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SOUTHERN FRANCE AGAIN Luxembourg and came out to a neighbouring cafe to have a drink on the terrasse and to buy some cigarettes. The Countess said, " Wait for me, I will go into the € tabac * and get a paper and some cigarettes." I waited and she stayed there rather a long time and came out laughing and said, " I have found two of your friends inside." I could not imagine who they could be. She would not tell me, but said that they were both men and that they had arranged for us all to dine together at a restaur- ant opposite the Roman Arena and then go to a travelling circus that they had found just outside the town. At seven o'clock we hired a horse-drawn vehicle that the Americans in Paris call a " sea- going hack" and drove to the restaurant. We went upstairs and there were F. and R. We were delighted to meet each other, and as we had a great deal to talk about, it was a most entertaining dinner- party. F. and R. had just come from a place near Bordeaux, where Cocteau, Radiguet, and Max Jacob had stayed. The Countess had hired the carriage for the evening and after dinner we all got in and drove to a circus. Afterwards we went back to our hotel as F. and R. were staying there too. They had brought several bottles of wine, called Vin de Carthagene. They had bought it be- cause they liked its name and also the shape of the bottles, which had spouts. The wine was very sweet and sickly. They also had a bottle of FEau de VArquebuse, which they had bought for the same reason. This was really terrible, and, as all the occupants of the hotel had gone to bed, we had to 253