Page:Eekhoud - The New Carthage.djvu/46

18 daughter. He had already contrived for the spoiled child a delicious little suite of two rooms, done in blue and silver, which would have delighted the heart of any lady of elegance.

The physiognomy of young Paridael's room changed like that of the others. His mansard under the roofs assumed a more and more provisional appearance. It seemed as if a deliberate malice had presided over the destiny of the young collegian's lodging. Felicité had cleared out only a space sufficient to hold a folding bed.

The attic no longer offered enough room in which to store away the rubbish accruing from the former furnishings of the house, and, preferring not to cumber the servants' rooms with such bric-a-brac, the housekeeper transported them to Laurent's retreat. She put so much zeal into doing this that the child already foresaw the time when he would have to emigrate to the stair-landing. At heart he was not displeased by this investiture. The conversion of his quarters into a place of confusion produced unforeseen and charming results. A certain sympathy, arising from the similarity of their condition, was established between the forlorn orphan and the objects which had ceased to please. But that Laurent amused himself with these old things was sufficient excuse for the amiable factotum to remove them elsewhere. To conceal his treasures and secrete his finds, the young rogue resorted to the ruses of a true smuggler.

In this garret were hoarded up, to the great joy of the refractory youth, the books condemned as too frivolous by Monsieur Dobouziez. Forbidden fruit, like the raspberries and nectarines in the gardens! The mice had already nibbled powdery holes in them, and