“But you have not always been like that?”
“Pardon me; ever since I left college.”
“That is not a proper life to lead, my dear fellow; it is simply
horrible. Come, you must have something to do, you must love something,
you must have friends.”
“No, I get up at noon, I come here, I have my breakfast, I drink my
beer, I remain until the evening, I have my dinner, I drink beer. Then
about half-past one in the morning, I go home to bed, because the place
closes up; that annoys me more than anything. In the last ten years I
have passed fully six years on this bench, in my corner; and the
other four in my bed, nowhere else. I sometimes chat with the regular
customers.”
“But when you came to Paris what did you do at first?”
“I paid my devoirs to the Cafe de Medicis.”
“What next?”
“Next I crossed the water and came here.”
“Why did you take that trouble?”
“What do you mean? One cannot remain all one's life in the Latin
Quarter. The students make too much noise. Now I shall not move again.
Waiter, a 'bock.'”