DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61635#0046
THE BOARDING-HOUSE OF
NEUCHATEL.
A FAT old landlady received us, after a glance
at the tricycle had reassured her that to
take us in did not mean to be taken in herself.
She promised us dinner at six, and a room in
the course of the evening. In the cafe, or outer
kitchen, where she gave us chairs, an elderly Cin-
derella was blacking boots and peeling potatoes
in the fireplace; a pretty girl was carrying tumblers
and clean linen to a near room; another, with a
big baby in her arms, gossiped with neighbours
on the front steps. The landlady hurried back
to the small kitchen, through the open door of
which we could see her bustling about among the
pots and pans.
Presently a little man, in white trousers and
brown velveteen waistcoat, wandered in from the
stable-yard to clink glasses with a friend at the
bar, and drink without pause two mugs of beer and
one
42
NEUCHATEL.
A FAT old landlady received us, after a glance
at the tricycle had reassured her that to
take us in did not mean to be taken in herself.
She promised us dinner at six, and a room in
the course of the evening. In the cafe, or outer
kitchen, where she gave us chairs, an elderly Cin-
derella was blacking boots and peeling potatoes
in the fireplace; a pretty girl was carrying tumblers
and clean linen to a near room; another, with a
big baby in her arms, gossiped with neighbours
on the front steps. The landlady hurried back
to the small kitchen, through the open door of
which we could see her bustling about among the
pots and pans.
Presently a little man, in white trousers and
brown velveteen waistcoat, wandered in from the
stable-yard to clink glasses with a friend at the
bar, and drink without pause two mugs of beer and
one
42