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Read Ebook: Hypatia eli Uusia vihollisia vanhassa hahmossa by Kingsley Charles Lamp N O E Translator
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Ebook has 3485 lines and 122989 words, and 70 pages
"Just now I'm doing an errand for my employer; she always sends me on errands, I don't know why; she says that the dealers aren't so strict with me! It's a bore sometimes to go out so often; but sometimes it's good fun, too."
"Will you tell me your name?"
"No."
"Will you come to a restaurant with me and breakfast?"
"No; in the first place, I haven't got time; they're waiting for me, and I must go back. In the second place, I wouldn't go, anyway, like that, with someone I don't know."
"That's the way to become acquainted."
"Suppose anyone should see me go into a restaurant with you--one of my aunts, for instance! I've got seven aunts!"
"Sapristi! that's worse than Abd-el-Kader! No matter! come and have breakfast with me at my rooms, and you will see at once who I am--that I am not a mere nobody, a man without means or position."
"Oh! I didn't say you were, monsieur."
"I live on Rue Bleue, No. 14; that isn't very far away. If you will trust me, I promise you that I won't even kiss the end of your finger."
"Perhaps not, monsieur; but I tell you, I haven't got time; I must go back; I am late already, and I shall be scolded."
"Very well! where shall I send you a ticket, then?"
"And you are Mademoiselle Rosette?"
"Perhaps. When will you send the ticket?"
"Whenever you choose."
"To-morrow, then."
"To-morrow, very good!"
"How many seats?"
"I will send you a box with four seats."
"Ah! splendid! That will be fun."
"But you will go?"
"To be sure!"
"And I may speak to you?"
"Then I will make an opportunity to say a few words to you. And you won't come and breakfast with me? An hour passes so quickly!"
"Oh, no! no! Adieu, monsieur! You won't forget--Mademoiselle Rosette, at Madame Ratapond's, No. 48, Rue Meslay."
"No, mademoiselle, there's no danger of my forgetting."
She walked away, and I did the same. I was enchanted with my new acquaintance. Mademoiselle Rosette was altogether charming, and in her eyes, in her answers, I saw at once that she was no fool. Suppose that I had fallen upon a pearl, a treasure! It was impossible to say. The things we find without looking for them are often more valuable than those we take a vast amount of trouble to obtain.
THE UMBRELLAS.--THE POLKA
Love and poetry--these are what make hours seem like minutes. Be an author, a poet, a novelist, or a lover, and for you time will have wings. I thought of Mademoiselle Rosette all day, I dreamed of her all night, and the next morning I set about fulfilling my promise. There is nothing so easy, in Paris, as to obtain theatre tickets; it is not necessary to know authors or managers; it is enough to have money. With money one can have whatever one desires. I was on the way to a ticket broker's, when I found myself face to face with Dumouton, the literary man, who was of the dinner party at Deffieux's.
Poor Dumouton had not changed; he was still the same in physique and in dress. The yellowish-green or faded apple-green coat; the skin-tight trousers of any color you choose. But I noticed that he had two umbrellas under his arm, although there were no signs of rain. He offered me his hand, as if he were overjoyed to meet me, crying:
"Why, Monsieur Rochebrune! bonjour! how are you? It's a long while since I had the pleasure of meeting you."
"Very well, thanks, Monsieur Dumouton! indeed, I believe we have not met since Dupr?val's dinner."
"True. We had a fine time at that dinner; everybody told some little anecdote; it was very amusing."
"Are you still writing plays?"
"Still. But one can't find such a market as one would like. There is so much intriguing at the theatres! The writing of a play isn't the most difficult part, but the getting it acted. Speaking of theatres, you don't happen to need an umbrella, do you?"
"No, thanks, I have one. Are you selling umbrellas now?"
"No--but--it happens that I bought one yesterday; and, meanwhile, my wife had bought one, too. So you see, we have too many; I would be glad of a chance to get rid of one; I would sell it cheap."
"Still, it's often convenient to have two or three; for you lose one sometimes, or lend it to somebody who doesn't return it. That has happened to me a hundred times; and then, when you want to go out, it rains; you look for your umbrella, and it isn't there. That is very annoying; so it's more prudent to have two."
"But you apparently don't think so, as you want to sell one of yours."
"Oh! we have five in the house now."
"That makes a difference; but I don't quite understand why you bought another."
Dumouton scratched his nose; I could not help thinking of Rosette's seven aunts, and that Dumouton could shelter them from the rain with his seven umbrellas.
"What do you suppose I would like to have at this moment?" I asked him, as he sadly shifted his umbrellas from his right arm to his left.
"A cane, perhaps? I have one with a crow's beak head that would please you."
"No, no! I never carry a cane. What I would like at this moment is a theatre ticket for this evening."
Dumouton's face fairly beamed.
"For what theatre?" he cried.
"Faith! that makes no difference; but I would like a whole box."
"I have what you want, I have it right in my pocket. See, a box at the Gymnase!"
"The Gymnase it is!"
Dumouton took from his pocket an old notebook, or wallet, or, to speak more accurately, two pieces of leather--just what to call it, I do not know; but it contained a mass of papers, some old and soiled, others clean and new. He produced from it a pink one, which proved to be a ticket for a box at the Gymnase. I took the ticket and read at the foot of it the name of one of our most popular authors.
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