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Selected Writings-Part21_Guy De Maupassant(1850-1893)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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"Five! There are three more indoors."

He said that in a proud, self-satisfied, almost triumphant



manner, and I felt profound pity, mingled with a feeling of vague

contempt for this vainglorious and simple reproducer of his



species, who spent his nights in his country house in uxorious

pleasures.



I got into a carriage, which he drove himself, and we set off

through the town, a dull, sleepy, gloomy town where nothing was



moving in the streets save a few dogs and two or three

maidservants. Here and there a shopkeeperstanding at his door



took off his hat, and Simon returned the salute and told me the

man's name--no doubt to show me that he knew all the inhabitants



personally. The thought struck me that he was thinking of

becoming a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, that dream of



all who have buried themselves in the provinces.

We were soon out of the town; the carriage turned into a garden



which had some pretensions to a park, and stopped in front of a

turreted house, which tried to pass for a chateau.



"That is my den," Simon said, so that he might be complimented on

it, and I replied that it was delightful.



A lady appeared on the steps, dressed up for a visitor, her hair

done for a visitor, and with phrases ready prepared for a



visitor. She was no longer the light-haired, insipid girl I had

seen in church fifteen years previously, but a stout lady in



curls and flounces, one of those ladies of uncertain age, without

intellect, without any of those things which constitute a woman.



In short she was a mother, a stout, commonplace mother, a human

layer and brood mare, a machine of flesh which procreates,



without mental care save for her children and her housekeeping

book.



She welcomed me, and I went into the hall, where three children,

ranged according to their height, were ranked for review, like



firemen before a mayor. "Ah! ah! so there are the others?" said

I. And Simon, who was radiant with pleasure, named them: "Jean,



Sophie, and Gontran."

The door of the drawing-room was open. I went in, and in the



depths of an easy-chair I saw something trembling, a man, an old,

paralyzed man. Madame Radevin came forward and said: "This is my



grandfather, Monsieur; he is eighty-seven." And then she shouted

into the shaking old man's ears: "This is a friend of Simon's,



grandpapa."

The old gentleman tried to say "Good day" to me, and he muttered:



"Oua, oua, oua," and waved his hand.

I took a seat saying: "You are very kind, Monsieur."



Simon had just come in, and he said with a laugh: "So! You have

made grandpapa's acquaintance. He is priceless, is that old man.



He is the delight of the children, and he is so greedy that he

almost kills himself at every meal. You have no idea what he



would eat if he were allowed to do as he pleased. But you will

see, you will see. He looks all the sweets over as if they were



so many girls. You have never seen anything funnier; you will see

it presently."



I was then shown to my room to change my dress for dinner, and

hearing a great clatter behind me on the stairs, I turned round



and saw that all the children were following me behind their

father--to do me honor, no doubt.



My windows looked out on to a plain, a bare, interminable plain,

an ocean of grass, of wheat, and of oats, without a clump of



trees or any rising ground, a striking and melancholy picture of

the life which they must be leading in that house.



A bell rang; it was for dinner, and so I went downstairs. Madame

Radevin took my arm in a ceremonious manner, and we went into the



dining-room. A footman wheeled in the old man's arm-chair, who

gave a greedy and curious look at the dessert, as with difficulty



he turned his shaking head from one dish to the other.

Simon rubbed his hands, saying: "You will be amused." All the



children understood that I was going to be indulged with the

sight of their greedygrandfather and they began to laugh



accordingly, while their mother merely smiled and shrugged her

shoulders. Simon, making a speakingtrumpet of his hands, shouted



at the old man: "This evening there is sweet rice-cream," and the

wrinkled face of the grandfather brightened, he trembled



violently all over, showing that he had understood and was very

pleased. The dinner began.






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