. The real Latin quarter . nd either thelanguage of these strangers or their viewsof life. Florence ! exclaims one of the stran-gers in a whisper, do look at that queerlittle type at the long table—the tall girlin black actually kissed him ! You dont mean it! Yes, I do—just now. Why, my dear, Isaw it plainly ! Poor culprits! There is no law againstkissing in the open air in Paris, and be-sides, the tall girl in black has known thelittle type for a Parisienne age—thirtydays or less. The four innocents, who have coughedthrough their soup and whispered throughthe rest of the dinner, have now fini
. The real Latin quarter . nd either thelanguage of these strangers or their viewsof life. Florence ! exclaims one of the stran-gers in a whisper, do look at that queerlittle type at the long table—the tall girlin black actually kissed him ! You dont mean it! Yes, I do—just now. Why, my dear, Isaw it plainly ! Poor culprits! There is no law againstkissing in the open air in Paris, and be-sides, the tall girl in black has known thelittle type for a Parisienne age—thirtydays or less. The four innocents, who have coughedthrough their soup and whispered throughthe rest of the dinner, have now finishedand are leaving, but if those at the longtable notice their departure, they do notshow it. In the Quarter it is consideredthe height of rudeness to stare. You will171 find these Suzannes and Marcelles exceed-ingly well-bred in the little refinements oflife, and you will note a certain innate dig-nity and kindliness in their bearing towardothers, which often makes one wish touncover his head in their presence. 172. CHAPTER IX THE RAGGED EDGE OF THE QUARTER ^* HERE are many streetsof the Quarter as quietas those of a countryvillage. Some of them,like the rue Vaugirard,lead out past gloomyslaughter-houses and stables, throughdesolate sections of vacant lots, litteredwith the ruins of factory and foundry whosetall, smoke-begrimed chimneys in the darkstand like giant sentries, as if pointing awarning finger to the approaching pedes-trian, for these ragged edges of the Quar-ter often afford at night a lurking-groundfor footpads. In just such desolation there lived adozen students, in a small nest of studiosthat I need not say were rented to them at173 a price within their ever-scanty means. Itwas marveled at among the boys in theQuarter that any of these exiles lived tosee the light of another day, after wander-ing back at all hours of the night to theirstronghold. Possibly their sole possessions consistedof the clothes they had on, a few bad pic-tures, and their several im
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