The Blue Bath Read Online Free PDF

patience. “He is interviewing prospective wives.”
    “What?”
    “Oh, come on.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes, a rash act that proved unwise and seemed to throw her momentarily off balance. Once recovered, she continued. “Even you must know this. He needs a wife or, at the very least, a fiancée before he runs for office. Time is ticking. He identifies suitable candidates and takes them out and sees who he likes.”
    “Well, I guess that is what everyone does, to some extent.” Kat blew gently on her tea, still too hot to drink. “Anyway, I don’t really know him. I only met him the once.”
    “Well, apparently you made an impression.” Elizabeth rolled over, repositioning the pillow under her head, and addressed the ceiling. “He was getting serious with a Danish girl last summer. She was very, very pretty.” She uttered the last word reverentially. “But then he came to his senses. I hear she took it very hard.”
    “You certainly know a lot about Chris Hastings.”
    “It’s common knowledge. Anyway, since then he has limited himself to Americans, which is probably wise. Of course, there are only so many American girls of a certain age and family background in Paris.” She twisted her neck sideways and looked pointedly at Kat. “You, my dear, are fresh meat. I bet his family will do a background check on you. You know, your family, who you associate with, all that…”
    Elizabeth’s voice trailed off and her hands moved distractedly to her neck, where they came upon a long strand of pearls left over from the previous night. The girl followed the trail of smooth spheres to the clasp, which she squeezed open deftly between practiced fingers. The beads slipped immediately from her and she caught them easily. Pausing, she seemed to consider the necklace idly for a moment, letting it flow from one hand to the other. When she continued her voice had a deliberately blasé tone.
    “I wonder if they’ll contact me.”
    After a moment, she turned back to Kat.
    “When did you leave the party?”
    “About two. After that fight broke out. Over a girl, I think.”
    “I heard about that.” Elizabeth frowned. “So if you weren’t with Christopher and you weren’t here when I got in … where were you?”
    “There was this guy I had met in the Tuileries—who was at the party—and we just ended up walking around the city.”
    Elizabeth raised an eyebrow—half curious, half accusing. “What guy?”
    “His name is Daniel. I think he knows Jean-Paul.” She hesitated, her cup warm on her knee. “Do you know him?”
    Kat looked at Elizabeth intently, but the girl’s face was blank, except for the diaspora of eye makeup fleeing her lids. “I don’t think so. Is he in the program?”
    “I don’t think so.” Kat frowned, realizing that she had never asked him.
    “I don’t understand. What about Christopher?”
    “What about Christopher?”
    “You tossed him over for some guy who you met in the park?”
    “I don’t think he was ever mine to toss. And anyway, we’re in Paris. Why come here and date boys from home?”
    Elizabeth struggled to rearrange her robe, which had become twisted around her legs. Another lock of hair freed itself, landing soundlessly on her shoulder.
    “Why? Because that is the world we live in. That is the world we are going back to.”

 
    chapter three
    When Kat finally left the flat that morning, the sun was up and the tourists filled the streets. She very nearly walked past him, leaning up against the wall in the exact spot where she had left him earlier that morning. How long had he been there, she wondered. Would he have let her walk by if she hadn’t noticed him?
    They spent every day together that week. Daniel would meet her outside her flat in the mornings and they would walk. Along the banks of the Seine, pulled along by the gray-green water. Among the stalls at Les Puces, crowded with furniture and objects of forgotten beauty—mirrors, porcelain, silver, ancient