They had shown him into a back room, where a girl was sitting at a simple bureau covered with papers, and a small round, table was laid for two.

The impression of cleanliness, order, and good taste was confirmed when the girl got up, saying, "You wish to see Maman, Monsieur ?" in a broken accent.
"Yes," Soames had answered, "I represent your landlord; in fact, I'm his son." "Won't you sit down, sir, please?
Tell Maman to come to this gentleman." He was pleased that the girl seemed impressed, because it showed business instinct; and suddenly he noticed that she was remarkably pretty--so remarkably pretty that his eyes found a difficulty in leaving her face.

When she moved to put a chair for him, she swayed in a curious subtle way, as if she had been put together by someone with a special secret skill; and her face and neck, which was a little bared, looked as fresh as if they had been sprayed with dew.

Probably at this moment Soames decided that the lease had not been violated; though to himself and his father he based the decision on the efficiency of those illicit adaptations in the building, on the signs of prosperity, and the obvious business capacity of Madame Lamotte.

He did not, however, neglect to leave certain matters to future consideration, which had necessitated further visits, so that the little back room had become quite accustomed to his spare, not unsolid, but unobtrusive figure, and his pale, chinny face with clipped moustache and dark hair not yet grizzling at the sides.
"Un Monsieur tres distingue," Madame Lamotte found him; and presently, "Tres amical, tres gentil," watching his eyes upon her daughter.
She was one of those generously built, fine-faced, dark-haired Frenchwomen, whose every action and tone of voice inspire perfect confidence in the thoroughness of their domestic tastes, their knowledge of cooking, and the careful increase of their bank balances.
After those visits to the Restaurant Bretagne began, other visits ceased--without, indeed, any definite decision, for Soames, like all Forsytes, and the great majority of their countrymen, was a born empiricist.