The Commission in Lunacy
Paperback
Currently unavailable to order
ISBN10: 1153698080
ISBN13: 9781153698085
Publisher: General Books
Pages: 56
Weight: 0.21
Height: 0.13 Width: 9.01 Depth: 5.98
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781153698085
Publisher: General Books
Pages: 56
Weight: 0.21
Height: 0.13 Width: 9.01 Depth: 5.98
Language: English
Excerpt: ...that marvelous knack of the pencil, to depict the upright, tall, lean man dressed in black, with black hair, who stood there without speaking a word. This gentleman had a face like a knife-blade, cold and harsh, with a color like Seine water when it was muddy and strewn with fragments of charcoal from a sunken barge. He looked at the floor, listening and passing judgment. His attitude was terrifying. He stood there like the dreadful broom to which Decamps has given the power of revealing a crime. Now and then, in the course of conversation, the Marquise tried to get some tacit advice; but however eager her questioning, he was as grave and as rigid as the statue of the Commendatore. The worthy Popinot, sitting on the edge of his chair in front of the fire, his hat between his knees, stared at the gilt chandeliers, the clock, and the curiosities with which the chimney-shelf was covered, the velvet and trimmings of the curtains, and all the costly and elegant nothings that a woman of fashion collects about her. He was roused from his homely meditations by Madame d'Espard, who addressed him in a piping tone: Monsieur, I owe you a million thanks-- A million thanks, thought he to himself, that is too many; it does not mean one. For the trouble you condescend-- Condescend! thought he; she is laughing at me. To take in coming to see an unhappy client, who is too ill to go out-- Here the lawyer cut the Marquise short by giving her an inquisitorial look, examining the sanitary condition of the unhappy client. As sound as a bell, said he to himself. Madame, said he, assuming a respectful mien, you owe me nothing. Although my visit to you is not in strict accordance with the practice of the Court, we ought to spare no pains to discover the truth in cases of this kind. Our judgment is then guided less by the letter of the law than by the promptings of our conscience. Whether I seek the truth here or in my own consulting-room, so...