U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [306]
-356-lived with Steve Warner the year before. The tal chalky-grey houses, the stores, the little bars, the bigeyed children in the black smocks, the youngsters in caps with silk hand-kerchiefs around their necks, the Parisian drawl of the argot: it al made him feel vaguely unhappy; he was won-dering what had happened to Steve. It was a relief to get back to the office where the enlisted men were moving in newly arrived American rol top desks and yel ow varnished card index cases.
The hub of this Paris was the hôtel de Cril on on the place de la Concorde, its artery the rue Royale where arriving dignitaries, President Wilson, Lloyd George and the King and Queen of the Belgians were constantly parad-ing escorted by the garde republicaine in their plumed helmets; Dick began living in a delirium of trips to Brus-sels on the night express, lobster cardinal washed down with Beaune on the red plush settees at Larue's, champagne cocktails at the Ritz bar, talk ful of the lowdown over a demie at the Café
Weber; it was like the old days of the Baltimore convention, only he didn't give a damn any more; it al hit him cockeyed funny.
One night soon after Christmas, Colonel Edgecombe
took Dick to dinner at Voisin's with a famous New York publicity man who was said to be very near to Colonel House. They stood a moment on the pavement outside the restaurant to look at the tubby domed church opposite.
"You see, Savage, this fel ow's the husband of a relative of mine, one of the Pittsburgh Staples . . . smooth . . . it seems to me. You look him over. For a youngster you seem to have a keen eye for character."
Mr. Moorehouse turned out to be a large quietspoken blueeyed jowly man with occasional y a touch of the south-ern senator in his way of talking. With him were a man named Robbins and a Miss Stoddard, a frail ooking woman with very transparent alabaster skin and a sharp chirpy voice; Dick noticed that she was stunningly wel dressed.
-357-The restaurant was a little too much like an Episcopal church; Dick said very little, was very polite to Miss Stoddard and kept his eyes and ears open, eating the grandducal food and careful y tasting the mel ow wine that nobody else seemed to pay any attention to. Miss Stoddard kept everybody talking, but nobody seemed to want to commit themselves to saying anything about the peace conference. Miss Stoddard told with considerable malice about the furnishings of the hôtel de Mûrat and the Wilsons'
colored maid and what kind of clothes the President's wife, whom she insisted on cal ing Mrs. Galt, was wearing. It was a relief when they got to the cigars and liqueurs. After dinner Colonel Edgecombe offered to drop Mr. Moorehouse at the Cril on, as his staffcar had come for him. Dick and Mr. Robbins took Miss Stoddard home in a taxicab to her apartment opposite Nôtre Dâme on the left bank. They left her at her door. "Perhaps you'l come around some afternoon to tea, Captain Savage," she said. The taximan refused to take them any further, said it was late and that he was bound home to Noisy-le-sec and drove off. Robbins took hold of Dick's arm. "Now for crissake let's go and have a decent drink. . . . Boy, I'm sick of the bigwigs.""Al right," said Dick,
"where'l we go?" Walking along the foggy quay, past the shadowy bulk of Nôtre Dâme, they talked scatteringly about Paris and how cold it was. Robbins was a short man with an impudent bossy look on his red face. In the café it was only a little less chil y than in the street. "This climate's going to be the death of me," said Robbins, snuggling his chin down in his overcoat. "Wool y underwear's the only answer, that's one thing I've learned in the army," said Dick laughing.
They settled on a plush bench near the stove at the end of the cigarsmoky giltornamented room. Robbins ordered a bottle of Scotch whiskey, glasses, lemon, sugar and a lot
-358-of hot water. It took a long time to get the hot water, so Robbins poured them each a quarter of a tumbler of the whiskey straight. When he'd drunk his, his face that had been sagging and tired, smoothed out so that he looked ten years younger. "Only way to keep warm in this goddam town's to keep stewed.""Stil I'm glad to be back in little old Paree," said Dick, smiling and stretching his legs out under the table. "Only place in the world to be right at present," said Robbins. " Paris is the hub of the world