Arnold Bennett

The Loot of Cities Arnold Bennett

The Devonshire Mansion, a bright edifice of eleven storeys in the Foster and Dicksee style, constructional ironwork by Homan, lifts by Waygood, decorations by Waring, and terra-cotta by therood, is situate on the edge of Hyde Park. It is a composite building. Its foundations are firmly fixedin the Tube railway; above that comes the wine cellarage, then the vast laundry, and then (a row ofwindows scarcely level with the street) a sporting club, a billiard-room, a grill-room, and a cigarettemerchant whose name ends in "opoulos." On the first floor is the renowned Devonshire MansionRestaurant. Always, in London, there is just one restaurant where, if you are an entirely correctperson, "you can get a decent meal." The place changes from season to season, but there is nevermore than one of it at a time. That season it happened to be the Devonshire. (The chef of theDevonshire had invented tripe suppers, tripes à la mode de Caen, and these suppers-seven-and-six-had been the rage.) Consequently all entirely correct people fed as a matter of course at theDevonshire, since there was no other place fit to go to. The vogue of the restaurant favourablyaffected the vogue of the nine floors of furnished suites above the restaurant; they were always full;and the heavenward attics, where the servants took off their smart liveries and became human, heldmuch wealth. The vogue of the restaurant also exercised a beneficial influence over the status of theKitcat Club, which was a cock-and-hen club of the latest pattern and had its "house" on the thirdfloor.