Search -
The Works of Honoré De Balzac (v. 1); The Magic Skin, the Quest of the Absolute, and Other Stories
The Works of Honor De Balzac The Magic Skin the Quest of the Absolute and Other Stories - v. 1 Author:Honoré de Balzac Volume: v. 1 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1901 Original Publisher: Dana Estes Subjects: Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Fiction / Short Stories Literary Criticism / European / French Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos ... more »or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE MAGIC SKIN To Monsieur Savary, Member of Le Academie des Sciences. Stebne -- Tristram Shandy, eh. ccczxil. THE TALISMAN Towards the end of the month of October 1829 a young man entered the Palais-Royal just as the gaming-houses opened, agreeably to the law which protects a passion by its very nature easily excisable. He mounted the staircase of one of the gambling hells distinguished by the number 36, without too much deliberation. (1) "Your hat, sir, if you please?" a thin, querulous voice called out. A little old man, crouching in the darkness behind a railing, suddenly rose and exhibited his features, carved after a mean design. As you enter a gaming-house the law despoils you of your hat at the outset. Is it by way of a parable, a divine revelation? Or by exacting some pledge or other, is not an infernal compact implied? Is it done to compel you to preserve a respectful demeanor towards those who are about to gain money of you? Or must the detective, who squats in our social sewers, know the name of your hatter, or your own, if you happen to have written it on the lining inside? Or, after all, is the measurement of your skull required for the compilation of statistics as to the cerebral capacity of gamblers? The executive is absolutely silent on this point. But be sure of this, that though you have scarcely taken a step towards the tables, your hat no more belongs to you now than you belong to yourself. Play possesses you, your fort...« less