The five o'clock tea at the Hôtel Ritz is certainly the
most elegant of any in Paris. The interior is neither
imposing nor luxurious. It is only a narrow hall with
two rooms opening on to it, but there are footmen and
butlers as correct as Embassy attachés. The best
dressed women in Paris meet there. This creates a



218 ON THE BRANCH

most unique general effect* That space» with mirron
on both sides, has, at the tea-hour, the look of a large
aviary full of many-coloured birds, and the noise of
the Tarions conversations is like a sort of warbling, but
we may add the hiunan warbling is not very har-
monious. When I go alone to the Hôtel Ritz, I sit in
a comer from which I can take in the whole scene.
Madame de Myères likes the rustling of the well-made
dresses, and also the beautiful jewellery; Jean Noël is
delighted to study and compare the looks and gestures
of the specimens under his eyes, and both have *^ a good
time,'' as the Americans say.
