"Yes. Why do you wear that big black patch over it?"
"I know."
"I should suppose that you did. As for me, I am afraid to guess what the matter is."
"Nonsense! guess away."
"You have lost an eye."
"There is no undoing that which is done."
"I declare, since monsieur went into business and took you for his clerk, there is many a soldier at the Invalides that isn't half as much battered up as you are. How on earth did you lose your eye?"
"The fact is, my sight has been failing for some time past, so I decided to put on spectacles. I went to purchase a pair. It was at Lyons. Ah, that rascally optician!" exclaimed Segoffin, shaking his fist in a sort of retrospective rage.
"Calm yourself, Segoffin, and go on with your story."
"It was a splendid day, and the optician's shop stood in a blaze of sunlight on the Quai du Rhone, my dear,—in a blaze of sunlight, remember that."