36 STRAY -AW AYS 



the long shank, and the fat made of indiarubber, the 

 tAvo square inches of beefsteak without any fat, con- 

 cluding with cream cheese and prunes, a rigorous 

 seven of the latter going to the portion. All is eaten; 

 the little thick plate that makes the allowance of 

 beefsteak and fried potatoes seem an overflowing 

 mess of Benjamin is cleared to the last chip, to the 

 last trawl of the fork in the gravy for the scrap of 

 fried onion that never was there ; sometimes the gravy 

 itself is mopped up with bread, a thing not agreeable 

 to see. The natives know better than their com- 

 rades how to extract the utmost from the bill of fare ; 

 they know that the Chateaubriand at sevenpence- 

 halfpenny is not as good value as the ordinary beef- 

 steak at fivepence, and they take the difference in a 

 plate of spinach, or a salad, or a glass of black coffee 

 that tastes of liquorice and sarsaparilla, but gives a 

 feeling of having dined. The English, with true 

 British belief in the expensive, take the Chateau- 

 briand, and afterwards buy a half-pennyworth of 

 milk and pennyworth of bread, and go hungrily home 

 to make tea. 



It can be seen that prices at the cremerie are 

 moderate. It is possible to dine sufficiently for a 

 single franc; satiatingly, with three courses and a 

 bottle of ordinaire, for eighteenpence ; it is also 

 possible, on days when there is bouilli at threepence, 

 to stay one's appetite for that sum. But in any case 

 the forks and spoons will be more than dubious, 

 the serviettes like pieces of coarse sheeting, and the 

 eyes must be averted at the unescapable moment 

 when the prune juice or the soup washes over 

 Angelique's thumb as she puts down the plate with 

 a swing. A. memory rises of soup a Voseille, that 

 seductively-named potion, that looked like water 

 in which the breakfast things had been washed, 



