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But the Viennese, soggy with acid beer, his throat astringentized by strong coffee, knows not the difference. And so the Amerikan-bar flourishes. It was here that I discovered Gabrielle, a sad little French girl, alone and forsaken in the midst of merriment, drinking Dubonnet and dreaming of the Boulevard Montparnasse. I bought her another Dubonnet what stranger would have done less?
"Well, well, forgive me, won't you?" said the Count quickly; and together we strolled into the town, where we had an aperatif at the gay Café de l'Opéra, opposite the public gardens. Here, however, a curious contretemps occurred. She accidently upset her glass of "Dubonnet" over her left hand, saturating her white glove so that she was compelled to take it off.
He took the same view as many officers and men to whom I had spoken, and by weighing up the evidence, in the light of all that I had seen and heard, and with the assistance of my friend the Philosopher whose wisdom shone bright after a glass of Dubonnet and the arsenic pill which lifted him out of the gulfs of the black devil doubt to heights of splendid optimism based upon unerring logic I was able to send a dispatch to England which cheered it after a day of anguish.
He ordered a "Dubonnet," and then, finding that we were practically alone, with none to overhear, he asked "Why did you write to me? What do you want?" "To know the truth about Pierrette Dumont," I said. "Madame has been telling me about you. When did you arrive?" "The day before yesterday. Bindo sent me out." "What for?" "I can't tell. He never gives reasons.
It stood trim and neat amid the wreckage. A cafe restaurant still displayed its placards advertising Dubonnet and other aperitifs, peppered by shrapnel bullets, but otherwise intact. Here and there whole streets stood spared, without a trace of conflict, and in a street away the cottages had fallen down like card-houses toppled over by the hand of a petulant child.
It was, then, a spectacle, from our removed point of view, the gathering of the poetic multitude around the café tables, over the Dubonnet, the grenadines, and the café noir, of a Tuesday evening.
The informant accepted an expensive cigar and a Dubonnet by way of reward, but presently departed into the night, and Ste. Marie was left in some discouragement, his theory badly damaged. He spoke of this encounter to Richard Hartley, who came on later to join him, and Hartley, after an interval of silence and smoke, said: "That was a lie! The man lied!" "Name of a dog, why?" demanded Ste.
"<i Voyons, Rene, mon ami>," came the loud, cheerful voice of Madame Coutras, "what are you doing all this time? Here are the <i aperitifs>. Ask <i Monsieur> if he will not drink a little glass of Quinquina Dubonnet." "<i Volontiers>, Madame," I said, going out on to the verandah. The spell was broken. The time came for my departure from Tahiti.
I wish I might think only of Bianca as the shadows dissolve from the streets and the grey morning light strikes the great steeple of Stefans-Dom. But another picture presents itself. I see a little French girl, out of touch with all the merriment around her, sipping her Dubonnet in solitude a forlorn girl with pink cheeks, pale blue eyes and hair the colour of wet straw.
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