ck13_1 In the dim underwater light they dressed and straightened up the room, and then they went across the hall to the kitchen. ptrn43 ck13_2 She was intimidated by the stove. ptrn43 ck13_3 He found the pilot light and turned on one of the burners for her. ptrn43 ck13_4 The gas flamed up two inches high. 0 ck13_5 They found the teakettle. ptrn43 ck13_6 And put water on to boil and then searched through the icebox. ptrn43 ck13_7 Several sections of a loaf of dark bread;; butter;; jam;; a tiny cake of ice. 0 ck13_8 In their search for what turned out to be the right breakfast china but the wrong table silver, they opened every cupboard door in the kitchen and pantry. ptrn43 ck13_9 While she was settling the teacart, he went back across the hall to their bedroom, opened one of the suitcases, and took out powdered coffee and sugar. ptrn43 ck13_10 She appeared with the teacart and he opened the windows. ptrn43 ck13_11 ``Do you want to call Eugene''?? ptrn28 ptrn42 ck13_12 He did n't, but it was not really a question, and so he left the room, walked down the hall to the front of the apartment, hesitated, and then knocked lightly on the closed door of the study. ptrn43 ck13_13 A sleepy voice answered. ptrn43 ck13_14 ``Le petit dejeuner'', Harold said, in an accent that did credit to Miss Sloan, his high-school French teacher. ptrn43 ck13_15 At the same time, his voice betrayed uncertainty about their being here, and conveyed an appeal to whatever is reasonable, peace-loving, and dependable in everybody. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_16 Since ordinary breakfast-table conversation was impossible, it was at least something that they were able to offer Eugene the sugar bowl with their sugar in it, and the plate of bread and butter, and that Eugene could return the pitcher of hot milk to them handle first. ptrn11 ptrn43 ck13_17 Eugene put a spoonful of powdered coffee into his cup and then filled it with hot water. ptrn43 ck13_18 Stirring, he said: ``I am sorry that my work prevents me from doing anything with you today''. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_19 They assured him that they did not expect or need to be entertained. ptrn43 ptrn58 ck13_20 Harold put a teaspoonful of powdered coffee in his cup and filled it with hot water, and then, stirring, he sat back in his chair. ptrn43 ck13_21 The chair creaked. ptrn43 ck13_22 Every time he moved or said something, the chair creaked again. ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_23 Eugene was not entirely silent, or openly rude-- unless asking Harold to move to another chair and placing himself in the fauteuil that creaked so alarmingly was an act of rudeness. ptrn43 ck13_24 It went right on creaking under his own considerable weight, and all it needed, Harold thought, was for somebody to fling himself back in a fit of laughter and that would be the end of it. ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_25 Through the open window they heard sounds below in the street: cartwheels, a tired horse's plodding step, voices. ptrn34 ptrn43 ck13_26 Harold indicated the photograph on the wall and asked what church the stone sculpture was in. ptrn43 ck13_27 Eugene told him and he promptly forgot. ptrn43 ck13_28 They passed the marmalade, the bread, the black-market butter, back and forth. ptrn43 ck13_29 Nothing was said about hotels or train journeys. ptrn43 ck13_30 Eugene offered Harold his car, to use at any time he cared to, and when this offer was not accepted, the armchair creaked. ptrn43 ptrn56 ptrn59 ck13_31 They all three had another cup of coffee. ptrn43 ck13_32 Eugene was in his pajamas and dressing gown, and on his large feet he wore yellow Turkish slippers that turned up at the toes. ptrn43 ck13_33 ``Excuse me'', he said in Berlitz English, and got up and left them, to bathe and dress. ptrn43 ck13_34 The first shrill ring of the telephone brought Harold out into the hall. ptrn43 ck13_35 He realized that he had no idea where the telephone was. ptrn43 ck13_36 At that moment the bathroom door flew open and Eugene came out, with his face lathered for shaving, and strode down the hall, tying the sash of his dressing gown as he went. ptrn43 ck13_37 The telephone was in the study but the ringing came from the hall. ptrn43 ck13_38 Between the telephone and the wall plug there was sixty feet of cord, and when the conversation came to an end, Eugene carried the instrument with him the whole length of the apartment, to his bathroom, where it rang three more times while he was shaving and in the tub. ptrn43 ck13_39 Before he left the apartment he knocked on their door and asked if there was anything he could do for them. ptrn35 ptrn43 ck13_40 Harold shook his head. ptrn43 ck13_41 ``Sabine called a few minutes ago'', Eugene said. ptrn43 ck13_42 ``She wants you and Barbara to have dinner with her tomorrow night''. ptrn42 ck13_43 He handed Harold a key to the front door, and cautioned him against leaving it unlocked while they were out of the apartment. ptrn43 ck13_44 When enough time had elapsed so that there was little likelihood of his returning for something he had forgotten, Harold went out into the hall and stood looking into one room after another. ptrn35 ptrn38 ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_45 In the room next to theirs was a huge cradle, of mahogany, ornately carved and decorated with gold leaf. ptrn43 ck13_46 It was the most important-looking cradle he had ever seen. ptrn11 ptrn38 ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_47 Then came their bathroom, and then a bedroom that, judging by the photographs on the walls, must belong to Mme Cestre. ptrn43 ck13_48 A young woman who looked like Alix, with her two children. ptrn43 ptrn44 ck13_49 Alix and Eugene on their wedding day. 0 ck13_50 Matching photographs in oval frames of Mme Bonenfant and an elderly man who must be Alix's grandfather. ptrn34 ptrn44 ck13_51 Mme Vienot, considerably younger and very different. ptrn9 ck13_52 The schoolboy. 0 ck13_53 And a gray-haired man whose glance-- direct, lifelike, and mildly accusing-- was contradicted by the gilt and black frame. ptrn43 ck13_54 It was the kind of frame that is only put around the photograph of a dead person. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_55 Professor Cestre, could it be?? 0 ck13_56 With the metal shutters closed, the dining room was so dark that it seemed still night in there. ptrn43 ck13_57 One of the drawing-room shutters was partly open and he made out the shapes of chairs and sofas, which seemed to be upholstered in brown or russet velvet. ptrn43 ck13_58 The curtains were of the same material, and there were some big oil paintings-- portraits in the style of Lancret and Boucher. ptrn35 ptrn43 ck13_59 Though, taken individually, the big rooms were, or seemed to be, square, the apartment as a whole formed a triangle. ptrn43 ck13_60 The apex, the study where Eugene slept, was light and bright and airy and cheerful. ptrn43 ck13_61 The window looked out on the Place Redoute-- it was the only window of the apartment that did. ptrn43 ck13_62 Looking around slowly, he saw a marble fireplace, a desk, a low bookcase of mahogany with criss-crossed brass wire instead of glass panes in the doors. ptrn43 ck13_63 The daybed Eugene had slept in, made up now with its dark-brown velours cover and pillows. ptrn38 ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_64 The portable record player with a pile of classical records beside it. 0 ck13_65 Beethoven's Fifth was the one on top. ptrn34 ptrn43 ck13_66 Da-da-da-dum Music could not be Eugene's passion. ptrn34 ck13_67 Besides, the records were dusty. ptrn43 ck13_68 He tried the doors of the bookcase. ptrn43 ck13_69 Locked. 0 ck13_70 The titles he could read easily through the criss-crossed wires: works on theology, astral physics, history, biology, political science. 0 ck13_71 No poetry. 0 ck13_72 No novels. 0 ck13_73 He moved over to the desk and stood looking at the papers on it but not touching anything. ptrn43 ck13_74 The clock on the mantel piece was scandalized and ticked so loudly that he glanced at it over his shoulder and then quickly left the room. ptrn43 ck13_75 The concierge called out to them as they were passing through the foyer. ptrn43 ck13_76 Her quarters were on the right as you walked into the building, and her small front room was clogged with heavy furniture-- a big, round, oak dining table and chairs, a buffet, with a row of unclaimed letters inserted between the mirror and its frame. ptrn43 ck13_77 The suitcases had come while they were out, and had been put in their room, the concierge said. ptrn43 ck13_78 He waited until they were inside the elevator and then said: ``Now what do we do''?? ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_79 ``Call the Vouillemont, I guess''. ptrn42 ck13_80 ``I guess''. ptrn42 ck13_81 Rather than sit around waiting for the suitcases to be delivered, they had gone sight-seeing. ptrn38 ptrn43 ck13_82 They went to the Flea Market, expecting to find the treasures of Europe, and found instead a duplication of that long double row of booths in Tours. ptrn43 ck13_83 Cheap clothing and junk of every sort, as far as the eye could see. ptrn8 ck13_84 They looked, even so. ptrn43 ck13_85 Looked at everything. ptrn43 ck13_86 Barbara bought some cotton aprons, and Harold bought shoestrings. ptrn43 ck13_87 They had lunch at a sidewalk cafe overlooking the intersection of two broad, busy, unpicturesque streets, and coming home they got lost in the Metro;; it took them over an hour to get back to the station where they should have changed, in order to take the line that went to the Place Redoute. ptrn43 ck13_88 It was the end of the afternoon when he took the huge key out of his pocket and inserted it into the keyhole. ptrn43 ck13_89 When he opened the door, there stood Eugene, on his way out of the apartment. ptrn43 ck13_90 He was wearing sneakers and shorts and an open-collared shirt, and in his hand he carried a little black bag. ptrn43 ck13_91 He did not explain where he was going, and they did not ask. ptrn43 ptrn58 ck13_92 Instead, they went on down the hall to their room. ptrn43 ck13_93 ``Do you think he could be having an affair''?? ptrn42 ck13_94 Barbara asked, as they heard the front door close. ptrn43 ck13_95 ``Oh no'', Harold said, shocked. ptrn43 ck13_96 ``Well, this is France, after all''. ptrn42 ck13_97 ``I know, but there must be some other explanation. ptrn35 ptrn42 ck13_98 He's probably spending the evening with friends''. ptrn42 ck13_99 ``And for that he needs a little bag''?? ptrn42 ck13_100 They went shopping in the neighborhood, and bought two loaves of bread with the ration coupons they had been given in Blois, and some cheese, and a dozen eggs, and a bag of oranges from a peddler in the Place Redoute-- the first oranges they had seen since they landed. ptrn38 ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_101 They had Vermouth, sitting in front of a cafe. ptrn43 ck13_102 When they got home Harold was grateful for the stillness in the apartment, and thought how, under different circumstances, they might have stayed on here, in these old-fashioned, high-ceilinged rooms that reminded him of the Irelands' apartment in the East Eighties. ptrn34 ptrn43 ck13_103 They could have been perfectly happy here for ten whole days. ptrn40 ck13_104 He went down the hall to Eugene's bathroom, to turn on the hot-water heater, and on the side of the tub he saw a pair of blue wool swimming trunks. ptrn34 ptrn43 ck13_105 He felt them. ptrn43 ck13_106 They were damp. ptrn43 ck13_107 He reached out and felt the bath towel hanging on the towel rack over the tub. ptrn43 ck13_108 Damp also. 0 ck13_109 He looked around the room and then called out: ``Come here, quick''?? ptrn43 ck13_110 ``What is it''?? ptrn23 ptrn42 ck13_111 Barbara asked, standing in the doorway. ptrn43 ck13_112 ``I've solved the mystery of the little bag. ptrn36 ptrn42 ck13_113 There it is and there is what was in it. ptrn35 ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_114 But where do people go swimming in Paris?? ptrn42 ck13_115 That boat in the river, maybe''. 0 ck13_116 ``What boat''?? 0 ck13_117 ``There's a big boat anchored near the Place De La Concorde, with a swimming pool in it-- did n't you notice it?? ptrn27 ptrn35 ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_118 But if he has time to go swimming, he had time to be with us''. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_119 She looked at him in surprise. ptrn43 ck13_120 ``I know'', he said, reading her mind. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_121 ``I do n't know what I'm going to do with you''. ptrn42 ptrn58 ck13_122 ``It's because we are in France'', he said, ``and know so few people. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_123 So something like this matters more than it would at home. ptrn10 ptrn42 ck13_124 Also, he was so nice when he was nice''. ptrn43 ck13_125 ``All because I did n't feel like dancing''. ptrn43 ptrn58 ck13_126 ``I do n't think it was that, really''. ptrn42 ptrn43 ptrn58 ck13_127 ``Then what was it''?? ptrn43 ck13_128 ``I do n't know. ptrn42 ptrn58 ck13_129 I wish I did. ptrn42 ptrn43 ck13_130 The tweed coat, maybe. 0 ck13_131 The thing about Eugene is that he's very proud''. ptrn42 ck13_132 And the thing about hurt feelings, the wet bathing suit pointed out, is that the person who has them is not quite the innocent party he believes himself to be. ptrn42 ptrn43 ptrn44 ck13_133 For instance-- what about all those people Harold Rhodes went toward unhesitatingly, as if this were the one moment they would ever have together, their one chance of knowing each other?? ptrn43 ptrn56 ck13_134 Fortunately, the embarrassing questions raised by objects do not need to be answered, or we would all have to go sleep in the open fields. ptrn42 ptrn58 ck13_135 And in any case, answers may clarify but they do not change anything. ptrn42 ptrn58