OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

140 MAINLY MAIGRET
" First of all, here are some plans drawn exactly to scale. They've
been made out in duplicate, so I can let you have a copy. The first
one is the ground floor at the Popingas'—the passage on the left,
the drawing-room on the right, then the dining-room behind. Then
right at the back the kitchen, and behind this again the shed where
Popinga kept his bicycle and where he would lay his boat up in the
winter."
" You were all in the drawing-room, I think? "
" Yes, all the time, except that twice Madame Popinga and once
her sister Any went out into the kitchen to see about the tea, as the
maid had already gone to bed.. . . This is the first floor—at the
back, the bathroom directly over the kitchen. In front, two rooms;
to the left, the Popingas' bedroom; to the right, a little study provided
with a divan where Any slept. The other bedroom—over
the dining-room—had been given to me."
" Show me from which windows the shot could conceivably
have been fired."
" From the one in my room, the bathroom one, or from the one
downstairs in the dining-room."
" Tell me just what happened during the evening."
" My lecture went off splendidly. I gave it in this hotel. They
have a good room for that sort of thing. Come and see...."
He led Maigret across the hall of the hotel to a long room, hung
with paper garlands, which served for charity dances, banquets, and
amateur theatricals. Behind a platform at one end hung a dropcurtain
representing the grounds of a chateau.
" Afterwards we walked back towards the Amsterdiep," said the
professor, leading the way back into the cafe.
" Along the quay? . . . Will you tell me the exact order in which
you walked? "
" I led the way with Madame Popinga. ... A most cultured
woman. .. . Conrad Popinga followed, flirting with that little idiot
of a farmer's daughter, who can do n6thing but grin and giggle,
and who certainly didn't understand a word of my lecture from
start to finish. Behind them came the Wienands, Any, and that
young pupil of Popinga's. A pale-faced, nondescript boy of whom
I can tell you nothing."
" You had reached the house. ..."
" I dare say you've heard about my lecture. I spoke of the
responsibility of criminals for their actions. Madame Popinga's
sister, who has just taken her degree, and who will be practising next