Chapter 33 Rest in Taoyuan

There was a hotel on Broadway which had never been discovered by the summer resort brokers.This hotel bay is both deep and wide, and shady.The rooms are decorated with dark cool oak planks.The man-made breeze and the dark bushes are pleasant, not inconvenient like a summer escape to the Adirondacks.You can walk up the hotel's wide staircase, or take the elevator to slide up like in a dream, and you will be served by a waiter in a brass button livery, and you can enjoy a peaceful happiness, not even the alpine climbers. enjoyed.Even the chefs of the "White Mountain" restaurant can't cook the salmon cooked by the master chef in the kitchen, and even the famous chef of the old "Elysium" exclaimed "Oh my God" for the seafood they cooked—they turned blue with envy. The venison of Maine would make the gamekeeper drool over his post.

Few find this oasis in the Manhattan desert in July.There were far fewer guests than usual in the hotel during the month, and they sat sparsely and at ease in the high, dimly lit dining room, looking at and saying goodbye to each other across the empty tables covered with snow-white tablecloths. Silent congratulations. Too many wary waiters wandering up to customers and bringing you everything you need without waiting for a greeting.The temperature is always April.The ceiling is painted with watercolors to imitate the summer sky, and the beautiful clouds float, but it is a pity that they do not disappear like natural clouds.

The cheerful bustle of Broadway, heard from afar, was transformed in the imaginations of the happy guests into mountainous cascades, filling the woods with quiet sounds.The guests listened to every strange step, lest their hiding-place should be discovered by strangers, and disturbed by those restless pleasure-seekers who would harass nature to the remotest corners. In this way, in this small hotel with scattered residents, only a small group of experts hide here quietly in the hot season, enjoying the supreme happiness of mountains and seashores, which is art and skill combined to provide them.

In July of this year, a lady came to the hotel. The card she gave the receptionist to register her name read "Mrs. Heloise D'Arcy Beaumont". The Lotus Hotel welcomes guests like Madame Beaumont.She had a dignified air, but her manner was friendly and charming, and she made the hotel employees happy to oblige.When she rang the bell, the bellboys rushed to serve her; and were it not for a question of ownership, the hotel clerks would have deeded the hotel and everything in it to her name.The other guests at the hotel also saw her as a unique embodiment of femininity that brightened the environment.

This particular guest rarely left the hotel.Her habits were in line with those of the other distinguished guests at the Lotus Hotel.To fully enjoy this delightful hotel life, you must abandon the city as if it were dozens of miles away.It was normal to wander the neighborhood at night, but in the heat of the day all were hidden in the shady castle of the hotel, floating like salmon in the clear sanctuary of its beloved pond. Although Madame Beaumont lived alone in the Lotus Hotel, she still maintained a queenly demeanor, and her loneliness was only due to a change of place.She breakfasted at ten o'clock, when she was icy, easy, and graceful, like a cluster of jasmines that shimmers faintly in the morning light.

But at supper the lady was radiant.She was in an evening dress as beautiful and insubstantial as the mist of a hidden waterfall in a valley.The name of the dress was beyond the guesswork of journalists.There are always a few red roses on the sash on the chest.The head waiter looked at the gown respectfully and greeted him at the door.When you see this dress, you will think of Paris, maybe those countesses, and you will definitely think of Versailles, the duel, Madame Fisk and .There was an unfounded rumor in the Lotus Hotel that the lady was a cosmopolitan, and that her dainty hands made connections for Russia in several countries.As she was a world-going woman citizen, it was no wonder that she immediately recognized the handsome Lotus Hotel as the ideal place for her sojourn in the midsummer heat in America.

On the third day after Mrs. Beaumont checked into the hotel, a young man also checked into the hotel.His clothes were—in a good sense—not too fashionable; his face was dignified, poised, and old.He told the staff at the counter that he planned to stay for three or four days, and also inquired about the sailing schedule to Europe, and then, like a tourist who finds a favorite hotel, he was content to immerse himself in the happy and peaceful atmosphere of this incomparable hotel. The young man—whether his registration was true or not—was named Harold Farrington.Life in the Lotus Hotel was a calm current, and his silent drift in did not stir up the slightest ripple, and did not disturb the travelers who were looking for tranquility.Together with other happy sailors, he lost himself in a peaceful life.He ate and drank at the Lotus Hotel, and suddenly he had a table and was served, but he was always a little worried that the group of people who chased each other and made Broadway seem bustling would rush forward and destroy this close relationship. However secluded comfort zone.

On the second day of Harold Farrington's stay at the hotel, after dinner, Mrs. Beaumont dropped a handkerchief as she passed him. Mr. Farrington picked it up and handed it back to Mrs. Eager to get acquainted with her enthusiasm. Perhaps there was a mysterious sympathy between the disparate travelers of the Lotus Hotel; perhaps they felt the same good luck in finding a summer retreat in a hotel on Broadway, and they all felt close to one another.Out of politeness, the two said a few decent words of entertainment, and when they were about to break up, they said some tentative words.Again, probably because of the benign atmosphere of the summer resort, their friendship at once grew, blossomed, and bore fruit, like the magician's mystical plant.They stood on the verandah at the end of the corridor for a while, back and forth, chatting lightly like playing badminton.

"Someone's tired of the old summer resorts," said Madame Beaumont, with a faint but sweet smile. "What is the use of flying to the mountains or the seashore to escape the noise and the smoke? Didn't those who made the noise and the smoke follow us?" "Even on the seas," said Farrington despondently, "the ignorant philistines will never let you go. The best mail-boats are no better than ferries. By God's help, people looking for a summer resort Found the Lotus Hotel, which seems farther from Broadway than the Thousand Islands or the Mackinac Waterway.”

"Anyhow, I hope our secret will be kept for a week," sighed the lady with a smile. "If everyone condescends to come to the lovely Lotus Hotel, I don't know where to go. I only know of one place." Summer is the most charming, and that is the castle of Count Polinsky, in the Ural Mountains." "I've heard that Baden-Baden and Cannes are pretty much empty this season," says Farrington. "Year after year, those old places get a bad reputation. There are probably a lot of people, like us, who are looking for a place for most people." A quiet corner that people overlook."

"I promise myself three more days of this pleasant rest," said Madame Beaumont, "and the Cedric will set sail by Monday." Harold Farrington's eyes expressed regret."I have to go on Monday too, but I'm not going abroad," he said. Madame Beaumont shrugged her round shoulder in a foreign manner. "One cannot hide here forever, however charming it may be. The mansion has been prepared for me for a month. Many family dinners have to be held--what a nuisance! But I will never forget my time at the Lotus Hotel a week." "Neither will I," whispered Farrington, "I will never forgive the Cedric." On Sunday night, three days later, the two sat at a small table on the same lanai.A cautious waiter brought ice and red wine. Madame Beaumont was still in the same pretty evening gown she wore to dinner every day.She looked thoughtful.On the table by her hand was a small bag, the kind reserved for the mistress of a mansion.After she had eaten the freezing point, she opened her bag and took out a one-yuan bill. "Mr Farrington," she said with the smile that won the entire Lotus Hotel, "I have something to tell you. I'm leaving before breakfast tomorrow morning because I have to go back to work. I'm Kathy Mammoth's men's socks counter and my vacation ends at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. This bill is the last dollar I have until next Saturday night when I get paid eight dollars. You're a gentleman , these days are very good to me, so I want to tell you before I leave. "For a whole year I save money from my wages just for this vacation. I'm going to live like a lady for a week, though I can't be a lady. I'm going to get up when I like, and It's not like getting up at seven o'clock every morning; I want to live in the best place, I want to be waited on, and I have to ring the bell for everything, just like the rich people. Now I have done it. the happiest time I could wish for. I'm going back to work, back to my little room at the end of the corridor, content, and waiting for the next year. I'm going to tell you all this, Mr. Farrington, because I—I thought you were a little My son likes me, and I—I like you. But, oh, I had to hide it from you until now, because it's like a fairy tale to me. So I talk to you about Europe, and I'm in the book What you read about the country makes you think I'm a lady. "I'm wearing this outfit -- it's the only thing I'm wearing -- that I bought from O'Dowd-Lewinsky on an installment basis. "The price was seventy-five dollars, and it was made to measure. I paid ten dollars up front, and then they charged one dollar a week until it was paid off. That's about all I have to say, Mr. Farrington, and then My name is Mamie Siewert and not Madame Beaumont. Thank you for your patience in hearing me out. This is the dollar I'm going to pay for tomorrow. I think I'm going upstairs to my room at this moment. .” Harold Farrington listened stoically to the account of the loveliest guest at the Lotus Hotel.After she finished speaking, he took out a small book like a checkbook from his jacket pocket, wrote something on a blank form with a piece of pencil, tore it off and threw it to his partner, and picked up the banknotes. "I have to go to work tomorrow morning, too," he said, "I might as well start now. Here's a receipt for a dollar installment. I've been a bill collector for O'Dowd-Lewinsky for three years. Really. Funny, don't you think we both had the same idea about our vacation. I've been wanting to stay in a nice hotel, so I saved up from my twenty dollars a week wages and I did. Say, Ma'am, how about sailing to Coney this Saturday night?" The false Mrs. Heloise D'Arcy Beaumont's face lit up. "Oh, I'll bet you I'll go, Mr. Farrington. Shops close at twelve o'clock on Saturdays. I reckon a week at Coney with the hipsters will do." Outside the verandah the city buzzed with heat on a July night, while inside the Lotus Hotel there was a gentle, shady shadow, and the attentive waiters stood by the low windows, After nodding to say hello, he stepped forward to serve his wife and her entourage. Farewell to Farrington at the elevator doors, while Mrs. Beaumont will ascend the stairs for the last time.But as they approached the silent elevator car, Farrington said, "Forget that 'Harold Farrington' please? My name is McManus--James McManus S. Some people call me Jimmy." "Good night, Jimmy," said Mrs.

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Notes: She became famous as Tess in the novel, and later became famous for her performance in Ibsen's plays.