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Article THE LUCKY INHERITANCE. ← Page 5 of 19 →
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The Lucky Inheritance.
" If it Avere not , " he said , " for the property that I am going to inherit , I should not go near Guerande , for the country thereabouts does not tempt me . For leagues and leagues there are nothing but salt marshes ; no game of any description , not a quail , not even a golden plover , —conceive a country Avithout game ! tligher up , indeed , Avhen you cross the Vilaine and get
into the forests , then there is -sport , —wild boars and pheasants ; but there are also too many grands seigneurs ! The gentlemen of Brittany find their own game , they do not come to my establishment . And you , sir , " he continued , " do you mean to make any stay at Guerande ? " " Only long enough to see the town and neighbourhood , " I replied ; " tAvo or three days , I suppose , will suffice for that ?"
" I should think so ! " he returned ; " I have not been there since I was a boy , but I recollect Avell that the place Avas very triste . To me , hoAveA r er , it Avill be gay enough now . " Having touched upon matters personal to himself , Monsieur Roqueplan loquaciously pursued his theme . It Avas natural to him to descant upon his own affairs to strangers , and the
consciousness of his neAvly acquired fortune Avas too glorious a fact to admit of concealment ; so that if I had been his OAvn man of business he could scarcely have been more communicative . I got tired at last of hearing about family matters—including Heaven only knoAvs how many quarrels , Avhich did not in the least interest me—andtaking advantage of the descent of some
, more people into the cabin , I Avent on deck , leaA'ing Monsieur Roqueplan engaged in conversation with one of the neAV comers , to Avhom , I doubt not , he unbosomed himself as freely as he had done to me ; for I observed him afterwards sitting in deep confab with the stranger— -a very ill-looking fellow in a blousein a remote part of the vessel . Our conversationindeedAvas
, , not reneAved , while I remained on board , though I wished him good-bye as I stepped out of the boat at St . Nazaire , leaving him to fblloAv as best he might . At that moment i caught sight of him amongst the crowd Avho Avere disembarking , Avith a carpet bag , a hat-box , and a red umbrella in one hand—IIOAV he held them all seemed a miracle—and Avith the other arresting
the progress of a large trunk , his property ( such a trunk ! Iachimo and his brother , if he had one , might have slept in it ) , Avhich a sturdy fisherman was making off Avith in expectation of the accustomed fee . Though evidently in some perplexity , lest his trunk should suddenly vanish , his habitual politeness did not desert him , for , on hearing my salutation , he relinquished his grasp for an instant to raise his fur cap , and cordially
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Lucky Inheritance.
" If it Avere not , " he said , " for the property that I am going to inherit , I should not go near Guerande , for the country thereabouts does not tempt me . For leagues and leagues there are nothing but salt marshes ; no game of any description , not a quail , not even a golden plover , —conceive a country Avithout game ! tligher up , indeed , Avhen you cross the Vilaine and get
into the forests , then there is -sport , —wild boars and pheasants ; but there are also too many grands seigneurs ! The gentlemen of Brittany find their own game , they do not come to my establishment . And you , sir , " he continued , " do you mean to make any stay at Guerande ? " " Only long enough to see the town and neighbourhood , " I replied ; " tAvo or three days , I suppose , will suffice for that ?"
" I should think so ! " he returned ; " I have not been there since I was a boy , but I recollect Avell that the place Avas very triste . To me , hoAveA r er , it Avill be gay enough now . " Having touched upon matters personal to himself , Monsieur Roqueplan loquaciously pursued his theme . It Avas natural to him to descant upon his own affairs to strangers , and the
consciousness of his neAvly acquired fortune Avas too glorious a fact to admit of concealment ; so that if I had been his OAvn man of business he could scarcely have been more communicative . I got tired at last of hearing about family matters—including Heaven only knoAvs how many quarrels , Avhich did not in the least interest me—andtaking advantage of the descent of some
, more people into the cabin , I Avent on deck , leaA'ing Monsieur Roqueplan engaged in conversation with one of the neAV comers , to Avhom , I doubt not , he unbosomed himself as freely as he had done to me ; for I observed him afterwards sitting in deep confab with the stranger— -a very ill-looking fellow in a blousein a remote part of the vessel . Our conversationindeedAvas
, , not reneAved , while I remained on board , though I wished him good-bye as I stepped out of the boat at St . Nazaire , leaving him to fblloAv as best he might . At that moment i caught sight of him amongst the crowd Avho Avere disembarking , Avith a carpet bag , a hat-box , and a red umbrella in one hand—IIOAV he held them all seemed a miracle—and Avith the other arresting
the progress of a large trunk , his property ( such a trunk ! Iachimo and his brother , if he had one , might have slept in it ) , Avhich a sturdy fisherman was making off Avith in expectation of the accustomed fee . Though evidently in some perplexity , lest his trunk should suddenly vanish , his habitual politeness did not desert him , for , on hearing my salutation , he relinquished his grasp for an instant to raise his fur cap , and cordially