For a moment those inside could see the deluged square
transformed into a dark sea of liquid mud, bubbling under the terrible
downpour. The major, now soaked to the skin and leaving a stream behind
him, strode up to the small counter where Phrosine was reading a novel.
"You little wretch," he yelled, "you have dared to gammon an officer;
you deserve--"
And then he lifted his hand as if to deal a blow such as would have
felled an ox. The little maid shrank back, terrified, while the amazed
domino players looked, openmouthed. However, the major did not linger
there--he pushed the divan door open and appeared before Melanie and
Burle just as the widow was playfully making the captain sip his grog
in small spoonfuls, as if she were feeding a pet canary. Only the
ex-magistrate and the chemist had come that evening, and they had
retired early in a melancholy frame of mind. Then Melanie, being in
want of three hundred francs for the morrow, had taken advantage of the
opportunity to cajole the captain.
"Come." she said, "open your mouth; ain't it nice, you greedy
piggy-wiggy?"
Burle, flushing scarlet, with glazed eyes and sunken figure, was sucking
the spoon with an air of intense enjoyment.
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