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La Grande Breteche by Honoré de Balzac
page 16 of 29 (55%)
name in _os_ and _dia_, something like Bagos de Feredia. I wrote his
name down in my books, and you may see it if you like. Ah! he was a
handsome young fellow for a Spaniard, who are all ugly they say. He
was not more than five feet two or three in height, but so well made;
and he had little hands that he kept so beautifully! Ah! you should
have seen them. He had as many brushes for his hands as a woman has
for her toilet. He had thick, black hair, a flame in his eye, a
somewhat coppery complexion, but which I admired all the same. He wore
the finest linen I have ever seen, though I have had princesses to
lodge here, and, among others, General Bertrand, the Duc and Duchesse
d'Abrantes, Monsieur Descazes, and the King of Spain. He did not eat
much, but he had such polite and amiable ways that it was impossible
to owe him a grudge for that. Oh! I was very fond of him, though he
did not say four words to me in a day, and it was impossible to have
the least bit of talk with him; if he was spoken to, he did not
answer; it is a way, a mania they all have, it would seem.

"'He read his breviary like a priest, and went to mass and all the
services quite regularly. And where did he post himself?--we found
this out later.--Within two yards of Madame de Merret's chapel. As he
took that place the very first time he entered the church, no one
imagined that there was any purpose in it. Besides, he never raised
his nose above his book, poor young man! And then, monsieur, of an
evening he went for a walk on the hill among the ruins of the old
castle. It was his only amusement, poor man; it reminded him of his
native land. They say that Spain is all hills!

"'One evening, a few days after he was sent here, he was out very
late. I was rather uneasy when he did not come in till just on the
stroke of midnight; but we all got used to his whims; he took the key
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