{"product_id":"2940013508767","title":"ESMERALDA","description":"To begin, I am a Frenchman, a teacher of languages, and a poor\u003cbr\u003eman,--necessarily a poor man, as the great world would say, or I should\u003cbr\u003enot be a teacher of languages, and my wife a copyist of great pictures,\u003cbr\u003eselling her copies at small prices. In our own eyes, it is true, we are\u003cbr\u003enot so poor--my Clélie and I. Looking back upon our past we congratulate\u003cbr\u003eourselves upon our prosperous condition. There was a time when we were\u003cbr\u003epoorer than we are now, and were not together, and were, moreover, in\u003cbr\u003eLondon instead of in Paris. These were indeed calamities: to be poor,\u003cbr\u003eto teach, to live apart, not even knowing each other--and in England! In\u003cbr\u003eEngland we spent years; we instructed imbeciles of all grades; we were\u003cbr\u003echilled by east winds, and tortured by influenza; we vainly strove to\u003cbr\u003econciliate the appalling English; we were discouraged and desolate. But\u003cbr\u003ethis, thank _le bon Dieu!_ is past. We are united; we have our little\u003cbr\u003eapartment--upon the fifth floor, it is true, but still not hopelessly\u003cbr\u003efar from the Champs Elysées. Clélie paints her little pictures, or\u003cbr\u003ecopies those of some greater artist, and finds sale for them. She is not\u003cbr\u003ea great artist herself, and is charmingly conscious of the fact.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At fifteen,\" she says, \"I regretted that I was not a genius; at five\u003cbr\u003eand twenty, I rejoice that I made the discovery so early, and so gave\u003cbr\u003emyself time to become grateful for the small gifts bestowed upon me. Why\u003cbr\u003eshould I eat out my heart with envy? Is it not possible that I might be\u003cbr\u003ea less clever woman than I am, and a less lucky one?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn my part I have my pupils,--French pupils who take lessons in English,\u003cbr\u003eGerman, or Italian; English or American pupils who generally learn\u003cbr\u003eFrench, and, upon the whole, I do not suffer from lack of patrons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is my habit when Clélie is at work upon a copy in one of the great\u003cbr\u003egalleries to accompany her to the scene of her labor in the morning and\u003cbr\u003ecall for her at noon, and, in accordance with this habit, I made my way\u003cbr\u003eto the Louvre at midday upon one occasion three years ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI found my wife busy at her easel in the _Grande Galerie_, and when I\u003cbr\u003eapproached her and laid my hand upon her shoulder, as was my wont, she\u003cbr\u003elooked up with a smile and spoke to me in a cautious undertone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am glad,\" she said, \"that you are not ten minutes later. Look at\u003cbr\u003ethose extraordinary people.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47121084842224,"sku":"2940013508767","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013508767_p0.jpg?v=1763582118","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013508767","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}