menu_book Chapter 157

section 157 of complete original short stories of guy de maupassant this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by tatiana chuchilla columbus ohio section 157 a country excursion for five months they had been talking of going to take luncheon in one of the country suburbs of paris on madame dufour's birthday and as they were looking forward very impatiently to the outing they rose very early that morning m dufour had borrowed the milkman's wagon and drove himself it was a very tidy two-wheeled conveyance with a cover supported by four iron rods with curtains that had been drawn up except the one at the back which floated out like a sail madame dufour was splendid in a wonderful cherry-coloured silk dress sat by the side of her husband the old grandmother and a girl sat behind them on two chairs and a boy with yellow hair was lying at the bottom of the wagon with nothing to be seen of him except his head when they reached the bridge of neuilly m de four said here we are in the country at last and at that signal his wife grew sentimental about the beauties of nature when they got to the crossroads at corduvoir they were seized with admiration for the distant landscape

on the right was argentuil with its bell tower and above it rose the hills of senois and the mill of orguemont while on the left the aqueduct of marly stood out against the clear morning sky and in the distance they could see the terrace of saint germain and opposite them at the end of a low chain of hills the new fort of cormier quite in the distance a long way off beyond the plains and village one could see the sombre green of the forests the sun was beginning to burn their faces the dust got into their eyes and on either side of the road there stretched an interminable tract of bare ugly country with an unpleasant odour one might have thought that it had been ravaged by a pestilence which had even attacked the buildings for skeletons of dilapidated and deserted houses or small cottages which were left in an unfinished state because the contractors had not been paid reared their four roofless walls on each side here and there tall factory chimneys rose up from the barren soil the only vegetation on that putrid land where the spring breezes wafted an odor of petroleum and slate blended with another odor that was even less agreeable at last however they crossed the seine a second time and the bridge was a delight the river sparkled in the sun and they had a feeling of quiet enjoyment felt refreshed as they drank in the purer air that was not impregnated by the black smoke of factories nor by the miasma from the deposits of night soil

a man whom they met told them that the place was bazan m dufort pulled up and read the attractive announcement outside an eating-house restaurant poulon matelots and fried fish private rooms arbors and swings well madame dufort will this suit you will you make up your mind at last she read the announcement in her turn and then looked at the house for some time it was a white country inn built by the roadside and through the open door she could see the bright zinc of the counter at which sat two workmen in their sunday clothes at last she made up her mind and said yes this will do and besides there is a view They drove into a large field behind the inn, separated from the river by the towing path, and dismounted. The husband sprang out first and then held out his arms for his wife, and as the step was very high, Madame Dufour, in order to reach him,

had to show the lower part of her limbs, whose former slenderness had disappeared in fat, and Monsieur Dufour, who was already getting excited by the country air, pinched her calf, and then, taking her in his arms, he set her on the ground, as if she had been some enormous bundle. She shook the dust out of the silk dress and then looked around to see what sort of place she was in. She was a stout woman of about thirty-six, full-blown and delightful to look at.

She could hardly breathe as her corsets were laced too tightly and their pressure forced her superabundant bosom up to her double chin. Next, the girl placed her hand on her father's shoulder and jumped down lightly. The boy with the yellow hair had got down by stepping on the wheel and he helped Monsieur Dufour to lift his grandmother out.

Then they unharnessed the horse, which they had tied to a tree, and the carriage fell back with both shafts in the air. The men took off their coats and washed their hands in a pail of water and then went and joined the ladies, who had already taken possession of the swings. Mademoiselle Dufour was trying to swing standing up, but she could not succeed in getting a start. She was a pretty girl of about 18, one of those women who suddenly excite your

desire when you meet them in the street and who leave you with a vague feeling of uneasiness and excited senses. She was tall, had a small waist and large hips with a dark skin, very large eyes and very black hair. Her dress clearly marked the outlines of her firm, full figure, which was accentuated by the motion of her hips as she tried to swing herself higher. Her arms were stretched upward to hold the rope so that her bosom rose at every movement she made. Her hat, which a gust of

wind had blown off, was hanging behind her, and as the swing gradually rose higher and higher, she showed her delicate limbs up to the knees each time, and the breeze from her flying skirts, which was more heady than fumes of wine, blew into the faces of the two men who were looking at her and smiling. Sitting on the other swing, Madame Dufour kept saying in a monotonous voice, Cyprian, come and swing me. Do come and swing me, Cyprian. At last he went, and turning up his

shirt sleeves as if undertaking a hard piece of work with much difficulty, he set his wife in motion. She clutched the two ropes and held her legs out straight so as not to touch the ground. She enjoyed feeling dizzy at the motion of the swing, and her whole figure shook like jelly on a dish. But as she went higher and higher, she became too giddy and was frightened. Each time the swing came down, she uttered a piercing scream, which made all the little urchins of the

neighborhood come round, and down below, beneath the garden hedge, she vaguely saw a row of mischievous heads making various grimaces as they laughed. When a servant girl came out, they ordered luncheon. Some fried fish, a rabbit sauté, salad, and dessert, Madame Dufour said, with an important air. Bring two quarts of beer and a bottle of claret, her husband said. We will have lunch on the grass, the girl added. The grandmother, who had an affection for cats, had been running after one

that belonged to the house, trying to coax it to come to her for the last ten minutes. The animal, who was no doubt secretly flattered by her attentions, kept close to the good woman, but just out of reach of her hand, and quietly walked around the trees against which she rubbed herself, with her tail up, purring with pleasure. Hello, suddenly exclaimed the young man with the yellow hair, who was wandering about. Here are two swell boats. They all went to look at them

saw two beautiful canoes in a wooden shed, and they were as beautifully finished as if they had been ornamental furniture. They hung side by side like two tall slender girls in their narrow shining length, and made one wish to float them on warm summer mornings and evenings along the flower-covered banks of the river, where the trees dip their branches into the water, where the rushes are continually rustling in the breeze, and where the swift kingfishers dart about like flashes of

blue lightning. The whole family looked at them with great respect. Oh, they are indeed swell boats, Monsieur Dufour repeated gravely as he examined them like a connoisseur. He had been in the habit of rowing in his younger days, he said, and when he had spat in his hands and went through the action of pulling the oars, he did not care a fig for anybody. He had beaten more than one Englishman formerly at the Joanneville regattas. He grew quite excited at last and offered to make a bet

that in a boat like that he could row six leagues in an hour without exerting himself. Luncheon is ready, the waitress said, appearing at the entrance to the boathouse, and they all hurried off. But two young men had taken the very seats that Madame Dufour had selected and were eating their luncheon. No doubt they were the owners of the skulls, for they were in boating costume. They were stretched out, almost lying on the chairs. They were sun-browned, and their thin

cotton jerseys with short sleeves showed their bare arms, which were as strong as a blacksmith's. They were two strong, athletic fellows, who showed in all their movements that elasticity and grace of limb which can only be acquired by exercise, and which is so different to the deformity with which monotonous heavy work stamps the mechanic. They exchanged a rapid smile when they saw the mother, and then a glance on seeing the daughter. Let us give up their place, one of them said. It

will make us acquainted with them. They got up immediately, and holding his black and red boating cap in his hand, he politely offered the ladies the only shady place in the garden. With many excuses, they accepted, and that it might be more rural, they sat on the grass, without either tables or chairs. The two young men took their plates, knives, forks, etc. to a table a little way off and began to eat again, and their bare arms, which they showed continually, rather

embarrassed the girl. She even pretended to turn her head aside and not to see them, while Madame Dufour, who was rather bolder, tempted by feminine curiosity, looked at them every moment and, no doubt, compared them with the secret unsightliness of her husband. She had squatted herself on the ground, with her legs tucked under her, after the manner of tailors, and she kept moving about restlessly, saying that ants were crawling about her somewhere.

Monsieur Dufour, annoyed at the presence of the polite strangers, was trying to find a comfortable position which he did not, however, succeed in doing, and the young man with the yellow hair was eating as silently as an ogre. It is lovely weather, monsieur, the stout lady said to one of the boating men. She wished to be friendly because they had given up their place. It is indeed, madame, he replied. Do you often go into the country? Oh, only once or twice a year to get

a little fresh air. And you, monsieur? I come and sleep here every night. Oh, that must be very nice. Certainly it is, madame. And he gave him such a practical account of his daily life that it awakened afresh in the hearts of these shopkeepers who were deprived of the meadows and who longed for country walks to that foolish love of nature which they all feel so strongly the whole year round behind the counter in their shop. The girl raised her eyes and looked at the oarsman with

emotion, and Monsieur Dufour spoke for the first time. It is indeed a happy life, he said, and then he added, a little more rabbit, my dear? No, thank you, she replied, and turning to the young men again and pointing to their arms, asked, do you never feel cold like that? They both began to laugh, and they astonished the family with an account of the enormous fatigue they could endure, of their bathing while in a state of tremendous perspiration, of their rowing in the fog at night,

and they struck their chests violently to show how hollow they sounded. Ah, you look very strong, said the husband, who did not talk any more of the time when he used to beat the English. The girl was looking at them sideways now, and the young fellow with the yellow hair,

who had swallowed some wine the wrong way, was coughing violently and bespattering Madame Dufour's cherry-colored silk dress. She got angry and sent for some water to wash the spots. Meanwhile, it had grown unbearably hot. The sparkling river looked like a blaze of fire,

and the fumes of the wine were getting into their heads. Monsieur Dufour, who had a violent hiccough, had unbuttoned his waistcoat and the top button of his trousers, while his wife, who felt choking, was gradually unfastening her dress. The apprentice was shaking his yellow wig in a happy frame of mind and kept helping himself to wine, and the old grandmother, feeling the effects of the wine, was very stiff and dignified. As for the girl, one noticed only a peculiar brightness in her eyes,

while the brown cheeks became more rosy. The coffee finished, they suggested singing, and each of them sang or repeated a couplet, which the others applauded frantically. Then they got up with some difficulty, and while the two women, who were rather dizzy, were trying to get a breath of air, the two men, who were altogether drunk, were attempting gymnastics. Heavy, limp, and with scarlet faces, they hung, or awkwardly, to the iron rings,

without being able to raise themselves. Meanwhile, the two boating men had got their boats into the water, and they came back and politely asked the ladies whether they would like a row. Would you like one, Monsieur Dufour? His wife exclaimed. Please come.

He merely gave her a drunken nod without understanding what she said. Then one of the rowers came up with two fishing rods in his hands in the hopes of catching a gudgeon. That great vision of the Parisian shopkeeper made Dufour's dull eyes gleam, and he politely allowed them to do whatever they liked,

while he sat in the shade under the bridge with his feet dangling over the river by the side of the young man with the yellow hair, who was sleeping soundly. One of the boating men made a martyr of himself and took the mother. "'Let us go to the little wood on the Iolo Anglais!' he called out as he rowed off. The other boat went more slowly, for the rower was looking at his companion so intently that

he thought of nothing else, and his emotions seemed to paralyze his strength, while the girl, who was sitting in the bow, gave herself up to the enjoyment of being on the water. She felt a disinclination to think, a lassitude in her limbs, and a total enervation, as if she were intoxicated, and her face was flushed and her breathing quickened. the effects of the wine which were increased by the extreme heat made all the trees on the bank

seem to bow as she passed a vague wish for enjoyment and a fermentation of her blood seemed to pervade her whole body which was excited by the heat of the day and she was also disturbed at this tête-à-tête on the water in a place which seemed depopulated by the heat with this young man who thought her pretty whose ardent looks seemed to caress her skin and were as penetrating and pervading as the sun's rays their inability to speak increased their emotion and they looked

about them. At last, however, he made an effort and asked her name. Henriette, she said. Why, my name is Henri, he replied. The sound of their voices had calmed them, and they looked at the banks. The other boat had passed them and seemed to be waiting for them. And the rower called out, We'll meet you in the wood. We're going as far as Robinson's, because Madame Dufour is thirsty. Then he bent over his oars again and rode off so quickly that he was soon out of sight.

Meanwhile, a continual roar, which they had heard for some time, came nearer, and the river itself seemed to shiver, as if the dull noise were rising from its depths. What is that noise? she asked. It was the noise of the weir which cut the river in two at the island, and he was explaining it to her, when, above the noise of the waterfall, they heard the song of a bird which seemed a long way off. Listen, he said, the nightingales are singing

during the day, so the female birds must be sitting. A nightingale? She had never heard one before, and the idea of listening to one roused visions of poetic tenderness in her heart. A nightingale, that is to say, the invisible witness of her love trysts which Juliet invoked on her balcony, that celestial music which had attuned to human kisses, that internal expirer of all those languorous romances which open an ideal sky to all the poor little tender

hearts of sensitive girls. She was going to hear a nightingale. We must not make a noise, her companion said, and then we can go into the wood and sit down close beside it. The boat seemed to glide.

They saw the trees on the island, the banks of which were so low that they could look into the depths of the thickets. They stopped, he made the boat fast, Henriette took hold of Henri's arm, and they went beneath the trees. Stoop, he said, so she stooped down, and they went into an inextricable thicket of creepers, leaves, and reed grass, which formed an undiscoverable retreat, in which the young man laughingly called his private room. Just above their heads, perched in one of the trees which hid them, the bird was still singing.

He uttered trills and roulades, and then loud, vibrating notes that filled the air and seemed to lose themselves on the horizon, across the level country, through that burning silence which weighed upon the whole landscape. They did not speak for fear of frightening it away. They were sitting close together, and slowly Henri's arms stole round the girl's waist and squeezed it gently. She took that daring hand without any anger and kept removing it whenever he put it round her, without, however, feeling at all embarrassed by this caress, just as if it had been something quite natural which she was resisting just as naturally

she was listening to the bird in ecstasy she felt an infinite longing for happiness for some sudden demonstration of tenderness for the revelation of superhuman poetry and she felt such a softening at her heart and relaxation of her nerves that she began to cry without knowing why the young man was now straining her close to him yet she did not remove his arm she did not think of it suddenly the nightingale stopped and a voice cried out in the distance henriette do not reply he said in a low voice you will drive the bird away but she had no idea of doing so and they remained in the same position for some time madame dufour had sat down somewhere or other for from time to time they heard the stout lady break out into little bursts of laughter

the girl was still crying she was filled with strange sensations henri's head was on her shoulder and suddenly he kissed her on the lips she was surprised and angry and to avoid him she stood up they were both very pale when they left their grassy retreat the blue sky appeared to them clouded and the ardent sun darkened and they felt the solitude and the silence they walked rapidly side by side without speaking or touching each other for they seemed to have become irreconcilable enemies as if disgust and hatred had arisen between them and from time to time henriette called out mamma by and by they heard a noise behind a bush and the stout lady appeared looking rather confused and her companion's face was wrinkled with smiles which she could not check madame dufour took his arm they returned to the boats and henri who was ahead walked in silence beside the young girl at last they got back to bazan monsieur dufour who was now sober was waiting for them very impatiently while the young man with the yellow hair was having a mouthful of something to eat before leaving the inn the carriage was waiting in the yard and the grandmother who had already got in was very frightened at the thought of being overtaken by night before they reached paris as the outskirts were not safe they all shook hands and the dufour family drove off good-bye until we meet again the oarsmen cried and the answer they got was a sigh and a tear

two months later as henri was going along the rue des martyrs he saw dufour ironmonger over a door and so he went in and saw the stout lady sitting at the counter they recognized each other immediately and after an interchange of polite greetings he asked after them all and how is mademoiselle henriette he inquired specially very well thank you she is married ah he felt a certain emotion but said whom did she marry that young man who accompanied us you know he has joined us in business i remember him perfectly He was going out, feeling very unhappy, though scarcely knowing why, when Madame called him back. "'And how is your friend?' she asked rather shyly. "'He is very well, thank you. Please give him our compliments, and beg him to come and call when he is in the neighborhood.'

She then added, "'Tell him it will give me great pleasure.' "'I will be sure to do so. Adieu.' "'Do not say that. Come again very soon.' The next year, one very hot Sunday, all the details of that adventure, which Henri had never forgotten,

suddenly came back to him so clearly that he returned alone to their room in the wood, and was overwhelmed with astonishment when he went in. She was sitting on the grass, looking very sad, while by her side, still in his shirt sleeves, the young man with the yellow hair was sleeping soundly, like some animal. She grew so pale when she saw Henri that at first he thought she was going to faint. Then, however, they began to talk quite naturally. But when he told her that

he was very fond of that spot, and went there frequently on Sundays to indulge in memories, she looked into his eyes for a very long time i too think of it she replied come my dear her husband said with a yawn i think it is time for us to be going