OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

220 MAINLY MAIGRET
He found it himself before anyone answered. He switched it on
and, turning the knobs, suddenly filled the room with alternate
whistlings, cracklings, bursts of voices and snatches of music.
Finally he left it on a station which was broadcasting a recorded
music-hall turn in French.
Le colon disait au capiston . . .
Again there were cracklings. Maigret adjusted one of the knobs.
Suddenly the voice came twice as loud as before:
. •. et c'est un bon type le capiston. . . . Mais le colon, mon
vieux. . . .
The thick sonorous voice resounded in the neat, staid drawingroom
in which everyone stood as though turned to stone.
" Sit down," thundered Maigret through the din. " Sit down and
talk. What about the tea? ..."
He tried to look through the window, but the shutters were
closed. Going to the front door, he opened it and called:
"Pijpekamp!"
" Yes," answered a voice from the darkness.
"Is he there?"
" Yes. Behind the second tree."
Maigret came back into the room. The front door slammed
behind him. The music-hall turn was finished and the announcer
was saying:
Disque Odion numiro vingt-huit mille six cent soixante~quin{e.
More cracklings; then jazz. Madame Popinga flattened herself
against the wall. There was interference from another station, and
under the jazz a nasal voice could just be made out, whining in some
foreign language. Sometimes there was a whole series of splutterings,
after which the music would start again.
Maigret looked round for Beetje. She had collapsed into an armchair.
Hot tears ran down her cheeks, while between her sobs she
stammered :
" Conrad! . .. Poor Conrad! . . ."
Cornelius Barens, looking like death, was biting his lip.
" What about the tea? " Maigret asked again.
" It wasn't yet..." answered Any. " First of all they rolled back
the carpet They'd started dancing. .. ."
Beetje was shaken by a more violent sob than ever. Maigret
looked at the carpet, at the oak table with its embroidered
cloth, at the window, at Madame Wienands still preoccupied with
her children . ..