It seems that he had led a bad life, that is to say,
he had squandered a little money, which action, in
a poor family, is one of the greatest crimes.
With rich people a man who amuses himself only sows
his wild oats. He is what is generally called
a sport. But among needy families a boy who
forces his parents to break into the capital becomes
a good-for-nothing, a rascal, a scamp. And this
distinction is just, although the action be the same,
for consequences alone determine the seriousness of
the act.
“Why; you are just the same as the others, you
fool!” That was indeed bravado, one of those
pieces of impudence of which a woman makes use when
she dares everything, risks everything, to wound and
humiliate the man who has aroused her ire. This
poor man must also be one of those deceived husbands,
like so many others. He had said sadly:
“There are times when she seems to have more
confidence and faith in our friends than in me.”
That is how a husband formulated his observations
on the particular attentions of his wife for another
man. That was all. He had seen nothing
more. He was like the rest—all the
rest!
He awaited he knew not what, possessed with that vague
hope which persists in the human heart in spite of
everything. He awaited in the corner of the
farmyard in the biting December wind, some mysterious
aid from Heaven or from men, without the least idea
whence it was to arrive. A number of black hens
ran hither and thither, seeking their food in the
earth which supports all living things. Ever
now and then they snapped up in their beaks a grain
of corn or a tiny insect; then they continued their
slow, sure search for nutriment.
SHORT STORIES VOLUME IX.
Full of that common sense which borders on stupidity
Let them respect my convictions, and I will respect
theirs
Love that is sacred—not marriage!
Mediocrities and the fools always form the immense
majority
Night-robe of streams and meadows
Only being allowed to read religious works or cook-books
Poetry did not seem to be the strong point
Purgatory and paradise according to the yearly income
She went through life in a mood of perpetual discontent
So stupid and they pretend they know everything
Spend his time quietly regretting the past
The tomb is the boundary of conjugal sinning
When we love, we have need of confession
World has made laws to combat our instincts
SHORT STORIES VOLUME X.
“I heard ‘birr! birr!’ and a magnificent
covey rose at ten paces from me. I aimed.
Pif! paf! and I saw a shower, a veritable shower
of birds. There were seven of them!”—And
they all went into raptures, amazed, but reciprocally
credulous.
She was still smiling as she looked at him; she even
began to laugh; and he lost his head trying to find
something suitable to say, no matter what. But
he could think of nothing, nothing, and then, seized
with a coward’s courage, he said to himself:
’So much the worse, I will risk everything,’
and suddenly, without the slightest warning, he went
toward her, his arms extended, his lips protruding,
and, seizing her in his arms, he kissed her.
