OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE LODGER 97
The Polish Jew slowly raised his head. There was no trace of
anger in the pale, staring eyes—and this made what followed all
the more impressive.
" If you don't keep your dirty mouth shut," he said, " I'll bash
your face in!"
Though smaller than Elie, he was more toughly built, and looked
quite capable of putting the threat into execution. After he had
spoken, the pencil could be heard biting into the paper, and the
table started vibrating again.
Some minutes passed, and presently, for all his imperturbability,
Moise looked up, puzzled by the long silence. He saw Elie sitting
perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the red glow of the open ring of the
fire; his under-lip was sagging, quivering.
Moise resumed his work, and after a while, without a sound,
almost, it seemed, without the least displacement of the air, Elie rose
and walked out of the kitchen. The fire in his bedroom had gone
out, but none the less he stayed there, sitting in front of the window.
Towards four, when the lamp-lighter was going his rounds, he
saw two dim figures moving by, which he recognized as Antoinette
and her mother. He heard the key turn in the lock, then footsteps
in the hall. The two women had almost reached the kitchen door
when there was a slight rattle of the letter-box; the evening paper
had just been delivered.
Elie ran out and took it; then followed the women into the
kitchen, where he found Moise gathering up his books and papers.
The table was strewn with parcels of various shapes and sizes.
" Go upstairs and change your things," said Madame Baron to
her daughter.
Before even taking off" her hat she went to the range, added a
shovelful of coal, and set the kettle on to boil. Her cheeks were blue
with cold; little beads of ice glittered on her fur stole.
" Has no one been, Monsieur Moise? "
" No one."
Without a glance at Elie she went upstairs to change her clothes,
and a moment later Moise went up too. The wicker chair creaked
as Elie settled into it. The pages of the newspaper rustled. There
was nothing of interest on the first or second page. But on the third
he found a short paragraph headed: " The Murder on the Paris
Express"
There were only a dozen lines or so—which seemed to indicate
that Press and public had lost interest in the case.