She stared at the francs in his hand.“ Is something wrong?” Lanchon asked.
“ I want us to have a really beautiful place,” Noelle said,“ where we can enjoy being together.”
“ I’ m not a rich man,” he protested.
Noelle smiled understandingly and put her hand on his thigh. Lanchon stared at her a long moment and then nodded.
“ You’ re right,” he said. He reached into his wallet and began peeling off francs, watching her face as he did so.
When she seemed satisfied, he stopped, flushed with his own generosity. After all what did it matter? Lanchon was a shrewd businessman, and he knew that this would insure that Noelle would never leave him.
Noelle watched him as he drove happily away, then she went upstairs, packed her things and removed her savings from her hiding place. At ten o’ clock that night, she was on a train to Paris.
When the train pulled into Paris early the next morning, the PLM Station was crowded with those travelers who had eagerly just arrived, and those who were just as eagerly fleeing the city. The din in the station was deafening as people shouted greetings and tearful farewells, rudely pushing and shoving, but Noelle did not mind. The moment she stepped off the train, before she had even had a chance to see the city, she knew that she was home. It was Marseille that seemed like a strange town and Paris the city to which she belonged. It was an odd, heady sensation, and Noelle reveled in it, drinking in the noises, the crowds, the excitement. It all belonged to her. All she had to do now was claim it. She picked up her suitcase and started toward the exit.
Outside in the bright sunlight with the traffic insanely whizzing around, Noelle hesitated, suddenly realizing that she had nowhere to go. Half a dozen taxis were lined up in front of the station. She got into the first one.
“ Where to?” She hesitated.“ Could you recommend a nice inexpensive hotel?” The driver swung around to stare at her appraisingly.“ You’ re new in town?”“ Yes.” He nodded.“ You’ ll be needing a job, I suppose.”“ Yes.”“ You’ re in luck,” he said.“ Have you ever done any modeling?” Noelle’ s heart leaped.“ As a matter of fact, I have,” she said.
“ My sister works for one of the big fashion houses,” the driver confided.“ Just this morning she mentioned that one of the girls quit. Would you like to see if the vacancy is