Mated from the Morgue: A Tale of the Second EmpireO'Shea, John Augustus
History
Mated from the Morgue: A Tale of the Second Empire
O'Shea, John Augustus
France -- History -- Second Empire, 1852-1870 -- Fiction
'But I have nothing--absolutely nothing,' running his hand expressively
across his waistcoat-pockets. It stopped--his face lit up joyfully; then
fell. 'Blessed,' continued he, 'are those who expect nothing, for they
shall not be disappointed,' and slowly putting his hand into the pocket
he extracted, with difficulty, a silver piece of ten sous. He looked at
it steadily, almost incredulously, then at the dog. 'Come, my friend,'
he cried, 'companion in misfortune, you must share my luck.' And five
minutes afterwards O'Hara and his dumb acquaintance might be seen in the
nearest _crêmerie_, O'Hara munching a roll of bread and the houseless
dog greedily lapping a bowl of hot milk.
And both of them looked very happy dogs.
CHAPTER II.
A CRUSH AT THE MORGUE.
When the stray dog had finished his welcome repast, licking the sides of
the bowl which had contained it with a gusto which many a dyspeptic
favourite, fondled on the velvet cushion of my lady, and carried about
by my lady's footman, would have envied, O'Hara began to talk with him;
yes, to talk with him--and the dog answered him, as far as eyes and tail
could speak.
'Well, my poor fellow, you seem to like that!'
The dog curled his tail and licked his lips.
'What's your name? You don't know, nor where you were born. You're as
ignorant as Topsy.'
The dog sought the ground with his eyes.
'I must give you a name. Suppose I call you Chance, to mark how I found
you; or Bran, like the dog in Ossian; or Hector--no, that's too
bumptious a name, and you're no bully.'
The dog wisely shook his head, as if he looked on the idea of bullyism
with pity.
'Let me see; egad, I'll naturalize you! I think you have a very Irish
face--an honest, open, grateful face--and I'll call you Pat.'
The dog wagged his tail joyfully, stood on his hind legs, and stretched
out a paw.
'Wonderful creature! can it be that I have hit on your name? Well,
Pat'--again the tail wagged--'if you belonged to a rich family you would
be housed, perhaps, in that hospital for indisposed gentlemen of your
breed I see advertised on a kiosk near the Palais Royal; but, because
you really want a friend and a crust, you are left without either.
That's the way with the world, Pat,[5] and you're a vagabond, though
goodness knows you're ugly enough to be a pet. I declare you're as
ill-favoured as any pug I ever met sitting on a Brussels hearthrug, if
it were not for that face.'
The dog gave an assenting bark.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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