Caroline Reboux hat. Paris, November, 1936.

Source:
Paris en Images, copyright Lipnitzki / Roger-Viollet (LIP-63693):
Click here to view source.

Gaito Gazdanov's Paris / 6

The diamond comb

Once, after dropping off a female fare at two o’clock in the morning, I turned on the interior light and noticed a comb set with diamonds lying on the back seat; fake diamonds no doubt but splendid at first glance.

I didn’t feel like stopping and decided to retrieve it later. At that moment I was hailed by a lady – she was walking along one of the avenues near the Champ-de-Mars – draped in a sable wrap. She was returning home to avenue Foch.

After delivering her I remembered the comb and looked behind me. It was no longer there; the woman in sable had filched it just as a maid or a prostitute might have done. [23]