Complete works Author:Guy de Maupassant Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. A Visit Uring a whole week Patissot related his adventure to everyone that would listen to him, describing poetically the places he had visited,... more » and growing indignant at the little enthusiasm he aroused among his colleagues. Only Monsieur Boivin, an old clerk nicknamed " Boileau," lent him undivided attention. He lived in the country and had a small garden on which he lavished a great deal of care; he was ) content with little and was said to be perfectly happy. Patissot was now able to understand him, and the similarity of their tastes made them fast friends. To seal this budding friendship, Pere Boivin invited him to breakfast the following Sunday at his little house in Colombes. Patissot took the eight o'clock train, and after looking a long while discovered in the very heart of the town, an obscure street, a sort of filthy passage- OS) way inclosed by two high walls. At the end appeared a moldy door fastened with a string wound around two nails. He opened it and was confronted by an indescribable creature, apparently a woman. The upper part of her body was wrapped in a dirty shawl, a ragged skirt hung around her hips, and her frowsy hair was filled with pigeon feathers. Her little gray eyes scanned the visitor inhospitably; after a pause she inquired: "What do you wish?" "Monsieur Boivin." "He lives here. What do you want of Monsieur Boivin?" Patissot was embarrassed, and hesitated. "Why,? he expects me." Her manner became fiercer and she replied: "Oh! you're the one, are you, who is coming for breakfast?" He stammered a trembling "Yes." Turning toward the house she yelled: "Boivin, here's the man!" Boivin instantly appeared in the doorway of a sort of plaster structure, covered with tin, that looked something like a textit{chauff...« less