Explore "Hautot and his Son" by Guy De Maupassant on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
In front of the building, half farmhouse, half manor house -- one of those semi-feudal country dwellings of mixed character now occupied by wealthy farmers -- the dogs chained to the apple trees in the courtyard were barking and howling at the sight of the bags carried by the gamekeepers, and at the mischievous boys. In the large dining room-kitchen, Hautot and his son, M. Bermont the tax-collector, and M. Mondarn the notary, were having a bite and a mouthful of wine before they went out shooting, for it was the first day of the season.
The elder Hautot, proud of his possessions, was boasting of the game that his guests would find in his shoot. He was a big Norman, one of those powerful, ruddy, big-boned men who can lift a cartload of apples on to their shoulders. Half peasant, half gentleman, rich, respected, influential, autocratic, he had first insisted that his son César should work up to the third form so that he might be well informed, and then he had stopped his education for fear of his becoming a fine gentleman without any interest in the farm.