he would offer me a marchpane or a tangerine, and we would cross a room in which no one ever sat, whose fire was never lighted, whose walls were picked out with gilded mouldings, its ceiling painted blue in imitation of the sky, and its furniture upholstered in satin, as at my grandparents', only yellow; then we would enter what he called his 'study,' a room whose walls were hung with prints which shewed, against a dark background, a plump and rosy goddess driving a car, or standing upon a globe, or wearing a star on her brow; pictures which were popular under the Second Empire because there was thought to be something about them that suggested Pompeii, which were then generally despised, and which now people are beginning to collect again for one single and consistent reason (despite any others which they may advance), namely, that they suggest the Second Empire.
mazapan edo mandarina bat eskaintzen zidan, zeharkatzen genuen bertan inoiz gelditzen ez ginèn areto bat, sekula surik egiten ez zenekoa, hormak moldura urreztatuz apaindurik zeuzkana, sabaiak zeruaren itxura imitatu nahi zuèn urdin batez margotuak eta altzariak gure aitona-amonarenean bezala satinez bigungarriztatuak, baina kolore beilegiz; gero, berak "langela" deitzen ziòn kabinetera igarotzen ginen, bere hormetan zintzilik hainbat grabatu zituenekora, hondo beltzaren gainean jainkosa haragitsu eta arrosa koloreko bat gurdi baten gidari, globo baten gainean hegaldari, edo izar bat bekokian dizdizari, agertzen diren grabatuak, bigarren Inperioaren garaian jendearen gustuko zirenak, izan ere halako aire ponpeiar bat kausitzen zitzaielako, baina gero destainaz baztertuak izan zirenak, eta orain atzera berriz estimatzen hasiak, arrazoi sinple bakar batengatik, eman ohi diren gainerakoen despit: