“Why not?” I said.
She slipped her arm through mine. “Don’t let’s pretend I’m not your wife,” she said. “I like being your wife.”
“I’m glad and proud about that, Mrs. Cain,” I said, and meant it. “Shall we talk to that important-looking gentleman with the menus and see what he would like us to eat?”
She nodded.
We presented ourselves to the captain of waiters. He bowed to Clair, bowed to me.
“This is our first visit,” I explained. “We want a good time. Can we leave it to you?”
“Certainly, monsieur,” he returned, his voice was as dry as sand. “Perhaps you would care to decide what you will eat first, and then perhaps you would like to visit our cocktail bar? The cabaret begins at eleven. I will arrange a table near the floor for you.”
I wasn’t kidding myself he was making a fuss of me. He was making a fuss of Clair.
We decided, after some thought and discussion, to have anti-pasto, steaks broiled over charcoal, hashed brown potatoes in cream, combination salads and a bottle of Liebfraumlich.
The captain of waiters wrote the order in a little gold-covered note-book, bowed, said it would be ready for us in half an hour. He personally conducted us to the cocktail bar, signalled to the barman, left us.