La paix du ménage

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...in varnished pine, framed with teak-wood, brightened by the brasses of locks, hinges, and chandeliers, all the yellow metals that are the luxury of yachts. How strangely quiet everything is, after the hubbub of Paris! l hear absolutely nothing. Now and then, the sailor who sleepily watches at the helm gives a slight cough, the clock hanging on the wall ticks with a noise that sounds formidable in this silence of the heavens and the sea. And this ticking of the clock, which alone disturbs the quiet of the elements, gives me suddenly the wonderful sensation of being in endless solitude, where the sound of murmuring worlds is deadened and becomes almost imperceptible in this universal silence. lt seems as if something of the eternal calm of space came down and spread over the motionless sea on this stifling hot day. it is an oppressive, irresistible feeling that lulls and deadens like contact with infinite space. The will falters, thought stops, and sleep takes hold of both body and soul. Night had almost come when I awoke. A twilight breeze, hardly hoped for, swept us along until the sun went down. We were very near the coast, in sight of the city of San Remo, which we could not reach that night, however. Other small villages or towns were spread out at the foot of the high mountain, looking like bundles of clothes drying on the beach. Night came, the mountains disappeared, and fires were lighted on the water's edge, all along the coast. A delicious smell of cooking, coming from the interior of the yacht, mingled agreeably with the salt air. After dinner I lay at full length on deck. This quiet day of drifting had wiped out all there was in my mind, as a sponge clears a tarnished glass; and memories crowded upon my thoughts, memories...