French fiction -- 19th century; Sand, George, 1804-1876
Luz is a small town about a mile from Saint-Sauveur. Our dandies halted
there; Lionel could not be persuaded to go on to the place where Lady
Lavinia was living; he took up his quarters in an inn, and threw himself
on the bed, awaiting the hour fixed for the meeting.
Although the climate is very much cooler in the valley of Luz than in
that of Bigorre, it was a scorching, oppressive day. Sir Lionel,
stretched upon a wretched tavern bed, felt some feverish symptoms, and
fell into a troubled sleep amid the buzzing of the insects that circled
about his head in the burning air. His companion, being more active and
less disturbed in mind, crossed the valley, paid visits all over the
neighborhood, watched the riding-parties on the Gavarni road, saluted
the fair dames whom he spied at their windows or on the roads, cast
burning glances at the young Frenchwomen, for whom he had a decided
preference, and joined Lionel again about night-fall.
"Come, up, up!" he cried, pulling aside the woollen curtains; "it is the
time fixed for the meeting."
"Already?" said Lionel, who was just beginning to sleep comfortably,
thanks to the cool evening air; "what time is it, Henry?"
Henry replied, with emphasis:
"At the close of the day when the Hamlet is still,
And naught but the torrent is heard upon the hill--"[2]
"Oh! for God's sake, spare me your quotations, Henry! I can see for
myself that it is growing dark, that silence is stealing over the
landscape, that the voice of the torrent is louder and clearer; but Lady
Lavinia doesn't expect me until nine o'clock, so I can sleep a little
longer."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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