Guy de Maupassant complete short stories volume 2 - Penn State ...

found ourselves lost in the midst of a kind of forest of wooden
stakes, that came as high as our noses. It was a vineyard and
these were the supports. There was not a single light on the
horizon. We wandered about in this vineyard for about an hour
or two, hesitating, reaching out our arms without finding any
limit, for we kept retracing our steps.
“At length Boivin fell against a stake that tore his cheek and
he remained in a sitting posture on the ground, uttering with
all his might long and resounding hallos, while I screamed ‘Help!
Help!’ as loud as I could, lighting candle-matches to show the
way to our rescuers, and also to keep up my courage.
“At last a belated peasant heard us and put us on our right
road. I took Boivin to his home, but as I was leaving him on the
threshold of his garden, the door opened suddenly and his wife
appeared, a candle in her hand. She frightened me horribly.
“As soon as she saw her husband, whom she must have been
waiting for since dark, she screamed, as she darted toward me:
“‘Ah, scoundrel, I knew you would bring him back drunk!’
“My, how I made my escape, running all the way to the station,
and as I thought the fury was pursuing me I shut myself in
an inner room as the train was not due for half an hour.
“That is why I never married, and why I never go out of Paris.”
Moonlight
146
MOONLIGHT
MOONLIGHT
Madame Julie Roubere was expecting her elder sister, Madame
Henriette Letore, who had just returned from a trip to Switzerland.
The Letore household had left nearly five weeks before. Madame
Henriette had allowed her husband to return alone to
their estate in Calvados, where some business required his attention,
and had come to spend a few days in Paris with her
sister. Night came on. In the quiet parlor Madame Roubere
was reading in the twilight in an absent-minded way, raising
her, eyes whenever she heard a sound.
At last, she heard a ring at the door, and her sister appeared,
wrapped in a travelling cloak. And without any formal greeting,
they clasped each other in an affectionate embrace, only
desisting for a moment to give each other another hug. Then
they talked about their health, about their respective families,
and a thousand other things, gossiping, jerking out hurried,
broken sentences as they followed each other about, while
Madame Henriette was removing her hat and veil.
It was now quite dark. Madame Roubere rang for a lamp, and