at the sign of the cat and racket

At the Sign of the Cat and Racketby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara BellDEDICATIONTo Mademoiselle Marie de MontheauAT THE SIGN OF THE CAT AND RACKETHalf-way down the Rue Saint-Denis, almost at the corner of the Rue duPetit-Lion, there stood formerly one of those delightful houses whichenable historians to reconstruct old Paris by analogy. The threateningwalls of this tumbledown abode seemed to have been decorated withhieroglyphics. For what other name could the passer-by give to the Xsand Vs which the horizontal or diagonal timbers traced on the front,outlined by little parallel cracks in the plaster? It was evident thatevery beam quivered in its mortices at the passing of the lightest.

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