CHAPTER 6
It was close on ten when the train stopped at Paris, and Beatrice and the fat girl alighted to the platform.
"Do you reside here?" asked the girl in broken English.
"I am here on a visit," replied Beatrice.
"I see; is it not cold mademoiselle?" said this friendly girl.
"Very," answered Beatrice buttoning the collar of her coat.
"Yes very," continued the girl, "ah Mademoiselle you have no wraps; take my shawl," and without another word the girl pulled off her shawl and flung it round the shoulders of the astonished Beatrice, and then disappeared into the refreshment room from which she did not reappear again in a hurry. Beatrice was too astonished to speak and hardly liked the coarse woollen shawl which had been so hospitably flung on to her shoulders.
Just as she had with some difficulty found her luggage a very grand footman dressed in green plush came up, and touching his hat said "Pour le Chateau?"
Beatrice said "Oui" in a very vague manner, and soon found herself rumbling along the streets of Paris in a very comfortable carriage with her luggage piled round her in a kind of pyramid and the friendly girl's shawl still clinging to her shoulders.