replied Michel, who was feeling full. "To your health.
"
"And
to your next visit, my boy; for when you leave here, it still seems like a long
journey to me! Now tell me something about yourself—how is life treating you
these days? You see, this is the moment for confidences. "
"I'm
glad it is, Uncle. "
Michel
described at some length all the details of his existence, his problems, his
poor performance with regard to the calculating machine, without omitting the
episode of the self-defending safe, and finally the better days spent on the
heights of the Ledger. "It was up there that I met my first friend. "
"Ah,
you have friends, " Uncle Huguenin remarked with a frown.
"I
have two. "
"That's
a good many, if they deceive you, " the old fellow remarked sententiously,
"and enough, if they love you. "
"Oh,
Uncle, " Michel exclaimed with animation. "They're artists!"
"Yes,
" Uncle Huguenin replied, tossing his head, "that's a guarantee of a
sort: the statistics of prisons and reformatories include priests, lawyers,
brokers, and bankers, and not a single artist! But—"
"You'll
meet them, Uncle, and you'll see what splendid fellows they are!"
"I
look forward to it, " Uncle Huguenin answered. "I love youth,
provided it's young! These premature old men of ours have always struck me as
hypocrites. "
"Oh,
I can answer for these two. "
"Then
judging from your associations, Michel, I should guess your ideas haven't
changed?"
"Quite
the contrary, Uncle. "
"You've
become a hardened sinner!"
"Yes,
Uncle, I have. "
"All
right then, wretch, confess your latest trespasses. "
"Gladly,
Uncle!" And in an enthusiastic tone the young man recited some fine verses
of his own composition, carefully thought out, nicely spoken, and filled with a
true spirit of poetry.
"Bravo!"
exclaimed Uncle Huguenin, transported. "Bravo, my boy! So such things are
still being written. You speak the language of the good old days! O my boy,
how
much pleasure you give me, along with how much pain!" The old man and the
young one remained silent for a few moments. "Enough of that!" said
Uncle Huguenin. "Let's clear this table, which is getting in our
way!" Michel helped the old man, and the dining room swiftly became a
library once more.
"Now,
Uncle?" inquired Michel.
Chapter
X Grand
Review of French Authors Conducted by Uncle Huguenin, Sunday, April 15, 1961
"This
will be our dessert, " said Uncle Huguenin, gesturing toward the crowded
shelves.
"It
gives me an appetite all over again, " Michel replied. "Let's dig in.
"
Uncle
and nephew, each as young as the other, began rummaging among the shelves, in
twenty places at once, though Monsieur Huguenin lost no time in restoring some
order to this pillage.
"Come
over here, " he said to Michel, "and let's begin at the beginning;
we're not going to read today, we'll just look and talk. This is a review,
rather than a battle. Think of yourself as Napoleon in the Tuileries courtyard,
and not on the field of Austerlitz. Put your hands behind your back. We're
going to pass through the ranks. "
"I'm
following you, Uncle. "
"My
boy, remember that the finest army in the world is about to parade before your
eyes; there is no other nation which can offer such a sight, and which has won
such brilliant victories over barbarism. "
"The
Grand Army of Letters. "
"There
on that first shelf, uniformed in their fine morocco bindings, stand our old
sixteenth-century veterans, Amyot [30] ,
Ronsard, Rabelais, Montaigne, Mathurin R é gnier [31] ;
they're staunch at their positions, and you can still detect their original
influence in the fine French language they established. But it must be admitted
that they fought harder for ideas than for form. Here's a general close by who
fought with great valor, though he mainly perfected the weapons of his day.
"
"Malherbe!"
"Himself.
As he says somewhere, the picklocks of Port-au-Foin were his masters; he
gleaned their metaphors, their eminently Gallic
"
"And
to your next visit, my boy; for when you leave here, it still seems like a long
journey to me! Now tell me something about yourself—how is life treating you
these days? You see, this is the moment for confidences. "
"I'm
glad it is, Uncle. "
Michel
described at some length all the details of his existence, his problems, his
poor performance with regard to the calculating machine, without omitting the
episode of the self-defending safe, and finally the better days spent on the
heights of the Ledger. "It was up there that I met my first friend. "
"Ah,
you have friends, " Uncle Huguenin remarked with a frown.
"I
have two. "
"That's
a good many, if they deceive you, " the old fellow remarked sententiously,
"and enough, if they love you. "
"Oh,
Uncle, " Michel exclaimed with animation. "They're artists!"
"Yes,
" Uncle Huguenin replied, tossing his head, "that's a guarantee of a
sort: the statistics of prisons and reformatories include priests, lawyers,
brokers, and bankers, and not a single artist! But—"
"You'll
meet them, Uncle, and you'll see what splendid fellows they are!"
"I
look forward to it, " Uncle Huguenin answered. "I love youth,
provided it's young! These premature old men of ours have always struck me as
hypocrites. "
"Oh,
I can answer for these two. "
"Then
judging from your associations, Michel, I should guess your ideas haven't
changed?"
"Quite
the contrary, Uncle. "
"You've
become a hardened sinner!"
"Yes,
Uncle, I have. "
"All
right then, wretch, confess your latest trespasses. "
"Gladly,
Uncle!" And in an enthusiastic tone the young man recited some fine verses
of his own composition, carefully thought out, nicely spoken, and filled with a
true spirit of poetry.
"Bravo!"
exclaimed Uncle Huguenin, transported. "Bravo, my boy! So such things are
still being written. You speak the language of the good old days! O my boy,
how
much pleasure you give me, along with how much pain!" The old man and the
young one remained silent for a few moments. "Enough of that!" said
Uncle Huguenin. "Let's clear this table, which is getting in our
way!" Michel helped the old man, and the dining room swiftly became a
library once more.
"Now,
Uncle?" inquired Michel.
Chapter
X Grand
Review of French Authors Conducted by Uncle Huguenin, Sunday, April 15, 1961
"This
will be our dessert, " said Uncle Huguenin, gesturing toward the crowded
shelves.
"It
gives me an appetite all over again, " Michel replied. "Let's dig in.
"
Uncle
and nephew, each as young as the other, began rummaging among the shelves, in
twenty places at once, though Monsieur Huguenin lost no time in restoring some
order to this pillage.
"Come
over here, " he said to Michel, "and let's begin at the beginning;
we're not going to read today, we'll just look and talk. This is a review,
rather than a battle. Think of yourself as Napoleon in the Tuileries courtyard,
and not on the field of Austerlitz. Put your hands behind your back. We're
going to pass through the ranks. "
"I'm
following you, Uncle. "
"My
boy, remember that the finest army in the world is about to parade before your
eyes; there is no other nation which can offer such a sight, and which has won
such brilliant victories over barbarism. "
"The
Grand Army of Letters. "
"There
on that first shelf, uniformed in their fine morocco bindings, stand our old
sixteenth-century veterans, Amyot [30] ,
Ronsard, Rabelais, Montaigne, Mathurin R é gnier [31] ;
they're staunch at their positions, and you can still detect their original
influence in the fine French language they established. But it must be admitted
that they fought harder for ideas than for form. Here's a general close by who
fought with great valor, though he mainly perfected the weapons of his day.
"
"Malherbe!"
"Himself.
As he says somewhere, the picklocks of Port-au-Foin were his masters; he
gleaned their metaphors, their eminently Gallic
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