"How is Mrs. O——?" I said.
He answered with the inevitable "Oh!" "Oh! she's all right. She's outside in the cab."
"Indeed!" I said, and wondered why she had not sent her card in with his, though I supposed she was waiting to be asked to come in, if he found me at home.
"We thought before trying anywhere else we would see if you could take us in."
This staggered me considerably. I tried to take him "in" as he stood before me with traveling cap and umbrella.
"Are you full?" he went on. Mademoiselle and I wondered if we showed signs of a too copious luncheon.
"Why, what a nice place you have here!" looking about. "Well," he continued, nothing daunted, "you see, we only want one bedroom, for us, with a room next for baby, and one not too far off for Arthur."
What was he driving at? Mademoiselle W—— thought he was either a spy or a burglar who had come to take a survey of the hotel. Her bracelets and bunch of keys rattled ominously as the thought of burglars entered her brain.
He, familiarly settling himself down for a chat, "Do you think you could pick up a maid for Mrs. O——?"
Mademoiselle and I exchanged a glance of intelligent indulgence and thought: All our friends wanted, probably, was a few addresses before settling themselves in Paris. How stupid of us not to have thought of this sooner! I hastened to promise all sorts of names and addresses of tradespeople, thinking he would take his departure.