Nobody's boy (Sans famille) — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Nobody's boy (Sans famille)
John Stuart Mill · en
"Oh, stop your talk. Hurry up and get out! I give you five minutes. If I
find you here when I come out again I'll settle you."
I knew it was useless to plead with him. I had to "get out." I went to
the stables to get the dogs and Pretty-Heart, then strapping my harp on
my shoulder I left the inn.
I was in a hurry to get out of town, for my dogs were not muzzled. What
should I say if I met a policeman? That I had no money? It was the
truth; I had only eleven sous in my pocket. That was not enough to buy
muzzles. They might arrest me. If Vitalis and I were both in prison,
whatever would become of the animals? I felt the responsibility of my
position.
As I walked along quickly the dogs looked up at me in a way I could not
fail to understand. They were hungry. Pretty-Heart, whom I carried,
pulled my ear from time to time to force me to look at him. Then he
rubbed his stomach in a manner that was no less expressive than the
looks the dogs cast at me. I also was hungry. We had had no breakfast.
My eleven sous could not buy enough for dinner and supper, so we should
have to be satisfied with one meal, which, if we took it in the middle
of the day, would serve us for two.
I wandered along. I did not care where I went; it was all the same to
me, for I did not know the country. The question of finding a place in
which to sleep did not worry me; we could sleep in the open air.... But
to eat!
We must have walked for about two hours before I dared to stop, and yet
the dogs had looked up at me imploringly and Pretty-Heart had pulled my
ear and rubbed his stomach incessantly. At last I felt that I was far
enough away from the town to have nothing to fear. I went into the first
bakery that I came across. I asked for one pound and a half of bread.
"You'd do well to take a two-pound loaf," said the woman. "That's not
too much for your menagerie. You must feed the poor dogs."
Oh, no, it was not too much for my menagerie, but it was too much for my
purse. The bread was five sous a pound; two pounds would cost ten sous.
I did not think it wise to be extravagant before knowing what I was
going to do the next day. I told the woman in an offhand manner that one
pound and a half was quite enough and politely asked her not to cut
more. I left the shop with my bread clutched tightly in my arms. The
dogs jumped joyfully around me. Pretty-Heart pulled my hair and chuckled
with glee.