Chapter VOdette Mignon is 18 years old; she wears a blue beret slanted to one side, a sports dress cinched round her waist with a leather belt and, on her feet, white sandals, no socks.
Ştefan had made her acquaintance one evening on the terrace of the hotel, when, while his friends sat gathered in a circle to play with a piece of rope and a ring, she stood apart watching the night closing in on the lake.
“Do you want to play with us?”
“Okay.”
She joined the circle and involved herself in the game wholeheartedly, singing along with everyone else:
Il court, il court, le furet,
Le furet du bois joli…3
The ring passed from hand to hand, furtively, and the player in the middle had to guess who had it, while the others had to move their hands quickly over the rope to give the impression
