The Aspirations of Jean Servien

l that bounded the school count towards the headmaster's garden, He was playing languidly at shove

of the lines drawn in charcoal on the stone coping

me with her at hom

n aske

se--" stam

ite pebble he held in his hand

r goes tr

our fa

e never seen him. You've

use of the superb boxes of chocolates she used to

ery much, your

cried the other,

find our house is very pretty, there's sofas and cushions no end.

ompanions at play prevented the two seated on the wall from hearing. A fat boy, standing by himself with his face to the wall wit

re wanted in

er marc

hour this evening at preparation speaking when y

hands and danced for

l tell her you are c

would ask his father's leave. But Ewans had already scam

dmitted to so expensive a school born of well-to-do parents, whose society could not b

xtremely vague, but the bookbinder was well used to contemplatin

de in carriages. Then she repeated a story about a great lady who, just like Madame Ewans, had put her son

lf, for all she did not wear flowers in her hat, a more honest woman than your society ladies

, but he thought in a vague way h

Jean, dressed in his Sunday best, climbed on an omnibus which took him to the Rue de Rivoli. He mounted four fl

was sorry he had rung. He would have given worlds to run away. A maid-servant opened the door, and

nlight that were flashed back in countless broken reflections from mirrors and gilt cornices. A sweet, stimulating pe

ver had he seen eyes that flashed so vividly in a face of such pale fairness, or lips so red, smiling with such an unvarying almost tired-looking smile. She was sitting at a piano, i

moothing the lace of he

tone, though her voice struck Jean as harsh in t

, Ma

being at

, ma

s are not t

Mad

ve no m

estion Madame Eva

Mad

s your

ther more, his father whom he loved, if by the sacrifice he could have passed for the son of a Captain in the Navy or a Secretary of Embassy. He

father like that to

he question-and how c

mself, as if he had s

the dreadful avowal. She was still moving her hands

oys," she cried. "We will all go out. Sha

for going, because

flaxen hair in place with a pretty gesture, and

," she told them; "

rtably on the edge of his chair, stared about the room at a host of strange and sumptuous objects that seemed in some my

silk, she reappeared, tying the strings of the hat

ed at her

hing… I don't know what. .

ng her hair, which showed pale vio

put some powder in my hair. Like the Empres

eard, and the maid came in to tell her mistres

him, whereupon the maid spoke a few words in a very p

d passed into the dining-room, whence the m

nder his breath, wh

ps horses and a carriage. He deals in pigs. One

d Monsieur Delbèque dealt in pigs. But he hi

f our friends. It's a long time…

to his first idea

seen him sell

rade. He has a cigar-holder with an amber mouthpiece and a woman all naked carved in meerschau

in her head at th

the street than a man, who was smoking, greeted Madame with a f

ever be don

an in a gut

see you are taking a boarding-school out for a walk-a regular boarding-school, 'pon my w

d and replied with

on and one of m

ess look at one of the lads

he exclaimed. "Is

deed!" she

could not help noticing his schoolfellow's easy air and elegant costume, at the same time casting a glance

r presence to-night at the B

pushed the two children forwar

f the Tuileries, cross the bridge, then down the river-ban

smell of tar under the hot sun. The long grey walls of the e

g-stage and makes straight for the shrilling of the clarinettes and thunder of the big

ways dissuaded him so peremptorily from spending anything that he was firmly persuaded revolving-tables and shooting-galleries were amusements only permitted to

er to have her darling succeed. After he had lost two or three times, she pulled the boy away and gave the wooden disk such a violent push round as set its cargo of crockery-ware and glass rattling, and proceeded to play on her own account-once, twice, twenty ti

l at every sort of shooting-game, with crossbows loaded with little clay pellets, with pistols and carbines, old-fashioned weapons with caps and leaden b

een so busy or done so many differen

throat parched with dust, elbowed, crushed, mauled, hustled by

all. There was the Dutch top to be set twirling, the wooden horses of the merry-go-round to be mounted; they had to dash down t

icate signed by the Minster of Agriculture and Commerce and by three Doctors of the Faculty. She gazed enviously at the servant-girls as they t

over some stolen forks and spoons. She had even gone so far as to consult a

w Monseigneur Sibour's body lying in state at the Archbishop's Palace, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, models of people's legs and arms disfigured by various hideous diseases, and a Circassia

world, I wouldn't have such big feet and such a thick waist. And then, your re

d the dust hovered in golden clouds over th

ist the temptation to follow suit. Besides which, she was drawn by a motive of curiosity, having been told that monkeys were not insensible to female charms. But the performance diverted her thoughts i

shot before now just for going off without leave to stand by the

dhood rose to her memory and intensified her emotion. She told the children the la

than an itinerant toy-seller with a paper helm

the river-side where you could eat a fry of fish

eur, with a knowing air and all the proper restaurant tricks of phrase. All three sat silent, agreeably tired and enjoying the sensation, she with her bonnet-strings flying loose, the boys leaning back against the trellis. They could see the river and its grassy banks thro

road-walk, lined on either side by stalls and trestle-tables, but the lateral avenues gloomed dark and deserted under the tall black trees. Loving couples paced them slowly, while the music from the shows sounded muffled by the distance. They were still there when a band of fifes, trombones, and trumpets struck up close by, playing a popular polka tune. The very first bar

w to dance, eh? Yo

him in the semi-darkness

laughed; "we'

fficiency. His heart swelled with a sullen anger. He was hur

not to touch with his own the knees of Madame Ewans' who dozed on the back seat of the con

oved by others, seemed a wretched hole. He sat down on his bed and looked round gloomily and morosely at the holy-water stoup of gilt porcelain, the print

could hear his father moving. He pictured him at his work-bench, with his serge apron, calm and

to avoid touching Madame Evans' knee, though all the time he was horribly afraid of doing it. Then there was a great field full of thous