Book: Captain Fracasse. Page 2

From the appearance of my castle, you can see that I am not rich, but the reason for my poverty is the expenses of my ancestors for the war in defense of our kings, and I have nothing to be ashamed of.

The beginning of supper passed in silence; a great appetite, like a great feeling, is always silent.

Father's beaters, which the son recalled, moved to tears, are also a kind of communication with his own kind, and four years after the old baron rested under a stone slab in the family crypt, the young man lived in complete solitude.

Judging by the mysterious expression of the cat, a lot of surprising things should have been revealed to him during his nightly walks through the attics and uninhabited chambers of the castle, and more than once, it must be assumed, somewhere at the far end of the corridor he had meetings from which a person would turn gray in an instant.

The sense of impotence that accompanies poverty drove the smile off his face and wiped the velvety fluff of youth from his cheeks.