OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

328 MAINLY MAIGRET
" The Octan "
" Yes... . She sails at high tide."
They were silent. All the sounds of the hospital came to their
ears, including the subdued rumble of a stretcher being wheeled
towards the operating-theatre.
"I didn't want her any more!..." the operator repeated
convulsively.
" Only it was too late "
There was another silence. Then Le Clinche said:
" And yet... now ... I so much want to .. ."
He didn't dare pronounce the word on his tongue.
" To live? ..." asked Maigret.
" O, don't you understand? I was mad ... I don't understand
it myself. It all happened somewhere else, in another world. We
came back here and I realized it. Listen! There was that black
cabin and ourselves outside it. And nothing else existed. It seemed
to be my whole life. I just wanted to hear her say My big boy again.
I couldn't even say how it happened. I opened the door. She went
away. There was a man in yellow shoes waiting for her, and they
fell into each other's arms on the quay. . ..
" I must have been dreaming. That is the right word for it.... And
from that moment I wanted not to die. . .. Then Marie Lconnec
came with you.... Adele came too, along with that man. ...
" But what did you expect me to say? . ..
" It's too late, isn't it? . . . They let me out. I went on board
and got a revolver. Marie was waiting for me on the quay. She
didn't know. . ..
" And that afternoon that woman began talking... . And there
was the man with yellow shoes too. . . .
" Who could conceivably understand all that? ... I fired. . ..
It took me a long time to make up my mind. ... Because Marie
Lconnec was there! ...
" Now .. ."
He sobbed. He literally cried:
" I'll have to die all the same! And I don't want to die! I'm afraid
to die. I . . . I . .."
He began tossing about so violently that Maigret called a nurse,
who, with the calm precise movements acquired during long years
of professional experience, managed to quieten him.
A second time the trawler gave its piercing summons, and women
ran to line up on the jetty.