Mademoiselle de Maupin, Volume 2 (of 2)Gautier, Théophile
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Mademoiselle de Maupin, Volume 2 (of 2)
Gautier, Théophile
French fiction -- Translations into English
Rosette, to prove that she agreed with me, raised her dress slightly
and showed me the edge of a petticoat very richly embroidered with
great flowers and leaves; it rested entirely with me to be admitted
to the secret of greater interior splendors; but I did not ask to see
if the magnificence of the chemise equalled that of the petticoat; it
is probable that it did not fall short of it.--Rosette dropped the
skirt of her dress, sorry not to have shown more.--However, even that
exhibition had served to disclose the beginning of a perfectly-turned
calf, giving a most favorable idea of what was above.--The leg, which
she put forward, the better to show off her petticoat, was in very
truth miraculously graceful and shapely in its neat, tight-fitting
pearl-gray silk stocking, and the little heeled slipper, terminating in
a rosette of ribbon resembled the glass slipper worn by Cinderella.
I complimented her most sincerely upon it and told her that I could
hardly imagine a prettier leg or tinier foot.--To which she replied
with a frankness and ingenuousness altogether charming and very clever,
too:--
"That is true."
Then she went to a cupboard in the wall, took out several bottles of
liquors and some plates of cakes and sweetmeats, placed them all upon
a small table and sat down beside me in a narrow chair, so that I was
obliged to put my arm behind her to avoid being too crowded. As both
her hands were free, while I could use only my left, she filled my
glass with her own hands and placed fruit and sugar-plums on my plate;
seeing that I was helping myself rather awkwardly, she said: "Oh!
don't try to do it; I'll feed you, you child, as you don't know how to
feed yourself." And she put the pieces in my mouth and compelled me
to swallow them faster than I wanted to do, pushing them in with her
pretty fingers, just as they do to chickens when they are fattening
them--which made her laugh heartily.--I could hardly avoid returning
upon her fingers the kiss she had just now bestowed upon the palm of
my hand, and, as if to prevent me, but really to give me a more solid
support for my kiss, she struck my mouth two or three times with the
back of her hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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