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Lowndes, Marie Adelaide Belloc, 1868-1947

"The Chink in the Armour"


"A passport?" repeated Sylvia Bailey, surprised. "No, indeed! I've never
even seen one. Why should I have a passport?"
"When you are abroad it is always a good thing to 'ave a passport," said
Madame Wachner quickly. "You see, it enables you to be identified. It
gives your address at 'ome. But I do not think that you can get one
now--no, it is a thing that one must get in one's own country, or, at any
rate," she corrected herself, "in a country where you 'ave resided a long
time."
"What is your country, Madame?" asked Sylvia. "Are you French? I suppose
Monsieur Wachner is German?"
Madame Wachner shook her head.
"Oh, 'e would be cross to 'ear that! No, no, Fritz is Viennese--a gay
Viennese! As for me, I am"--she waited a moment--"well, Madame, I am what
the French call '_une vraie cosmopolite_'--oh, yes, I am a true
citizeness of the world."


CHAPTER VIII

They had been driving a considerable time, and at last the coachman,
turning round on his seat, asked where they wished to go next.
"I ask you to come and 'ave tea with me," said Madame Wachner turning to
Sylvia.


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