Explore "A Reckless Passion" by Guy De Maupassant on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The calm, glittering sea was scarcely stirred by the current of the tide. From the pier all Havre was watching the ships come in -- visible as they were from a great distance; some -- the big steamers -- wreathed in smoke, others -- the sailing-vessels -- tugged along by almost invisible steamboats, raising their bare masts, like stripped trees, to the sky. These monsters hurried from every quarter of the globe to the narrow entrance of the dock that swallowed them up; and they whistled, they groaned, they shrieked, while they spat up jets of steam like someone gasping for breath.
Two young officers were walking on the crowded mole, bowing and being bowed to, with an occasional stop for a chat. Suddenly the taller of the two, Paul d'Henricel, pressed the arm of his friend, Jean Renoldi, and whispered: "Why, here's Madame Poincot, take a good look at her, I'll swear she's making eyes at you."