sked for his absinthe. He used to talk to the
regular customers, whose acquaintance he had made. They discussed the
news of the day, and political events, and that carried him on till
dinner-time, and he spent the evening like he had the afternoon, until
it was time to close. That was a terrible moment for him, when he was
obliged to go out into the dark, into the empty room full of dreadful
recollections, of horrible thoughts and of mental agony. He no longer
saw any of his old friends, none of his relations, nobody who might
remind him of his past life. But as his apartments were a hell to him,
he took a room in a large hotel, a good room on the ground floor, so as
to see the passers-by. He was no longer alone in that great building, he
felt people swarming round him, he heard voices in the adjoining rooms,
and when his former sufferings tormented him too much at the sight of
his bed which was turned back, and of his solitary fire-place, he went
out into the wide passages and walked up and down them like a sentinel,
before all the closed doors, and looked sadly at the shoes standing in
couples outside each, women's little boots by the side of men's thick
ones, and he thought that no doubt all these people were happy, and were
sleeping sweetly side by side or in each other's arms, in their warm
bed.

Five years passed thus; five miserable years with no other events
except from time to time a passing love affair which lasted a couple of
hours at the cost of forty francs. But one day when he was taking his
usual walk between the _Madeleine_ and the _Rue Drouot_, he suddenly saw
a lady, whose bearing struck him. A tall gentleman and a child were with
her, and all three were walking in front of him. He asked himself where
he had seen them before, when suddenly he recognized a movement of her
hand: it was his wife, his wife with Limousin and his child, his little
George.

His heart beat as if it would suffocate him, but he did not stop, for he
wished to see them and he followed them. They looked like a family of
the better middle class. Henriette was leaning on Paul's arm and
speaking to him in a low voice and looking at him sideways occasionally.
Parent saw her side face, and recognized its graceful outlines, the
movements of her lips, her smile and her caressing looks, but the child
chiefly took up his attention. How tall and strong he was! Parent could
not see his face, but only his long, fair curls. That tall boy with