Watches are really luxuries, not necessities, with the Turnours, because
their appetites always strike the hour of one, and if they're sometimes
a little in advance, they can be relied upon never to be behindhand. I
knew before I glanced at the little bracelet-watch Pamela gave me
(hidden under my sleeve) that it must be on the stroke of half-past
twelve when her ladyship began to complain of the sharp wind, and say we
had better be getting back to St. Remy. She was cross, as usual when she
is hungry, and said that if I continued to go about "like a snail in a
dream" whenever she fetched me to carry her things on these short
expeditions, she would leave me in the hotel to mend her clothes;
whereupon I became actually servile in my ministrations. I brushed a
microscopic speck of dust off her gown; I pushed in a hairpin; I tucked
up a flying end of veil; I straightened her toque, and made myself
altogether indispensable; for the bare idea of being left behind was a
box on the ear. I could not endure such a punishment--and the front
seat would look so empty, so unfinished, without me!
As we went back down the steep hill from old Glanum, St.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194