- I begg'd a thousand pardons - but insisted
it was no more than an ejaculation. She maintained 'twas an entire
infraction of the treaty - I maintained it was provided for in the
clause of the third article.
The lady would by no means give up her point, though she weaken'd
her barrier by it; for in the warmth of the dispute, I could hear
two or three corking pins fall out of the curtain to the ground.
Upon my word and honour, Madame, said I, - stretching my arm out of
bed by way of asseveration. -
(I was going to have added, that I would not have trespassed
against the remotest idea of decorum for the world); -
But the fille de chambre hearing there were words between us, and
fearing that hostilities would ensue in course, had crept silently
out of her closet, and it being totally dark, had stolen so close
to our beds, that she had got herself into the narrow passage which
separated them, and had advanced so far up as to be in a line
betwixt her mistress and me: -
So that when I stretch'd out my hand I caught hold of the fille de
chambre's -
Footnotes:
{1} Nosegay.
{2} Hackney coach.
{3} Plate, napkin, knife, fork and spoon.
*** END OF A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY By Laurence Sterne***
