FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   >>  
e. "I have seen, in the Sahara, Lake Raianechergui, fifty kilometers long, shining under a moon as brilliant as our sun and breathing up toward it a white cloud, like a mist of milk. "I have seen, in the Lipari Islands, the weird sulphur crater of the Volcanello, a giant flower which smokes and burns, an enormous yellow flower, opening out in the midst of the sea, whose stem is a volcano. "But I have seen nothing more wonderful than Antibes, standing against the Alps in the setting sun. "And I know not how it is that memories of antiquity haunt me; verses of Homer come into my mind; this is a city of the ancient East, a city of the odyssey; this is Troy, although Troy was very far from the sea." M. Martini drew the Sarty guide-book out of his pocket and read: "This city was originally a colony founded by the Phocians of Marseilles, about 340 B.C. They gave it the Greek name of Antipolis, meaning counter-city, city opposite another, because it is in fact opposite to Nice, another colony from Marseilles. "After the Gauls were conquered, the Romans turned Antibes into a municipal city, its inhabitants receiving the rights of Roman citizenship. "We know by an epigram of Martial that at this time----" I interrupted him: "I don't care what she was. I tell you that I see down there a city of the Odyssey. The coast of Asia and the coast of Europe resemble each other in their shores, and there is no city on the other coast of the Mediterranean which awakens in me the memories of the heroic age as this one does." A footstep caused me to turn my head; a woman, a large, dark woman, was walking along the road which skirts the sea in going to the cape. "That is Madame Parisse, you know," muttered Monsieur Martini, dwelling on the final syllable. No, I did not know, but that name, mentioned carelessly, that name of the Trojan shepherd, confirmed me in my dream. However, I asked: "Who is this Madame Parisse?" He seemed astonished that I did not know the story. I assured him that I did not know it, and I looked after the woman, who passed by without seeing us, dreaming, walking with steady and slow step, as doubtless the ladies of old walked. She was perhaps thirty-five years old and still very beautiful, though a trifle stout. And Monsieur Martini told me the following story: Mademoiselle Combelombe was married, one year before the war of 1870, to Monsieur Parisse, a government official. She was
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118  
119   120   >>  



Top keywords:

Monsieur

 

Martini

 

Parisse

 
Marseilles
 
opposite
 

colony

 
Antibes
 

memories

 

Madame

 

flower


walking
 

skirts

 

muttered

 

Europe

 

resemble

 
Odyssey
 

shores

 

caused

 

footstep

 
Mediterranean

awakens

 
heroic
 

shepherd

 

beautiful

 

thirty

 

doubtless

 

ladies

 
walked
 

trifle

 

government


official

 

married

 

Mademoiselle

 

Combelombe

 

steady

 

confirmed

 

However

 

Trojan

 

carelessly

 

syllable


mentioned

 

passed

 

dreaming

 

astonished

 

assured

 

looked

 
dwelling
 

volcano

 

opening

 

yellow