FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62  
63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   >>  
vered with dust and very thirsty; Marie wears a long dust-colored ulster, and he a wind-proof coat and high boots. Meanwhile, the locomotive-like affair at the curbstone is working itself into a boiling rage, until finally the brave chauffeur and his chic companion prepare to depart. Marie adjusts her white lace veil, with its goggles, and the chauffeur puts on his own mask as he climbs in; a roar--a snort, a cloud of blue gas, and they are gone! There are other enthusiasts--those who go up in balloons! "Ah, you should go ballooning!" one cries enthusiastically, "to be 'en ballon'--so poetic--so fin de siecle! It is a fantaisie charmante!" In a balloon one forgets the world--one is no longer a part of it--no longer mortal. What romance there is in going up above everything with the woman one loves--comrades in danger--the ropes--the wicker cage--the ceiling of stars above one and Paris below no bigger than a gridiron! Paris! lost for the time from one's memory. How chic to shoot straight up among the drifting clouds and forget the sordid little world, even the memory of one's intrigues! "Enfin seuls," they say to each other, as the big Frenchman and the chic Parisienne countess peer down over the edge of the basket, sipping a little chartreuse from the same traveling cup; she, with the black hair and white skin, and gowned "en ballon" in a costume by Paillard; he in his peajacket buttoned close under his heavy beard. They seem to brush through and against the clouds! A gentle breath from heaven makes the basket decline a little and the ropes creak against the hardwood clinch blocks. It grows colder, and he wraps her closer in his own coat. "Courage, my child," he says; "see, we have gone a great distance; to-morrow before sundown we shall descend in Belgium." "Horrible!" cries the Countess; "I do not like those Belgians." "Ah! but you shall see, Therese, one shall go where one pleases soon; we are patient, we aeronauts; we shall bring credit to La Belle France; we have courage and perseverance; we shall give many dinners and weep over the failures of our brave comrades, to make the dirigible balloon 'pratique.' We shall succeed! Then Voila! our dejeuner in Paris and our dinner where we will." Therese taps her polished nails against the edge of the wicker cage and hums a little chansonette. "Je t'aime"--she murmurs. * * * * * I did not see this myself, and I do not know the f
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62  
63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   >>  



Top keywords:

ballon

 

basket

 

Therese

 

clouds

 

longer

 

comrades

 

wicker

 

balloon

 

memory

 
chauffeur

Courage
 

colder

 

closer

 
descend
 

Belgium

 

Horrible

 
sundown
 

colored

 
distance
 

morrow


ulster
 

hardwood

 

buttoned

 

costume

 

Paillard

 

peajacket

 

decline

 

Countess

 

clinch

 

heaven


gentle

 

breath

 

blocks

 
Belgians
 

dinner

 

polished

 

dejeuner

 
pratique
 

succeed

 
murmurs

chansonette
 
dirigible
 

patient

 

aeronauts

 

credit

 

pleases

 

thirsty

 

gowned

 
dinners
 

failures