The Works of Alphonse Daudet Volume 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 Excerpt: ... rv. THE NEW CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF FROMONT. It was broad daylight when Fromont Jeune awoke. All night long, between the drama that was being enacted below him, and the festivity in joyous progress above, he slept with clenched fists, the deep sleep of utter prostration like that of a condemned man on the eve of his execution or of a defeated general on the night following his defeat; a sleep from which one would wish never to awake, and in which one has a foretaste of death in the absence of all sensation. The bright light streaming through his curtains, made more glaring by the deep snow with which the garden and the surrounding roofs were covered, recalled him to the consciousness of things as they were. He felt a shock through his whole being, and, even before his mind began to work, that vague impression of melancholy which misfortunes, momentarily forgotten, leave in their place. All the familiar noises of the factory, the dull, panting breath of the machinery, were in full activity. So the world still existed and by slow degrees the idea of responsibility awoke in him. "To-day is the day," he said to himself, with an involuntary movement toward the dark side of the room, as if he longed to bury himself anew in his long sleep. The factory bell rang, then other bells in the neighborhood, then the Angelus. "Noon Already How I have slept " He felt some little remorse and a great sense of relief at the thought that the drama of settling-day had passed off without him. What had they done downstairs? Why did they not call him? He rose, put aside the curtains and saw Risler and Sigismond talking together in the garden. And it was so long since they had spoken to each other I What in heaven's name had happened? When he was ready to go down he found Claire a...