Laughing Torso

LAUGHING TORSO

up the drive, approaching the hotel, you could hear
them beating up the eggs. At Dreux we had no
omelettes. We spent the next night at Mayenne,
which amused me as this was where Edgar had been
stationed after he left England and I had received
from him many picture postcards of the place. We
went further and further north and finally came
to Paimpol, which was not far away from the island.
We stopped for a drink and then drove to PArcouest.
The motor was put into the garage there and we
took the " Vedette," a small motor-boat, to the
island,
Brehat, at this time, was quite unspoilt, and a few
French people came there year after year. There
was a hotel and cafe by the port and a comfortable
hotel with bath-rooms somewhere else. We walked
down a path as there were no roads and only one
horse and cart on the island. We came to the
square where the Town Hall was, a rather battered-
looking thatched house which was labelled
" MAIRIE " in stone letters. Just outside the square
was a rather new cafe. In the square was a covered-
in terrasse on one side of the path leading to an inn,
and on the others, chairs and tables under the trees.
We rested ourselves and I was introduced to Madame
Balet and her husband, who had been a chef. We
then walked across the island through flat fields.
The house was the other side and faced many little
islets, mostly uninhabited and consisting of yellow-
ish rocks which became as bright and yellow as
gold when the sun shone. It was a most beautiful
place. The sea was so blue; I thought a much finer
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