suit-case which, at Jacqueline's practical suggestion, was changed for
a lighter one of plaited straw.

After that I abstained from misdirecting my companion's activities.

And everybody addressed her as _madame_, and everybody smiled on us,
and sometimes I reflected miserably upon the wedding ring, and then
again smiled too and forgot, watching Jacqueline's eager face flushed
with delight as she looked at the pretty things in the store.

I had meditated taking her into Tiffany's to buy her a trinket of some
kind. A ring seemed forbidden, and I was weighing the choice between a
bracelet and a watch, my desire to acquire a whole counter of trinkets
rapidly getting the better of my judgment, when something happened
which put the idea completely out of my head.

It was while Jacqueline was examining the suitcases that my attention
was drawn to a tall, elderly man with a hard, drawn, and deeply lined
weather-beaten face, and wearing a massive fur overcoat, open in front,
who was standing in the division between the trunk department and that
adjoining it, immediately behind Jacqueline. He was looking at me with
an unmistakable glance of recognition.

I knew that I had seen him several times before, but, though his
features were familiar, I had forgotten his name.

In fact, I had seen him only a week before, but the events of the past
night had made a week seem like a week of years. I stared at him and
he stared back at me, and made an urgent sign to me.