ted derision I, from Essex, am
superior to you all!" Audrey, with glance downcast, followed Miss Ingate,
and Musa came last, sinuously. Nobody looked up at them more than casually,
but at intervals during the passage Tommy and Nick nodded and smiled: "How
d'ye do? How d'ye do?" "_Bon soir,_" and answers were given in American or
French voices.

They came to rest near the billiard tables, and near an aperture with a
shelf where all the waiters congregated to shout their orders. A
grey-haired waiter, with the rapidity and dexterity of a conjurer, laid a
cloth over the marble round which they sat, Audrey and Miss Ingate on the
plush bench, and Tommy and Nick, with Musa between them, on chairs
opposite. The waiter then discussed with them for five minutes what they
should eat, and he argued the problem seriously, wisely, helpfully, as
befitted. It was Audrey, in full view of a buffet laden with shell-fish and
fruit, who first suggested lobster, and lobster was chosen, nothing but
lobster. Miss Ingate said that she was not a bit tired, and that lobster
was her dream. The sentiment was universal at the table. When asked what
she would drink, Audrey was on the point of answering "lemonade." But a
doubt about the propriety of everlasting lemonade for a widow with much
knowledge of the world, stopped her.

"I vote we all have grenadines," said Nick.

Grenadine was agreeable to Audrey's ear, and everyone concurred.

The ordering was always summarised and explained by Musa in a few phrases
which, to Audrey, sounded very different from the French of Tommy and Nick.
And she took oath that she would instantly begin to learn to speak French,
not like Tommy and Nick, whose accent she cruelly despised, but like Musa.

Then Tommy and Nick removed their cloaks, and sat displayed as a geisha and
a contadina, respectively. Musa had already unmasked his devilry. The cafe
was not in the least disturbed by these gorgeous and strange apparitions.
An orchestra began to play. Lobster arrived, and high glasses full of
glinting green. Audrey ate and drank with gusto, with innocence, with the
intensest love of life. And she was the most beautiful and touching sight
in the cafe-restaurant. Miss Ingate, grinning, caught her eye with joyous
mockery. "We are going it, aren't we, Audrey?" shrieked Miss Ingate.

Miss Thompkins and Miss Nickall began slowly to differentiate themselves in
Audrey's mind. At first they were merely two American girls--the