Page:The Old Countess (1927).pdf/64

 that Monsieur et Madame were to have the rooms they had so much appreciated last year.  ' C ' est bon de vous revoir, Madame, '  she said to Jill.  ' Vous aimez donc notre petit Buissac?' and Jill had to say she did, though feeling that she so little loved to-night the noisy restaurant, Monsieur Michon's affability, or Madame Michon's mole with the crisp black hairs gushing out of it.

While Dick went to put away the car and while Amélie descended to fetch hot water, Jill leaned on her window-sill and looked out over the river. It was strange how she was thinking of England this evening, thinking of its quiet, its decorum, its dullness; and with yearning. How far away it seemed! How unattainable, almost! And what was she to do with herself now? Try to read and understand 'Appearance and Reality,' perhaps.

Graham had remarked, more than once, that the reason the food was so good at the Ecu d'Or was because they had not attempted baths or hot-water pipes, and Amélie soon appeared with the two steaming brocs.

Jill turned to smile at her. She had elicited from Amélie on her last stay that her wages were piteously small and had told her that she could easily find her a good place with friends in Paris; but Amélie was not able to leave une vieille Maman. Jill now asked after this impeding relative and heard, with regret, that she was in thriving health.

'How would you like, Jill,' Dick asked from the ad-