Part 73 (1/2)
”Irish.”
”You bet you, miss; Hirlanday; that's me.... You picked a good looker this toime, Yank. But wait till Oi git to Paree. Oi clane up a good hundre' pound on this job in bonuses. What part d'ye come from, Yank?”
”Virginia. I live in New York.”
”Oi been in Detroit; goin' back there to git in the automoebile business soon as Oi clane up a few more bonuses. Europe's dead an stinkin', Yank.
Ain't no place for a young fellow. It's dead an stinkin', that's what it is.”
”It's pleasanter to live here than in America.... Say, d'you often get held up that way?”
”Ain't happened to me before, but it has to pals o' moine.”
”Who d'you think it was?
”Oi dunno; 'Unns or some of these b.l.o.o.d.y secret agents round the Peace Conference.... But Oi got to go; that despatch won't keep.”
”All right. The beer's on me.”
”Thank ye, Yank.” The man got to his feet, shook hands with Andrews and Jeanne, jumped on the bicycle and rode out of the garden to the road, threading his way through the iron chairs and tables.
”Wasn't he a funny customer?” cried Andrews, laughing. ”What a wonderful joke things are!”
The waiter arrived with the omelette that began their lunch.
”Gives you an idea of how the old lava's bubbling in the volcano.
There's nowhere on earth a man can dance so well as on a volcano.”
”But don't talk that way,” said Jeanne laying down her knife and fork.
”It's terrible. We will waste our youth to no purpose. Our fathers enjoyed themselves when they were young.... And if there had been no war we should have been so happy, Etienne and I. My father was a small manufacturer of soap and perfumery. Etienne would have had a splendid situation. I should never have had to work. We had a nice house. I should have been married....”
”But this way, Jeanne, haven't you more freedom?”
She shrugged her shoulders. Later she burst out: ”But what's the good of freedom? What can you do with it? What one wants is to live well and have a beautiful house and be respected by people. Oh, life was so sweet in France before the war.”
”In that case it's not worth living,” said Andrews in a savage voice, holding himself in.
They went on eating silently. The sky became overcast. A few drops splashed on the table-cloth.
”We'll have to take coffee inside,” said Andrews.
”And you think it is funny that people shoot at a man on a motorcycle going through a wood. All that seems to me terrible, terrible,” said Jeanne.
”Look out. Here comes the rain!”
They ran into the restaurant through the first hissing sheet of the shower and sat at a table near a window watching the rain drops dance and flicker on the green iron tables. A scent of wet earth and the mushroom-like odor of sodden leaves came in borne on damp gusts through the open door. A waiter closed the gla.s.s doors and bolted them.
”He wants to keep out the spring. He can't,” said Andrews.
They smiled at each other over their coffee cups. They were in sympathy again.