I promised Paul to do all I could to bring about a conversation, and when we had taken our places again, I politely asked our neighbor:
"Have you any objection to the smell of tobacco, madam?"
She merely replied, "_Non capisco_."[6]
So she was Italian! I felt an absurd inclination to laugh. As Paul did not understand a word of that language, I was obliged to act as his interpreter, so I said in Italian:
"I asked you, madam, whether you had any objection to tobacco smoke?"
With an angry look she replied, "_Che mi fa_."[7]
She had neither turned her head nor looked at me, and I really did not know whether to take this "What does it matter to me" for an authorization, a refusal, a real sign of indifference, or for a mere "Leave me alone."
"Madame," I replied, "if you mind the smell of tobacco in the least--"
She again said, "_Mica_,"[8] in a tone of voice which seemed to mean, "I wish to goodness you would leave me alone!" It was, however, a kind of permission, so I said to Paul:
"You can smoke."
He looked at me in that curious sort of way that people have when they try to understand others who are talking in a strange language before them, and asked me:
"What did you say to her?"
"I asked if we might smoke, and she said we might do whatever we liked."
Whereupon I lighted my cigar.
"Did she not say anything more?"
"If you had counted her words you would have noticed that she used exactly six, two of which gave me to understand that she knew no French, so four remained, and a lot can be said in four words."
Paul seemed quite unhappy, disappointed, and "at sea," so to speak.
But suddenly the Italian asked me, in that tone of discontent which seemed habitual to her, "Do you know at what time we shall get to Genoa?"
"At eleven o"clock," I replied. Then after a moment I went on:
"My friend and I are also going to Genoa, and if we can be of any service to you, we shall be very happy, as you are quite alone." But she interrupted with such a "_Mica_" that I did not venture on another word.
"What did she say?" Paul asked.
"She said that she thought you were charming."
But he was in no humor for joking, and begged me, dryly, not to make fun of him, so I translated her question and my polite offer, which had been so rudely rejected.
Then he really became as agitated as a squirrel in a cage.
"If we only knew," he said, "what hotel she was going to, we would go to the same. Try and find out, so as to have another opportunity for making her speak."
It was not particularly easy, and I did not know what pretext to invent, anxious as I was to make the acquaintance of this unapproachable person.
We pa.s.sed Nice, Monaco, Mentone, and the train stopped at the frontier for the examination of luggage.
Although I hate those badly brought-up people who breakfast and dine in railway-carriages, I went and bought a quant.i.ty of good things to make one last attack on her by their means. I felt sure that this girl must, ordinarily, be by no means inaccessible. Something had put her out and made her irritable, but very little would suffice, a mere word or some agreeable offer, to decide her and overcome her.
We started again, and we three were still alone. I spread my eatables out on the seat. I cut up the fowl, put the slices of ham neatly on a piece of paper, and then carefully laid out our dessert, the strawberries, plums, cherries, and cakes, close to the girl.
When she saw that we were going to eat she took a piece of chocolate and two little crisp cakes out of her pocket and began to munch them.
"Ask her to have some of ours," Paul said in a whisper.
"That is exactly what I want to do, but it is rather a difficult matter."
As she, however, glanced from time to time at our provisions, I felt sure that she would still be hungry when she had finished what she had, so as soon as her frugal meal was over, I said to her:
"It would be very kind of you if you would take some of this fruit."
Again she said "_Mica_," but less crossly than before.
"Well, then," I said, "may I offer you a little wine? I see you have not drunk anything. It is Italian wine, and as we are now in your own country, we should be very pleased to see such a pretty Italian mouth accept the offer of its French neighbors."
She shook her head slightly, evidently wishing to refuse, but very desirous of accepting, and her mica _this_ time was almost polite. I took the bottle, which was covered with straw in the Italian fashion, and filling the gla.s.s I offered it to her.
"Please drink it," I said, "to bid us welcome to your country."
She took the gla.s.s with her usual look, and emptied it at a draught, like a woman tormented with thirst, and then gave it back to me without even saying "Thank you."
Then I offered her the cherries. "Please take some," I said; "we shall be so pleased if you will."
Out of her corner she looked at all the fruit spread out before her, and said so rapidly that I could scarcely follow her: "_A me non piacciono ne le ciliegie ne le susine; amo soltano le fragole_."
"What does she say?" Paul asked.
"That she does not care for cherries or plums, but only for strawberries."
I put a newspaper full of wild strawberries on her lap, and she ate them quickly, throwing them into her mouth from some distance in a coquettish and charming manner.
When she had finished the little red heap which we had seen rapidly diminishing, crushed and disappearing under the rapid action of her hands, I asked her:
"What may I offer you now?"
"I will take a little chicken," she replied.
She certainly devoured half of it, tearing it to pieces with the rapid movements of her jaws like some carnivorous animal. Then she made up her mind to have some cherries, which she "did not like," then some plums, then some little cakes. Then she said, "I have had enough," and sat back in her corner.
I was much amused, and tried to make her eat more, pressing her, in fact, till she suddenly got in a rage again, and flung such a furious _mica_ at me, that I would no longer run the risk of spoiling her digestion.
I turned to my friend. "My poor Paul," I said, "I am afraid we have had our trouble for nothing."