“She wishes to know whether we should like her to come with us.”
My friend's utter surprise restored my self-possession. He stammered:
“With us? Where to? What for? How?”
“I don't know, but she made this strange proposal to me in a most
irritated voice. I told her that we were going to the hotel, and she
said: 'Very well, let us all go there!' I suppose she is without a
penny. She certainly has a very strange way of making acquaintances.”
Paul, who 'was very much excited, exclaimed:
“I am quite agreeable. Tell her that we will go wherever she likes.”
Then, after a moment's hesitation, he said uneasily:
“We must know, however, with whom she wishes to go--with you or with
me?”
I turned to the Italian, who did not even seem to be listening to us,
and said:
“We shall be very happy to have you with us, but my friend wishes to
know whether you will take my arm or his?”
She opened her black eyes wide with vague surprise, and said, “Che ni
fa?”
I was obliged to explain myself. “In Italy, I believe, when a man looks
after a woman, fulfils all her wishes, and satisfies all her caprices,
he is called a patito. Which of us two will you take for your patito?”
Without the slightest hesitation she replied:
“You!”
I turned to Paul. “You see, my friend, she chooses me; you have no
chance.”
“All the better for you,” he replied in a rage. Then, after thinking for
a few moments, he went on:
“Do you really care about taking this creature with you? She will spoil
our journey. What are we to do with this woman, who looks like I don't
know what? They will not take us in at any decent hotel.”
I, however, just began to find the Italian much nicer than I had thought
her at first, and I was now very desirous to take her with us. The idea
delighted me.
I replied, “My dear fellow, we have accepted, and it is too late to
recede. You were the first to advise me to say 'Yes.'”
“It is very stupid,” he growled, “but do as you please.”
The train whistled, slackened speed, and we ran into the station.
I got out of the carriage, and offered my new companion my hand. She
jumped out lightly, and I gave her my arm, which she took with an air
of seeming repugnance. As soon as we had claimed our luggage we set off
into the town, Paul walking in utter silence.
“To what hotel shall we go?” I asked him. “It may be difficult to get
into the City of Paris with a woman, especially with this Italian.”
Paul interrupted me. “Yes, with an Italian who looks more like a dancer
than a duchess. However, that is no business of mine. Do just as you
please.”
I was in a state of perplexity. I had written to the City of Paris to
retain our rooms, and now I did not know what to do.
Two commissionaires followed us with our luggage. I continued: “You
might as well go on first, and say that we are coming; and give the
landlord to understand that I have a--a friend with me and that we
should like rooms quite by themselves for us three, so as not to be
brought in contact with other travellers. He will understand, and we
will decide according to his answer.”
But Paul growled, “Thank you, such commissions and such parts do not
suit me, by any means. I did not come here to select your apartments or
to minister to your pleasures.”
But I was urgent: “Look here, don't be angry. It is surely far better to
go to a good hotel than to a bad one, and it is not difficult to ask the
landlord for three separate bedrooms and a dining-room.”