Thérèse Raquin Read Online Free PDF

recalling a thousand little incidents of the past, and by adopting a
wheedling manner towards him that was quite maternal. Laurent had seated
himself. With a peaceful smile on his lips, he replied to the questions
addressed to him in a clear voice, casting calm and easy glances around
him.
    "Just imagine," said Camille, "this joker has been employed at the
Orleans-Railway-Station for eighteen months, and it was only to-night
that we met and recognised one another—the administration is so vast,
so important!"
    As the young man made this remark, he opened his eyes wider, and pinched
his lips, proud to be a humble wheel in such a large machine. Shaking
his head, he continued:
    "Oh! but he is in a good position. He has studied. He already earns
1,500 francs a year. His father sent him to college. He had read for the
bar, and learnt painting. That is so, is it not, Laurent? You'll dine
with us?"
    "I am quite willing," boldly replied the other.
    He got rid of his hat and made himself comfortable in the shop,
while Madame Raquin ran off to her stewpots. Therese, who had not yet
pronounced a word, looked at the new arrival. She had never seen such a
man before. Laurent, who was tall and robust, with a florid complexion,
astonished her. It was with a feeling akin to admiration, that she
contemplated his low forehead planted with coarse black hair, his full
cheeks, his red lips, his regular features of sanguineous beauty. For
an instant her eyes rested on his neck, a neck that was thick and short,
fat and powerful. Then she became lost in the contemplation of his great
hands which he kept spread out on his knees: the fingers were square;
the clenched fist must be enormous and would fell an ox.
    Laurent was a real son of a peasant, rather heavy in gait, with an
arched back, with movements that were slow and precise, and an
obstinate tranquil manner. One felt that his apparel concealed round and
well-developed muscles, and a body of thick hard flesh. Therese examined
him with curiosity, glancing from his fists to his face, and experienced
little shivers when her eyes fell on his bull-like neck.
    Camille spread out his Buffon volumes, and his serials at 10 centimes
the number, to show his friend that he also studied. Then, as if
answering an inquiry he had been making of himself for some minutes, he
said to Laurent:
    "But, surely you must know my wife? Don't you remember that little
cousin who used to play with us at Vernon?"
    "I had no difficulty in recognising Madame," answered Laurent, looking
Therese full in the face.
    This penetrating glance troubled the young woman, who, nevertheless,
gave a forced smile, and after exchanging a few words with Laurent and
her husband, hurried away to join her aunt, feeling ill at ease.
    As soon as they had seated themselves at table, and commenced the soup,
Camille thought it right to be attentive to his friend.
    "How is your father?" he inquired.
    "Well, I don't know," answered Laurent. "We are not on good terms; we
ceased corresponding five years ago."
    "Bah!" exclaimed the clerk, astonished at such a monstrosity.
    "Yes," continued the other, "the dear man has ideas of his own. As he
is always at law with his neighbours, he sent me to college, in the fond
hope that later on, he would find in me an advocate who would win him
all his actions. Oh! daddy Laurent has naught but useful ambitions; he
even wants to get something out of his follies."
    "And you wouldn't be an advocate?" inquired Camille, more and more
astonished.
    "Faith, no," answered his friend with a smile. "For a couple of years
I pretended to follow the classes, so as to draw the allowance of 1,200
francs which my father made me. I lived with one of my college chums,
who is a painter, and I set about painting also. It amused me. The
calling is droll, and not at all fatiguing. We smoked and joked all the
livelong day."
    The Raquin family opened their eyes in amazement.
    "Unfortunately," continued Laurent, "this could not last. My