The
doctor tells me that he'll probably spend the voyage abed."
"So there'll be nothing for us to do, after all! Do you know, Mr.
Lester, I was longing to become a female Lecoq!"
"Perhaps you may still have the chance," I said gloomily. "I doubt
very much whether Mephisto will consent to remain inactive. He
doesn't look to be that sort."
She clapped her hands, and nodded a laughing recognition to one of the
passing promenaders.
"You're going to Paris, aren't you, Miss Kemball?" I asked.
"To Paris--yes. You too? You must be, since you're going to France."
"We go first to Etretat," I said, and stopped, as she leaned,
laughing, back in her chair. "Why, what's wrong with that?" I
demanded, in some astonishment.
"Wrong? Oh, nothing. Etretat's a most delightful place--only it
recalled to me an amusing memory of how my mother was one day
scandalized there by some actresses who were bathing. It's the
prettiest little fishing-village, with the finest cliffs I ever saw.
But it's hardly the season for Etretat--the actresses have not yet
arrived. You'll find it dull."
"We will not stay there long," I said. "But tell me about it. I
should like to know."
"Etretat," said my companion, "is rather a bohemian resort. Alphonse
Karr discovered it somewhere back in the dark ages, and advertised
it--the Etretatians were immensely grateful, and named the main street
of the town after him--and since then a lot of artists and theatrical
people have built villas there.
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