"Brave fellow! Perhaps when you know the truth, your heart will shake with fear. You are going to dine in a country restaurant."
"That does not terrify me in the least," he replied, smiling. "I think that it will be charming."
"It is a tiny place," she told him, "not very well known as yet; soon, I fear, likely to become fashionable. One sits at little tables on a lawn of the darkest green. If the sun shines, an umbrella of pink and white holland shades us. Quite close is the river and a field of buttercups. There are flowers in the garden, and so many shrubs that one can be almost alone. And behind, an old inn. They cook simply, but the trout comes from the river, and it is cool."
"It sounds delightful," Julien admitted; "but, madame, indeed it is I who must be host."
She shook her head.
"On the contrary, it is by subtlety that I have brought you here and that I claim to be the giver of the feast. You see, you dine with me to-night. You must ask me back again. It is the custom of your country, is it not?"
He smiled. The automobile had turned in now up a short drive, and stopped before a long, low building. Down in the gardens they could see fairylights swinging in the faint breeze. A short man, with close-cropped hair and a fierce black moustache and imperial, came hastening out to greet them. When he recognized Madame Christophor, he bowed low.
"Monsieur Léon," she said, "I bring an Englishman to try your river trout. You must give me a table near that great tree of lilac that smells so sweetly. I order nothing—you understand? But you must remember that monsieur is English. He will want his champagne dry and his brandy very old. Is it not so, my friend? Now I will give you into charge of monsieur le propriétaire here. He shall show you where you can drink a little apéritif, if you will. He shall show you, too, where to find me presently."
A trim maid came hurrying up and took possession of Madame Christophor. Julien followed his guide into a small reception room, all pink and white.
"If monsieur desires to wash," the proprietor explained, "he passes beyond there. And for an apéritif?"