OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

THE LODGER «5
her shopping-bag, unheeding; then remembered, and went back
to fetch it.
On entering the kitchen she was half-suffocated by the cloud of
steam that greeted her, and, hurrying to the window, she opened
it a few inches, letting in a gush of icy air.
There was a whole series of ritual gestures to be performed, and
she went dirough them methodically, with an unusually thoughtful
look on her face. She took the almost empty kettle off the range and
filled it at the tap; she placed a saucepan on the fire, then hung her
hat on a peg and unpacked the vegetables on the portion of the
table which was unlaid. Finally she glanced at the clock. It pointed
to twenty-past ten.
Taking a paring-knife from the drawer and putting on an apron,
she walked back to the hall, and shouted:
" Monsieur Moise! "
Only then did her feelings get the better of her; the second time
she called, her voice broke on a sob. And, on returning to the
kitchen, she wiped her eyes and nose with a corner of her apron.
There were footsteps overhead, and presently Moise came down
the stairs. Madame Baron was skinning onions for the stew, but
the onions did not account for the tears in her eyes. Moise noticed
them at once, and frowning heavily, enquired:
" What's wrong, Madame Baron? "
" Please sit down, Monsieur Moise. I've something to tell you."
She avoided looking at him, but he could still see her face and it
was so woebegone that he lowered his eyes. " I know I can trust
you, Monsieur Moise. It's something I daren't even tell my husband.
You know how he is; he'd only start bawling the roof off, and that
wouldn't take us any further, would it? " She blew her nose and,
bending forward, slowly closed the door of the range. " I don't
know how to start.... First of all, though, you must promise not
to breathe a word of this to anyone."
She was cutting up the onions and letting the slices fall into the
blue enamel saucepan.
" I've just learned that our new lodger, Monsieur Elie .. ."
She happened to look up, and the first glance was enough.
" What! You knew it? ... And I was that silly I never suspected
a thing! I treated him just like the other lodgers, in fact I made a
fuss of him. What a fool I was! This morning I told him he had to
go. I didn't like doing it, but seeing as my husband's a government
employee..." She paused abruptly, her knife suspended in mid-