Aussi je n’entrais plus dans le cabinet de repos maintenant fermé, de mon oncle Adolphe, et après m’être attardé aux abords de l’arrière-cuisine, quand Françoise, apparaissant sur le parvis, me disait: «Je vais laisser ma fille de cuisine servir le café et monter l’eau chaude, il faut que je me sauve chez Mme Octave», je me décidais à rentrer et montais directement lire chez moi. →
And so I no longer used to go into the little sitting-room (now kept shut) of my uncle Adolphe; instead, after hanging about on the outskirts of the back-kitchen until Françoise appeared on its threshold and announced: "I am going to let the kitchen-maid serve the coffee and take up the hot water; it is time I went off to Mme. Octave," I would then decide to go indoors, and would go straight upstairs to my room to read.