The Mysteries of Paris, illustrated with etchings, Vol. 5Sue, Eugène
General
The Mysteries of Paris, illustrated with etchings, Vol. 5
Sue, Eugène
Paris (France) -- Fiction
"I'm a-going to tell you. I suppose, M. Rodolph, you recollect the high
wall about ten steps from here? Well, my poor, dear, darling husband was
going along thinking of nothing, when, quite by chance, he just looked
upon this wall. And what do you think he saw written in great staring
letters with a piece of charcoal?--why, 'Pipelet and Cabrion!'--the two
names joined together by a sort of true-lover's knot. (Ah, it is that
true-lover's knot which sticks so tight in the gizzard of my poor old
chick!) That sight rather upset him; but still he tried to act like a
man and not mind it. So on he went. But hardly had he proceeded ten
steps farther when, on the principal entrance to the Temple, there again
were the same hateful words, 'Pipelet and Cabrion,' united as before!
Still he walked on; but at every turn he saw the same detestable writing
on the walls, doors, and even shutters of houses! Everywhere Pipelet
and Cabrion danced before his eyes, for ever bound in the same tender
tie of love or friendship! My poor dear Alfred's head began to turn
around, and his eyes to grow dizzy; all sorts of horrid objects seemed
to meet him and laugh him to scorn. He fancied the very people in the
streets were laughing at him. So, quite confused and ashamed, he pulled
his hat over his face, and took the road towards the Boulevards,
believing that the scamp Cabrion would have confined his abominations to
the Rue du Temple. But no--not he! All along the Boulevards, wherever a
blank spot remained or a place could be found to hold the words, had he
written 'Pipelet and Cabrion!'--sometimes adding, 'till death!' At last
my poor dear man arrived at the house of the landlord, but so bewildered
and stupefied that, after hammering and stammering and bodgering about
without being able to utter a clear sentence, the landlord, having tried
for nearly half an hour to bring him sufficiently to his senses to say
what had made him come to his house, got quite in a passion, and called
him a stupid old fool, and told him to go home and send his wife or
somebody who could speak common sense. Well, poor dear Alfred left as he
was ordered, thinking, at any rate, he would return by a different road,
so as to escape those dreadful words that had so overcome him going. Do
you believe he could get rid of them, though? No; there they were, large
as life, scrawled upon every place, and united by the lover's band as
before."
"What, Pipelet and Cabrion still written along the walls?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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