"Yes, he was a watchmaker, and, thanks to him, the whole town where
he lived knew exactly what time it was. Only my mother did not know
it. She believed herself to be a great lady, although she was only a
poor watchmaker's wife, but was unable to efface the recollections
of her youth. She was the daughter of a French marquis, who, after
gambling away his whole fortune at the court of Louis XV., had
emigrated with his young wife and daughter to Berlin, in order to
seek another fortune at the court of Frederick the Great. But
Frederick the Great had already become somewhat distrustful of the
roving marquises and counts whom France sent to Berlin. Marquis de
Barbasson, my worthy grandfather, received, therefore, no office and
no money, and a time of distress set in, such as he would previously
have deemed utterly unlikely to befall the descendant of his
ancestors. He left Berlin with his family, to make his living
somewhere else as a teacher of languages. He travelled from one
place to another, and arrived at length at a small town called New
Brandenburg. There he remained, for his feet were weary, and his
poor wife was sick and tired of life. Well, Madame la Marquise de
Barbasson died, and the marquis taught the young ladies of New
Brandenburg how to conjugate avoir and etre; his daughter assisted
him, and, as she was very pretty, she taught many a young man how to
conjugate aimer.
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