Laughing Torso

LAUGHING TORSO

thing, nothing, not even the police force, or the
customs officials, could thwart her. We heard that
there was a fete day in Spain. She had a brilliant
idea.
We would take the train to Cerbfere, the last
station before Spain, and walk over the Pyrenees
into Spain. Madame Foujita dressed herself up in
her best clothes, with a pair of very high-heeled
patent leather shoes, not forgetting to put in
Foujita's pocket a pair of rope-soled shoes. This I
did not know about when we started and wondered
how she would climb the mountain, which was of
a respectable height. I wore a corduroy land girl's
coat and skirt, with pockets all over it, and looked
extremely British. We got to Cerbere and arrived
at the foot of the mountain. Madame F. took off
the high-heeled shoes, which Foujita put in his
pocket, and put on the rope-soled shoes and we
began to climb the mountain. About a quarter of
the way up we were stopped by the Customs, who
asked to see our passports. Madame F. took the
situation in hand, and explained in forcible language
that we were not climbing the mountain with a view
to descending the other side into Spain, but only to
admire, from the top, the Spanish scenery. I think
they were so terrified of her that they let us continue.
When we got to the top of the mountain we could see
thirty or forty miles of Spain. This mountain was
not nearly so high as the one that we had climbed
before; so we saw the view much more clearly.
We saw a square hole in the ground, which had some
steps leading downwards. We all walked down and
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