OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

40 MAINLY MAIGRET
" What do you have to eat? " asked Madame Baron.
" We start off with all sorts of tasty little oddments that we call
ma%et. After that comes lamb and vegetables—perhaps half a dozen
kinds of vegetables—and fruit to finish up with."
" Are they good cooks in your part of the world? "
" First rate! "
He recalled that last evening at Abdullah 9 s with his friends; the
sideboard heaped with succulent fare of all descriptions.
" Farced vine-leaves, for instance," he murmured.
" Well, I never! I'm not so sure I'd like that. Farced vine-leaves
—they must taste funny! "
At Abdullah's he had had an almost royal send-off, and everyone
had said to him when he announced that he was leaving: " Lucky
devil!"
" What language do you speak at home? "
" French."
" Haven't you another language? "
" Yes, there's Turkish, of course. But all the better-class people
talk French amongst themselves."
"Fancy that!"
Antoinette was observing him from the corner of an eye. One
had an impression she was trying to size him up but couldn't
manage it—and this vexed her.
" At Pera everybody's about till late at night." There was an
undertone of regret in Elie's voice. " One meets one's friends and
roams about the streets, dropping into little cafes, where they have
Turkish orchestras and singers. You can't imagine how mild and
pleasant the night air is in Turkey. Nobody dreams of going to
bed before midnight."
" Just like Rumania," Valesco put in approvingly. " You'll see
as many people in the streets at midnight as at six in the evening."
" That's all very fine," said Madame Baron, " but what about
going to work next morning? "
Elie blew his nose again, and she remarked compassionately:
" Why, your handkerchief's wet through! I'll lend you one to
keep you going till your things come.... Antoinette, go and get
one of your dad's hankies, the ones in the left-hand drawer."
Elie was thinking of the two banknotes, the one at the co-operative
store, and the other in his landlady's purse. He wasn't Really
anxious. Still, he proposed, as soon as Baron had done with his
paper, to ask him for the loan of it and, if the numbers of the stolen