Over Periscope Pond : $b Letters from two American girls in Paris October 1916-January 1918Root, Esther Sayles
History
Over Periscope Pond : $b Letters from two American girls in Paris October 1916-January 1918
Root, Esther Sayles
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
I have seen it! I have seen it! Paris is the most romantic place in the
world. Talk about London! Oh, I never shall forget this afternoon. I
went to sleep almost before I stopped writing the above in pencil and
never woke up until twelve o'clock. I asked the femme de chambre whether
or not any one had called for me, thinking Miss Curtis might have tried
to find me, and she said that I had had two telephone calls, and that a
young gentleman had been here in a taxi. It was Mr. Baxter, of course,
because he said he would take me back to the Quai d'Orsay and help me
with my trunk and customs and prefect of police; and there, they'd told
him that I was asleep, and not to be waked up! I felt hopeless at the
thought of having to go by myself without any idea of what to do! I
suppose Mrs. Bigelow may have called me up. I had no idea of Miss
Curtis's whereabouts and I knew that the Shurtleffs are at their
headquarters all day long and I had no idea where that was, and I knew
that Mrs. Bigelow was at the other end of Paris and couldn't help me
even if I did see her.
I didn't feel like lunch, so I took the map of Paris and went out in the
dripping streets with no umbrella. I was so confused and so embarrassed
with my map, which I didn't dare open; I felt that people were staring
at me, and my rubbers and umbrella were in my trunk and my coat and hat
and feet were soaking. I just wandered along and finally came to a taxi.
I decided to go to Mrs. Shurtleff's house, whether she was in or not. So
I said, 6 Place Denfert-Rochereau, and got out at a big apartment house.
I walked in, and there was no elevator boy or telephone girl or
anything, so I rang at the first apartment and asked for Dr. Shurtleff.
The maid said he wasn't there, and I asked if she could tell what
apartment he lived in and she said she didn't know; finally her face
lighted up and she showed me into a little parlor and said, "You come
for a consultation! I'll go and get the doctor." Heavens and earth, I'd
stumbled into a physician's office. I said, "No, no!" and went out. I
thought I'd have to ring at all the apartments to find the Shurtleffs,
but I found a concierge, tremendously en négligé, who pointed to a
little elevator and said, "third floor." I got in expecting to be
followed, but bang went the doors without apparently word or sign from
any one and up I shot. Up and up; and I was scared to death. I felt sure
I was going through the roof; but eventually we stopped and I got out
and rang at the first bell to the left, as I'd been told. No answer; I
rang and rang; still no answer. I gathered that they were at the
headquarters, so I sat down on the top step of the stair and wrote on
the back of my visiting card that I was at the Hôtel des St. Pères. I
was a little discouraged, because it meant that I would have to wait at
the hotel until some one could call or write. In the mean time the lift
was standing inert and I couldn't make it go down--of course, I wouldn't
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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