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Jules obtained a small
job in a theater, but the years that followed were
lean ones. (41)
“I eat beefsteak that a few days ago was pulling a
cart through the streets of Paris,” (42)
he wrote to his mother. Once he ate nothing but dried prunes for three days
because he had spent his food money on a set of Shakespeare. He was ragged
and cold. “My stockings,” he told a friend, “ are like a spider web in which
a hippopotamus has been sleeping.”
Though his father had deprived
him of (43)
his allowance, Jules remained the devoted, loving son. He wrote regularly,
even when he was a middle-aged man. He discussed his books, his projects,
his dreams, and rarely took a step without first seeking
parental advice. (44)
It was this strong family feeling which kept him a church-goer and a religious,
even puritanical man in gay and pleasure-loving Paris. Cocky,
(45)
good-looking, and “irresistible” to the ladies, Jules promptly fell in love.
Monsieur Verne recovered, (46)
however, fell in love again, and this time married the girl—a handsome widow
with two children.
With the help of his father,
he became a stockbroker. (47)
His financial position improved, but he continued to live in an attic and
to write.
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English
Intensive Reading 
Introduction
