Cosmopolis — Volume 1 by Paul Bourget
page 68 of 81 (83%)
page 68 of 81 (83%)
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whose tomb is to be seen in Rome, with that melancholy epitaph upon it,
written by himself: Here lies one whose name was writ in water. It was seldom that Dorsenne returned home without repeating to himself the translation he had attempted of that beautiful 'Ci-git un don't le nom, jut ecrit sur de l'eau'. Sometimes he repeated, at evening, this delicious fragment: The sky was tinged with tender green and pink. This time he entered in a more prosaic manner; for he addressed the concierge in the tone of a jealous husband or a debtor hunted by creditors: "Have you given the key to any one, Tonino?" he asked. "Count Gorka said that your Excellency asked him to await you here," replied the man, with a timidity rendered all the more comical by the formidable cut of his gray moustache and his imperial, which made him a caricature of the late King Victor Emmanuel. He had served in '59 under the Galantuomo, and he paid the homage of a veteran of Solferino to that glorious memory. His large eyes rolled with fear at the least confusion, and he repeated: "Yes, he said that your Excellency asked him to wait," while Dorsenne ascended the staircase, saying aloud: "More and more perfect. But this |
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