OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE SAILORS' RENDEZVOUS 291
There was some hesitation on Pierre Le Clinche's part, and he
looked at them with a certain embarrassment.
" Come along! They can set another place ..." said Maigret.
And he took his wife's arm across the esplanade. The young
couple followed silently. Or rather Marie did the talking, in a low
voice but in a firm manner.
" Do you know what she's saying to him? " the inspector asked
his wife.
" Yes! She repeated it to me a dozen times over this morning
to know whether it was all right. She's telling him that she doesn't
mind about anything, whatever may have happened, . . . You see?
She's not mentioning the woman. She's pretending she doesn't
know, but she told me that all the same she would emphasize the
words whatever may have happened. . . . Poor little thing! . . . She'd
go to the ends of the earth for him."
" Alas! " sighed Maigret.
" What do you mean? "
" Nothing. Is this our table? "
The lunch went quietly, too quietly. The tables were so close
together that one could scarcely talk in an ordinary voice.
To put him at his ease, Maigret avoided looking at Le Clinche,
but all the same the operator's behaviour worried him no less than
it did Marie L£onnec, whose face was quite drawn.
Le Clinche remained mournful and dejected. He ate and drank
and answered questions, but his thoughts were elsewhere. And
several times, when he heard steps behind him, he started as if he
thought he was in danger.
The bay windows of the dining-room were wide open and looked
on to a sea spangled with sunshine. It was warm. Le Clinche was
sitting with his back to the window, but every now and then he
would turn round brusquely with a nervous movement, as if to
interrogate the horizon.
Madame Maigret made conversation, chiefly addressing the girl,
and uttering any commonplace so that the silence might not become
oppressive.
The scene was not set for a tragedy—a family hotel, the comforting
rattle of plates and glasses, on the table a half-bottle of claret
and a bottle of mineral water.
The manager, misunderstanding the situation, came up at dessert
and asked:
" Shall we get a room ready for the gentleman? "