That meant that he did not approve of this arrangement--why?--Really these old servants are unsupportable. The antediluvian waiters come in to lay the table presently, and I ordered peaches and grapes and some very special chablis--I felt exultant at my having manoeuvred that Miss Sharp should eat with me! She came in when all was ready with her usual serene calm--and took her place at right angles to me. Her hands are not nearly so red to-day, and their movements when she began to eat pleased me--her wrists are tiny, and everything she does is dainty. She did not peck her food like a bird, as very slight people sometimes do--and she was entirely at ease--it was I who was nervous--. "Won't you take off your glasses," I suggested--but she declined--. "Of what use--I can see with them on." This disconcerted me. The waiter poured out the chablis carefully. She took it casually without a remark, but for an instant a cynical expression grew round her mouth--What was she thinking of?--it is impossible to tell, not seeing her eyes--but some cynical thought was certainly connected with the wine--By the direction of her head she may have been reading the label on the bottle--Does she know how much it cost and disapprove of that in war time--or what? We talked of French politics next,--that is, she answered everything I said with intelligence, and then let the subject drop immediately--Nothing could be more exasperating because I knew it was deliberate and not that she is stupid, or could not keep up the most profound conversation. She seemed to know the war situation very well--Then I began about French literature--and at the end of the meal had dragged out enough replies to my questions to know that she is an exquisitely cultivated person--Oh! what a companion she would make if only I could break down this wretched barrier of her reserve! She ate a peach--and I do hope she liked it--but she refused a cigarette when I offered her one--. "I don't smoke." "Oh, I am so sorry I did not know--" and I put out mine. "You need not do that--I don't mind other people smoking, so long as I need not do it myself." I re-lit another one--. "Do you know--I believe I shall have my new eye put in before Christmas!" I told her just before she rose from the table--and for the first time I have known her, the faintest smile came round her mouth--a kindly smile--. --"I am so very glad," she said. And all over me there crept a thrill of pleasure. After lunch I suggested the _parc_, and that I should dictate in some lovely cool spot. She made no objection, and immediately put on her hat--a plain dark blue straw. She walked a little behind my bath chair as we turned out of the Reservoires courtyard and began ascending the avenue in the _parc_, so that I could not converse with her. By the time we had reached the _parterre_ I called to her-- "Miss Sharp"-- She advanced and kept beside me--. "Does not this place interest you awfully?" I hazarded. "Yes."