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Dame Seule

She is little and grey, with a black velvet band round her hair, false teeth, and skinny little hands coming out of frills like the frills on cutlets.

As I passed her room one morning I saw her ‘worked’ brush-and-comb bag and her Common Prayerbook.

Also, when she goes to the ‘Ladies’ for some obscure reason she wears a little shawl….

At the dining table, smiling brightly:—“This is the first time I have ever travelled alone, or stayed by myself in a Strange Hotel. But my husband does not mind. As it is so Very Quiet. Of course, if it were a Gay Place——” And she draws in her chin, and the bead chain rises and falls on her vanished bosom.