The Little Man From Archangel by Georges Simenon Page B

the reality?
    Why would he have killed her?
    It was that, he was sure, that Frédo suspected. And perhaps, the day before, the same idea had already come, in a vaguer form, into Palestri's mind.
    Otherwise why were they pestering him so?
    If he was jealous, if he suffered every time Gina went off after a man, every time he detected an alien smell about her, he had never let anybody see it, not even her. He had never reproached her. On the contrary! When she returned, he was more gentle than ever, to help her forget, to prevent her from feeling uncomfortable in his presence.
    He needed her as well. He wanted to keep her. He did not consider that he had the right to shut her up, as Angèle had once shut up her son.
    Were they really thinking that?
    He was on the point of running round to the Palestris at once to tell Angèle the truth, but he realized that he was too late. He would no longer be believed. He had too often repeated that she had gone to Bourges, had given too many details.
    Perhaps she would come back, in spite of everything? The fact that she had not taken her coat perplexed him. For if she had hidden in some part of the town why should she have taken the stamps, which she would not have been able to sell?
    Mechanically he had gone into the kitchen, and once again, with mechanical gestures, he was making coffee, sitting down to drink it, and eat his croissants . The Chaignes' lime tree was full of birds and he opened the door into the yard to throw them crumbs as usual.
    If only it had been possible for him to question the clerk at the station, he would know, but it was too late for that, too.
    Was somebody waiting for Gina with a car? That would have explained her going off without her coat. He could still present himself to the police and tell them everything, ask them to make enquiries for him. Who could tell? Tomorrow they would very likely reprimand him for not having done so, and see in that a proof against him!
    Still unthinking, he went up to the bedroom where the door of the cupboard and the two doors of the wardrobe stood wide open. There was even a pair of his trousers on the floor. He put them back in their place, made the bed, cleaned out the bathroom and changed his dirty towel. It was laundry day and he thought about getting the dirty washing ready, as Gina was not there to do it. In the basket, which he emptied, there were some petticoats and brassieres; he had begun to list the various items, when he was interrupted by steps downstairs.
    It was Madame Lallemand, the mother of the little invalid girl who had been to Bourges the day before. She had come in to change some books for her daughter.
    'What did the doctor say?' he remembered to ask.
    'It seems there's a specialist in Vienna who might be able to cure her. It isn't certain and there'd be the business of the journey, and staying there several months in a foreign country without being able to speak the language. It all costs a lot of money. My daughter says she would rather stay as she is, but all the same I'm going to write to her uncle, who has a good business in Paris and may be able to help us.'
    While he was choosing the books, the woman seemed to notice the silence in the house where, at that time, Gina would normally have been heard moving about.
    'Isn't your wife in?'
    He confined himself to a shake of the head.
    'Yesterday somebody asked my daughter if she'd been with her on the bus.'
    'You don't know who?'
    'I didn't ask. I have so little time for other people, you see . . .'
    He did not react. From now on he was prepared for everything. His principal feeling was not even fear, but disappointment, and yet he had never expected anything from other people, had been content to live in his own corner, as humbly as possible.
    'I think she would enjoy these two.'
    'There's nothing about sick people in them?'
    'No. I've read them.'
    It was true that he sometimes read novels meant for young girls and actually enjoyed them. On these