Read Online Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: W. Somerset Maugham
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répétition générale at the Français. All Paris was there. Academicians, ministers, generals. I was dazzled.”
“And I may add that not one of the women looked more distinguished than you. It did my reputation a lot of good to be seen with you.”
“You should have seen the faces of some of the bigwigs who come here, when they saw me in the foyer walking on the arm of Monsieur Simon.”
Charley knew that to go to a great social function with such a companion was the kind of joke that appealed to Simon’s sardonic humour. They talked a little more and then Simon said:
“Listen, my dear, I think we ought to do our young friend proud as it’s the first time he’s been here. Whatabout introducing him to the Princess? Don’t you think he’d like her?”
Mademoiselle Ernestine’s strong features relaxed into a smile and she gave Charley an amused glance.
“It’s an idea. It would at least be an experience that he hasn’t had before. She has a pretty figure.”
“Let’s have her along and stand her a drink.”
Mademoiselle Ernestine called a waiter.
“Tell the Princess Olga to come here.” Then to Charley: “She’s Russian. Of course since the revolution we have been swamped with Russians, we’re fed to the teeth with them and their Slav temperament; for a time the clients were amused by it, but they’re tired of them now. And then they’re not serious. They’re noisy and quarrelsome. The truth is, they’re barbarians, and they don’t know how to behave. But Princess Olga is different. She has principles. You can see that she’s been well brought up. She has something, there’s no denying it.”
While she was speaking Charley saw the waiter go up to a girl who was sitting on one of the benches and speak to her. His eyes had been wandering and he had noticed her before. She sat strangely still, and you would have thought that she was unconscious of her surroundings. She got up now, gave a glance in their direction, and walked slowly towards them. There was a singular nonchalance in her gait. When she came up she gave Simon a slight smile and they shook hands.
“I saw you come in just now,” she said, as she sat down.
Simon asked her if she would drink a glass of champagne.
“I don’t mind.”
“This is a friend of mine who wants to know you.”
“I’m flattered.” She turned an unsmiling glance on Charley. She looked at him for a time that seemed to him embarrassingly long, but her eyes held neither welcome nor invitation; their perfect indifference was almost nettling. “He’s handsome.” Charley smiled shyly and then the faintest suspicion of a smile trembled on her lips. “He looks good-natured.”
Her turban, her baggy trousers were of gauze, pale blue and thickly sprinkled with little silver stars. She was not very tall; her face was heavily made up, her cheeks extravagantly rouged, her lips scarlet and her eyelids blue; eyebrows and eyelashes were black with mascara. She was certainly not beautiful, she was only prettyish, with rather high cheek-bones, a fleshy little nose and eyes not set deep in their sockets, not prominent either, but on a level as it were with her face, like windows set flush with a wall. They were large and blue, and their blue, emphasized both by the colour of her turban and by the mascara, was like a flame. She had a neat, trim, slight figure, and the skin of her body, pale amber in hue, had a look of silky softness. Her breasts were small and round, virginal, and the well-shaped nipples were rosy.
“Why don’t you ask the Princess to dance with you, Charley?” said Simon.
“Will you?” said he.
She gave the very faintest shrug of one shoulder andwithout a word rose to her feet. At the same time Mademoiselle Ernestine, saying she had affairs to attend to, left them. It was a new and thrilling experience for Charley to dance with a girl with nothing on above the waist. It made him rather breathless to put his hand on her naked body and to
“And I may add that not one of the women looked more distinguished than you. It did my reputation a lot of good to be seen with you.”
“You should have seen the faces of some of the bigwigs who come here, when they saw me in the foyer walking on the arm of Monsieur Simon.”
Charley knew that to go to a great social function with such a companion was the kind of joke that appealed to Simon’s sardonic humour. They talked a little more and then Simon said:
“Listen, my dear, I think we ought to do our young friend proud as it’s the first time he’s been here. Whatabout introducing him to the Princess? Don’t you think he’d like her?”
Mademoiselle Ernestine’s strong features relaxed into a smile and she gave Charley an amused glance.
“It’s an idea. It would at least be an experience that he hasn’t had before. She has a pretty figure.”
“Let’s have her along and stand her a drink.”
Mademoiselle Ernestine called a waiter.
“Tell the Princess Olga to come here.” Then to Charley: “She’s Russian. Of course since the revolution we have been swamped with Russians, we’re fed to the teeth with them and their Slav temperament; for a time the clients were amused by it, but they’re tired of them now. And then they’re not serious. They’re noisy and quarrelsome. The truth is, they’re barbarians, and they don’t know how to behave. But Princess Olga is different. She has principles. You can see that she’s been well brought up. She has something, there’s no denying it.”
While she was speaking Charley saw the waiter go up to a girl who was sitting on one of the benches and speak to her. His eyes had been wandering and he had noticed her before. She sat strangely still, and you would have thought that she was unconscious of her surroundings. She got up now, gave a glance in their direction, and walked slowly towards them. There was a singular nonchalance in her gait. When she came up she gave Simon a slight smile and they shook hands.
“I saw you come in just now,” she said, as she sat down.
Simon asked her if she would drink a glass of champagne.
“I don’t mind.”
“This is a friend of mine who wants to know you.”
“I’m flattered.” She turned an unsmiling glance on Charley. She looked at him for a time that seemed to him embarrassingly long, but her eyes held neither welcome nor invitation; their perfect indifference was almost nettling. “He’s handsome.” Charley smiled shyly and then the faintest suspicion of a smile trembled on her lips. “He looks good-natured.”
Her turban, her baggy trousers were of gauze, pale blue and thickly sprinkled with little silver stars. She was not very tall; her face was heavily made up, her cheeks extravagantly rouged, her lips scarlet and her eyelids blue; eyebrows and eyelashes were black with mascara. She was certainly not beautiful, she was only prettyish, with rather high cheek-bones, a fleshy little nose and eyes not set deep in their sockets, not prominent either, but on a level as it were with her face, like windows set flush with a wall. They were large and blue, and their blue, emphasized both by the colour of her turban and by the mascara, was like a flame. She had a neat, trim, slight figure, and the skin of her body, pale amber in hue, had a look of silky softness. Her breasts were small and round, virginal, and the well-shaped nipples were rosy.
“Why don’t you ask the Princess to dance with you, Charley?” said Simon.
“Will you?” said he.
She gave the very faintest shrug of one shoulder andwithout a word rose to her feet. At the same time Mademoiselle Ernestine, saying she had affairs to attend to, left them. It was a new and thrilling experience for Charley to dance with a girl with nothing on above the waist. It made him rather breathless to put his hand on her naked body and to
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