balk [bO:k], stomach [stAmqk], explore [Iks'plO:]

But at the eating of a snail she firmly balked. She examined them with interest in their steaming fragrant shells. The spirit was willing but her stomach said no.

"I carn't," she finally confessed, "not arfter seeing them walking about."

From that time on, unspoken, the nightly gathering of the three for roamings about Paris became taken for granted. In the daytime, while they worked, except for her fittings, which took place at eleven-thirty in the mornings, and her tidying of Fauvel's premises, Mrs. Harris was free to explore the city on her own, but the evenings were heralded by the arrival of Natasha in her Simca, and they would be off.

Thus Mrs. Harris saw Paris by twilight (таким образом миссис Харрис видела Париж в сумерках) from the second landing of the Tour Eiffel (со второго уровня Эйфелевой башни; landing — высадка; лестничная площадка), by milky moonlight from the Sacré-Coeur (при молочном лунном свете из /собора/ Сакре-Кёр), and waking up in the morning at dawn (и просыпаясь утром на рассвете) when the market bustle at Les Halles began (когда базарная суматоха на Ле-Аль /парижский рынок — «чрево Парижа»/ начиналась), and after a night of visiting this or that part of the city of never-ending wonder (и после вечера посещений той или иной части бесконечно удивительного города: «города никогда не кончающегося удивления») they breakfasted thereon eggs and garlic sausages (они завтракали после того яйцами и чесночными сосисками), surrounded by workmen (окруженные рабочими), produce handlers and lorry drivers (торговцами сельскохозяйственными изделиями и водителями грузовиков).

twilight ['twaIlaIt], dawn [dO:n], bustle [bAsl]

Thus Mrs. Harris saw Paris by twilight from the second landing of the Tour Eiffel, by milky moonlight from the Sacré-Coeur, and waking up in the morning at dawn when the market bustle at Les Halles began, and after a night of visiting this or that part of the city of never-ending wonder they breakfasted thereon eggs and garlic sausages, surrounded by workmen, produce handlers and lorry drivers.

Once (однажды), instigated somewhat in a spirit of mischief by Natasha (спровоцированные несколько озорным духом Наташи; to instigate — побуждать, подстрекать), they took Mrs. Harris to the "Revue des Nudes" (они привезли миссис Харрис в «Ревю-дэ-Нюд = показ обнаженных /моделей/»), a cabaret in the Rue Blanche (кабаре на улице Бланш), but she was neither shocked nor impressed (но она не была ни шокирована, ни поражена). There is a curiously cozy kind of family atmosphere (есть = царит необычайно уютная, вроде семейной, атмосфера) at some of these displays (на некоторых из этих шоу): whole groups (целые семейства: whole — целый; родной), including grandmothers (включая бабушек), fathers (отцов), mothers and the young (матерей и молодежь), come up from the country (приезжают из провинции) for a celebration or anniversary of some kind (для торжества или какой-нибудь годовщины), bringing along a picnic hamper (принося корзину с провизией для пикника); they order wine (они заказывают вино) and settle down to enjoy the fun (и устраиваются наслаждаться весельем).