The Project Gutenberg EBook of Light, by Henri Barbusse

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Title: Light

Author: Henri Barbusse

Release Date: July 14, 2004 [EBook #12904]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHT ***

Produced by David S. Miller

LIGHT

BY

HENRI BARBUSSE
AUTHOR OF "UNDER FIRE" "WE OTHERS," ETC.

TRANSLATED BY
FITZWATER WRAY
1919

CONTENTS

I. MYSELF
II. OURSELVES
III. EVENING AND DAWN
IV. MARIE
V. DAY BY DAY
VI. A VOICE IN THE EVENING
VII. A SUMMARY
VIII. THE BRAWLER
IX. THE STORM
X. THE WALLS
XI. AT THE WORLD'S END
XII. THE SHADOWS
XIII. WHITHER GOEST THOU?
XIV. THE RUINS
XV. AN APPARITION
XVI. DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI
XVII. MORNING
XVIII. EYES THAT SEE
XIX. GHOSTS
XX. THE CULT
XXI. NO!
XXII. LIGHT
XXIII. FACE TO FACE

LIGHT

CHAPTER I

MYSELF

All the days of the week are alike, from their beginning to their end.

At seven in the evening one hears the clock strike gently, and then the
instant tumult of the bell. I close the desk, wipe my pen, and put it
down. I take my hat and muffler, after a glance at the mirror--a
glance which shows me the regular oval of my face, my glossy hair and
fine mustache. (It is obvious that I am rather more than a workman.)
I put out the light and descend from my little glass-partitioned
office. I cross the boiler-house, myself in the grip of the thronging,
echoing peal which has set it free. From among the dark and hurrying
crowd, which increases in the corridors and rolls down the stairways
like a cloud, some passing voices cry to me, "Good-night, Monsieur
Simon," or, with less familiarity, "Good-night, Monsieur Paulin." I
answer here and there, and allow myself to be borne away by everybody
else.

Outside, on the threshold of the porch which opens on the naked plain
and its pallid horizons, one sees the squares and triangles of the
factory, like a huge black background of the stage, and the tall
extinguished chimney, whose only crown now is the cloud of falling
night. Confusedly, the dark flood carries me away. Along the wall
which fa