The characteristics of About's literary style appear as clearly in La Mère de la Marquise, which is included in Les Mariages de Paris, as in any of the author's longer works; we may briefly enumerate these characteristics as facility and variety of expression, a ready wit, a large and varied vocabulary, and the ability to sketch characters in a few, bold strokes. About's stories are written to entertain, they are bright and wholesome, they tell an interesting story in a straightforward manner, and beneath all is just enough serious satire to lend a pleasing proportion and balance to the whole.
In preparing this edition of La Mère de la Marquise the editor has sought to present a text, with vocabulary, suitable for students of French in the second year of the high-school course or in the first year at college. The story itself has been chosen on account of its quick action, the graceful and witty turn of the phrases, the easy, colloquial style, and the entire freedom from coarseness. The text is that of the last edition of Les Mariages de Paris, Paris, 1899; it is reproduced with the omission of only a very few extracts hardly suited to the class-room.
Murray P. Brush.
Baltimore
December 1902
LA MÈRE DE LA MARQUISE
I
Ceci est une vieille histoire qui datera tantôt de dix ans.