?

"Well, the restaurants were always jammed full of Americans. The men of
the party would look over the French menu in a helpless sort of way, and
then they'd say: 'What do you say to a nice big steak with French-fried
potatoes?' The waiter would give them a disgusted look and put in the
order. They might just as well have been eating at a quick lunch place.
As for the French women, every time I picked what I took to be a real
Parisienne coming toward me I'd hear her say as she passed: 'Henry, I'm
going over to the Galerie Lafayette. I'll meet you at the American
Express at twelve. And, Henry, I think I'll need some more money.'"

Miss Ella Morrissey's twinkling eyes almost disappeared in wrinkles of
laughter; but Sophy Gold was not laughing. As she talked she gazed
grimly ahead at the throng that shifted and glittered and laughed and
chattered all about her.

"I stopped work early one afternoon and went over across the river.
Well! They may be artistic, but they all looked as though they needed a
shave and a hair-cut and a square meal. And the girls!"

Ella Morrissey raised a plump, protesting palm.

"Now look here, child, Paris isn't so much a city as a state of mind. To
enjoy it you've got to forget you're an American. Don't look at it from
a Chicago, Illinois, viewpoint. Just try to imagine you're a mixture of
Montmartre girl, Latin Quarter model and duchess from the Champs
Elysees. Then you'll get it."

"Get it!" retorted Sophy Gold. "If I could do that I wouldn't be buying
lingerie and infants' wear for Schiffs'. I'd be crowding Duse and
Bernhardt and Mrs. Fiske off the boards."

Miss Morrissey sat silent and thoughtful, rubbing one fat forefinger
slowly up and down her knee. Suddenly she turned.

"Don't be angry--but have you ever been in love?"

"Look at me!" replied Sophy Gold simply. Miss Morrissey reddened a
little. "As head of the lingerie section I've selected trousseaus for I
don't know how many Chicago brides; but I'll never have to decide
whether I'll have pink or blue ribbons for my own."

With a little impulsive gesture Ella Morrissey laid one hand on the
shoulder of her new acquaintance.

"Come on up and visit me, will you? I made them give me an inside room,
away from the noise. Too many people down here. Besides, I'd like to
take off this armour-plate of mine and get comfortable. When a girl gets
as old and fat as I am--"

"There are some letters I ought to get out," Sophy Gold protes