Volume IV Part 42 (1/2)
”Do you know Duclos?”
”Yes, I do know hientle tone:
”Good! That's good!”
”What do you ith hi!”
He stared at her, more and more perplexed At last, he put this question to her:
”Do you know him, too, yourself?”
”No,” said she
”Then what do you ith him?”
Suddenly, she made up her mind what to do, left her seat, rushed over to the bar where the landlady of the tavern presided, seized a lelass, then she filled this glass with pure water, and carrying it across to him:
”Drink this!”
”Why?”
”To make it pass for wine I will talk to you afterwards”
He drank it without further protest, wiped his lips with the back of his hand, then observed:
”That's all right I a to you”
”You will promise not to tell hi to tell you You must swear not to do so”
He raised his hand
”All right I swear I will not”
”Before God?”
”Before God”
”Well, you will tell him that his father died, that his mother died, that his brother died, the whole three in one month, of typhoid fever, in January, 1883--three years and a half ago”
In his turn, he felt all his blood set in h his entire body, and for a few seconds he was so an to doubt what she had told him, and asked:
”Are you sure?”
”I am sure”