The Methods of Maigret ( PDFDrive )

is sixty-five. It appears she had him when she was fourteen. She told me so
yesterday. They’re very quiet, the two of them, and don’t see anyone. Look.
That’s Monsieur Émile you can see in his garden, in the white suit, with the
topee. He looks like a white mouse. He has a little boat, like everyone else, but
he hardly ever ventures beyond the end of the jetty, where he spends hours
happily fishing girelle.”
“What’s that?” asked Mr. Pyke, whose skin was beginning to dry.
“Girelle? An extremely attractive little fish with red and blue on its back. It’s
not bad fried, but it’s not a serious fish, if you see what I mean.”
“I see.”
The three of them walked in the sand along the backs of the houses which
faced onto the square.
“There is another local character. We shall probably eat at the next table to
him. It’s Charlot. Just now when we landed he greeted you, Chief. I asked him to
stay, and he didn’t object. It’s curious, actually, that nobody asked to leave. They
are all very calm, very sensible.”
“And the big yacht?”
There was indeed an enormous white yacht, not very attractive, made entirely
of metal, which almost filled the harbor.
“The Alcyon? It’s there all the year round. It belongs to a Lyons businessman,
Monsieur Jauregny, who only uses it for one week in the year. And then it’s to
go and bathe, all by himself, a stone’s throw from the island. There are two
sailors on board, two Bretons, who have a pretty easy life.”
Was the Englishman expecting Maigret to take notes? He watched him
smoking his pipe, looking lazily around him, and listening distractedly to Lechat.
“Look at the small green boat, to one side, which has such an odd shape. The
cabin is very narrow, yet there are two people, a man and a girl, living there.
They have fixed up a tent by means of the sail, over the deck, and most of the
time that’s where they sleep. They do their cooking and washing there. Those
two aren’t regulars. They were found one morning, tied up where you see them
now. The man is called Jef de Greef and is Dutch. He’s a painter. He’s only
twenty-four. You’ll see him. The girl is called Anna and isn’t his wife. I had
their papers in my hands. She’s eighteen. She was born at Ostend. She’s always
half naked and sometimes more than half. Until night falls you can see both of
them bathing at the end of the jetty without a stitch of clothing.”
Lechat was careful to add for Mr. Pyke’s benefit:
“It’s true that Mrs. Wilcox, if you can believe the fishermen, does the same