It is unnecessary to say how welcome the proposition
was to me. It was such a relief!
The captain was a pleasant, good-natured man, quite uneducated in
literary matters, who confidingly communicated his bachelor experiences
to his pupil. These were summed up in the reflection that when womenkind
fall in love, they dread neither fire nor water; the captain himself,
who yet, in his own opinion, only looked well on horseback, had once had
an affair with a married lady who bombarded him with letters, and who,
in her ardour, began writing one day without noticing that her husband,
who was standing behind her chair, was looking over her shoulder. Since
then the captain had not felt the need of women, so to speak, preferred
to be without them, and found his greatest pleasure in his horses and
his skill as an equestrian.
The sister was a maiden lady of forty, by no means devoid of
intellectual ability, with talent for observation and an appreciation of
good books, but whose development had been altogether neglected. She now
cherished an ambition to write. She wrote in secret little tales that
were not really stupid but had not the slightest pretensions to style or
literary talent. She was very plain and exceedingly stout, which
produced a comical effect, especially as she was inclined to
exaggeration both of speech and gesture.
Pages:
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281