Blaire has
reached the final height of his transformation. He who held the
record for negligence and grime is certainly the best groomed of us
all, especially since the further complication of his ivories, which
were broken in the attack and had to be remade. He affects an
off-hand demeanor. "He looks young and youthful," says Marthereau.
We find ourselves suddenly face to face with a toothless creature
who smiles to the depth of her throat. Some black hair bristles
round her hat. Her big, unpleasant features, riddled with
pock-marks, recalls the ill-painted faces that one sees on the
coarse canvas of a traveling show. 'She's beautiful,'' says
Volpatte. Marthereau. at whom she smiled, is dumb with shock.
Thus do the poilus converse who are suddenly placed under the spell
of a town. More and more they rejoice in the beautiful scene, so
neat and incredibly clean. They resume possession of life tranquil
and peaceful, of that conception of comfort and even of happiness
for which in the main houses were built.
"We should easily get used to it again, you know, old man, after
all!"
Meanwhile a crowd is gathered around an outfitter's shop-window
where the proprietor has contrived, with the aid of mannikins in
wood and wax, a ridiculous tableau. On a groundwork of little
pebbles like those in an aquarium, there is a kneeling German, in a
suit so new that the creases are definite, and punctuated with an
Iron Cross in cardboard.
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