NCERT Book Class 11 English (Woven Words) Short Stories 8 The Luncheon

The Luncheon 99

8 The Luncheon
William Somerset Maugham

F Look for these expressions in the story and guess the meaning
from the context

devastating passion caviare
complacency vindictive
mortifying ingratiating

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 recognised 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
the 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 beyond my means that I had never even thought of
going there. But I was flattered and I was too young to have