Belle and Sébastien: Illustrated by Helen Stephens (Alma Junior Classics) (Alma Classics Junior) by Cecile Aubry

Author:Cecile Aubry [Aubry, Cecile]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alma Classics
Published: 2017-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

4

The following day, in the frozen dawn, Belle came down to the village. The clock tower had just struck eight, it was still completely dark, but already doors and windows could be heard opening: the children were heading off to school.

Belle had stopped at the entrance to the village. Water dripped slowly along an icicle on the broken gutter of the Daniéli family house, each drop making a black hole in the snow that covered a wooden tub. Belle was listening.

Close by, she heard the sound of small clogs running along the paving stones of the lane. They faded away towards the square and silence returned, troubled only by the almost inaudible sound of those water drops hitting the black hole in the snow of the tub.

She moved on, turned at the corner of Sidonie’s shop and crossed the square where the market was held every Saturday. The great plane trees watched, unmoved and indifferent, as she skirted round the church.

In front of her, to the right, the butcher’s shop assistant was raising the metal shutters. He went quickly back into the lit-up shop and began to prepare the day’s orders. Belle stopped and sniffed. The sound of a shutter banging made her run. She growled as she passed in front of the kennel that belonged to Martial, the mayor’s dog, who guarded the only (and useless) railings of the village: railings that, although they served no purpose, had been erected here because they made the house stand out from the others, in this Provençal village where the houses stand tall and straight and all in a line. Because this house was set a metre behind the others, the opportunity had been taken to install these modern railings, which had cost a pretty penny!

Martial, scenting Belle, made an almost unbelievable noise amid the silence of the snow. A voice told him to be quiet. Belle growled quietly, making Martial retreat, warily, to the back of his kennel.

It was not yet daylight, but the night was brightening, and shadows began to emerge from the houses. One of these shadows glimpsed Belle. It returned in a hurry to the house, crying out:

“The Beast! The Beast! I’ve seen it!”

A window opened in the façade of the neighbour’s house. A man’s head emerged, his chin covered in shaving foam.

“Where? Where have you seen the Beast?”

He did not intend to listen to the answer: without pausing to wipe his chin, the man had already seized his gun and, holding it in one hand, was trying to shrug on his coat. He was in the street before the woman had finished her story:

“…and then I saw it take off towards the square! Oh, Holy Mother!”

She called all of the windows that were opening as her witnesses:

“Mother of Christ, pray for us… Hey, what do you think you’re up to? You’re a menace!”

She said this to her neighbour who was brandishing his gun.

“I’m going to shoot it, by God!” he explained. “But where is the damned thing?”

A child’s voice cried out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.