It suddenlystruck him how hard it was for a man of past thirty to be reduced to askhis mother, with a blush for a twenty-franc piece every now and then;and he muttered, as he scored the gravel with the ferule of his stick:
Il songea soudain combien il est dur, à trente ans passés,d'être réduit à demander, en rougissant, un louis à sa mère, de temps entemps; et il murmura, en grattant la terre du bout de sa canne: