“The old hag! Does she want me to choke her?”
“Good heavens-no, sir! She is very fond of you, seeing you seemed so sad, she thought . . . .”
“Go and tell her never to think such things again, and as for you . . . .”
“I will do as you wish, sir.”
“Then leave me.”
EPISODE 23—THE ENGLISH
CHAPTER X
Eccentricity of the English—Castelbajac Count Schwerin— Sophie at School—My Reception at the Betting Club— The Charpillon
I passed a night which seemed like a never-ending nightmare, and I got up sad and savage, feeling as if I could kill a man on the smallest provocation. It seemed as if the house, which I had hitherto thought so beautiful, was like a millstone about my neck. I went out in my travelling clothes, and walked into a coffee-house, where I saw a score of people reading the papers.
I sat down, and, not understanding English, passed my time in gazing at the goers and comers. I had been there some time when my attention was attracted by the voice of a man speaking as follows in French: