Bertha by Guy de Maupassant — Read

My old friend -- sometimes one has friends much older than oneself -- my old friend Doctor Bonnet had often invited me to stay with him at his house at Riom. I did not know Auvergne at all, and I decided to go and see him about the middle of the summer of 1876.

I arrived on the morning train, and the first figure I saw upon the station platform was the doctor's. He was dressed in grey, and wore a round black broad-brimmed soft felt hat, whose very high crown narrowed as it rose, like the chimney of an anthracite stove; it was a true Auvergne hat, and positively smelt of charcoal-burning. Clad thus, the doctor had the appearance of an old young man, with his slender body wrapped in the light-coloured coat, and his large head with its white hair.