Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part IV - I
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
246 THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL
long to rest and play for a while before they are compelled
to face torturing dreams and memories.
He sat down on a stone step and counted his money :
eighty centimes ; that was twenty centimes less than the
franc which he had spent at the gate. How could he pay
six francs to the nursery gardener? How could he buy
food and drink, how return before nightfall to Suresnes?
He saw in imagination the endless Champs Elysees, the
long Avenue de la Grande Armée, the terrible Avenue
Neuilly. No, it was too far to go back, too far.
He looked about searchingly, and his dim eyes were
dazzled by the gleam of the blue and red glass bottles in
the chemist’s shop on the other side of the street, which
sparkled in the rays of the setting sun. They stood on
long shelves, filled with bottles and boxes ;
patent medi-
cines for indigestion ; appetite restoratives ; powders to
calm feverish brains which had brooded too long over the
riddle of life ; means of protection from over-population or
increasing poverty ; headache pencils for those who tried
to solve social problems ; rouge for night-birds, tabloids
for nervous ailments and financially independent people.
All these things could be bought there.
The old man rose hastily, as if a buyer had beckoned to
him, and entered the chemist’s shop.
"Six centimes’ worth of laudanum, please," he said.
" My wife is suffering from convulsions."
And as if to prove his words, he lifted his right hand
to show the ring on his third finger. But there was
only a white line and a groove in the brown skin.
But the chemist, who, perhaps, had also been waiting
for a buyer, took no notice of his gesture ; he filled a small
bottle with the required liquid, licked a label, bit a cork,
took the money, and resumed the study of his pharma-
copoeia. What business was it of his?
The old man, the bottle in his pocket, staggered out
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
