What is that?... Ah! Miss Jeanne going towards the forest.
Her head looks like one of those beautiful red fungi that grow among the fir-trees.
If the gardener had chosen her.... But Torp!
I should like to go wandering out into the woods and leave the house to those two creatures in the basement. But if I happened to meet Jeanne, what explanation could I give?
It would be too ridiculous for both of us to be straying about in the forest, because Torp was entertaining a sweetheart in the basement!
Doors and windows are wide open, and they are two floors below me, and yet I seem to smell the sour, disgusting odour of that man. Is it hysteria?...
No. I cannot sleep, and it is four in the morning. The sunrise is a glorious sight provided one is really in the mood to enjoy it. But at the present moment I should prefer the blackest night....
There he goes! Sneaking away like a thief. Not once does he look back; and yet I am sure the hateful female is standing at the door, waving to him and kissing her hand....
But what is the matter with Jeanne? Poor girl, she has hidden behind a tree. She does not want to be seen by him; and she is quite right, it would be paying the boor too great an honour.
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