Matters of Honor by Louis Begley

Author:Louis Begley [Begley, Louis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychological, Psychological fiction, Nineteen fifties, Jewish, Fiction, Literary, Suspense, Historical, Jewish college students, Antisemitism, Friendship
ISBN: 9780345494344
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2008-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

WE WERE IN REIMS for the cathedral and because it seemed a good place to spend the night before visiting Verdun and the adjoining battlefields. From there we intended to go directly to Dijon but didn’t know whether we could make it in time for a late dinner if we did justice to Verdun. Over breakfast, George had been less exuberant than usual about how his evening had ended. I had more coffee while he studied the road map.

I have an idea, he said. What would you think if after Verdun we headed northwest instead of south and dropped in on Henry? The van Dammes might put us up for the night.

I looked at the map. Once we got to Verdun, it would be a short drive to Bayencourt. But could we do such a thing, both knowing about Henry and Madame van Damme? I thought I would be uncomfortable even if Henry hadn’t told me that he had spoken to George. As beneficiaries of Henry’s indiscretion, we would be looking at Henry and Madame van Damme through the prism of our guilty knowledge. And he would be aware of the low comedy being enacted.

Do you think we really should do it? I asked George. In view of the circumstances?

He turned red and said, I should have figured out that he would have told you. I nodded.

He thought about it and said, It was Henry’s idea to tell us, nobody made him.

I could see that Bayencourt and perhaps the opportunity for voyeurism as well tempted him. Then he shrugged and said, I guess it would shake up old Henry to see us pull in the drive or roll across the drawbridge. I bet they have one at the château. Let’s call ahead; he can always tell us not to come. Have you got their number?

I shook my head.

Too bad, George said. Sure would’ve liked to see her, but I think we had better concentrate on getting a good meal in Dijon.

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.