With the inclusion of a table, the two armchairs pulled up to its ends, and a tabouret placed at its side, the sitting room transformed into a dining room. At Adelaide"s orders, two of the thousands of serving girls brought their midday meal from the humongous kitchen two floors below. Jeanne sat through the private dinner with her mother and sister, barely touching her food, unable to still a shaky foot or a tapping finger.
“What is it that disturbs you so, Jeanne?” Adelaide delicately dabbed her large linen napkin to each corner of her mouth then laid it gently in her lap.
Jeanne used her long, three-pronged fork to move some salad from one side of her plate to the other and back again, staring straight down while the fingers of her left hand tapped out an impatient rhythm.
Bernadette
