"Billets" from Marcel Proust to his servants
Note in verse to Nicolas Cottin:
"In twenty minutes please fetch me
A coffee that's piping hot.
I will take it, one could say, for the cold that I have
got."
"Dans vingt minutes donnez
moi
Un bon café au lait qui fume.
J'en prendrai, dit-on, pour mon rhume."
Note to Odilon Albaret c.1922
"Odilon, I cannot speak yet, but as I fear that after the day I have spent I will not be able to see you this morning, I wanted to put your mind at rest..."
Notes to Céleste Albaret c.1922
"I would like another cup of coffee. I will serve myself... "
"Where is Odilon? I would like a fire... "
"Pass me la Prisonnière. Odilon must leave the room."
"No misunderstandings. Do not come in as long as I don't ring."
"How many times must I say it, that I will get dressed alone and mustn't keep getting up too early or too late?"
"But the pillow isn't pressed even if I am upright; I need to warm up my bed with 2 bottles to start with then 2 or 3 jerseys."
"Be sure to cover the cracked window pane because I have just heard it thunder. You have no idea how much I suffer."
"Where is the good pipérazine? The compote in 20 minutes but without saying a word to me."
"You could always buy some asparagus and do them straight away. I might have them or I might not.." 27 May 1922.
"do you have to take aspirin on an empty stomach? the hot water bottles are not hot enough Quiet..." 12 Oct 1922.
"Excuse me but when I came back to bed I didn't think you were still in bed. In spite of my stomach ache I thought..." 16 Oct 1922.