rooms, so I thought I still had a little time before the new arrivals would join us in the loggia. And then a sublime creature materialized in the doorway! Hypnotized by her beauty, Laszlo missed his cup and poured tea into his saucer, while Frédéric cried gaily, “My gosh, Penelope Cruz! What a good idea to invite her!”
And it was true that the young woman standing before us and looking faintly embarrassed closely resembled that Spanish actress. But she was even more beautiful.
“I’m … Nicolas’s wife. I’m looking for Laure,” she said softly, batting her eyelashes.
“I’m Laure, and welcome, Vanessa!” I replied.
“Nicolas would like to see you. He’s upstairs.”
“Ah? Fine, I’ll go see what he wants. I’ll leave you to introduce yourself.”
I went up the stairs four at a time to the main entrance hall, where I found two men I had no time to acknowledge and Nicolas, who, far from greeting me with his customary effusiveness, cut right to the chase.
“Here’s the situation: your suitor (don’t worry, he can’t speak a single word of French) doesn’t go anywhere without his yoga teacher. But what I’ve just learned is that he wants to have him stay in a room next to his.”
“Which is, naturally, out of the question.”
Nicolas seemed so worried that I added, “But we can find him a hotel room nearby.”
“We could always try …”
“I mean, with advance notice, that would have been another story, but as it is, he’s got some nerve!”
“Yes but, put yourself in his place! He was so astonished to be invited that I told him you weren’t people who stood on ceremony, that you’d really welcome him. So now, to have to explain that the house rules are so strict …”
“Oh, I see …”
“Well, listen, I did my best to get him here and it worked! That’s why I’m telling you, I’m not going to be the one to break the news. You’ll have to deal with it, however you want.”
“Which one is he?” I asked, glancing at the other two men just long enough to make me hope my guest was the tall one, rather handsome in a smoldering way, and not the one with the pasty complexion and a ponytail.
“The tall one,” replied Nicolas to my great relief, before introducing me in English: “Laure, here are Alvin and Barry, also known as Anagan. Alvin, Anagan, let me introduce you to Laure, who is our hostess, and the dear friend I have told you about.”
I gave them a big smile before describing to Alvin the situation with the house, unfortunately (and most unusually!) completely full, and the charming little hotel that would certainly have room for Anagan, whom I placed in the capable hands of Roland, the chauffeur. But although I blithely ignored my suitor’s extreme irritation, I had by no means dealt completely with the problem of his guru, I gathered, when Nicolas informed me that Anagan was not only Alvin’s yoga teacher and spiritual guide, but also his cook.
“His cook!?”
“Yes, didn’t I mention that? Your suitor is a vegetarian or vegan, whatever, because I don’t really see the difference.”
“This gets better and better,” I groused, escorting the American to his room, and when Nicolas seemed about ready to start in again, I spoke up first: “Yes, I know: I asked for it, I got it, but still …”
The second we entered the Yellow Room, Alvin interrupted me to ask if he was allowed to move the head of his bed to point north, because otherwise he would be unable to sleep, and seeing my amazement, he added that this was one of the golden rules of feng shui.
“Of course,” I replied.
“I have the feeling we’re going to have some fun,” Nicolas told me as we watched Alvin drag his bed around.
“We can only hope.” I sighed, leaving Alvin in his care until dinnertime.
I still had to ask my mother to put up the guru and speak to the chef so that he would allow him into the kitchen.
“It seems your guest is rather eccentric, so we can certainly allow him the same leeway we give Charles, with the excuse that he’s an English lord!” she said before busying herself with finding a room for the yogi and asking Roland to get him settled there.
In short, she was so pleasant about the whole business that I was at first disconcerted. Then I realized that she was critical only of people with whom she was familiar, and Alvin’s lifestyle was so different