Volume V Part 33 (1/2)
”Yes, father”
”I tell you that she is an honest girl, and that, but for you, and the reain but for the house in which we three lived, I would have brought her here, and then ht have made a will--I haven't done so I did not wish to do so--for it is not necessary to write down things--things of this sort--it is too hurtful to the legiti--it ruins everyone! Look you, the stamped paper, there's no need of it--never make use of it If I am rich, it is because I have notmy own life You understand, ain--listen well to me! So then, I have made no will--I did not desire to do so--and then I knehat you were; you have a good heart; you are not niggardly, not too near, in any way, I said to myself that when my end approached I would tell you all about it, and that I would beg of you not to forget the girl And then listen again! When I aone, ements that she may not blame my memory You have plenty of h Listen! You won't find her at home every day in the week She works at Madame Moreau's in the Rue Beauvoisine Go there on a Thursday That is the day she expects me It has been ! she eep!--I say all this to you, because I have known you so well, s in public either to the notary or to the priest They happen--everyone knows that--but they are not talked about, save in case of necessity Then there is no outsider in the secret, nobody except the family, because the family consists of one person alone You understand?”
”Yes, father”
”Do you promise?”
”Yes, father”
”Do you swear it?”
”Yes, father”
”I beg of you, I iet I bind you to it”
”No, father”
”You will go yourself I want you to ”
”Yes, father”
”And, then, you will see--you will see what she will explain to you As for me, I can say no more to you You have vowed to do it”
”Yes, father”
”That's good,to break up, I' Hautot e while he did so; then, always docile, he opened the door, and the priest appeared in a white surplice, carrying the holy oils
But the dying ain, he refused to answer, he refused to show, even by a sign, that he understood
He had spoken enough, this man; he could speak no more Besides he now felt his heart calm; he wanted to die in peace What need had he to make a confession to the deputy of God, since he had just done so to his son, who constituted his own family?
He received the last rites, was purified and absolved, in the midst of his friends and his servants on their bended knees, without anythat he still lived
He expired about ht, after four hours' convulsive movements, which showed that he must have suffered dreadfully in his lastTuesday that they buried hi opened on Sunday On his return ho accompanied his father to the ce
He scarcely slept at all on the following night, and he felt so sad on awakening that he asked hi
However, he kept thinking until evening that, in order to obey the last wish of his father, he ought to repair to Rouen next day, and see this girl Catholine Donet, who resided in the Rue d'Eperlan in the third story, second door He had repeated to himself in a whisper, just as a little boy repeats a prayer, this naht not forget the able to stop or to think of what it was, so ue and his , on the following day, about eight o'clock, he ordered Graindorge to be yoked to the tilbury, and set forth, at the quick trotting pace of the heavy Norh road from the Ainville to Rouen He wore his black frock coat drawn over his shoulders, a tall silk hat on his head, and on his legs his breeches with straps; and he did not wish, on account of the occasion, to dispense with the handsome costume, the blue overall which swelled in the wind, protected the cloth from dust and fro his destination the moment he had july just as it was striking ten o'clock, drew up, as he had usually done at the Hotel des Bon-Enfants, in the Rue des Trois-Mares, subs of the landlord and his wife and their five children, for they had heard the melancholy news; after that, he had to tell them all the particulars about the accident, which caused him to shed tears, to repel all the proffered attentions which they sought to thrust upon him merely because he ealthy, and to decline even the breakfast they wanted hi their sensibilities