OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE LODGER
For some moments he played the part of a man but half awake,
while she stood, silent and hostile, at the bedside. At last, screwing
up his eyes, he read:
" Antoinette, use your brains and try to understand. . . . The
new lodger has got to leave at once. It's terribly important. You
may have trouble, as he seems to have dug himself in, but he's got to
go. Tell him from me that the police know everything and his name
will be in the papers within the next few hours. He still has time to
make a getaway. Don't tell Ma. Your affectionate sister,—Sylvie."
Though he had read the letter a dozen times, Elie seemed unable
to take his eyes off it. And Antoinette, who in her black pinafore
looked like a schoolgirl waiting her turn to say her lesson, finished
by losing patience.
"Well? What about it? "
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, barefooted; his pyjama
jacket was unbuttoned and revealed a lean, rather hairy chest.
Slowly his fingers parted, letting the letter drop on the rug, but
they went on clenching and unclenching, as if kneading some
invisible object. Antoinette's face hardened.
" Stop playing the fool! "
Immediately the hands ceased moving. Elie raised his head, but
so far he hadn't fixed on an expression, nor decided what line to take*
His forehead was deeply furrowed; whether with distress or cogitation
it was impossible to tell. But there was a wary look in his eyes,
a glint of anger and suspicion,
" Do you really want to turn me out? " he murmured brokenly^
striking a pose of profound dejection.
" Whether I want it or not, you've got to go."
The letter itself hadn't been much of a surprise. It was
Antoinette's remark that made him lose all self-control. From now
on he was no longer play-acting, and there was something so shocking
in this sudden breakdown of his morale that the girl Was, for
the first time, really scared.
He rose slowly to his feet and the movement brought his face
within a few inches of hers' His lips were twitching, there was
frenzy in his eyes, his breath came in feverish gasps.
" So you'd betray me to my enemies, would you? "
She wanted to look away, but a horrid fascination, like that which
draws a crowd to watch the struggles of a man who has just been
run over, held her eyes on him.
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