Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part IV - I
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
242 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
drowned his voice, and no one bought. Tired, forsaken
by every one, he sat down on a seat under the plane trees.
But the sunbeams found him out, and scorched him in
spite of the dusty leaves. How dismal the sun appeared
to the worn-out traveller, who longed for an overcast sky
and a downpour to relieve the unbearable heat, which
robbed his nerves of their strength and shrivelled up his
muscles.
Yet the torture of the excessive heat did not make him
insensible to the torture of hunger and the dread of the
morrow. He rose, seized the shafts of his barrow, and
toiled up the steep incline which leads to the Arc de
Triomphe, shouting incessantly
—
"Quatre liards la botte !
"
At the last street corner a little dressmaker bought
two bunches.
He dragged himself through the Champs Elysees, and
met the wealthy man, seated in his carriage behind his
English coachman, on his way to the Bois de Boulogne,
there to brood over the problem of life. The palaces and
large restaurants bought nothing ; the fierce rays of the
sun dried up the water-cress, and the long green leaves of
his cauliflowers hung limp, so that he was obliged to
sprinkle them with water at the fountain near the Rond-
Point.
It was noon when he passed the Place de la Concorde
and arrived at the Quays. Before the restaurants men
were sitting and lunching ; some of them had already
arrived at the coffee. They looked well-fed, but bored,
as if they were fulfilling a melancholy and painful duty
by keeping alive. But to the old man they were happy
mortals who had staved off death for a few hours, while
he felt his soul shrinking like a dried apple.
The barrow rattled past the Pont-Neuf, and every stone
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
