Then she added in a harsh voice:
"Look you--I wish he were dead!"
Laguitte caught hold of both her hands, which for a moment he kept
tightly clasped in his own. Then he left her hurriedly, for he felt a
lump rising in his throat and tears coming to his eyes. Ah, by all the
powers, this time his mind was quite made up.
CHAPTER IV
INSPECTION
The regimental inspection was to take place at the end of the month.
The major had ten days before him. On the very next morning, however,
he crawled, limping, as far as the Cafe de Paris, where he ordered some
beer. Melanie grew pale when she saw him enter, and it was with a lively
recollection of a certain slap that Phrosine hastened to serve him. The
major seemed very calm, however; he called for a second chair to rest
his bad leg upon and drank his beer quietly like any other thirsty man.
He had sat there for about an hour when he saw two officers crossing the
Place du Palais--Morandot, who commanded one of the battalions of the
regiment, and Captain Doucet. Thereupon he excitedly waved his cane and
shouted: "Come in and have a glass of beer with me!"
The officers dared not refuse, but when the maid had brought the beer
Morandot said to the major: "So you patronize this place now?"
"Yes--the beer is good.
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