Volume VIII Part 14 (1/2)
He went in She was sitting up in bed, while, by her side, Roland, with a silk handkerchief by way of nightcap and his face to the wall, still lay sleeping Nothing ever woke hih to pull his ar it was Josephine, rung up by Papagris at the hour fixed, who roused her master from his stubborn slumbers
Pierre as he went toward hisseen her before She held up her face, he kissed each cheek, and then sat down in a low chair
”It was last evening that you decided on this excursion?” she asked
”Yes, last evening”
”Will you return to dinner?”
”I do not know At any rate do not wait for me”
He looked at her with stupefied curiosity This woman was his mother!
All those features, seen daily frouish things, that smile, that voice--so well known, so familiar, abruptly struck him as new, different from what they had always been to hi her, he had never looked at her All the same it was very really she, and he knew every little detail of her face; still, it was the first time he clearly identified the her face which he loved, recalled a difference, a physiognoo; then, suddenly yielding to the invincible longing to knohich had been gnawing at him since yesterday, he said:
”By the way, I fancy I remember that you used to have, in Paris, a little portrait of Marechal, in the drawing-room”
She hesitated for a second or two, or at least he fancied she hesitated; then she said:
”To be sure”
”What has becoht have replied more readily:
”That portrait--stay; I don't exactly know--perhaps it is in my desk”
”It would be kind of you to find it”
”Yes, I will look for it What do you want it for?”
”Oh, it was not for ive it to Jean, and that he would be pleased to have it”
”Yes, you are right; that is a good idea I will look for it, as soon as I am up”
And he went out
It was a blue day, without a breath of wind The folks in the streets see to business, the clerks going to their office, the girls going to their shop Soht weather
The passengers were already going on board the Trouville boat; Pierre took a seat aft on a wooden bench
He asked hi for the portrait or only surprised?
Has she mislaid it, or has she hidden it? Does she knohere it is, or does she not? If she has hidden it--why?”