OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE LODGER 73
gold, and vividly green fishes, hovering in the same translucent
medium as a fishing-boat and a larger craft resembling a Noah's
Ark. In the foreground was a broad band of yellow, presumably
a beach, on which reclined a bevy of bathing beauties in skilfully
seductive poses.
The general effect was colourful, if crude, and, the room being
comparatively small, only a few people were needed to create an
atmosphere of gaiety. The lights changed colour frequently, which
added to the illusion of an escape from drab reality.
The night was young, and so far hardly anybody had arrived.
The band was playing only for the second time, and the professional
dancers were turning up, singly or in pairs, shouting
greetings to each other and, as they passed the bar, shaking the
barman's hand. After that they gathered round a corner table, in
front of empty champagne glasses, and waited. ...
In a recess behind a pillar Sylvie was sitting beside the young
man with the flowing tie; he had been coming regularly for the last
three evenings.
" I can see you're worried about something," he said. " I do
wish you'd tell me what it is. Or are you feeling ill? "
She gazed at him with unseeing eyes and answered absentmindedly:
" I'm quite all right, dear."
He squeezed her hand, which he was holding under the table,
and said beseechingly:
" Do please confide in me. You know there's nothing in the
world I wouldn't do for you."
Smiling, she stroked his hair, which he wore romantically long,
but all the time she was watching the door and her thoughts were
elsewhere. When Jacqueline appeared, in a moleskin coat, she rose
with ill-concealed eagerness, saying to the young man :
" You'll excuse me for a moment, won't you? I've something to
say to the girl who's just come in."
The cloakroom attendant helped Jacqueline out of her coat;
after which Sylvie led her to the bar.
" Well? "
" So far all's gone well. But, as I was coming in, I thought I
saw a fellow snooping round the entrance. I asked Joseph if he'd
noticed him, and he said * Yes '; the man had been standing there
for an hour or so."
The cabaret was still almost empty. The manager, in evening-