Short stories of the tragedy and comedy of life with a critical preface . r the arches,and it was two hours before her body was course, she was dead. The narrator stopped, and then added: It was, perhaps, the best thing she could do inher position. There are some things which cannotbe wiped out, and now you understand why the MADAME BAPTISTE 295 clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah!If it had been a religious funeral, the whole townwould have been present, but you can understandthat her suicide, added to the other affair, made fami-lies abstain from attending her funera
Short stories of the tragedy and comedy of life with a critical preface . r the arches,and it was two hours before her body was course, she was dead. The narrator stopped, and then added: It was, perhaps, the best thing she could do inher position. There are some things which cannotbe wiped out, and now you understand why the MADAME BAPTISTE 295 clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah!If it had been a religious funeral, the whole townwould have been present, but you can understandthat her suicide, added to the other affair, made fami-lies abstain from attending her funeral. And then, itis not an easy matter, here, to attend a funeral whichis performed without religious rites. We passed through the cemetery gates, and Iwaited, much moved by what 1 had heard, until thecoffm had been lowered into the grave before 1 wentup to the poor husband, who was sobbing violently,to press his hand vigorously. He looked at me insurprise through his tears, and said: Thank you. Monsieur. 1 was not sorry that I had followed the funeral. WIFE AND MISTRESS. T WAS not her long, silky curls, whichcovered her small, fairy-like head,like a golden halo, nor her beau-tiful complexion, nor her mouth, whichwas like some delicate shell, norwas it her supreme innocence,shown by her sudden blushes andby her somewhat awkward move-ments, nor was it her ingenuous ques-tions which had assailed and conqueredGeorge dHardermes heart. He had apeculiar temper, and any appearance of aflx /^ yoke frightened him and put him to flight^^ immediately. His unstable heart was ready toyield to any temptation, and he was incapable of anylasting attachment, while a succession of love-affairshad left no more traces on it than you find on a sea-shore constantly swept by the waves. It was not the dream of a life of affection, of peace, the want of loving and of being loved, which a fast man so often feels between thirty and forty, nor the insurmountable ennui of that circle of pleasure (296) WIFE A
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