A Mummer's Tale

re skirted by the deserted boulevard, Félicie

ss a little woman who makes people cheer and clap her, who is written about in the

charming she was; and, in fact, their liaison had begun when she was making

I right? You are too sensible to think badly of me because I didn't keep things dragging along. When I saw you

tance from the fortifications,

ened half-way up by a sheet of iron with a toothed edge, and its rusty spikes did not rise more than ten feet above the ground. In the centre, between two pillars of masonry s

r frail skeletons in the fog. They heard, through the wide silence, the diminishing rattle

ountry is!" she s

Boulevard de Villier

and the lock creaked. Irri

e noise is getti

r their house, at about the tenth tree from where she stood; she l

that ca

cab, m

s it sto

re? It's stopping in f

house; there's o

d in front of a vacant lot

anyone gettin

perhaps waiti

ront of a v

ear. This lock

ard the spot where the cab had stopped, and then retu

blinds of the

ere's a loving

ere's something que

f beauty, but all ca

ebody foll

u expect to

One of your w

saying what was

in, my

entered the g

se the gate pro

etched a small

t of three steps, sheltered by a zinc por

turnal prowlers used to steal his fowls and rabbits. On either side of the grass-plot a gravel

rgotten to close the shu

an from Neuilly, who came

to all appearance dead, stretched one of it

icie; "its branches are like great snake

as looking through his bunch of keys for the key of

adorable. She revealed such a quiet satisfaction in her nudity that her ch

her nakedness, bright as th

don't ask them for anything, surrender themselves completely, go just as far as it's pos

playing with the air

us question this was. He had received some training in moral science, and in re

g, religious principles, and an inna

élicie, shrugging her shoulders, and placing her hands u

han they have? Tell me, Robert, how many really well-made women have you ever seen? Just reckon them up on your fingers. Yes, there are heaps of women who won't show their shoulders or anything

rogance, slowly ran the palms of her hands ov

s that there's not to

mparted to her beauty by the gra

at full length; one gleaming leg was extended along the edge of the bed, ending in a sharply chiselled foot like the point of a sword. The light from the great fire which had been lit in the fireplace gilded her fl

her elbow, resting h

y you are, I am not lying

of the past; he had no fear of

the ot

course doesn't count, and there was the man I told you abou

mo

wear

Cheva

cious, no! You wouldn't

n found by your mother, he,

wanted you. Quite suddenly I felt I must have you. I felt it somehow. What? I should find it very hard to say. Oh, I didn't stop to think. With your conventional, st

liciously surprised; he said all sorts of pretty, c

ad in her han

. I think it was your teeth that mad

her firm supple body respond to his

ear the grav

N

r a sound of foots

body bent forward,

irritated, and perhaps his s

me over you?

ed very

d your

o a slight sound, near at ha

nt so like the rapid spring of a young animal, that Ligny, although by no me

zy? Where ar

the corner of a pane, and peered out through the window. Sh

, lying moodily against

you catch a cold, so m

ed somewhat resentful; but she wrapped him a

ere surprised to see by one of thei

ick was curled up like a tape-worm. Félicie was very quick in dressing herself. They had to descend one f

ling, before I p

ng on the outer steps, with arms extended, tall, black, erect as a crucifix. His hand grasped a

ded Ligny, who was turning

in a loud voice. "I forbid you to belong to one

barrel of the revol

is eyes were wide open, and he seemed to be gazing at them with a smile. A thread of blood was trickling from his mouth over the flagst

the matches, he saw that the bullet had carried away part of the skull, that the meninges were laid bare over an area as large as the palm of the hand; this area was grey, oozing blood, and very irregular in shape, its outlines reminding Ligny of the map of Africa. He was

ried under the bed-clothes of the unmade bed,

ay here,

th him. But, on reachi

ll that we can't

r out by the