Page 14 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure

The big man called Nico gave a derisive laugh.

“You think that these ladies are paying for the entire pension, do you, Alice?” He took a step forward, gesticulating in animated fashion as he spoke.

“They do not wish to buy it. Only to rent rooms for one or two nights. And I happen to know that you charge thirty francs for a room. So considering the single rooms are not as nice, I think one hundred francs would be a fair price for four of them, don’t you? ”

Ellie was surprised that the woman clearly understood this rapid tirade, when she only just got the gist of it herself. His French was heavily accented.

“Where else would they go?” Mrs Adams asked, her own French surprisingly good.

“You take advantage of your countrywomen?” He made a tut-tutting sound.

“They can afford to pay, I’m sure. They are not dressed like paupers.” She muttered the words, assuming that Ellie and the others could not understand if she spoke quickly.

Nico shrugged. “I expect we could find them rooms elsewhere. Henri sometimes rents out during the busy season over the bar, doesn’t he? And Madame Blanchet, she has a spare room and could use the extra cash ...”

Mavis looked across at Ellie. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Ain’t they got no rooms here?”

“They have rooms. We are just negotiating a price,” Ellie said. “They want a little more than I was expecting to pay, having paid less for a first-class hotel last night.”

“We were about to close up for the winter,” Mrs Adams said, recoiling a little at Mavis’s accent and perhaps realizing it wasn’t going to be easy to get the better of a fellow East Ender.

“Not much call at this time of year. So we’d have to go to the trouble of getting everything up and running again. ”

“Then you should count yourself bloody lucky that you’ve got some customers you didn’t expect, right?” Mavis said. “If I were you, I’d be grateful.”

Mrs Adams gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, I suppose I could do you a favour, since you’re fellow Englishwomen and had a bit of bad luck with your motor car. Let’s agree on a hundred, then, if you’re just staying a couple of nights.”

“It includes breakfast, I assume?” Dora had been silent through the negotiation but spoke up now.

“Of course,” Mrs Adams replied.

Ellie got the feeling it might not have included breakfast if Dora’s tone had not been so forceful. She suddenly realized that they’d need to eat that evening.

“Do you serve dinner?” she asked. “We will need to eat.”

“We serve meals when we have extra staff during the high season,” Mrs Adams said, “but not without warning like this.”

“I quite understand,” Ellie said. “Is there somewhere we can get a bite to eat tonight?”

“I expect they can rustle up something to eat at the bar and bistro on the other side,” Mrs Adams said. She repeated the gist of this in French to the men who were standing there.

“But of course. Henri will find something so that these ladies do not starve,” Nico said, getting an affirming nod from one of the other men.

“Thank you. We will come when we have settled in our rooms,” Ellie replied.

“Good. We will warn Henri. Then you ladies are satisfied? We leave you, then, and bid you bonsoir.” He gave a polite little bow.

“Bonsoir, and thank you for your assistance,” Ellie called after him in French.

“I’ll get Mr Adams to help with your bags,” Mrs Adams said, “if you’d just sign the register for me.”

“Oh, no need for that,” Ellie said. “Especially if he has a bad chest. He shouldn’t be climbing stairs. We’ve only brought our overnight bags. The rest of the luggage is locked in the boot of the car.”

“Right-oh, then. Here are your keys. Up the stairs and then turn right. You can decide who sleeps where. Bathroom and WC at the end of the hall. Hot water will be on in the morning for two hours. Breakfast at eight.” With that gracious speech, she plonked the keys on to the counter.

Ellie signed the book for all of them, then took the keys, picked up her small valise and turned to the others. “Mavis, perhaps you can carry Miss Smith-Humphries’s bag.”

“I can manage,” the old lady said haughtily.

“It’s no trouble,” Mavis said and gave her a smile. “Those stairs look steep.”

Yvette had been standing silently through this whole exchange, and Ellie realized she didn’t exactly know what was going to happen, since most of the discussion had been in English.

“Come, Yvette,” Ellie said. “We have rooms for the night. You shall have a small room to yourself.”

“Madame is too good,” Yvette said. “How shall I repay you?”

“No need. I am glad we have been able to help you at a difficult moment.”

She started up the stairs. The others followed. A narrow hallway was lit with one naked bulb so that the end of the hall was in deep shadow. Ellie checked numbers on the doors and opened the first one on the right, facing away from the seafront. “Ah. This is the small single. For you, Yvette.”

“A room alone? For me? But no, madame. I don’t need a room to myself. It is too much.”

“It’s all right. Put your bag inside. We will visit the toilet, and then we shall go to dinner at the bar.”

“At the bar with those men?” Yvette looked nervous. “I did not like the big one. He is a corsair, I think. Dangerous.”

“There is nowhere else to eat in this place, and besides, he was most helpful,” Ellie replied. “I don’t think any harm can come to us eating outside at a bar.”

“What did she say?” Mavis asked.

“She thinks the big man is a pirate.” Ellie had to smile.

Mavis was given the other single. The last two rooms along the hallway were identical, both with double beds, a small chest of drawers with a mirror above it, a giant wardrobe that took up most of one wall and over the bed a framed poster from French railways illustrating the C?te d’Azur.

Simple in the extreme. The window was latched, and the shutters outside were already closed.

“I’ll take the room nearest to the facilities if you don’t mind,” Dora said, going ahead into the end room.

Ellie put down her bag beside the bed. The headboard and chest of drawers were mismatched and would have been at home in a second-hand shop.

On the bed was a pink eiderdown. Beside the bed was a faded braided rug.

But it seemed clean enough. She took off her jacket, then went through into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face.

Fifteen minutes later they walked together around the harbour to the bar.

Lights now twinkled in the dark water, and the smell of salt and seaweed wafted towards them.

On the other side of the harbour wall, the boats creaked and groaned at their moorings.

Ellie noticed that Yvette had stopped walking. “Is something wrong, Yvette?”

“Oh no, madame. I am just realizing that I am looking at the sea for the first time in my life. I have dreamed of this moment, and now it is real.”

“Yes, it is real. We have made it this far,” Dora said. “Let us hope we all enjoy our time here.”

Yvette lingered a moment longer as the water lapped and slapped against the harbour wall, then followed them, still staring out.

At the bar a table had been set up for them with a basket of bread and a flask of olive oil already in place.

The men had returned to their own table and their wine glasses.

Two of them were smoking the thin black cigarettes, and the strange herby smell wafted towards the women.

An older man came out of the bar, bringing a carafe of red wine and glasses.

“Welcome, dear English ladies,” he said. “I regret that I can only offer you the simplest of meals tonight. At this time of year I do not have help in the kitchen, so I can only offer you a soup.”

“Thank you. That would be fine,” Ellie said. She turned to translate for Mavis.

“I suppose that’s better than nothing,” Mavis said. She glanced across at the next table. “I don’t know if I feel like eating much, not with those blokes watching us. I think I agree with Yvette this time. They do look like ruddy pirates.”

“I’m sure they are fishermen, Mavis,” Dora said. “Not pirates.”

Ellie poured the wine, then took a sip. It was rich and strong but not unappetizing.

“This will make us sleep tonight,” she said, laughing.

They had almost finished the bread when Henri appeared again, putting a big bowl on the table with four soup bowls.

The smell of garlic and herbs rose from the steaming bowl.

Ellie took the ladle and spooned hot soup into each of the bowls.

It was a rich red colour, more like a stew, with plenty of bits and pieces floating in it.

Mavis picked up her spoon, then gave a cry of alarm.

“What the devil is this?” She held it up for the others to see. “It looks like a dead spider. Do they eat spider soup here?”

Dora examined it. “It’s squid, Mavis. Squid tentacles.”

“What’s that?” Mavis was still staring at it with a look of horror on her face.

“It’s a sea creature. Like an octopus,” Dora said, prodding her own bowl. “In fact, there is also octopus in the stew. This is obviously a bouillabaisse. A fish stew. I remember eating it when I stayed here years ago. Rather good, I remember.”

Yvette’s reaction was similar. She prodded her bowl uncertainly. “I have never seen such things,” she said. “Do they try to poison us?”

“Nonsense. I’m sure it’s quite delicious,” Dora said and bravely put a piece of octopus into her mouth.

It proved to be rather chewy, but she kept a smile on her face until she had swallowed it.

Ellie tried the broth first. It was garlicky, with lots of onions and tomatoes.

An unfamiliar taste, but she quite liked it.

She also hesitated at the squid tentacles but bravely ate hers, enjoying the shrimp, mussels and pieces of fish more.

“I expect we’ll have to get used to a different way of eating now we’re here,” she said.

“When we are at a proper hotel, I’m sure they will cater more to English taste,” Dora said. “I am not a big fan of garlic and onions. My mother would never allow them. She said they make the breath smell, and a lady’s breath should only ever smell of peppermint.”

In spite of their reservations, they emptied the big bowl, using the last of the bread to wipe their plates. When they had finished, Henri produced a basket of figs and grapes along with more bread and a plate of cheeses. He also replaced the carafe of wine.

“You enjoyed your meal?” one of the men called from the next table.

“Thank you. It was good,” Ellie replied.

“Henri, he is a good cook,” the man said, nodding to Henri, who was now standing in the doorway with the bill in his hand. “He was once a chef at a big hotel in Nice, correct, Henri?”

“That is true,” Henri said, “but I inherited this place, and it suits me better. When I have more time, I will cook for you ladies.”

“I’m afraid we’ll only be here until the vehicle is mended,” Ellie said. “Then we will be going to one of the bigger resorts for the winter.”

“Of course. Your husbands will be joining you?”

“We have no husbands, monsieur,” Ellie said.

“Ah, they are widows,” Ellie heard another of the men mutter. She decided not to correct him. Besides, she did not know the French word for divorce, and she assumed that in a Catholic country it would be frowned upon. She paid the bill, quite a modest amount, and stood up.

“Good night, gentlemen,” she said, “and thank you for all your help.”

“I will take a look at your motor car in the morning,” an older man with a shock of grey hair called to them. Louis, obviously. “Do not worry yourselves. It will be made right.”

Ellie felt content and a little tipsy as they walked back to the pension.

She opened the windows and breathed in the soft night air with the tang of salt to it.

As she lay down to sleep, she found that the tension she had been carrying for the past weeks had melted away.

It didn’t matter if the car had broken down or if it would take days to mend.

It didn’t matter that they hadn’t reached their final destination and didn’t even know where they were going.

The worst was behind them. She had found her way through France.

They were here at the Mediterranean, and everything was going to be all right.