Little Pierre . a mighty head, rugged andgaunt as a block of Breton granite, whose eyes, deepsunken in their hollow sockets, had once blazed witha quenchless fire of which there now survived but afaint and fading glimmer. This old man, morose,infirm, yet proud of mien, this old man who had beenthe glory of his generation, was then slowly andsorrowfully sinking into the grave. His name wasChateaubriand. Sometimes, from the heights of Passy, anotherold man used to come down to stroll along thesesame quays. He was bald save for a few stragglinggrey hairs. His cheeks were full and ruddy, he hada r
Little Pierre . a mighty head, rugged andgaunt as a block of Breton granite, whose eyes, deepsunken in their hollow sockets, had once blazed witha quenchless fire of which there now survived but afaint and fading glimmer. This old man, morose,infirm, yet proud of mien, this old man who had beenthe glory of his generation, was then slowly andsorrowfully sinking into the grave. His name wasChateaubriand. Sometimes, from the heights of Passy, anotherold man used to come down to stroll along thesesame quays. He was bald save for a few stragglinggrey hairs. His cheeks were full and ruddy, he hada rose in his buttonhole and a smile on his lips. Hewas just as bourgeois in appearance as the other was LITTLE PIERRE 19 aristocratic. He was a popular song writer and thepassers-by would stop to take a glimpse of , the Royalist and the Catholic;Berenger, the admirer of Napoleon, the upholder ofthe Republic, the free thinker—such were the twosigns beneath whose influence I came into this CHAPTER II EARLY DAYS |Y earliest memory is of a tall hat,with very long nap, and a verywide brim. It was lined with greensilk and the upper part of its innerband of tan leather was cut intostrips bent downwards like theleaves of a closed crown save that, as these strips didnot completely join, you could catch a glimpse,through a round opening, of a red bandana poked inbetwixt the leather band and the gold stampedcrown. A white-haired old gentleman would beshown into the drawing-room, holding this hat inhis hands. He would then proceed to draw from it,in my presence, the red silk snuff-stained handker-chief which, when unfolded, exhibited Napoleon inhis grey overcoat on the top of the Colonne Ven-dome. Then the old gentleman would extractfrom the depths of the crown a little dry cakewhich he slowly raised above his head. It wasa little flat, round cake, shiny and striped onone side. I used to stretch out my hands tocatch hold of it, but the old gentleman would notlet it
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