OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE LODGER '3
« Lucky devil I"
And now, standing at the corner of the Rue Neuve, his hands
in his overcoat pockets, try as he might, somehow he couldn't recall
the Abdullah restaurant. Not that he had any trouble in remembering
its appearance. But that was not what he was after. He wanted to
recapture the atmosphere and, still more, his mood that evening.
Why, for instance, had he set out on this long journey though
he had guessed from the start that the deal in carpets was bound to
fail? And why had he pretended to be so cocksure, telling everybody
he knew, with a triumphant air:
" I'm on to a good thing, and I'm sailing for Marseilles tomorrow?
"
All along the main street of Pera, where people were strolling
in the cool of the evening, he had buttonholed acquaintances and
imparted the great news.
Now, all that seemed so remote, so unreal, that he could fancy it
a dream. Reality was the here and now: slushy pavements, a biting
wind, fever, a sore nose, a dull ache between his shoulder-blades.
He entered the tobacconist's.
" A packet of Turkish cigarettes, please.'
The small blue jet of a gas cigar-lighter danced before his eyes.
The tobacconist was pink and plump. Dark forms scudded past
outside the window. A packet was handed him.
" Those aren't Turks.'
" They're Egyptian. Much better."
" There's no tobacco in Egypt."
" No tobacco in Egypt! That's a good one! "
" It's a fact," he said to the fat Belgian, who was glaring at him
indignantly. " What you call Egyptian tobacco is all imported from
Turkey and Bulgaria."
Wondering what had possessed him to telKhe man all this, he
stepped out of the shop, plunged again into the crowd, and walked,
or rather splashed his way, ahead. Now and again he halted in front
of a shop-window, usually one with a mirror, in which he could
take stock of his appearance.
He was wearing a camel's-hair overcoat, an elegant felt hat, a
well-cut suit.
Why did he suddenly strike himself as a pitiable sight? Was it
because of a two-days' growth of beard, or his red, swollen nose and
puffy cheeks? In any case, he was shocked by the face confronting
him—" like death warmed up," he muttered with a wry smile.