OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

150 MAINLY MAIGRET
Everyone stood stock-still, waiting. Finally Oosting opened his
mouth.
Then all at once he shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say:
" It's preposterous."
But those were not his words. In a hoarse voice which came from
right at the back of his throat he said :
" Pas comprendre . . . Hollandsch . . . English?'
Any, wearing her veil of mourning, was still visible in silhouette
as she crossed the canal bridge and turned along the Amsterdiep.
The Baes caught Maigret looking at the new cap, but it didn't
seem to trouble him at all. The shadow of a smile flickered on his
lips.
Maigret would have given all he possessed to be able to talk to
this man in his own language, even if it was only for five minutes.
In desperation he went so far as to blurt out a few syllables of English,
but with such an accent that no one understood a word.
" Pas comprendre! . . . Personne comprendre! . . ." said the
wizened sailor who had intervened before.
The Quay Rats Club gradually resumed their conversation as
Maigret sadly walked off with die feeling that he had come close
to the heart of the mystery, but all to no purpose.
A few minutes later he turned round to look at the group, who
were still gossiping in the last rays of the setting sun, which made
Oosting's red face more inflamed than ever.
So far, Maigret had kept—so to speak—to the outskirts of the
case, postponing the visit—invariably painful—to a bereaved
household.
He rang. It was a little after six. He had not realized that it was
a meal-time with the Dutch, until he saw, over the shoulder of the
little servant who opened the door, two women jftting at table in
the dining-room.
They both rose hastily with a prompt but rather stiff politeness.
The sort of manners a girl might bring away with her from a
finishing-school.
They were both in black from head to foot. On the table were
the tea-things, thin slices of bread, and cold meats. In spite of the
twilight the lamp was not lit, the light of a gas fire being left to
battle with the gathering darkness.