"A dull town (triste ville)," he observed, staring into the street.

It was a brilliant day; a southerly buster was raging, and we could see the passers-by, men and women, buffeted by the wind on the sidewalks, the sunlit fronts of the houses across the road blurred by the tall whirls of dust.

"I descended on shore," he said, "to stretch my legs a little, but.

.

." He didn't finish, and sank into the depths of his repose.
"Pray--tell me," he began, coming up ponderously, "what was there at the bottom of this affair--precisely (au juste)?
It is curious.