Page:The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter.djvu/119
that her only orthography is that of the heart. I must buy her a dictionary.”
However, as Louise complained of her boots incommoding her, he obligingly helped her to unlace them.
All at once the light went out.
“Hello!” exclaimed Rodolphe, “who has blown the candle out?”
A joyful burst of laughter replied to him.
A few days later Rodolphe met one of his friends in the street.
“What are you up to?” said the latter. “One no longer sees anything of you.”
“I am studying the poetry of intimacy,” replied Rodolphe.
The poor fellow spoke the truth. He sought from Louise more than the poor girl could give him. An oaten pipe, she had not the strains of a lyre. She spoke, so to say, the jargon of love, and Rodolphe insisted upon speaking the classic language. Thus they scarcely understood one another.
A week later, at the same ball at which she had found Rodolphe, Louise met a fair young fellow, who danced with her several times, and at the close of the entertainment took her home with him.
He was a second year’s student: he spoke the prose of pleasure very fluently, and had good eyes and a well-lined pocket.
Louise asked him for ink and paper, and wrote to Rodolphe a letter couched as follows:
Louise.”