As he managed Madame's estates,
he spent hours with her in Monsieur's study; he was in constant
fear of being compromised, had a great regard for the magistracy
and some pretensions to learning.
In order to facilitate the children's studies, he presented them
with an engraved geography which represented various scenes of the
world: cannibals with feather head-dresses, a gorilla kidnapping a
young girl, Arabs in the desert, a whale being harpooned, etc.
Paul explained the pictures to Felicite. And, in fact, this was
her only literary education.
The children's studies were under the direction of a poor devil
employed at the town-hall, who sharpened his pocketknife on his
boots and was famous for his penmanship.
When the weather was fine, they went to Geffosses. The house was
built in the centre of the sloping yard; and the sea looked like a
grey spot in the distance. Felicite would take slices of cold meat
from the lunch basket and they would sit down and eat in a room
next to the dairy. This room was all that remained of a cottage
that had been torn down. The dilapidated wall-paper trembled in
the drafts. Madame Aubain, overwhelmed by recollections, would
hang her head, while the children were afraid to open their
mouths.
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