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|The Luncheon by Somerset Maugham |

|The Luncheon |
|William Somerset Maugham |
|I caught sight of her at the play, and in answer to her beckoning, I went over during the interval and sat down beside her. It |
|was long since I had last seen her, and if someone had not mentioned her name I hardly think I would have recognized her. |
|She addressed me brightly. |
|"Well, it's many years since we first met. How time does fly! We're none of us getting any younger. Do you remember the first |
|time I saw you? You asked me to luncheon.” |
|Did I remember? |
|It was twenty years ago and I was living in Paris. I had a tiny apartment in the Latin quarter overlooking a cemetery, and I |
|was earning barely enough money to keep body and soul together. She had read a book of mine and had written to me about it. I |
|answered, thanking her, and presently I received from her another letter saying that she was passing through Paris and would |
|like to have a chat with me; but her time was limited, and the only free moment she had was on the following Thursday; she was |
|spending the morning at the Luxembourg and would I give her a little luncheon at Foyot's afterwards? Foyot's is a restaurant at|
|which the French senators eat, and it was so far

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