Thursday evening was a time of great rejoicing with me whenever a terrible storm descended¹ upon Limoise, and thus made it impossible for me to return home that night.  
It happened occasionally; and since I had had the experience, I used to hope that it might occur often, and especially did I wish for a storm when I had failed to prepare my lessons. One inhuman² professor had instituted Thursday tasks, and it was necessary for me to drag my text and copy-books with me to Limoise; my beloved holidays, spent in the sweet open air, were overcast³ by their dark shadow.
 
One evening at about eight o'clock the much desired storm broke upon us with superb fury. Lucette and I were in the large drawing-room that resounded⁴ with the noise of the thunder, and we felt none too safe there. Its great wall-spaces were broken by only two or three old engravings in ancient frames. Lucette, under her mother's direction, was putting the finishing touches to a piece of needle work, and, on the rather worn-out piano, I was playing, with the soft pedal down, one of Rameau's dances; the old-fashioned music sounded exquisite⁶ to me as it mingled⁷ with the noise of the great thunder claps.
 
When Lucette's work was completed, she turned over the leaves of my copy-book lying on the table. After she had examined it she gave me a meaning look, intended only for my eyes, that said as plainly as a look can that she knew I had neglected my task. Suddenly she asked: “where did you leave your Duruy's 'History'?”
 
My Duruy's “History”! Where indeed had I left it? It was a new book with scarcely a blot⁸ in it. Great heavens! I had forgotten it and left it out of doors at the far end of the garden in the most removed asparagus bed. For my historical studies I had selected the asparagus bed which was like a bit of copse, for the feathery green plants, past their season, grew high and luxuriant; a hazel glen, leafy and impenetrable, and as shady as a verdant⁹ grotto¹⁰, was the spot I had chosen for the more exacting¹¹ and laborious¹² work of Latin versification. As this time I was scolded by Lucette's mother for my great carelessness, we decided¹³ to go immediately and rescue the book.
 
We organized a search part............