The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume 2 — John Shaqi
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
He turned round. They were all three sitting on the grass, at the foot
of a huge tree, and they were still talking, and he made up his mind,
and came back rapidly, and then stopping in front of them in the middle
of the road, he said abruptly, in a voice broken by emotion: "It is I!
Here I am! I suppose you did not expect me?" They all three looked at
him carefully, for they thought that he was mad, and he continued: "One
might think that you did not know me again. Just look at me! I am
Parent, Henri Parent. You did not expect me, eh? You thought it was all
over, and that you would never see me again. Ah! But here I am once
more, you see, and now we will have an explanation."
Henriette was terrified and hid her face in her hands, murmuring: "Oh!
Good Heavens!" And seeing this stranger who seemed to be threatening his
mother, George sprang up, ready to seize him by the collar, while
Limousin, who was thunderstruck, looked at this specter in horror, who,
after panting for a few moments, continued: "So now we will have an
explanation; the proper moment for it has come! Ah! you deceived me, you
condemned me to the life of a convict, and you thought that I should
never catch you!"
But the young man took him by the shoulders and pushed him back: "Are
you mad?" he asked. "What do you want? Go on your way immediately, or I
shall give you a thrashing!" But Parent replied: "What do I want? I want
to tell you who these people are." George, however, was in a rage and
shook him; was even going to strike him, but the other said: "Just let
me go. I am your father ... There, look whether they recognize me now,
the wretches!" And the alarmed young man, removed his hands, and turned
to his mother, while Parent, as soon as he was released, went towards
her.
"Well," he said, "tell him who I am, you! Tell him that my name is Henri
Parent, that I am his father because his name is George Parent, because
you are my wife, because you are all three living on my money, on the
allowance of ten thousand francs which I have made you, since I drove
you out of my house. Will you tell him also why I drove you out? Because
I surprised you with this beggar, this wretch, your lover! Tell him what
I was, an honorable man, whom you married for my money, and whom you
deceived from the very first day. Tell him who you are, and who I
am ..."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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