Peter Whiffle : $b His life and worksVan Vechten, Carl
General
Peter Whiffle : $b His life and works
Van Vechten, Carl
American fiction -- 20th century
Foyot's, Foyot's, he rolled the name meditatively over on his tongue. I
don't know....
We leaned back against the seat and drank in the soft air. I don't
think that we talked very much. The cocher was driving over the bridge
of Alexandre III with its golden horses gleaming in the late afternoon
sunlight when Peter bent forward and addressed him,
Allez au Café Anglais.
Where meant nothing to me, but I was a little surprised at his
hesitation. The cocher changed his route, grumbling a bit, for he was
out of his course.
I don't know why I ever suggested Foyot, said Peter, or the Café
Anglais either. We'll go to the Petit Riche.
_Chapter III_
If the reader has been led to expect a chapter devoted to an account
of Mary Garden in Aphrodite, he will be disappointed. I did not see
Mary Garden that evening, nor for many evenings thereafter, and I
do not remember, indeed, that Peter Whiffle ever referred to her
again. We dined at a quiet little restaurant, Boilaive by name, near
the Folies-Bergère. The interior, as bare of decoration as are most
such interiors in Paris, where the food and wines are given more
consideration than the mural paintings, was no larger than that of a
small shop. My companion led me straight to a tiny winding staircase
in one corner, which we ascended, and presently we found ourselves
in a private room, with three tables in it, to be sure, but two of
these remained unoccupied. We began our dinner with escargots à la
bordelaise, which I was eating for the first time, but I have never
been squeamish about novel food. A man with a broad taste in food
is inclined to be tolerant in regard to everything. Also, when he
begins to understand the cooking of a nation, he is on the way to an
understanding of the nation itself. There were many other dishes, but
I particularly remember a navarin because Peter spoke of it, pointing
out that every country has one dish in which it is honourable to put
whatever is left over in the larder. In China (or out of it, in Chinese
restaurants), this dish is called chop suey; in Ireland, Irish stew;
in Spain, olla or puchero; in France, ragoût or navarin; in Italy,
minestra; and in America, hash. We lingered over such matters, getting
acquainted, so to speak, passing through the polite stages of early
conversation, slipping beyond the poses that one unconsciously assumes
with a new friend. I think I did most of the talking, although Whiffle
told me that he had come from Ohio, that he was in Paris on a sort
of mission, something to do with literature, I gathered. We ate and
drank slowly and it must have been nearly ten when he paid the bill
and we drove away, this time to Fouquet's, an open-air restaurant in
the Champs-Elysées, where we sat on the broad terrasse and drank many
bocks, so many, indeed, that by the time we had decided to settle our
account, the saucers in front of us were piled almost to our chins. We
should probably have remained there all night, had he not suggested
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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