Miss Bracegirdle's Night of Fear

'This is the room, madame.'

'Oh thank you - thank you.'

'Does madame like the room?'

'Oh yes. Thank you. It is very nice.'

'Does madame want anything more?'

'If it is not too late, I want to have a hot bath.'

'That is quite easy, madame. The bathroom is the room at the end of this floor, on the left. I can get the bath ready for madame.'

'There is just one more thing. I came by train from England today, so I am very tired. Please do not bring my breakfast too early tomorrow. I want to have a good sleep tonight.'

'I understand, madame.'

The girl went off to get the bath ready.

Millicent Bracegirdle was right. She was tired. She thought of Easingstoke, her home town, now so far away. She remembered the drive to London early that morning; the train from London to Dover; the boat to Calais. Then another train to Paris. By lunchtime, she was in a third train, going from Paris to Bordeaux. Now, here she was in the hotel. It was twelve o'clock at night. Why was she here in south-west France, of all places? It was all because of Annie, her younger sister. Annie usually lived in South America. Earlier in the year, Annie got ill and now she was to have a holiday in Europe. Miss Bracegirdle's brother could not come to meet Annie off the boat. He had too much work to do in Easingstoke. So Miss Bracegirdle was the only other person.

'The ship is going to arrive in Bordeaux tomorrow,' thought Miss Bracegirdle. 'And I am going to see Annie again after all these years.'

This was Miss Bracegirdle's first visit to France. She did not usually take holidays away from home. Luckily she spoke a little French. 'It is not so difficult to live in France,' she thought. 'The thing to understand is that it is quite different from Easingstoke.'

She took her things one by one out of her bag and put them away carefully. She thought about her home in Easingstoke, with flowers in all the rooms and photographs of the family. She thought about her poor brother, working so hard. She felt a little sad, but only for a minute. Her time in France was to be quite short. She was going to be home again soon. Now she must get a good night's sleep. But first that hot bath...