It was the sort of restaurant which would have impressed me very much in my younger and less experienced days .sx In the porch stood an enormous commissionaire , covered with gold and purple trimmings and wearing a sort of breastplate made up of rows and rows of tinkling medals .sx He received us with great civility , took our hats and umbrellas away , opened the interior door and handed us over to a large fat man dressed in evening cloths , who had a face like cold suet pudding decorated with two currants only , in the shape of round black eyes , an oily pair of black moustaches and a mass of curly black hair .sx He bowed and smiled excessively and , speaking imperfect English , conducted us down the room between the rows of tables to where , in a secluded corner under softly shaded lights , stood a table for two , set out with napery and cutlery and a vase of imitation poppies .sx I thought , from his manner and expression , that he had seen Miss Tripp many times before and knew the kind of table she liked to occupy .sx The place was a mass of gilt , red plush and white table-cloths , quivering hazily under electric light , misty with wreaths of cigarette smoke and redolent of tobacco , olive oil and sour alcohol .sx A big mahogany sideboard stood facing me on one side , laden above with rows of straw-covered , brightly stoppered Chianti flasks , and set out below with fantastically shaped baskets , built up into pyramids with masses of unhealthily swollen oranges and very purple apples , which looked as though they were made of coloured shiny wax or some other deleterious substance .sx The brown walls were painted with pink figures of naked ladies , engaged in entangling themselves amongst lengths of Cambridge-blue ribbon with all sorts of extraordinary and unnatural contortions - n one place the damp had worked through the plaster and obliterated the upper half of one of these figures so entirely as to leave only her bare legs astonishingly and indecorously kicking away out of the void of a large brown stain .sx Allied flags grouped round little shields decorated the cornices .sx Most of the other diners , seated at the tables , were in evening dress - the women often very much so .sx When I turned round to glance at the group behind , my eye immediately encountered the back of a lady , who seemed to me to be entirely nude , except for a small letter 'S' of black velvet plastered just over the small of her back .sx I was so shocked at this first glimpse that I did not dare to take another in order to make quite sure that I had not been deceived .sx Many of the men were of course officers home on leave from the front and these , as well as many others , seemed to have drunk quite enough , and they were talking and laughing with a great deal of noise .sx One group started to throw bread pellets at each other , which ended in a sort of general scrimmage , when a couple of wineglasses were broken and a young lady's necklace snapped into fragments .sx In another group the officers were all sitting with their arms round the ladies' waists or shoulders .sx Another set began singing so noisily that the suet-pudding-faced man had to go and try and persuade them to be quiet , when they made him sit down with them , eat a chocolate meringue and drink a glass of brandy , which they said was disinfectant and very poisonous .sx But there were two or three other groups of people there , who were not only rather quiet and subdued but looked self-conscious , embarrassed and even almost frightened .sx These kept staring round and round the room at the other diners and especially at the other women , with a sort of guilty curiosity , only speaking to each other occasionally and then in tones that seemed hollow and assumed .sx They looked as though they half feared , half hoped that something not quite proper might happen at any moment .sx I thought from their good manners and the very respectable way in which they were dressed that they must be people from Hampstead or Muswell Hill , come out in a spirit of reckless adventure to see for themselves the night life of London .sx At the beginning of my meal with Miss Tripp , I must confess , I felt very much like what they seemed to be feeling , but after a while , what with the eating and drinking and Miss Tripp's continual flow of laughter and conversation , I began to feel much more reckless - in fact rather as though I was actually one of those reckless young officers on leave .sx Miss Tripp insisted on cocktails .sx I have never been in the habit of drinking cocktails , which , as Laurette always said , are certainly unhealthy , and I had indeed scarcely ever tasted one before .sx But she was so clear that they were the only right thing , that I could not raise any objection .sx Each of our cocktails had a little red cherry at the bottom of it , and after making many little comical remarks about hers and then fishing it out with a spoon and eating it , she made me do the same .sx After that she ordered the full table d'hote and handed me the wine card .sx 'Choose a little of the cheerful,' she commanded .sx 'We want it after the day we've had , eh ?sx Winning the damned old War and all that ?sx Look at that fool of a lieut .sx Over there,' she went on , gazing round her , 'cuddling that hideous girl with the red hair and trying to feed her out of his own spoon !sx He's just a kid and ought to be wheeled about in a pram instead of swanking about in uniform .sx The little squits they do take into the army nowadays !sx But it's only a rotten line regiment anyhow and he's only a rotten second !sx I wonder where he picked that bit of goods up ?sx Shop assistant , I bet , or a waitress with a night off !sx ' I asked her if she would take a little claret .sx Claret was the wine that Laurette liked , and almost the only kind that she allowed to be consumed at the 'Rosery' at all .sx Besides , Mr. Castle had shown a great fondness for it when he visited us there , so I knew it could be very good .sx Miss Tripp made a grimace .sx 'No fear !sx ' she said .sx 'Not that sour stuff .sx Not when we're out on a razzle-dazzle together !sx What about a drop of good old fizz ?sx Eh ?sx That's the stuff to put a bit of life and spirit into old bones .sx ' I guessed that she meant that she would like some champagne , but not being very sure on the point I handed her the card so that she could choose for herself .sx She ordered a bottle at once that turned out afterwards to be rather expensive .sx She sipped her glass lusciously , putting her large red tongue in and out of the glass as she did so .sx She said it was 'topping stuff' and I certainly found it rather exhilarating myself .sx The dinner was a very long and sold affair and to my taste a trifle gross and greasy .sx But Miss Tripp seemed to enjoy it very much and ate heartily , having two helpings of hors d'oeuvre and boiled chicken and celery and a couple of ices .sx It was wonderful to see her white teeth dealing with the celery , which was so stringy that I had to leave most of it on my plate .sx I found myself beginning to warm up considerably - not of course that I became inebriated in the slightest or anything of that sort , notwithstanding that at Miss Tripp's suggestion I ordered another - though only a half-bottle - of champagne , and even although we did have brandy with our coffee .sx But I certainly felt very elate and unusually self-sufficient , for a social occasion at any rate .sx Perhaps I even swaggered , to an extent that I scarcely remember in myself before , except possibly on the night of that little supper at Progers's diggings over the mild shop , when I was scarcely more than a boy , and when Mr. Phoenix made me bring so much of the beer I had scarcely hitherto tasted , and then inveigled me into singing that ridiculous chorus of Miss Titty Flinders .sx I actually turned round in my seat once or twice and stared fixedly into the faces of some of the other diners in the restaurant , giving a hoarse and , I believe , an almost scornful laugh - behaviour on my part that only Miss Tripp's proximity and example could account for .sx I began to stare back into her eyes and face quite steadily and with an expression that must have been almost as bold and insolent as her own .sx Perhaps the close warm vinous atmosphere of the restaurant had something to do with my unaccustomed brazenness - certainly the place seemed sodden , sick with the fumes of drink and tobacco ; or possibly the reckless example of the young officers home from the front had infected me .sx However it was , I know that I had a strong impression for the time being that I was excellent company and pulling every ounce of my weight .sx Miss Tripp could not at any time have been called dull .sx On this occasion she did her best to be more exciting than ever .sx I can hardly credit now the lengths to which I seem to recollect , she allowed herself to go in her conversation .sx She told me that she had recently seen an actress , named Claremont Klavinsky , in a revue called 'Tails , You Lose' .sx She herself had had a seat in the stalls , absolutely hemmed in by old bounders with bald heads and fat bellies , done up to the nines in evening dress' she'd nearly died with laughter to see them leap forward in their seats , all over a tremble with excitement and their eyes starting out of their heads , when the Klavinsky girl came suddenly running out upon the stage , giving one long loud shriek and clad in practically nothing else but a little green glass ball , hung down from her waist in a string of red beads .sx She said she'd felt so sorry for the poor old brutes , and she'd have liked to treat them all to a damned good pick-me-up .sx This story of hers somehow did not please me very much , for I thought she absurdly exaggerated the men's ages .sx I believe she saw that I did not care for it a great deal , because she immediately changed the subject and went on to relate how one of her boy friends had just bought her a lovely pair of silk garters , which did up with golden clasps :sx he'd chosen this particular present for her , because he so much admired the shape of her legs .sx She said she had occasionally acted as an artists' model because of the beauty of her figure - but only to R.A.'s , of course .sx She told me she belonged to a smart up-to-date club in Bloomsbury , the members of which had to be an equal number of each sex , and which really and truly had only one rule which could never be broken , and that was , that each member had to possess a photograph of every other member taken absolutely naked .sx She'd got the whole collection herself ; it was a downright scream ; it would make me die with laughter !sx All this was , as I can see very well now , in the highest degree shocking and improper and ought to have disgusted me thoroughly .sx Certainly my ears burned , my eyes watered and my cheeks grew very hot , as I listened to her , and I began at any rate to get a very clear idea of the sort of girl that Miss Tripp really was .sx But there was such a sparkle in her large outfacing eye , such a brilliance in the powdery red and white of her face , such a smooth fleshiness in her bare arm and such an alluring curve in her upper lip when she laughed , that anything objectionable seemed to lose its grossness when it came from her mouth , to be nothing more than the mere effervescence of audacious high spirits .sx