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the purse-第3章

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as the French call such a domestic laboratory;which was lighted

by windows looking out on a neighboring yard。



Hippolyte; with the quick eye of an artist; saw the uses; the

furniture; the general effect and condition of this first room;

thus cut in half。 The more honorable half; which served both as

ante…room and dining…room; was hung with an old salmon…rose…

colored paper; with a flock border; the manufacture of Reveillon;

no doubt; the holes and spots had been carefully touched over

with wafers。 Prints representing the battles of Alexander; by

Lebrun; in frames with the gilding rubbed off were symmetrically

arranged on the walls。 In the middle stood a massive mahogany

table; old…fashioned in shape; and worn at the edges。 A small

stove; whose thin straight pipe was scarcely visible; stood in

front of the chimney…place; but the hearth was occupied by a

cupboard。 By a strange contrast the chairs showed some remains of

former splendor; they were of carved mahogany; but the red

morocco seats; the gilt nails and reeded backs; showed as many

scars as an old sergeant of the Imperial Guard。



This room did duty as a museum of certain objects; such as are

never seen but in this kind of amphibious household; nameless

objects with the stamp at once of luxury and penury。 Among other

curiosities Hippolyte noticed a splendidly finished telescope;

hanging over the small discolored glass that decorated the

chimney。 To harmonize with this strange collection of furniture;

there was; between the chimney and the partition; a wretched

sideboard of painted wood; pretending to be mahogany; of all

woods the most impossible to imitate。 But the slippery red

quarries; the shabby little rugs in front of the chairs; and all

the furniture; shone with the hard rubbing cleanliness which

lends a treacherous lustre to old things by making their defects;

their age; and their long service still more conspicuous。 An

indescribable odor pervaded the room; a mingled smell of the

exhalations from the lumber room; and the vapors of the dining…

room; with those from the stairs; though the window was partly

open。 The air from the street fluttered the dusty curtains; which

were carefully drawn so as to hide the window bay; where former

tenants had testified to their presence by various ornamental

additionsa sort of domestic fresco。



Adelaide hastened to open the door of the inner room; where she

announced the painter with evident pleasure。 Hippolyte; who; of

yore; had seen the same signs of poverty in his mother's home;

noted them with the singular vividness of impression which

characterizes the earliest acquisitions of memory; and entered

into the details of this existence better than any one else would

have done。 As he recognized the facts of his life as a child; the

kind young fellow felt neither scorn for disguised misfortune nor

pride in the luxury he had lately conquered for his mother。



〃Well; monsieur; I hope you no longer feel the effects of your

fall;〃 said the old lady; rising from an antique armchair that

stood by the chimney; and offering him a seat。



〃No; madame。 I have come to thank you for the kind care you gave

me; and above all mademoiselle; who heard me fall。〃



As he uttered this speech; stamped with the exquisite stupidity

given to the mind by the first disturbing symptoms of true love;

Hippolyte looked at the young girl。 Adelaide was lighting the

Argand lamp; no doubt that she might get rid of a tallow candle

fixed in a large copper flat candlestick; and graced with a heavy

fluting of grease from its guttering。 She answered with a slight

bow; carried the flat candlestick into the ante…room; came back;

and after placing the lamp on the chimney shelf; seated herself

by her mother; a little behind the painter; so as to be able to

look at him at her ease; while apparently much interested in the

burning of the lamp; the flame; checked by the damp in a dingy

chimney; sputtered as it struggled with a charred and badly…

trimmed wick。 Hippolyte; seeing the large mirror that decorated

the chimney…piece; immediately fixed his eyes on it to admire

Adelaide。 Thus the girl's little stratagem only served to

embarrass them both。



While talking with Madame Leseigneur; for Hippolyte called her

so; on the chance of being right; he examined the room; but

unobtrusively and by stealth。



The Egyptian figures on the iron fire…dogs were scarcely visible;

the hearth was so heaped with cinders; two brands tried to meet

in front of a sham log of fire…brick; as carefully buried as a

miser's treasure could ever be。 An old Aubusson carpet; very much

faded; very much mended; and as worn as a pensioner's coat; did

not cover the whole of the tiled floor; and the cold struck to

his feet。 The walls were hung with a reddish paper; imitating

figured silk with a yellow pattern。 In the middle of the wall

opposite the windows the painter saw a crack; and the outline

marked on the paper of double…doors; shutting off a recess where

Madame Leseigneur slept no doubt; a fact ill disguised by a sofa

in front of the door。 Facing the chimney; above a mahogany chest

of drawers of handsome and tasteful design; was the portrait of

an officer of rank; which the dim light did not allow him to see

well; but from what he could make out he thought that the fearful

daub must have been painted in China。 The window…curtains of red

silk were as much faded as the furniture; in red and yellow

worsted work; 'as' if this room 〃contrived a double debt to pay。〃

On the marble top of the chest of drawers was a costly malachite

tray; with a dozen coffee cups magnificently painted and made; no

doubt; at Sevres。 On the chimney shelf stood the omnipresent

Empire clock: a warrior driving the four horses of a chariot;

whose wheel bore the numbers of the hours on its spokes。 The

tapers in the tall candlesticks were yellow with smoke; and at

each corner of the shelf stood a porcelain vase crowned with

artificial flowers full of dust and stuck into moss。



In the middle of the room Hippolyte remarked a card…table ready

for play; with new packs of cards。 For an observer there was

something heartrending in the sight of this misery painted up

like an old woman who wants to falsify her face。 At such a sight

every man of sense must at once have stated to himself this

obvious dilemmaeither these two women are honesty itself; or

they live by intrigue and gambling。 But on looking at Adelaide; a

man so pure…minded as Schinner could not but believe in her

perfect innocence; and ascribe the incoherence of the furniture

to honorable causes。



〃My dear;〃 said the old lady to the young one; 〃I am cold; make a

little fire; and give me my shawl。〃



Adelaide went into a room next the drawing…room; where she no

doubt slept; and returned bringing her mother a cashmere shawl;

which when new must have been very costly; the pattern was

Indian; but it was old; faded and full of darns; and matched the

furniture。 Madame Leseigneur wrapped herself in it very

artistically; and with the readiness of an old woman who wishes

to make her words seem truth。 The young girl ran lightly off to

the lumber…room and reappeared with a bundle of small wood; which

she gallantly threw on the fire to revive it。



It would be rather difficult to reproduce the conversation which

followed among these three persons。 Hippolyte; guided by the tact

which is almost always the outcome of misfortune suffered in

early youth; dared not allow himself to make the least remark as

to his neighbors' situation; as he saw all about him the signs of

ill…disguised poverty。 The simplest question would have been an

indiscretion; and could only be ventured on by old friendship。

The painter was nevertheless absorbed in the thought of this

concealed penury; it pained his generous soul; but knowing how

offensive every kind of pity may be; even the friendliest; the

disparity between his thoughts and his words made him feel

uncomfortable。



The two ladies at first talked of painting; for women easily

guess the secret embarrassment of a first call; they themselves

feel it perhaps; and the nature of their mind supplies them with

a thousand devices to put an end to it。 By questioning the young

man as to the material exercise of his art; and as to his

studies; Adelaide and her mother emboldened him to talk。 The

indefinable nothings of their chat; animated by kind feeling;

naturally led Hippolyte to flash forth remarks or reflections

which showed the character of his habits and of his mind。 Trouble

had prematurely faded the old lady's face; formerly handsome; no

doubt; nothing was left but the more prominent features; the

outline; in a word; the skeleton of a countenance of which the

whole effect indicated great shrewdness with much grace in the

play of the eyes; in which could be discerned the expression

peculiar to women of the old Court; an expression t
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