Read "The Conquest of Plassans" by Émile Zola online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
At seventeen years of age, Désirée still retained the child-like laugh of an 'innocent. ' She was now a fine, tall girl, plump and well-developed, with the arms and shoulders of a full-grown woman. She grew like a healthy plant, happy in her growth, and quite untouched by the unhappiness which was wrecking and saddening the house.
'Why do you never laugh? ' she cried to her father one day. 'Come and have a game at skipping! It's such fun!'