Explore "The Illustrious Dr. Mathéus" by Erckmann-Chatrian on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
That night Frantz Mathéus could not close an eye; he ceaselessly tossed and turned with a noble enthusiasm in his feather-bed, and muttered exclamations of triumph. His heroic flight from Graufthal, the miraculous conversion of Coucou Peter, his hospitable reception by Mother Windling, kept running in his head; he felt no desire to sleep; on the contrary, never had his mind been more active, more lucid, more penetrating; but the excessive warmth of his bed made him perspire outrageously; so, towards morning, he dressed himself and quietly descended into the yard to breathe.
All was silent; the sun hardly lit the topmost leaves of the poplars; deep stillness reigned in the air; Mathéus, seated on the kerb of the cellar steps, contemplated in speechless absorption the aspect of this rustic dwelling and the repose of nature.