28 o 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
Adresse. There used to be a Casino at Marie 
Christine, and a second at Havre ; but an 
arrangement was arrived at by which both 
these Casinos were done away with, and a new 
Casino was built half-way between the two on 
the confines of Sainte Adresse. It contains a 
bare and comfortless theatre, the usual salle 
des jeux, and very little else, but such as it is 
it represents all the “ gaiety ” of the neigh- 
bourhood. 
One can hardly call Havre a holiday resort, 
though two or three days spent there would 
hardly be wasted, especially in the company 
of a motor-car, for it is not at all a bad centre 
for excursions. There is a town — if it can be 
called a town — that can be reached from 
Havre, which, from the Parisian point of view, 
is to all intents and purposes the one seaside 
town in France — and that is Trouville. 
Trouville is, in the season, one of the most 
expensive spots in Europe, which is one 
reason why the English do not flock there. 
It contains what is assuredly one of the most 
expensive hotels in Europe. The individual 
who takes his wife and family to the Hotel des 
Roches Noires for, say, a month in the high 
season, and does them really well — that is, 
gives them the best which the house has to 
offer — when he comes away — if he has paid his 
bill — has left a small fortune behind him. 
The idea that an Englishman, because he is 
being charged a high price, is being cheated is 
“they were quite nice nectarines, rut the 
HEAD WAITER WANTED TWENTY - FIVE FRANCS 
APIECE.” 
but those nectarines all went ! There was 
scarcely a Frenchman in the room who did 
not treat himself to one. At the next table to 
mine was a man, with his wife and his daughter 
absurd. Nowadays — whatever it 
used to be once upon a time — an 
Englishman in a really smart hotel 
in France is looked at askance. 
French people on pleasure bent are 
much more extravagant than we are ; 
they do not seem to care what they 
spend. 1 remember dining once at 
Trouville, when a basket of nectarines 
was offered by the head waiter. They 
were quite nice nectarines, but that 
head waiter wanted twenty-five francs 
apiece. A pound for two or three 
mouthfuls seemed to me too much — 
