OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

5* MAINLY MAIGRET
and Jow, for he felt fairly sure die newspapers wouldn't publish the
numbers of the stolen notes a second time.
" Is your luggage heavy? "
" There are two suitcases and a small bag. You'll need a taxi/*
" Just fancy a man like you letting my sister lead him by the
nose!"
He vainly tried not to blush.
" All right, I'll go and get your things. Then you'll be able to
get into some clean clothes—and high time too! You look a sight
and a fright got up like that! "
He heard her talking to her mother on the landing, then going
up another flight of steps. Elie had worked out the number of
rooms. Besides his bedroom and the kitchen the only other room on
the ground floor was the dining-room, redolent of beeswax, in
which no one ever set foot. On the floor above were only two
rooms: that of Valesco, immediately overhead, and Domb's at the
back, overlooking the yard.
Strictly speaking, there was no second floor. Moise Kaler had an
attic-room with a dormer window. The Barons occupied another
attic-room, while their young daughter was relegated to a sort of
loft, lighted by a small skylight in the roof.
She went up to it now, to dress. When she came down she walked
through the hall without stopping. Elie saw her going down the
street, a thin childish figure, wrapped in a shoddy, ill-fitting green
coat.
He noticed that she had a way of drawing her hat absurdly low
over her eyes and swaying her meagre hips; indeed, anyone who
didn't know her might easily have taken her for a juvenile streetwalker
on the prowl. Her shoes were down at heel, her stockings
creased. She had been lavish with her lipstick, and her mouth
showed as a red gash in the heavily powdered face.
A knock at the door. Madame Baron entered.
" I've come to see if the fire has caught."
She could never stay quiet for five minutes on end. The stove
was so hot that she had to wrap her hand in her apron before
opening the fire-door.
" I'm sure you can't get coal as good as this in your country. I
have it direct from the colliery, so it only costs you one franc fifty
the scuttle. And Monsieur Domb, who feels the cold terribly, makes
a scuttle last two fuH days, even when it's freezing outside."
She gave a glance round the room to see that all was in order.