Little Pierre . way of was about eight yearssince we had made our jointappearance on this planet without being quite surewhat we had come there to do, when my poor com-panion and coeval, who was growing fat and wheezy,was seized with a painful malady, to wit, stone. Hebore his sufferings uncomplainingly, his coat becamedull and brittle, he grew low-spirited, and would noteat. The vet performed an operation on him;but it was not a success. The same evening thepatient ceased to suffer. As he lay in his basket heturned his fading, friendly eyes towards me, got up, LITTLE PIERRE 221 gave
Little Pierre . way of was about eight yearssince we had made our jointappearance on this planet without being quite surewhat we had come there to do, when my poor com-panion and coeval, who was growing fat and wheezy,was seized with a painful malady, to wit, stone. Hebore his sufferings uncomplainingly, his coat becamedull and brittle, he grew low-spirited, and would noteat. The vet performed an operation on him;but it was not a success. The same evening thepatient ceased to suffer. As he lay in his basket heturned his fading, friendly eyes towards me, got up, LITTLE PIERRE 221 gave just one wag of his tail, and fell down was all over with him. And then I knew howmuch he had been to us. I realized what a powerhe had been for us, how he had wrought and thoughtand loved and hated; in short, what a great place hehad held in our household and in our thoughts. Ished some bitter tears and then fell asleep. Nextmorning I inquired whether Caires death was in thepaper, like Marshal CHAPTER XXVII THE DAUGHTER OF THE TROGLODYTES jY eyes had not deceived me. Rade-gonde, or I should say Justine—formy dear mamma had deliberatelytransferred her from, the patronageof the noble Thuringian to that ofa saint with a name that came moretrippingly off the tongue—Justine, then, signalizedher arrival by turning our abode into a fairy dwell-ing place. But do not misconceive me. I do notmean to say that a fairy godmother had bestowedon this simple peasant girl the power to deck thewalls of the rooms she cleaned with porphyry, gold,and precious stones. No. But, since she had enteredupon her duties, our house had become full of weirdnoises; there were alarming thuds, panic-strickenshrieks, gnashing of teeth, and peals of place was filled with the horrible smell of burn-ing fat and charred flesh, water flowed amazinglyabout the floor, (suddenly there would risd suchclouds of smoke as would turn day into night andmake us gasp for breath; floors creak
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1920
