"Joly! My dear Joly. My very dear Joly. My very dearest Joly!" He breaks off and rubs the top of his head. "I take it as an article of faith that you find me moderately necessary from time to time--we all have foibles and individual tastes--some like to eat their lobsters and some like to walk them in the park--where was I going? --Ah. Yes. You are pleased to call me essential, and I rather like being essential to you. In Paris..."
Hm. He looks down at his fingertips. "I think Paris was a different place. --I know, I know, an outrageous declaration, you will tell me; you will point to the wide boulevards and narrow alleyways of the bar, the crowd of hundreds of thousands of men and women of all conditions coming and going, our proximity here to a thousand opera-houses and bookstalls and cafés, the omnipresence of one's fellow-student and his pattern of life, his mistresses and his family and his general expectation of a provincial livelihood--"
Shut up, Bossuet. "What I mean is that--although here, yes, I feel even more superfluous than usual to the world at large, I...I rather like being essential to you. We're in a different place now. We did say now and then that after Paris we would still--of course I was never quite certain of it--but--it isn't--this isn't exactly a physician's practice in Avignon, but--we--aren't we at the point now where we settle down a bit? Oh, damnation, we're talking about different things again, aren't we."
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Date: 8 Sep 2015 11:59 (UTC)Hm. He looks down at his fingertips. "I think Paris was a different place. --I know, I know, an outrageous declaration, you will tell me; you will point to the wide boulevards and narrow alleyways of the bar, the crowd of hundreds of thousands of men and women of all conditions coming and going, our proximity here to a thousand opera-houses and bookstalls and cafés, the omnipresence of one's fellow-student and his pattern of life, his mistresses and his family and his general expectation of a provincial livelihood--"
Shut up, Bossuet. "What I mean is that--although here, yes, I feel even more superfluous than usual to the world at large, I...I rather like being essential to you. We're in a different place now. We did say now and then that after Paris we would still--of course I was never quite certain of it--but--it isn't--this isn't exactly a physician's practice in Avignon, but--we--aren't we at the point now where we settle down a bit? Oh, damnation, we're talking about different things again, aren't we."