Explore "The Marksman" by Charles Pierre Baudelaire on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
As the carriage traversed the wood he bade the driver draw up in the / neighbourhood of a shooting gallery, saying that he would like to have a / few shots to kill time. Is not the slaying of the monster Time the most / ordinary and legitimate occupation of man? -- So he gallantly offered his / hand to his dear, adorable, and execrable wife; the mysterious woman to / whom he owed so many pleasures, so many pains, and perhaps also a great / part of his genius.
Several bullets went wide of the proposed mark, one of them flew far / into the heavens, and as the charming creature laughed deliriously, / mocking the clumsiness of her husband, he turned to her brusquely and / said: "Observe that doll yonder, to the right, with its nose in the air, / and with so haughty an appearance. Very well, dear angel, _I will / imagine to myself that it is you! _"
He closed both eyes and pulled the trigger. The doll was neatly / decapitated.
Then, bending towards his dear, adorable, and execrable wife, his / inevitable and pitiless muse, he kissed her respectfully upon the hand, / and added, "Ah, dear angel, how I thank you for my skill! "