obliterated all that was!




CHAPTER V

DAY BY DAY


We rearranged the house. We did not alter the general arrangement, nor
the places of the heavy furniture--that would have been too great a
change. But we cast out all the dusty old stuff, the fossilized and
worthless knick-knacks that Mame had accumulated. The photographs on
the walls, which were dying of jaundice and debility, and which no
longer stood for anybody, because of the greatness of time, we cleared
out of their imitation tortoiseshell and buried in the depths of
drawers.

I bought some furniture, and as we sniffed the odor of varnish which
hung about for a long time in the lower room, we said, "This is the
real thing." And, indeed, our home was pretty much like the
middle-class establishments of our quarter and everywhere. Is it not
the only really proud moment here on earth, when we can say, "I, too!"

Years went by. There was nothing remarkable in our life. When I came
home in the evening, Marie, who often had not been out and had kept on
her dressing-gown and plaits, used to say, "There's been nothing to
speak of to-day."