The Horseman on the Roof Read Online Free PDF Page A

where he was obliged to straddle the gutters from a public convenience, came out into the rue Lafayette with its plane trees, sat down at last at the terrace of the Duc d’Aumale, and ordered an absinthe. As soon as he had taken the first gulp, he told himself that he mustn’t be more royalist than the king. It was time for a report: he had only to write it to be cleared of responsibility. Every year people said: “It’s never been so hot.” Perhaps it was only simple dysentery. A body worn out by excesses.
    â€œA premonitory symptom, a premonitory symptom: how can you be sure of anything in a body ruined by alcohol, tobacco, women, knocking about the world, salt provisions; what would you say it was premonitory of? All I could say was that in my opinion it was a prodromic symptom. The Admiral would have looked very pretty, hauled out of his siesta to be confronted with a purely prodromic symptom! Collapsus. Even collapsus. Ruined bodies in which a simple attack of dysentery may take—Asiatic forms. Far from the Ganges. India, where the heat breeds elephants and clouds of flies. The Indus Delta. Mud, 120 degrees, no shade. Water rotting like an organism. Really this town doesn’t smell as bad as they say; less bad than it did six months ago. Unless it’s a question of habit. Though I still smell the absinthe well enough! Maybe the stink of this town has got so bad it couldn’t be worse. In which case the dysentery might pass all bounds too. Raspail! The service of humanity! Very pretty indeed, but I’m a naval doctor, and a naval doctor has superior officers. Pass the buck to the Admiral in a report that will clear me of all responsibility. Otherwise … if I were a civilian doctor … but I’m only a cog. All the same, this evening I’ll go and get an appointment with the Admiral. I’d better do so: between now and then, one of the civilian doctors might very well … He wouldn’t take many pains over a case of collapsus. Whale-blue storm in the dead end of the Gulf of Bengal. Dangerous effluvia on board the Melpomène. ”
    He ordered a second absinthe, asking if this time he couldn’t have a little cold water with it. At the moment when the second absinthe was being brought to the medical inspector, at La Valette the young lady was saying to herself: “It seems a century ago!” The kitchenmaid’s death had abolished time; the young lady was bemused by the blow that had abolished time for the kitchenmaid and destroyed all the roads of escape. At the same instant, more than forty leagues to the north, Angelo was penetrating ever more deeply into the high hills through gray forests of chestnut, gray heaths covered with gray centaury, under a gray sky. He felt like someone in boiling lead. The horse moved as if sound asleep. Meanwhile at Carpentras the Jewish doctor, having decided point-blank on the immediate burial of the three corpses found on the threshold of the synagogue, was going home. He had put the fear of God into the syndic. He was sure that this man would not talk, at least not for a day or two. Afterward? Well, afterward nothing on earth could stop people talking; the thing itself would talk loudly enough. The main thing was to keep the rumors down until one was sure. The reason being that one should never put any mass of people in a panic. There were plenty of other reasons too. He wondered if Rachel would find a cabriolet for hire at Vaison. He trusted Rachel; she would manage to find a cabriolet. He congratulated himself on having thought of Bourdeaux, which lies in an airy, windswept gorge, where the air keeps moving and does not linger. He was very proud of having had such presence of mind, almost instinctive.
    â€œIntelligence that functions on concrete impulses and on planes altogether detached from the effective sphere. Would probably go on functioning even in my corpse. Problem of immortality of the