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A silence follows, during the time that Le Pleynier takes to light hispipe.
It
is the small man on the trunk who seems to be speaking. The long curtainsare
only awaiting this act before straightening out the folds of theirred damask.
Outwardly round, inwardly flat, he pushes ahead by any means in hispower.
Youwill see how fine it is, and that there is plenty of room to weavecloth! A
silence follows, during the time that Le Pleynier takes to light hispipe. The
rule has been drafted toprovide for eventualities, I mean to say. Everything
must be started afresh, and must be started. Le Pleyniers majesty thenappears a
very dubious majesty.
Shadows were bustling, withmonstrously exaggerated
gestures, over heaped up piles of baggage.
Des Chal-leries, who hasreached the
threshold of the cardroom, stops, without turning round.
You do not explain to
us why you were trotting, Boulinier!
If, that is to say, none of you gentlemen
has any objection. People said:The Simlers are all workers, but Monsieur
Guillaume is a perfectdevil for work.
The coolness of the night made onewith
the far-off strain of the instrument.
They had taken their fill of the
spectacle with a savagedeliberateness. It starts from the fireplace andspreads
into the outer rooms. Le Pleynier enclosesthe glittering casket of his
skull.
This was eight miles away, in the outskirts of Colmar.
Let us proceed to
the formalitywhich you mention, Monsieur Pierrotin.
Make room for your sister;
here comes my Laure-Mayor.
Boulinier has never yet been so highly
honoured.
They had taken their fill of the spectacle with a
savagedeliberateness.
The roar of the looms stops as though by magic. The
candle kept watching more than one window, as hadbeen the custom for many weeks
past. Is it you that speak thus, Monsieur Le Pleynier?
The trifle that came
from the Sterns had thus more than once savedtheir honour.
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