“Have you? Aren’t they shockin’?”
“Well I don’t know. I thought ‘Lourdes’ was simply wonderful.”
“Is that a nice one—what’s it about?”
“Oh you know—it’s about the Madonna of Lourdes, the miracles, in the south of France. It begins with a crowded trainload of sick people going down through France on a very hot day ... it’s simply stupendous ... you feel you’re in the train, you go through it all”—she turned away and looked through the window overcome ... “and there’s a thing called ‘La Rêve’” she went on incoherently with a break in her voice “about an embroideress and a man called Felicien—it’s simply the most lovely thing.”
Mrs. Orly came near to the table.
“You understand about books don’t you,” she said wistfully.
“Oh no” said Miriam. “I’ve hardly read anything.”
“I wish you’d put those two down.”
“I don’t know the names of the translations,” announced Miriam with conceited solicitude.
A long loud yawn resounded through the door.