Laughing Torso

LAUGHIN G TORSO

white basin on a table in front of us* We looked the
picture of gloom.
We went every evening to the Cafe Royal and
frequently walked home to Camden Town as we
seldom had the 'bus fare. We could stay the whole
evening there on a fourpenny coffee in those days.
Edgar had made friends with some people whom I
considered dull, common, and boring, so he often
went out with them and I stayed at home. He
seemed to think that I should always be at home
waiting for him and once, when I went out to
dinner with an elderly man I had known for years,
an awful argument took place and we threw sauce-
pans at each other. I got so bored with this and
being so poor, as there was not always work at the
Omega, that I fell in love with a tall dark man
whom I had met at the Cafe Royal. He talked
about Greek Islands and black olives, He was a
writer and had studied the piano and had'most
beautiful hands. He talked and talked about
things which I did not understand at all For three
weeks I thought of nothing else but him, and would
even walk up and down streets in which I thought
I might get a glimpse of him. I would buy myself
dinners at the'" Sceptre," the restaurant behind the
Cafe Royal, where I had gone with Henri. The tall
man seemed rather amused at me. After about
three weeks of thinking about him I saw him at the
restaurant. He was alone, and asked me to have
some coffee with him. My heart beat so rapidly
that I shook all over. He told me that he was en-
gaged to be married and I, with a choking feeling in
' 82 .':v -•-••••:"• '"'.'-