Read "Stolen Souls" by William le Queux online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"Ah! you in England, here, are always _debonnaire_, while we in Charleroi are always _triste_, always."
The dark-eyed, handsome girl sighed, lying lazily back among the cushions of the boat, allowing the rudder-lines to hang so loosely that our course became somewhat erratic. I had been spending one of the hot afternoons of last July gossiping and drinking tea on the riverside lawn of a friend's house at Datchet, and now at sunset had taken for a row this pretty Belgian whom my hostess had introduced as Cecile Demage.