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Mauprat by George Sand
page 267 of 411 (64%)
occasional lodging for the new seigneur or his stewards. My Uncle Hubert
had often been there to see to my interests so long as his strength had
allowed him; and they showed me to the room which he had reserved for
himself, and which had therefore been known as the master's room. The
best things that had been saved from the old furniture had been placed
there; and, as it was cold and damp, in spite of all the trouble they
had taken to make it habitable, the tenant's servant preceded me with a
firebrand in one hand and a fagot in the other.

Blinded by the smoke which she scattered round me in clouds, and
deceived by the new entrance which they had made in another part of the
courtyard, and by certain corridors which they had walled up to save the
trouble of looking after them, I reached the room without recognising
anything; indeed, I could not have said in what part of the old
buildings I was, to such an extent had the new appearance of the
courtyard upset my recollections, and so little had my mind in its gloom
and agitation been impressed by surrounding objects.

While the servant was lighting the fire, I threw myself into a chair,
and, burying my head in my hands, fell into a melancholy train of
thought. My position, however, was not without a certain charm; for the
past naturally appears in an embellished or softened form to the minds
of young men, those presumptuous masters of the future. When, by dint of
blowing the brand, the servant had filled the room with dense smoke, she
went off to fetch some embers and left me alone. Marcasse had remained
in the stable to attend to our horses. Blaireau had followed me;
lying down by the hearth, he glanced at me from time to time with a
dissatisfied air, as if to ask me the reason of such wretched lodging
and such a poor fire.

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