Ball of Suet: Selected Short Stories by Maupassant

Chapter 5 Balls of Suet (4)
Cornid was so dissatisfied with the harmony between conqueror and conquered that he soon went away, preferring to remain alone in the hotel.Loiseau smiled and said: "They are working to increase the population." M. Carré-Lamadon said with a serious face: "They are making up for their sins." But they could not find a groom.At last he was found in the town café, sitting with the officer's orderly."Didn't we tell you to harness the car at eight o'clock?" cried the count.

"Yes, but I was ordered again."

"What do I order you?"

"Don't hitch the car."

"Who ordered you?"

"Prussian commander."

"Why?"

"I don't know anything. You can ask him. He won't allow me to set up the car, so I won't. It's as simple as that."

"Did he tell you that himself?"

"No, sir, it was passed on to me by the innkeeper."

"When did you tell me?"

"Last night, when I was going to bed."

The three men were very anxious. When they returned to the hotel, they asked to see the innkeeper, but the maid replied that the husband never got up before ten o'clock because of his asthma.It even made it clear that unless there is a fire, he must not be woken up in advance.

They were eager to see the Prussian commanding officer, who was not easy to see, although he was in the hotel.Only M. Franvie was allowed to go to him in civil disputes.I have no choice but to wait.The women retreated to their rooms to attend to unimportant matters.

Cornid sat under the tall kitchen fireplace, which was blazingly hot.He called for a coffee table.A small bottle of beer was placed, and a pipe was drawn.In the eyes of this democrat, the pipe is no less respected than its owner, as if in serving Cornides it is serving the country.That is an extremely beautiful sepiolite is a fibrous hydrous magnesium silicate, usually white, light gray, light yellow and other colors, opaque and dull.A pipe, covered with a venerable soot, as black as his master's teeth, very smoky, with a crooked tip and a gleam of oil.His master held it with such ease that it became an integral part of his appearance.Cornid sat motionless, his eyes fixed now on the fire in the stove, now on the foam in the beer glass.Every time he took a sip, with a contented expression, he brushed his long and greasy hair with his long and thin fingers, and sniffed his moustache stained with foam with his nose.

Loiseau made an excuse to go out, but in fact he was selling his wines to local hotel owners.The count and the mill owner began to discuss politics and predict the future of France.One believed in the Orléans, the other believed in a now-unnamed saviour, who would appear in the face of the country's desperate situation, perhaps a Du Guaclain French army commander (1315-1380), perhaps Is a French heroine of Joan of Arc (1412-1431).Perhaps another Napoleon I, alas!If only the crown prince could be a little bigger!Cornid listened to their talk, always smiling like a man who knows his destiny.His pipe filled the kitchen with the smell of smoke.

At about ten o'clock M. Franvie came.They asked him why he was not allowed to harness the carriages, and he repeated it two or three times: "This is what the officer said to me: 'Monsieur Franvie, don't let the grooms harness these passengers tomorrow. Get up. Listen, that's all.'”

So everyone asked to see the officer.The count had his card handed to him, on which M. Carré-Lamadon added his name and titles.The Prussian officer sent back to say that the two men could see him when he had finished his lunch, that is, just before one o'clock.

While talking, the wives also came.Although everyone was a little worried, they still ate something.Ball-of-Fat seemed ill, and looked terrified.

When the coffee was almost finished, the Prussian adjutant came to see the gentlemen.

Loiseau also went with them.In order to show that they took this matter seriously, they wanted Cornid to go with him, but he said arrogantly that he did not want to have any contact with the Germans. After speaking, he sat down again under the fireplace and ordered a small bottle of beer to drink alone. .

So the three men went upstairs to the most beautiful room in the hotel, where the officer was waiting for them.The officer was reclining in an easy chair, with his feet on the fireplace, smoking a long china pipe.He was wrapped in a shiny dressing gown, which he had probably taken from a house abandoned by some uninteresting bourgeois.After they came in, he didn't stand up, didn't say hello, didn't even lift his eyelids.The rudeness of the conqueror was confirmed in him.

After a while, he spoke: "What do you want to say?"

"Sir, we want to start," said the count.

"no!"

"May I venture to ask why?"

"I don't want you to go!"

"You checked our papers, sir, and your Commander-in-Chief issued us departure permits for Dieppe, and I don't think we did anything to compel you to do so."

"I don't want to... that's it... please go down!"

The three of them just bent over and retreated.

The whole afternoon was so sad.Everyone was baffled by what the Germans did, so they started thinking wildly.Everyone was in the kitchen, endless discussants, guessing all kinds of reasons.To hold them hostage?Why do you want to do this?Take them away as prisoners of war?Are they trying to extort a huge ransom from them?At the thought of this, they were terrified.Even the richest men are terrified, as if they saw themselves compelled to pour bags of gold into the hands of this lion-mouthed soldier in order to redeem themselves.They racked their brains to figure out how to make up a lie so that they could conceal their wealth and make them look poor as hell.Loiseau quickly took off the watch chain and hid it in his pocket.

When night falls, it is even more disturbing.After the lamps were lit, and two hours before dinner, Madame Loiseau suggested a game of thirty-one.It was a good way to pass the time, and everyone agreed.Even Cornides put out his pipe and began to play together.

The Earl shuffled the cards, and Ball-of-Fat scored 31 points first.The excitement of playing cards quickly calmed everyone's worries.However, Cornid discovered that the Loiseaus were colluding to cheat.

When they were all seated at the table to eat, M. Franvie appeared and asked in a sputum voice: "The Prussian officer asked me to ask Mademoiselle Elisabeth Roussey if she had changed her mind."

Ball-of-Fat stood motionless, pale and flushed.She was so angry that she couldn't even speak, panting.At last she flew into a rage: "Go and tell this bastard, this wretched rascal, this Prussian corpse, I will never say yes! You hear me clearly, never, never, never!"

The fat boss moved out.Everyone gathered around Ball-of-Fat and asked her to explain why the officer wanted to see her.She didn't say it at first, but she was so angry that she couldn't control herself immediately: "What is he going to do?... What is he going to do?... He asked me to sleep with him!" No one felt the harsh words, everyone was filled with righteous indignation .Cornid slammed the glass on the table so hard that it broke.Everyone cursed this rough and shameless officer, everyone was furious, and the rare unity seemed to demand sacrifices from each of them.These people, said the count with disgust, were behaving like barbarians of old.The ladies comforted and sympathized with Ball-of-Fat in every possible way.The two nuns only showed up when they were eating. They kept their heads down and spoke little.

After the first bout of fury, everyone began to eat dinner, and everyone spoke little, as if in thought.

The ladies went back to their rooms early to rest, while the men smoked and played cards.They invited M. Franvie to come and play with him, and they wanted to ask him how they could stop the officer from hindering them.But this fellow was only thinking about his cards, ignored their words, and kept urging: "Play, gentlemen, play." He was so absorbed in his game that he forgot to spit, so his chest The voice in the song is often dragged on for a long time.His lungs were whistling, and he could produce the whole scale, from those low and deep notes to the shrill and hoarse voice of a cockerel barely crowing.

When his wife, too sleepy, came to see him, he refused to go upstairs.His wife left alone because she was always "on the morning shift" and had to get up at dawn, while her man was "on the evening shift" and often stayed up all night.The fat boss shouted to his back: "Put my milk and chicken soup in front of the stove." Then he continued playing cards.Everyone understood that if nothing came out of his mouth, it meant that it was time to rest, so they all went back to the room.

We got up early the next day, still harboring a desire, a stronger desire to start, a desire to escape this dreadful little hotel as soon as possible.

But the horse was still in the stable, and the groom was still missing.Everyone had no choice but wandered around the carriage.

Lunch was dull, everyone's attitude towards Ball-of-Fat was very indifferent, and their views had changed after a night of thinking.They even resented the prostitute a little now, why didn't they go to the Prussian officer secretly, so that the traveling companions would be overjoyed when they woke up.How simple is this actually?Besides, who would know?It would be honorable for her to tell the officer that she had felt compassion for the plight of the people.What is this kind of thing to her!
However, no one has said such words.

In the afternoon, when everyone was bored to death, the count proposed a walk in the town.Cornides still preferred to stay by the fireplace, and the two nuns were either in church or at the priest's house during the day, otherwise the group came out of the hotel fully dressed.

The weather was getting colder every day, my nose and ears were itchy from the cold, my feet seemed to be freezing, and every step I took was extremely difficult.When the field appeared in front of my eyes, there was a vast expanse of white everywhere, as scary as death, and I couldn't help but make people feel cold from head to toe, so I hurried back.

Four women walked in front, and three men followed, not very far apart.

Loiseau, who was well aware of the situation, suddenly asked if the "bitch" would let us stay in such a ghostly place for a long time.The earl was always polite, thinking that a woman could not be forced to make such a painful sacrifice, it should be her own decision.M. Carré-Lamadon said that if the French counterattacked from Dieppe, as everyone said, the fighting would only take place at Totes.The thought worried the other two.Loiseau asked: "Can we start on foot?" The count shrugged and said: "In this kind of snow, with our wife, are you going to walk? Even if you walk, you will be overtaken immediately, 10 minutes Nei must be caught and taken back as a prisoner to be manipulated by the soldiers." This was true, and everyone stopped talking.

The ladies talked about dressing, but in a way that was off-putting and reserved.

The officer suddenly appeared at the end of the street.On the endless snow, reflected in the silhouette of a tall wasp-waist in military uniform, he walked forward with his knees apart, a movement unique to soldiers, who tried their best to protect their carefully waxed eyes. The riding boots are not stained with a little foulness.

He bowed as he passed the ladies and gave the men a contemptuous look.The men had some self-respect and did not take off their hats, although Loiseau had already made a gesture to do so.

Ball-of-Fat was flushed, even his ears were red, and the three wives were ashamed, because they were with the whore whom he had roughly treated when they were met by the officer.

The women talked of the officer, of his figure and appearance.Madame Carré-Ramadon knew many officers, and she was of course an expert in evaluating them.She thought the officer very good, and even regretted that he was not French, otherwise he would have been a wonderfully handsome hussar, and all women would have been charmed.

After everyone went back, they didn't know what to do, and they ridiculed each other because of some trivial matters.Everyone hurriedly finished their meal in silence, and went upstairs to bed, feeling that time would pass faster in their sleep.

When we went downstairs the next morning, everyone was slouching and in a terrible mood.The ladies hardly spoke to Ball-of-Fat.

A bell came, it was the christening bell.It turned out that Ball-of-Fat had a child who was fostered in the city of Yvetoux, Seine-Maritimes, France.I don't see him once a year at the farmer's house, and I don't usually think about going to see him.But thinking of the child who was about to be baptized, she suddenly had a strong yearning for her own child, which made her have to attend the baptism ceremony.

As soon as she walked out, everyone looked at each other, and then the chairs were drawn closer, and everyone felt that a decision should be made.Loiseau proposed that it be possible to suggest to the officer that Ball-of-Fat should be left by himself, and that others should leave.

Monsieur Franvie took up the task of delivering the message again, but he was soon dismissed.Because the German understood human nature.He said that as long as his desire is not satisfied, all people will be detained here.

At this time, Mrs. Loiseau was furious: "We can't die here forever. Do this kind of thing with all men. Since that's what prostitutes do, I don't think she has the right to refuse this or that man. You know it too, Is she allowed in Rouen as long as she is a man? Even a groom! Yes, ma'am, a groom of the provincial government! I know the details, because he bought wine in my shop. Need her to help us out today Now, she's putting on airs, the self-important girl! . . . In my opinion, I think the officer is a nice fellow. He probably hasn't had a woman in a long time, and of course he'd rather have the three of us. But he doesn't, he just wants This woman who was fucked by everyone. He respects married women. You think about it, he is the master of this place. He can just say: 'I want' and he can bring his soldiers to spoil us."

The other two women shuddered.The beautiful Mrs. Carré-Lamadon had bright eyes and a pale face, as if she had been raped by the officer.

The men who had been discussing nearby came over.Furious, Loiseau suggested that the "disgraceful woman" be tied up and handed over to the enemy.However, the Earl disagreed. He came from a diplomatic family where three generations had been ambassadors, and he also looked like a diplomat.He argued that strategy should be used, "she should be made up," he said.

So these men conspired.

The ladies huddled together, lowered their voices, and expressed their opinions, but in a very tactful manner.These ladies are good at finding euphemisms and subtle charming words to say the most obscene things.Because they speak cautiously, outsiders don't know the inside story even if they hear it.In fact, all the women in the upper class are only wearing a thin layer of shame on the surface.They were all in good spirits when they encountered such indecent things.It can be described as ecstasy, planning other people's sexual affairs with lust, like a gluttonous chef preparing dinner for another person.

This matter turned out to be so interesting, so naturally everyone became excited.The count made some jokes that bordered on obscenity, but they were delivered with such dexterity that everyone was satisfied.Loiseau also said some nasty obscenities, but no one was offended.His wife readily expressed what everyone was thinking: "Since this kind of thing is the profession of this prostitute, why does she have to reject this person and choose that person?" Dear Mrs. Carre-Lamadon even thought, If it were her, she would rather reject others than this person.

Thus the men prepare, as for a besieged fortress.Each has identified a role to play.The evidence to be cited, the means to be employed, the plan of the attack, the tactics to be used, the surprise to attack, etc., were all arranged to compel the living fortress to receive the enemy in its proper position.

Cornid stayed on the side all the time and did not comment on this matter.

These people were so engrossed that they did not notice Ball-of-Fat's return.It wasn't until the count hissed softly that everyone raised their eyes and found that she had returned.Everyone stopped talking, the situation was awkward, and they didn't know what to say to her.The Countess, more familiar with duplicity in salons than anyone else, asked, "Is baptism interesting?"

The fat girl was still very excited, and she started talking endlessly, describing who they were, what their posture was, and even described the appearance of the church.She added at the end: "Sometimes it's good to say prayers."

Until dinner, the ladies showed her amiable airs, in order to increase her confidence, and to enable her to follow their advice.

(End of this chapter)