Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ... XII. I Do not know how long I sat on that seat in the Champs Elysees, with the tempestuous rain beating down upon me, --the desperate conflict I had had with my own worser self had rendered me insensible to the flight of time. So numbed was I with outward cold and inward misery, --so utterly blind to all external surroundings, that I was as startled as though a pistol-shot had been fired close to me when a hand fell on my shoulder, and a harsh, half-laughing voice exclaimed-- "Gaston Beauvais, by all the gods and goddesses! Gaston Beauvais, drenched as a caught rat in a relentless housekeeper's pail! What the devil are you doing here at this time of night, mon beau riche? You, with limitless francs at your command, and good luck showering its honey-dew persistently on your selected fortunate head, --what may be your object in thus fraternizing with the elements, and striving to match them groan for groan, scowl for scowl? By my faith! --I can hardly believe that this soaked and dripping bundle of good clothes spoilt is actually yourself!" I looked up, forced a smile, and held out my hand. I recognized the speaker, --indeed he was too remarkable a character in his way to be for an instant mistaken. All Paris knew Andre" Gessonex, --a poor wretch, of an artist, who painted pictures that were too extraordinary and risque for any respectable householder to buy, and who eked out a bare living by his decollete sketches, in black and white, of all the noted danseuses a, nd burlesque actresses in the city. His bizarre figure, clad in its threadbare and nondescript garb, was familiar to every frequenter of the Boulevards, --and, in truth, it was eccentric enough to attract the most casual stranger's attention His pinched and shrunken legs were covered...
