only american english please
I walked down through the garden to the sea, and as I did so my spirits rose. For this, of course, was what had been so beautifully described in the agent’s leaflet, and why I had flown so many miles. The description was true, too. Little whitewashed homes respectfully set apart from one another, the sea washing the rocks below. There was a beach, from which people doubtless swam in high season, but no one was on it now, and, even if anyone should appear, the holiday cottages themselves were well to the left, safe, private. I looked at each in turn, mounting the steps, standing on the balconies. The clerk must have been telling the truth about none of them being let before the summer, for all had their shutters closed over their windows. All except one. And as soon as I mounted the steps and stood on the balcony I knew that this was the one I wanted to be mine. This was the view I had imagined. The water beneath me, gently splashing against the rocks, the bay widening into the open sea, and beyond, the mountains. It was perfect. The cottages to the east of the hotel, which was out of sight anyway, could be forgotten. One, on a piece of land sticking out into the sea, stood on its own with a landing-stage below, but this would only strengthen my picture when I came to paint it. The rest were fortunately hidden by rising ground. I turned, and looked through the open windows to the bedroom within. Plain whitewashed walls, a stone floor, a comfortable low bed with coloured blankets upon it. A bedside table with a lamp and telephone. But for these last, it was simplicity itself, and I wished for nothing more.
I wondered why this cottage, and none of its neighbours, had been opened up, and stepping inside I heard from the bathroom beyond the sound of running water. Not further disappointment, and the place booked after all? I put my head round the open door, and saw that it was a maid washing the bathroom floor. She jumped as she saw me. Pointing around me, I said ‘Is this taken?’ She did not understand, but answered me in her own language. Then she seized her cloth and bucket and, plainly terrified, pushed past me to the entrance, leaving her work unfinished.
