J.K. Huysmans


THE CATHEDRAL


Translated by Clara Bell


_Publishing History_
First published in France in 1898
First English edition in 1898




THE CATHEDRAL.




CHAPTER I.


At Chartres, as you turn out of the little market-place, which is swept
in all weathers by the surly wind from the flats, a mild air as of a
cellar, made heavy by a soft, almost smothered scent of oil, puffs in
your face on entering the solemn gloom of the sheltering forest.

Durtal knew it well, and the delightful moment when he could take