The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume 2Maupassant, Guy de
General
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume 2
Maupassant, Guy de
French fiction -- Translations into English; Short stories, French -- Translations into English
The three men went as far as the quay together, and on the way they met
young Monsieur Philippe, the banker's son, who frequented the place
regularly, and Monsieur Pinipesse, the collector, and they all returned
to the _Rue aux Juifs_ together, to make a last attempt. But the
exasperated sailors were besieging the house, throwing stones at the
shutters, and shouting, and the five first floor customers went away as
quickly as possible, and walked aimlessly about the streets.
Presently they met Monsieur Dupuis, the insurance agent, and then
Monsieur Vasse, the Judge of the Tribunal of Commerce, and they took a
long walk, going to the pier first of all, where they sat down in a row
on the granite parapet, and watched the rising tide, and when the
promenaders had sat there for some time, Monsieur Tournevau said:
"This is not very amusing!"
"Decidedly not," Monsieur Pinipesse replied, and they started off to
walk again.
After going through the street on the top of the hill, they returned
over the wooden bridge which crosses the Retenue, passed close to the
railway, and came out again onto the market place, when suddenly a
quarrel arose between Monsieur Pinipesse, the collector, and Monsieur
Tournevau, about an edible fungus which one of them declared he had
found in the neighborhood.
As they were out of temper already from annoyance, they would very
probably have come to blows, if the others had not interfered. Monsieur
Pinipesse went off furious, and soon another altercation arose between
the ex-major, Monsieur Poulin, and Monsieur Dupuis, the insurance agent,
on the subject of the tax collector's salary, and the profits which he
might make. Insulting remarks were freely passing between them, when a
torrent of formidable cries were heard, and the body of sailors, who
were tired of waiting so long outside a closed house, came into the
square. They were walking arm-in-arm, two and two, and formed a long
procession, and were shouting furiously. The landsmen went and hid
themselves under a gateway, and the yelling crew disappeared in the
direction of the abbey. For a long time they still heard the noise,
which diminished like a storm in the distance, and then silence was
restored, and Monsieur Poulin and Monsieur Dupuis, who were enraged with
each other, went in different directions, without wishing each other
good-bye.
The other four set off again, and instinctively went in the direction of
Madame Tellier's establishment, which was still closed, silent,
impenetrable. A quiet, but obstinate, drunken man was knocking at the
door of the cafe, and then stopped and called Frederic, the waiter, in a
low voice, but finding that he got no answer, he sat down on the
doorstep, and waited the course of events.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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