My concierge is of a precision the most meticulous. For all legal,
financial and military affairs, throughout the French Republic at least,
to-day is Friday the fifteenth. But why should this seem impossible to
you, a scientist and a watchmaker?
PERRON
Only listen, and you will understand why I am tempted to doubt the
calendar of the Church itself. Two weeks ago my wife announced to me that
she had reason to expect the due arrival of a son. She said there could be
no question it will be a son because in her mother's family for three
generations it has been the same, three daughters followed by a son.
Eh bien, although I have always desired a son to follow me in this
honorable and scientific profession, nevertheless I received the news
with a certain consternation. In short, my affairs have not gone too well
of late, and without my wife's assistance by her needle....
That evening I thought much how I might increase my funds, and so for two
weeks--two weeks, mon ami--I have omitted my customary cafe after
dejeuner, which all these years I have not failed to take with a serious
group of friends at the Trois Arts, and even have I smoked no cigarettes.
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