We had had to take a fast train which started before daybreak . . . That melancholy dinner now came back to my mind, and all the stories related by the old clerk as he rested his elbows on the table before his rose-coloured drink.
Il fallait prendre un grand express qui passait avant le jour… Je me souvins du triste dîner de jadis, de toutes les histoires du vieux greffier accoudé devant sa bouteille de boisson rose.