These he used to
good advantage, drying his face and hands on the white
counterpane of the bed, and laughing quietly as he did so. Next
he lit a pipe, whose capacity for tobacco was rather less than
that of a lady's thimble, sat in a chair by the window, smoked
quietly, and gazed down on the busy street.
It was yet early in the morning; sellers of vegetables, men and
women peasants, with bare legs and wooden shoes, driving shaggy
Servian ponies attached to low, cumbersome carts, passed and
repassed, to and from the markets. A gendarme, leaning the
weight of his shoulder on the guard of a police saber, rested
against the corner of a wine shop across the way. Students,
wearing squat caps with vizors, sauntered indolently along,
twirling canes and ogling all who wore petticoats. Occasionally
the bright uniform of a royal cuirassier flashed by; and the
Englishman would lean over the sill and gaze after him, nodding
his head in approval whenever the cuirassier sat his horse well.
In the meantime the gendarme, who followed him from the station,
had entered the hotel, hastily glanced at the freshly written
name, and made off toward the palace.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59