The things we do!

If half Paris and its environs
had been destroyed by an earthquake, her first impression of
the catastrophe would very possibly have been that it could
not have happened at a worse moment for raising the price of
early asparagus, though the further reflection that the
general want of accommodation would justify her in doubling
her hotel tariff, might in some measure have restored her
faith in the fitness of things. After this, she would have
found time to be overwhelmed with compassion for the
sufferers. M. Linders' accident, she found, had, as yet, been
attended with no evil results, so far as she was concerned; no
one had been disturbed in the night, no one had left, so that,
for the moment, it had been safely transferred to that region
of abstract facts, which she could consider dispassionately,
and judge by the light of her kindly impulses; and it was
under the influence of these that she was now bent on petting
and making much of Madelon, giving her cakes and confitures
and all kinds of good things. On second thoughts she had
rejected the idea that M.


Pages:
162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186