“Oh, you know, men,” answered the girl. “They come and sit down opposite to you, and won’t leave you alone. At most of the places, you’ve got to put up with it or go outside. Here, old Gustav never permits it.”
Joan was troubled. She was rather looking forward to occasional restaurant dinners, where she would be able to study London’s Bohemia.
“You mean,” she asked, “that they force themselves upon you, even if you make it plain—”
“Oh, the plainer you make it that you don’t want them, the more sport they think it,” interrupted the girl with a laugh.
Joan hoped she was exaggerating. “I must try and select a table where there is some good-natured girl to keep me in countenance,” she said with a smile.
“Yes, I was glad to see you,” answered the girl. “It’s hateful, dining by oneself. Are you living alone?”
“Yes,” answered Joan. “I’m a journalist.”
“I thought you were something,” answered the girl. “I’m an artist. Or, rather, was,” she added after a pause.
“Why did you give it up?” asked Joan.
“Oh, I haven’t given it up, not entirely,” the girl answered. “I can always get a couple of sovereigns for a sketch, if I want it, from one or another of the frame-makers. And they can generally sell them for a fiver. I’ve seen them marked up. Have you been long in London?”