The
shops are unassuming, and so few that one can easily count them.
There is a wine-shop on the left-hand side, at the corner of the
Rue de la Vieille-Estrapade; then a little toy-shop, then a
washerwoman's and then a book-binder's establishment; while on the
right-hand you will find the office of the Bulletin, with a
locksmith's, a fruiterer's, and a baker's--that is all. Along the
rest of the street run several spacious buildings, somewhat
austere in appearance, though some of them are surrounded by large
gardens. Here stands the Convent of the Sisters of the Cross,
with the House of Our Lady of Adoration; while further on, near
the Rue des Feuillantines, you find the Normal School, with the
office of the General Omnibus Company hard by. At day-time you
mostly meet grave and thoughtful faces in the street: priests,
savants, professors, and clerks employed in the adjacent public
libraries. The only stir is round about the omnibus office; and
if occasional bursts of laughter are heard they are sure to come
from the Normal School. After nightfall, a person might suppose
himself to be at least a hundred leagues from the Boulevard
Montmartre and the Opera-House, in some quiet old provincial town,
at Poitiers, for instance. And it is only on listening
attentively that you can catch even a faint echo of the tumult of
Paris.
It was in this street--"out of the world," as M. de Coralth
expressed it--that Pascal Ferailleur resided with his mother.
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