Notre Coeur; or, A Woman's Pastime: A NovelMaupassant, Guy de
General
Notre Coeur; or, A Woman's Pastime: A Novel
Maupassant, Guy de
France -- Fiction; Love -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
He returned to the pavilion early in the morning of the following day,
presided over the arrival and placing of the furniture, climbed ladders
and hung the pictures, burned perfumes and vaporized them upon the
hangings and poured them over the carpets. In his feverish joy, in the
excited rapture of all his being, it seemed to him that he had never in
his life been engaged in such an engrossing, such a delightful labor.
At every moment he looked to see what time it was, and calculated how
long it would be before she would be there; he urged on the workmen,
and stimulated his invention so to arrange the different objects that
they might be displayed in their best light.
In his prudence he dismissed everyone before it was two o'clock, and
then, as the minute-hand of the clock tardily made its last revolution
around the dial, in the silence of that house where he was awaiting
the greatest happiness that ever he could have wished for, alone with
his reverie, going and coming from room to room, he passed the minutes
until she should be there.
Finally he went out into the garden. The sunlight was streaming through
the foliage upon the grass and falling with especially charming
brilliancy upon a bed of roses. The very heavens were contributing
their aid to embellish this trysting-place. Then he went and stood by
the gate, partially opening it to look out from time to time for fear
she might mistake the house.
Three o'clock rang out from some belfry, and forthwith the sounds
were echoed from a dozen schools and factories. He stood waiting now
with watch in hand, and gave a start of surprise when two little,
light knocks were given against the door, to which his ear was closely
applied, for he had heard no sound of footsteps in the street.
He opened: it was she. She looked about her with astonishment. First
of all she examined with a distrustful glance the neighboring houses,
but her inspection reassured her, for certainly she could have no
acquaintances among the humble _bourgeois_ who inhabited the quarter.
Then she examined the garden with pleased curiosity, and finally placed
the backs of her two hands, from which she had drawn her gloves,
against her lover's mouth; then she took his arm. At every step she
kept repeating: "My! how pretty it is! how unexpected! how attractive!"
Catching sight of the rose-bed that the sun was shining upon through
the branches of the trees, she exclaimed: "Why, this is fairyland, my
friend!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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