilliancy was lost in the

Glare of the neighboring shop fronts not a shutter was up the footwalk stretched away without a line of Shadow under a stream of rays which lighted them with a golden dust with the warm brilliant glare of full daylight Maxim pointed out to Renee the cafe angay the windows of which were

Shining in front of them the lofty branches of the trees somewhat prevented them however from seeing the houses in the footway across the boulevard they leaned forward and looked before them there was a continual coming and going promenaders passed by in groups harlots and couples trailed their skirts

Which they raised from time to time with a languid gesture casting wearied yet smiling glances around them under the window itself the tables of the cafe Reish were spread out in the blaze of the gas jets the brilliancy of which penetrated half across the Thorofare and

It was especially in the center of this Ardent Focus that they saw the wand faces and pale Smiles of the passers by around the little tables men and women were mingled together drinking the girls were in showy dresses with their hair down their necks they lounged about

On their chairs and made loud remarks which the noise of a traffic prevented one from hearing Renee especially noticed one woman who was dressed in a blue costume trimmed with white malte lace and who sat alone at a table leaning back with her hands on her stomach she was waiting with a gloomy

Resigned look and leisurely sipping a glass of beer those who were walking slowly disappeared among the crowd and the young woman who took an interest in their doings let her eyes follow them and gazed from one end of the boulevar to the other into a noisy confused

Depths of the thoroughfare F of the black swarm of promenaders and where the lights became mere Sparks and the endless procession a strangely mingled crowd always the same passed by with fatiguing regularity amid the bright colors and the dark depths in the Airy like confusion of the Thousand

Leaping Flames which swept like waves out of the shops lending color to the transparencies of the windows and the kiosks tracing fillets letters and fiery designs over the house fronts stutting the darkness with stars and gliding along the roadway continually amid the deafening noise which rose on high was a clamor a

Prolonged monotonous Rumble like an organ note accompanying an eternal procession of little automatic dolls at one moment Renee thought that an accident had taken place there was a stream of people in motion on the left a little beyond the passage DEA but on taking her glasses she recognized the Omnibus office there were

A great many people on the sidewalk standing waiting and rushing forwards as soon as a vehicle arrived she could hear the rough voice of the official calling out the numbers and then the tinkle of the registering Bell was wafted to her like a crystalline ringing her eyes next lighted upon an

Advertisement on a kiosk glaringly colored like an epinal print on the paint of glass in a green and yellow frame there was a sneering devil’s head with hair on end a Hatter’s advertisement which she did not understand every 5 minutes the Bol Omnibus with its red lamps and yellow

Body passed by turning around the corner of the rer and shaking the house with its D and she saw the men riding on the knife boo fellows with weary faces Who Rose up to look at them Maxim and herself with the inquisitive glances of hungry people peeping through a

Keyhole ah said she the par moso is quietly asleep by this time time it was the only remark she made they remained there for nearly 20 minutes silent and surrendering themselves to the intoxication of the noise and illumination then the table being laid they went and sat down and as she seemed

Inconvenienced by the waiter’s presence Maxim dismissed him leave us I will ring for dessert Renee had little flushes on her cheeks and her eyes Shone one would have thought she had just been running she brought with her from the window some of a DIN and animation of the boulevard she

Would not let her companion close the sashes why it’s the orchestra said she when he complained of a noise don’t you think it a funny music it’ll be a fine accompaniment to our oysters and Partridge the Escapade lent youth to her 30 years she had quick movements in a

Dash of fever and this private room this T AET with a young man amid the din of a street gave her the look of a fast girl she attacked the oysters with resolution Maxim was not hungry and he watched her with a smile while she devoured but Deuce he muttered you would

Have made a good supper companion she stopped short annoyed that she’d eaten so quickly you think that I’m too hungry what would you it’s the hour we spent at that idiotic Bowl which emptied me my ah my poor fellow I pity you for living in such society as

That but you know very well said he that I have promised you to send Sylvia and Lord darini to the right about on the day that your friends consent to come and suck with me with a superb gesture she answered of course I quite believe it we are a good

Deal more amusing than those women confess it now if one of us bored her lover like your Sylvia and your laini must bore you why the poor little woman would not keep her lover a week you’ll never listen to me but try it one of these days to avoid summoning the waiter Maxim

Rose removed the oyster shells and brought the Partridge which had been placed on the dinner wagon the table had the luxurious aspect customary in the fashionable restaurants a breath of adorable debauchery spread over the dam cloth and it was with little Quivers of contentment that Renee let her slender

Hand stroll from her fork to her knife from her plate to her glass she who usually drank water barely tinged with wine now drank white wine neat as Maxim standing with his napkin on his arm waited on her with comic compliance he resumed what can miss de

Safre have said to you to make you so Furious did he find you ugly oh he she answered he’s a nasty man I should never have thought that a gentleman of such distinguished bearing and so polite when he calls on me could talk such language but I forgive him it

Was the women who irritated me one might have thought they were Apple stall Keepers there was one who complained of a boil on her hip and a little bit more I believe she would have turned up her skirt to show her s to everyone Maxim was splitting with

Laughter no really now she continued growing more animated I don’t understand you men those women are dirty and stupid and to think that when I saw you go to Sylvia I imagined prodigious things Banquets in the ancient style like one season paintings with creatures crowned with roses gold cups and extraordinary

Voluptuousness what a cell you showed me a dirty dressing room and some women who swore like Carters under such conditions it really isn’t worthwhile to do wrong he showed me a dirty dressing room he wanted to protest but she silenced him and holding between her fingertips a partridge bone which she was daintly

Nibbling she added in a lower tone sin ought to be something Exquisite my dear fellow I who am a respectable woman when I feel bored and commit the sin of dreaming of impossibilities I’m sure that I devise much nicer things than such as blanch merer could think

Of and with a grave air she concluded by a profound remark of naive cynicism it is a question of how one is brought up do you see she gently laid the little bone on her plate the rumble of the vehicles continued without any louder sound Rising above it she was obliged however

To raise her voice so that he might hear her and her cheeks became still redder on the dinner wagon there were still some truffles a sweet Entre and some asparagus a curiosity for that time of the year he set everything on the table so as to avoid having to disturb himself

Again and as the table was rather narrow he placed on the floor between them a silver pale containing a bottle of champagne surrounded by Ice the young woman’s appetite had ended by overtaking him too they tasted all the dishes and emptied the bottle of champagne with Brusque gayety launching

Out into suggestive theories with their elbows on the table like two friends who ease their hearts after a drinking bout the noise on the boulevard was diminishing but to Rene’s ears it increased and at times all those Wheels seemed to be revolving in her head when he spoke of bringing for

Dessert she rose up and shook her long satin blouse to make the crumbs fall off saying that’s it you know you can light a cigar she felt somewhat giddy attracted by A peculiar noise which she could not explain to herself she went to the window the shops were being shut up dear

Me said she turning towards Maxine the orchestra is clearing off then she leaned out again in the center of the Thorofare the colored eyes of the cabs and omnibuses fewer and moving faster were still passing one another large pits of Darkness seemed to have opened in front

Of the closed shops along the foot paths on either side the cafes alone were still flaming striping the asphalt with sheets of light from the rud Dro to the rud du she thus perceived a long row of white and black squares amid which the last promenaders sprang up and vanished again

Strangely the harlots with the trains of their dresses by turns glaringly illuminated and immersed in darkness seemed like apparitions like pale maranets crossing the Limelight of some Extravaganza Renee amused herself for a moment with the sight there was no longer a full shed light the gas was being turned off the variegated kiosk

Stood out more defined amid the darkness from time to time a rush of people who had just left some theater passed by but soon there was vacancy again and then under the window there lingered two or three men together whom a woman accosted they stood in a group and

Discussed terms some of their remarks Rose audibly in the subsiding DIN and then it generally happened that the woman went off with one of the men other girls wandered from Cafe to Cafe strolled round the tables pocketed the Forgotten lumps of sugar laughed with the waiters and gazed fixedly at the

Belated customers with a silent questioning profing look and then just after Ane had let her eyes follow the all but unoccupied knife Board of a bol Omnibus she recognized at the corner of the foot pavement the woman in the blue dress and white lace who stood glancing

About her still in search of a man when Maxim came to fetch Renee at the window where she was forgetting herself he smiled as he looked at one of the partly open casements of the cafe angay the idea that his father was there subing on his side seemed comical to him

But that evening A peculiar pudicity restrained his customary banter Renee only left the window rail regretfully and intoxication and Langer Rose from the vague depths of the boulevard there was a coaxing summons to self-indulgent sleep in the attenuated Rumble of the vehicles and the obliteration of the bright

Lights The Whispers that sped by the groups assembled in shadowy Corners transformed the sidewalk into the passage of some large Inn at the hour when The Travelers repaired to their chance beds the gleam and the noise became fainter and fainter the city was falling asleep and the breath of Love spread over the

Housetops when the young woman turned her head the light of a little chandelier made her blink her eyes she was now somewhat pale and felt slight quivers at the corners of her mouth Charles was setting out the dessert he left the room came in again swinging the door slowly and flagma

Publically like a well-bred man but I’m no longer hungry exclaimed Renee take away all those plates and bring us the coffee the waiter accustomed to the whims of the women he served cleared the dessert away and poured out the coffee he filled the whole room with his

Importance pray do send him away said the young woman half sickened by the side of him to Maxim Maxim dismissed him and scarcely had he disappeared then he returned once more to draw the large curtains of the window more closely together with a discreet air when he had at last retired the

Young fellow who on his side was beginning to feel annoyed Rose from his seat and going to the door wait a bit he said I have the means of getting rid of him and he pushed the bolt that’s it she rejoined we should at least be by ourselves their confidential friendly

Chatting began again Maxim had lighted a cigar Renee sipped her coffee and even allowed herself a glass of chartreuse the room grew warmer and became filled with bluish smoke she ended by setting her elbows on the table and by resting her chin between her two half closed fists under this slight pressure her

Mouth grew smaller her cheeks were slightly raised and her narrow eyes Shone more brightly thus settled her little face looked adorable under a stream of golden curls which now fell down upon her eyebrows Maxim gazed at her through the smoke of his cigar he found she had an original look

At certain moments he was no longer quite sure as to her sex the long wrinkle which crossed her forehead the pouting forwardness of her lips the undecided air imparted by her shortsightedness made a tall young man of her the more so as her long black satin blouse Rose so high that one

Barely aspired a white fatty strip of neck under her chin she let herself be looked at with a smile no longer moving her head but with her eyes lost in vacancy and her lips closed then suddenly she woke up and went to look at the mirror towards which

Her dreamy eyes had turned since a few moments she raised her self on tiptoe and lent her hands on the edge of the mantle shelf to read the signatures the coarse remarks which had shocked her before dinner she spelled the syllables with some little difficulty laughed and

Then still read on like a school boy who’s turning over some pages of piron in his desk Ernest and Clara said she and there is a heart underneath which looks like a funnel ah this is better I love men because I like truffles sign mind

Laura I say Maxim was it that woman do knew who wrote that then here are the arms of one of these women I fancy a hen smoking a big pipe and more names a perfect calendar of saints Victor em Alexandra Edward margarit pakita Louise Renee ah so there’s one who is named like

Me Maxim could see her ENT face in the Looking Glass she raised herself up still more and her Domino drawn more closely behind outlined the curve of her figure the development of her hips the young fellow’s eyes followed the line of a satin which molded her form like a

Shames he rose up in his turn and threw away his cigar he was Ill at ease and nervous something usual and accustomed was lacking about him ah here’s your name Max exclaimed Renee listen I love but he had seated himself on a corner of a div almost at

The young woman’s feet and after succeeding in taking hold of her hands with a prompt movement and making her turn away from the Looking Glass he said in a strange voice pray don’t read that she struggled laughing nervously why not am I not your Confidant but he insisted in a more

Husky tone no no not this evening he was still holding her and she tried to free herself with little jerks of the wrists their eyes had an expression they were not acquainted with there was a touch of shame in their long constrained smile she fell upon her knees at the

Edge of a Divine they continued struggling although she no longer made an effort to return to the mirror and was already surrendering herself and as the young fellow caught around the body she said with an embarrassed dying laugh come leave me you’re hurting me it was the sole murmur that came from her

Lips amid the profound Silence of the room where the gas seemed to shoot up higher she felt the ground tremble and heard the crash of a bol Omnibus which must have been turning the corner of the Boulevard and it was all over when they again found themselves seated

Side by side on the div he stammered out amid their Mutual embarrassment B it was bound to happen one day or other she said nothing with an overwhelmed air she looked at the pattern of the carpet were you thinking of it continued Maxim stammering more and more I wasn’t

Not at all I ought to have mistrusted the private room but in a deep voice as if all the middle class uprightness of the be chatel had been awakened by the Supreme sin what we have just done is Infamous she murmured sobered her face aged and very

Grave she was stifling she went to the window Drew back the curtains and Lin over the rail the orchestra was hust the sin had been committed amid the last quiver of the bases and the distant chant of the violins the vague soft music of the boulevard now sleeping and

Dreaming of love the road and the sidewalk stretched away Below in Gray Solitude all the rumbling cab Wheels seemed to have gone off taking the lights and the crowd away with them below the window the cafe reach was closed not a ray of light glided from between the

Shutters across the way Brazen light gleams alone appeared upon the facade of the cafe angay especially lighting up one window which was partly open and when a faint sound of laughter escaped and all along this ribbon of Darkness from a turn at the rud duuo to

The other end as far as her eyes could reach she no longer saw ought save the symmetrical blurs of the kiosks tinging theight with red and green without Illuminating it and looking night night lights spaced along some giant dormatory she raised her head the high branches of a tree stood out against the

Clear sky while The Irregular outlines of the house roofs died away till it seemed like a clustering heap of rocks on the shore of a bluish sea but this strip of Sky saddened her all the more and it was in the darkness of the boulevard alone that she found some

Consolation what lingered of the noise and of the evening on the surface of the deserted Thorofare excused her she thought she could feel the heat of all these men and women’s footsteps ascend from the cooling footway the shames that had trailed there the desires of a minute the

Whispered offers the weddings of a night paid for in advance were evaporating floating about in the heavy Mist rolled away by the breath of mourning leaning out into the darkness she inhaled this quivering silence this Al Cove like smell as an encouragement which came to her from below as an

Assurance that her shame was shared and accepted by a colluding city and when her eyes had grown accustomed to the obscurity she perceived the woman in the blue dress trimmed with lace standing in the same place alone in the gray Solitude waiting and offering herself to the deserted

Darkness on turning the young woman beheld Charles who was looking around him scenting like a dog he ended by perceiving Rene’s Blue Ribbon lying rumpled and forgotten on a corner of a div and with his polite air he hastened to take it to her then she realized all her

Shame standing in front of a Looking Glass she tried with Clumsy hands to tie the ribbon again but her shenon had fallen the little curls were flattened on her temples and she was unable to tie the bow Charles came to her help saying as if he were offering some usual thing a finger

Glass or some toothpicks if Madame would like the comb oh no there’s no need interrupted Maxim giving the waiter an impatient look go and fetch us a cab Renee made up her mind to pull the hood of her Domino over her head and as she was about to leave the Looking Glass

She lightly raised herself in search of The Words which Maxim’s grasp had prevented her from Reading slanting upwards towards the ceiling and written in a large abominable hand there was this declaration signed Sylvia I love Maxim I’m reading it Renee bit her lip and Drew her Hood rather lower they experienced the horrible

Constraint in the vehicle they had seated themselves one in front of the other as they left the park moo they could not think of a word word to say to each other the cab was full of opaque darkness and Maxim cigar didn’t even dot it with a red Speck a pink charcoal like

Glimmer the young fellow again hidden among the skirts which he had up to his eyes felt ill at ease amidst this darkness and silence near this speechless woman whom he felt beside him and whose eyes he imagined he could see gazing wide open into the night to seem

Less foolish he ended by seeking her hand and while he held it in his own he felt relieved and found the situation tolerable Renee abandoned this hand of hers languidly and dreamily the cab crossed over the plasta madaline Renee was reflecting that she was not guilty she’d not been bent on

Incest and the more she descended into herself the more innocent she considered she had been at the outset of her Escapade at her furtive departure from the park mono at blanch Muller’s on the Boulevard and even in the private room at the restaurant why had she fallen on her

Knees at the edge of that div she no longer knew she had certainly not thought of that for a moment she would have angrily refused she made this excursion as a joke she’d been bent on amusing herself nothing more thus did she Ponder and in the

Rumbling of the cab she seemed again to find the deafening Orchestra of the boulevard that coming and going of men and women while bars of fire burned her tired eyes Maxim was also musing with some sense of worry in his Corner the adventure annoyed him he laid the blame

On the black satin Domino had one ever seen a woman rig herself out in that style you couldn’t even see her neck he had taken her for a boy he’ played with her and it wasn’t his fault if the game had become something serious he certainly wouldn’t have touched her with

The tips of his fingers had she only shown her shoulders a bit he would then have remembered that she was his father’s wife then as he did not care for disagreeable Reflections he forgave himself so much the worse after all he would try not to begin again it was

Folly the cab stopped and Maxim all lighted the first to help Renee out by that but little gate of the Park he did not dare to kiss her they shook hands according to their want she was already on the other side of the railing when in

View of saying something and at the same time unwittingly confessing a preoccupation which had vaguely crossed her revery since leaving the restaurant what was that comb she asked which the waiter spoke about that comb repeated Maxim embarrassed I’m sure I don’t know but Renee abruptly realized the truth

The room no doubt had a comb which formed part of its apperences like the curtains the bolt and the Divan and without waiting an explanation which did not come she plunged into the darkness of the par moo hastening her steps and thinking she could see behind her but

Tortois shell teeth in which Lord darini and Sylvia had left some of their fair and their dark hairs Renee was very feverish and it became necessary for Celeste to put her to bed and watch her till the morning on the sidewalk of the boulevar maler maxim consulted himself for a

Moment as to whether he should go and join the joyous party at the cafe angay then with the idea that he was punishing himself he decided he ought to go home to bed on the tomorrow Renee awoke at a late hour from a heavy dreamless sleep

She had a large fire lighted and said that she should spend the day in her room this was her refuge in serious moments towards noon as her husband did not see her come down to lunch he asked her permission to speak with her a moment she was already refusing the request

With a tinge of nervousness when she decided otherwise on the day before she’ sent sack Howard worms Bill amounting to 136,000 Franks a rather High figure and no doubt he he wished to indulge in the gallantry of giving her a receipt in person a thought came to her of the

Little curls of a day before and she mechanically looked in the glass at her hair which Celeste had nodded in large Tresses then she ins sconed herself in a corner by the fireplace burying herself in the lace of her dressing gown sard whose rooms also were on the first floor

Corresponding with his wife’s came to see her in his slippers if the true style of a husband he barely set foot in Rene’s room once a month and then only for some delicate pecuniary matter that morning he had red eyes in the won complexion of a man who has not slept he

Kissed the young woman’s hand gallantly you are not well my dear he said as he sat down on the other side of a chimney piece a little headache isn’t it excuse my coming to worry you with my business rig morals but the matter is somewhat serious from one of the pockets of his

Dressing gown he drew forth worm’s Bill the glazed paper of which Renee recognized I found this bill on my table yesterday he continued and I’m very sorry but I really can’t pay it just now out of the corner of his eye he watched the effect that his words

Produced on his wife who seemed to be very well she said curtly hand me back the bill I will attend to it I see that you don’t believe me muttered sard enjoying his wife’s incredulity respecting his financial embarrassment as much as if it had been a

Triumph I don’t say that my position is threatened but business is very queer for the moment I worry you no doubt but let me explain our position to you you confided your doy to me and I owe you complete frankness he laid the bill on the mantle

Shelf took up the tongs and began to poke the fire this Mania for raking the Cinders while he was talking about business matters was a system which had become a habit with him whenever he reached a figure or a remark which it bothered him to enunciate he brought

About some downfall of the logs which he began repairing laboriously bringing the logs closer together colle in and piling the little splinters of wood one above the other on other occasions he almost disappeared into the fireplace in search of some straying Embers he spoke in a lower tone you grew

Impatient you became interested in his skillful edification of incandescent firewood you no longer listened to him and as a rule you left his presence defeated but content even at other people’s houses he despotically took possession of the tongs in the summer he toyed with a pen holder a paper or a pen

Knife my dear said he giving a blow which sent the fire flying I must once again ask your forgiveness for entering into all these details I have punctually paid you the interest of the funds which you placed in my hands I can even say without wishing to hurt your feelings

That I merely looked upon that interest as your pocket money paying your expens is in never asking you to contribute your share of the household dispersements he paused Renee suffered as she looked at him while he made a large hole in the Cinders to bring the

End of a log among them he was approaching a delicate matter as you will understand I was obliged to make your money yield a high interest the funds are in safe hands be assured of that as for the amount coming from your prop party in sonon it partly

Served to pay for the house we live in the remainder is invested in an excellent Affair the societ general of the ports of Morocco we are not settling accounts are we but I want to prove to you that very often we poor husbands are not judged at our

Worth a powerful motive must have impelled him to lie a little less than usual the truth was that Rene’s do had for a long time ceased to exist exist it had simply become a fictitious asset in saad’s safe although he paid the interest at

The rate of two or 3 100% he could not have produced a single security or have found the smallest solid particle of the original capital as he half confessed the 500,000 Franks derived from theonia property had served to give something on account for the house and the furniture which

Between them it cost nearly 2 millions of Franks sear still owed a million to the upholsterer and the Builder I don’t claim anything from you said Renee at last I know that I owe you a deal of money oh my dear he exclaimed taking hold of his wife’s hand but without

Relinquishing the tongs what a bad idea you have of me in two words now I’ve been unlucky at the B to tanler rush has playing some foolish pranks in Mina Shier are a couple of brutes who have swindled me and that’s why I can’t pay your bill you will forgive me won’t

You he seemed really moved he thrust the tongs between the logs and made the Sparks Dart forth like rockets Renee remembered how nervous he had seemed for some time past but she was unable to penetrate the astonishing truth sakar had reached the point that he had to accomplish a miracle every day

He resided in a house which had cost two millions of Franks he lived on the footing of a Prince’s civil list and yet on certain mornings he had not a thousand Franks in his safe his expenditure did not seem to diminish however he lived upon debt among a

People of creditors who swallowed up day by day the scandalous profits which he realized about certain transactions in the meantime at the same moment indeed companies crumbled around before him yawned fresh and deeper pits over which he had to Spring being unable to fill them up he thus went on over

Minded ground amid a continuous crisis settling bills of 50,000 Franks and not paying his Coachman’s wages still marching on with an assurance which became more and more Regal and emptying over Paris more rageful than ever his empty safe when the golden river of legendary Source still continue to flow this ends section 7