OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

200 MAINLY MAIGRET
Everybody holds his instincts in check because his neighbour does
the same, and that's the basis of all social life. . . . Pijpekamp will
tell you that theft is of rare occurrence here, partly because when
it does occur it's severely punished. For stealing a loaf of bread
you don't get off with less than a few weeks in prison.... Do you
see any signs of disorder? ..". None. No tramps. No beggars....
It's the very embodiment of cleanliness and order. ..."
" And I've crashed in like a bull in a china-shop! Is that it? "
" Look at those houses over there on the left, near the Amsterdiep.
That's where the best people live. People of wealth, or at
any rate of substance. People who have power or influence in the
locality. Everybody knows them. They include the Mayor, the
clergy, teachers and officials, all whose business it is to see that the
town is kept quiet and peaceful, to see that everybody keeps to his
proper place without damaging his neighbour's interests. . . .
These people—as I've told you before—don't even allow themselves
to enter a cafe for fear of setting a bad example. . . . And
now a crime has been committed—and the moment you poke your
nose in, you sniff some family scandal... ."
Maigret listened while watching the boats whose decks were
higher than the quay, for it was high tide.
" I don't know what Pijpekamp thinks about it. He is a very
respected man, by the way. All I know is that it would have been
far better for everybody if it had been given out that Popinga had
been killed by a foreign sailor and that the police were pursuing
their investigations. ... Yes. Far better for everybody. Better for
Madame Popinga. Better for her family, particularly for her father,
who is a man of considerable repute in the intellectual world. Better
for Beetje and for her father. Above all, better for the public welfare,
for the people in all these other houses who look respectfully at
all that goes on in the big houses by the Amsterdiep, looking for an
example... . Whatever is done over there, they'll want to do the
same. .. . And you . . . you want truth for truth's sake, or rather
for the personal satisfaction of unravelling your little mystery."
" You're putting it in your own words, Professor, but in substance
what you say is what Pijpekamp said to you this morning.
Isn't that so? ... And he asked your advice as to the best method
of calming my unseemly zeal.... And you told him that in France
people like myself are disposed of with a hearty meal, or even with
a tip."
" We didn't go into details."