we skirted the edge of this melancholy checkerboard, where
salt has stifled all forms of vegetation, and where no one ever comes
but a few "paludiers," the local name given to the laborers of the
salt marshes. These men, or rather this clan of Bretons, wear a special
costume: a white jacket, something like that of brewers. They marry
among themselves. There is no instance of a girl of the tribe having
ever married any man who was not a paludier.

The horrible aspects of these marshes, these sloughs, the mud of which
was systematically raked, the dull gray earth that the Breton flora held
in horror, were in keeping with the gloom that filled our souls. When we
reached a spot where we crossed an arm of the sea, which no doubt
serves to feed the stagnant salt-pools, we noticed with relief the puny
vegetation which sprouted through the sand of the beach. As we crossed,
we saw the island on which the Cambremers had lived; but we turned away
our heads.

Arriving at the hotel, we noticed a billiard-table, and finding that
it was the only billiard-table in Croisic, we made our preparations to
leave during the night. The next day we went to Guerande. Pauline was
still sad, and I myself felt a return of that fever of the brain which
will destroy me. I was so cruelly tortured by the visions that came to
me of those three lives, that Pauline said at last,--

"Louis, write it all down; that will change the nature of the fever
within you."

So I have written you this narrative, dear uncle; but the shock of such
an event has made me lose the calmness I was beginning to gain from
sea-bathing and our stay in this place.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Note: A Drama on the Seashore is also known as A Seaside Tragedy and is
referred to by that title in other addendums.

Cambremer, Pierre
Beatrix

Lambert, Louis
Louis Lambert
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Lefebvre
Louis Lambert

Villenoix, Pauline Salomon de
Louis Lambert
The Vicar of Tours

End of Project Gutenberg's A Drama on the Seashore, by Honore de Balzac

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