登陆注册
14826000000022

第22章

"That's true," said Grandet, "but your loaves weigh six pounds;there'll be some left. Besides, these young fellows from Paris don't eat bread, you'll see.""Then they must eat /frippe/?" said Nanon.

/Frippe/ is a word of the local lexicon of Anjou, and means any accompaniment of bread, from butter which is spread upon it, the commonest kind of /frippe/, to peach preserve, the most distinguished of all the /frippes/; those who in their childhood have licked the /frippe/ and left the bread, will comprehend the meaning of Nanon's speech.

"No," answered Grandet, "they eat neither bread nor /frippe/; they are something like marriageable girls."After ordering the meals for the day with his usual parsimony, the goodman, having locked the closets containing the supplies, was about to go towards the fruit-garden, when Nanon stopped him to say,--"Monsieur, give me a little flour and some butter, and I'll make a /galette/ for the young ones.""Are you going to pillage the house on account of my nephew?""I wasn't thinking any more of your nephew than I was of your dog,--not more than you think yourself; for, look here, you've only forked out six bits of sugar. I want eight.""What's all this, Nanon? I have never seen you like this before. What have you got in your head? Are you the mistress here? You sha'n't have more than six pieces of sugar.""Well, then, how is your nephew to sweeten his coffee?""With two pieces; I'll go without myself."

"Go without sugar at your age! I'd rather buy you some out of my own pocket.""Mind your own business."

In spite of the recent fall in prices, sugar was still in Grandet's eyes the most valuable of all the colonial products; to him it was always six francs a pound. The necessity of economizing it, acquired under the Empire, had grown to be the most inveterate of his habits.

All women, even the greatest ninnies, know how to dodge and dodge to get their ends; Nanon abandoned the sugar for the sake of getting the /galette/.

"Mademoiselle!" she called through the window, "do you want some /galette/?""No, no," answered Eugenie.

"Come, Nanon," said Grandet, hearing his daughter's voice. "See here."He opened the cupboard where the flour was kept, gave her a cupful, and added a few ounces of butter to the piece he had already cut off.

"I shall want wood for the oven," said the implacable Nanon.

"Well, take what you want," he answered sadly; "but in that case you must make us a fruit-tart, and you'll cook the whole dinner in the oven. In that way you won't need two fires.""Goodness!" cried Nanon, "you needn't tell me that."Grandet cast a look that was well-nigh paternal upon his faithful deputy.

"Mademoiselle," she cried, when his back was turned, "we shall have the /galette/."Pere Grandet returned from the garden with the fruit and arranged a plateful on the kitchen-table.

"Just see, monsieur," said Nanon, "what pretty boots your nephew has.

What leather! why it smells good! What does he clean it with, Iwonder? Am I to put your egg-polish on it?"

"Nanon, I think eggs would injure that kind of leather. Tell him you don't know how to black morocco; yes, that's morocco. He will get you something himself in Saumur to polish those boots with. I have heard that they put sugar into the blacking to make it shine.""They look good to eat," said the cook, putting the boots to her nose.

"Bless me! if they don't smell like madame's eau-de-cologne. Ah! how funny!""Funny!" said her master. "Do you call it funny to put more money into boots than the man who stands in them is worth?""Monsieur," she said, when Grandet returned the second time, after locking the fruit-garden, "won't you have the /pot-au-feu/ put on once or twice a week on account of your nephew?""Yes."

"Am I to go to the butcher's?"

"Certainly not. We will make the broth of fowls; the farmers will bring them. I shall tell Cornoiller to shoot some crows; they make the best soup in the world.""Isn't it true, monsieur, that crows eat the dead?""You are a fool, Nanon. They eat what they can get, like the rest of the world. Don't we all live on the dead? What are legacies?"Monsieur Grandet, having no further orders to give, drew out his watch, and seeing that he had half an hour to dispose of before breakfast, he took his hat, went and kissed his daughter, and said to her:

"Do you want to come for a walk in the fields, down by the Loire? Ihave something to do there."

Eugenie fetched her straw bonnet, lined with pink taffeta; then the father and daughter went down the winding street to the shore.

"Where are you going at this early hour?" said Cruchot, the notary, meeting them.

"To see something," answered Grandet, not duped by the matutinal appearance of his friend.

When Pere Grandet went to "see something," the notary knew by experience there was something to be got by going with him; so he went.

"Come, Cruchot," said Grandet, "you are one of my friends. I'll show you what folly it is to plant poplar-trees on good ground.""Do you call the sixty thousand francs that you pocketed for those that were in your fields down by the Loire, folly?" said Maitre Cruchot, opening his eyes with amazement. "What luck you have had! To cut down your trees at the very time they ran short of white-wood at Nantes, and to sell them at thirty francs!"Eugenie listened, without knowing that she approached the most solemn moment of her whole life, and that the notary was about to bring down upon her head a paternal and supreme sentence. Grandet had now reached the magnificent fields which he owned on the banks of the Loire, where thirty workmen were employed in clearing away, filling up, and levelling the spots formerly occupied by the poplars.

"Maitre Cruchot, see how much ground this tree once took up! Jean," he cried to a laborer, "m-m-measure with your r-r-rule, b-both ways.""Four times eight feet," said the man.

同类推荐
  • 十八家诗钞

    十八家诗钞

    《十八家诗钞》是一部古代诗歌选集。清代曾国藩编选。十八家为魏晋南北朝的曹植﹑阮籍﹑陶渊明﹑谢灵运﹑鲍照﹑谢朓六家﹐唐代的王维﹑孟浩然﹑李白﹑杜甫﹑韩愈﹑白居易﹑李商隐﹑杜牧八家﹐宋代的苏轼﹑黄庭坚﹑陆游三家﹐金代元好问一家。
  • 七真因果传

    七真因果传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • I SAY NO

    I SAY NO

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 龙川别志

    龙川别志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 相续解脱地波罗蜜了义经

    相续解脱地波罗蜜了义经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 天降修罗

    天降修罗

    我现在的身份是一个名为“罗睺”的阿修罗。真实身份名为“现实”的世界的平凡一人。只是偶然迷失到异世界——那一天,我回来了,才发现,一堆奇怪的东西也跟着一起来了。世界正经历变迁,这是反穿越的时代!当60米的巨人出现在现代的都市。当没有EVA的世界出现使徒。当天外出现飞艇,缓步走出来的是弗利沙。那是绽放于现实的虚幻之花。他来源自幻想所燃放的人。六臂高举,朝向太阳。绽放光亮,制霸于天地!————————————————————————————————非神话,修罗取自“阿修罗之怒”世界。
  • 原来三国演义可以这样读

    原来三国演义可以这样读

    本书采用七言诗的形式,把《三国演义》全部重新改编,用简洁、轻快、整齐、优美的七言押韵组诗,把《三国演义》重新呈现出来,是一种全新的创作。
  • 血舞千尺

    血舞千尺

    等级约分为:先天,后天,人位,黄位,玄位,天位……曾经被视为天才然而现在却被称为废物的余霖要怎样翻身做主人?
  • 天价宠婚:前妻,我的挚爱

    天价宠婚:前妻,我的挚爱

    女主叶钰樱与男主殇书钰本是夫妻,却过着貌合神离的生活,男主心中爱的人并不是叶钰樱,一次次伤害女主,最终离婚。离婚后却又慢慢爱上女主,且看女主如何由下堂妻成功逆袭!
  • 我们的青春不太白

    我们的青春不太白

    在这一年里,我们幻想了千万种的大学。而前者们却用了整个大学来回忆这一年。讲述的是多个角色多个故事的青春校园文......(作者懒,就这样吧。)我们的青春不太白,每个人都有着每个人的创伤。我写你们的故事,有触动也好认为是童话也罢,你们的故事还是由你们来演绎......
  • 太古神王之凡乐大帝

    太古神王之凡乐大帝

    混沌未开天地乱,渺渺茫茫无人见;及至创世九龙出,天河九重从此现!九重星河,亿万星魂,撑起苍穹者,唯有九颗。一个神弃之子,起于微末之间,觉醒人龙血脉,凝聚九天龙魂,练就登龙功体!在这无限苍宇之中,凡乐定要傲笑天地英雄,踏尽古今神魔,造就属于自己的无上传奇!
  • 皇家贵族学院之我的野蛮太子妃

    皇家贵族学院之我的野蛮太子妃

    公主有一点点野蛮,一点点漂亮,一点点可爱,外加一点点暴力……‘本公主不是好惹的!!’他冷漠却带有柔情:雪,如果你喜欢,只要你幸福就好。他痞笑着:我的小公主,不要哭。她调皮:雪,我永远支持你!不要忘了你还有我这个好朋友!她妖娆却不失气质:小哥哥永远是我的!!
  • 当我站在世界巅峰时,身边有你

    当我站在世界巅峰时,身边有你

    前世“索命阎罗王”唯一一次与人合作,结果被离奇坑死,上天眷顾,获得新生。无爹无娘,我也活的潇洒。墨千寒——我要让这个名字响彻整个大陆!五系异能,绝世神宠,至尊宝丹,上古阵法。。。每件都能引发强者争抢,可在他这,这些都用不完的用。本以为永远都不会动心,却因为她的到来,感到了心的跳动。
  • 变成天鹅的丑小鸭

    变成天鹅的丑小鸭

    她是一个从丑小鸭努力后变成的白天鹅,她的灿烂笑容背后有别人不知道的辛酸。但她又同样是好多人羡慕的对象。比如说她有着很高的身价,有着美丽的外表,有着看上去快乐的生活。但是她不是纯种的白天鹅,再怎么努力她还是一只丑小鸭的出身。在真正的白天鹅面前永远都是被人看扁的丑小鸭。她该怎么做。
  • 天仙之道

    天仙之道

    人之出生,即越过鬼类,成就修行的第二层次。然而,也仅仅是第二层次。至于第五层次的天仙之道,不去修行,始终不知隔着多少重山,多少条河。