CHAPTER xxiv

first villa was not begun until April,
having refused to help with the project,
Kahn had naturally turned to the firm in Marseille
who, however, had proved to be much too expensive.
In vain did he point to his first princely order and
the fact that they had not been kept waiting for their
money ; in vain did he point to Mere Melanie who
had given them work on his recommendation; the
firm in Marseille remained adamant when it came to
their price for building his villas.
Irritating it was to hear Mere Melanie bragging
loudly about her new water-closets; declaring with
something very like pride that the chill which had
recently sent her to bed had been the result of her
spacious new bathroom: CI could not resist; so charm-
ing it looked. "You are foolish, ma cherie," Alex-
andre warned me, "a bath is always a perilous thing,
those who take one should afterwards sleep in flannel55
Mais oui, he was right, the result was most grave;
in future I shall leave my bathroom to clients!'
For the Hotel de la Tarasque was now ready and
waiting; neat bedrooms, electric light, sanitation,
while Kahn's villas by which he had set such store
were as yet barely straggling into existence* More-
over the thrifty Mere Melanie had not purchased as
much as Kahn had expected, having found a great
number of odds and ends stored carefully away in one
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