Paz by Honoré de Balzac
page 33 of 74 (44%)
page 33 of 74 (44%)
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"He is thinking that this winter has cost a good deal, and that it is
time we went to economize with your old uncle Ronquerolles," replied Adam. The countess stopped the carriage near Paz, and bade him take the seat beside her. Thaddeus grew as red as a cherry. "I shall poison you," he said; "I have been smoking." "Doesn't Adam poison me?" she said. "Yes, but he is Adam," returned the captain. "And why can't Thaddeus have the same privileges?" asked the countess, smiling. That divine smile had a power which triumphed over the heroic resolutions of poor Paz; he looked at Clementine with all the fire of his soul in his eyes, though, even so, its flame was tempered by the angelic gratitude of the man whose life was based upon that virtue. The countess folded her arms in her shawl, lay back pensively on her cushions, ruffling the feathers of her pretty bonnet, and looked at the people who passed her. That flash of a great and hitherto resigned soul reached her sensibilities. What was Adam's merit in her eyes? It was natural enough to have courage and generosity. But Thaddeus --surely Thaddeus possessed, or seemed to possess, some great superiority over Adam. They were dangerous thoughts which took possession of the countess's mind as she again noticed the contrast of the fine presence that distinguished Thaddeus, and the puny frame in which Adam showed the degenerating effects of intermarriage among the |
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