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Alexandre Dumas

Camille

Dama kameliowa

Ilustracja na okładce: RondellMelling

ISBN 978-83-953177-4-3

Wydawnictwo Wymownia: www.wymownia.pl

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CAMILLE (LA DAME AUX CAMILIAS)

By Alexandre Dumas, fils

Chapter 1

In my opinion, it is impossible to create characters until one has spent a long time in studying

men, as it is impossible to speak a language until it has been seriously acquired. Not being old

enough to invent, I content myself with narrating, and I beg the reader to assure himself of the

truth of a story in which all the characters, with the exception of the heroine, are still alive. Eye-

witnesses of the greater part of the facts which I have collected are to be found in Paris, and I

might call upon them to confirm me if my testimony is not enough. And, thanks to a particular

circumstance, I alone can write these things, for I alone am able to give the final details, without

which it would have been impossible to make the story at once interesting and complete.

This is how these details came to my knowledge. On the 12th of March, 1847, I saw in the Rue

Lafitte a great yellow placard announcing a sale of furniture and curiosities. The sale was to

take place on account of the death of the owner. The owner’s name was not mentioned, but the

sale was to be held at 9, Rue d’Antin, on the 16th, from 12 to 5. The placard further announced

that the rooms and furniture could be seen on the 13th and 14th.

I have always been very fond of curiosities, and I made up my mind not to miss the occasion,

if not of buying some, at all events of seeing them. Next day I called at 9, Rue d’Antin.

It was early in the day, and yet there were already a number of visitors, both men and women,

and the women, though they were dressed in cashmere and velvet, and had their carriages

waiting for them at the door, gazed with astonishment and admiration at the luxury which they

saw before them.

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