“What do the local people do for good cooking?”

“That’s easy. They get married.”

“And live happily ever afterward?”

“Yes.”

“Are you,” I asked, “married?”

“No. I eat at the hotel dining-room.”

“And know what to order?”

“Yes.”

“How about eating with a perfect stranger,” I asked, “and showing him the ropes?”

She laughed nervously. “You aren’t exactly a stranger.”