U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [121]
Next morning early when Eveline woke up and looked
out they were in the station at Marseil es. It gave her a funny feeling because she'd wanted to stop off there and see the town, but Eleanor had insisted on going straight to Nice, she hated the sordidness of seaports she'd said. But later when they had their coffee in the diner, looking out at the pines and the dry hil s and headlands cutting out blue patches of the Mediterranean, Eveline felt excited and happy again. They got a good room in a hotel and walked through
the streets in the cool sunshine among the wounded sol-diers and officers of al the al ied armies and strol ed along the Promenade des Anglais under the grey palmtrees and gradual y Eveline began to feel a chil y feeling of dis-appointment coming over her. Here was her two weeks leave and she was going to waste it at Nice. Eleanor kept on being crisp and cheerful and suggested they sit down in the big café on the square where a brass band was play-ing and have a little dubonnet before lunch. After they'd sat there for some time, looking at the uniforms and the quantities of overdressed women who were no better than they should be, Eveline leaned back in her chair and said,
"And now that we're here, darling, what on earth shal we do?" The next morning Eveline woke late; she almost hated to get up as she couldn't imagine how she was going to pass the time al day. As she lay there looking at the stripes of sunlight on the wal that came through the shutters, she heard a man's voice in the adjoining room, that was Eleanor's. Eveline stiffened and listened. It was J.W.'s
-308-voice. When she got up and dressed she found her heart was pounding. She was pul ing on her best pair of trans-parent black silk stockings when Eleanor came in, "Who do you think's turned up? J.W. just motored down to see me off to Italy . . . He said it was getting too stuffy for him around the Peace Conference and he had to get a change of air
. . . Come on in, Eveline, dear, and have some coffee with us."
She can't keep the triumph out of her voice, aren't women sil y, thought Eveline. "That's lovely, I'l be right in, darling," she said in her most musical tones. J.W. had on a light grey flannel suit and a bright blue necktie and his face was pink from the long ride. He was in fine spirits. He'd driven down from Paris in fifteen hours with only four hours sleep after dinner in Lyons. They al drank a great deal of bitter coffee with hot milk and planned out a ride.
It Was a fine day. The big Packard car rol ed them
smoothly along the Corniche. They lunched at Monte
Carlo, took a look at the casino in the afternoon and went on and had tea in an English tearoom in Mentone. Next day they went up to Grasse and saw the perfume factories, and the day after they put Eleanor on the rapide for Rome. J.W. was to leave immediately afterwards to go back to Paris. Eleanor's thin white face looked a little forlorn Eveline thought, looking out at them through the window of the wagonlit. When the train pul ed out Eveline and J.W. stood on the platform in the empty station with the smoke swirling milky with sunlight under the glass roof overhead and looked at each other with a certain amount of constraint. "She's a great little girl," said J.W.
"I'm very fond of her," said Eveline. Her voice rang false in her ears. "I wish we were going with her." They walked back out to the car. "Where can I take you, Eveline, before I pul out, back to the hotel?" Eve-line's heart was pounding again. "Suppose we have a little
-309-lunch before you go, let me invite you to lunch." "That's very nice of you . . . wel , I suppose I might as wel , I've got to lunch somewhere. And there's no place fit for a white man between here and Lyons."
They lunched at the casino over the water. The sea
was very blue. Outside there were three sailboats with lateen sails making for the entrance to the port. It was warm and jol y, smelt of wine and food sizzled in butter in the glassedin restaurant. Eveline began to like it in Nice.
J.W. drank more wine than he usual y did. He began