CHAPTER XI 



I move to the Annexe — Description of building — The baroness and her 

 baby — Evoa and poia — The corals of the lagoon — The Chinese shrine — 

 The Tahitian sky, 



LOVAINA suggested, since I liked to be about 

 the lagoon, that I move to the Annexe, a room- 

 ing-house she owned and conducted as an ad- 

 junct to the Tiare. I moved there, and regretted that 

 I had stayed so long in the animal-yard. And yet I 

 should have missed knowing Lovaina intimately, the 

 hour-to-hour incidents of her curious menage, the close 

 contact with the girls and the guests, the El Dorado 

 heroes, the Dummy, and others. 



The Annexe fronted the lagoon. It was a two-story 

 building, with broad verandas in front and rear, and 

 stood back a few feet from the Broom Road. It had a 

 very large garden behind, with tall cocoanut trees, and 

 the finest rose-bushes in Tahiti. Vava, the Dummy, 

 put all the sweepings from his stable on the flower beds, 

 and Lovaina cut the roses for the tables at the Tiare 

 Hotel and for presents to friends and prosperous tour- 

 ists. Vava was often about the garden, and drove Lo- 

 vaina to and fro in her old chaise. 



When he brought me and my belongings from the 

 Tiare, Lovaina came with us. She signed to him to go 

 to the glacerie, the ice- and soda-water factory, to buy 

 ice for the hotel. The Dummy was intensely j ealous of 



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