He had thought Lacville would be like that. He had imagined
himself arriving at a quiet, rural, little country inn, and had seen
himself kindly, if a little shyly, welcomed by Sylvia. He could almost
have laughed at the contrast between the place his fancy had painted and
the place he had found, at what he had thought would happen, and at what
had happened!
As they trudged along, Chester, glancing to his right, saw that there
were still a great many boats floating on the lake. Did Lacville folk
never go to bed?
"Yes," said Madame Wachner, quickly divining his thoughts, "some of the
people 'ere--why, they stay out on the water all night! Then they catch
the early train back to Paris in the morning, and go and work all day.
Ah, yes, it is indeed a splendid thing to be young!"
She sighed, a long, sentimental sigh, and looked across, affectionately,
at L'Ami Fritz.
"I do not feel my youth to be so very far away," she said. "But then, the
people in my dear country are not cynical as are the French!"
Her husband strode forward in gloomy silence, probably thinking over the
money he might have made or lost had he played that evening, instead of
only noting down the turns of the game.
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