Rose, whose heavy tread shook the floor as she paced round the table,
had not yet opened her mouth. At last she stopped behind the captain's
chair and asked in a gruff voice: "Cheese, sir?"
Burle started. "What, eh? Oh yes--cheese. Hold the plate tight."
He cut a piece of Gruyere, the girl watching him the while with her
narrow eyes. Laguitte laughed; Rose's unparalleled ugliness amused him
immensely. He whispered in the captain's ear, "She is ripping! There
never was such a nose and such a mouth! You ought to send her to the
colonel's someday as a curiosity. It would amuse him to see her."
More and more struck by this phenomenal ugliness, the major felt a
paternal desire to examine the girl more closely.
"Come here," he said, "I want some cheese too."
She brought the plate, and Laguitte, sticking the knife in the Gruyere,
stared at her, grinning the while because he discovered that she had
one nostril broader than the other. Rose gravely allowed herself to be
looked at, waiting till the gentleman had done laughing.
She removed the cloth and disappeared. Burle immediately went to sleep
in the chimney corner while the major and Mme Burle began to chat.
Charles had returned to his exercises.
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