The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Marguerite Duras

had in the place of this one. Tatiana, I'm terribly happy tonight."
    This time it's Tatiana who gets up and puts her arm around Lol. I can see them clearly. Lol offers some slight resistance to Tatiana's affectionate gesture, but Tatiana probably attributes it to Lol's modesty. She does not take offense. Lol breaks away and goes to the middle of the room. I step back, against the wall. The next time I look in, they are back in their respective chairs.
    "Listen to John. Sometimes he'll practice till four in the morning. He's completely forgotten us."
    "Do you always listen?"
    "Almost always. Especially when I . . ."
    Tatiana is waiting. The rest of the sentence doesn't follow. Tatiana continues:
    "And what about the future, Lol? Don't you ever imagine anything . . . anything a bit different?"
    How full of affection Tatiana's words are!
    Lol has poured herself a glass of sherry and is drinking in little sips. She is reflecting.
    "I don't know yet," she says at length. "I take the days one at a time, as they come. The house is so big. There's always something new I have to look after. It's difficult not to. Oh, I'm referring simply to household matters, you know, errands to run and shopping to do."
    Tatiana laughs.
    "You can't be serious," she says.
    Again she gets up and circles the living room, a trifle impatient. Lol remains where she was. I move back, out of sight. I can no longer see what they are doing. She must by now have come back to her place. Yes.
    "What kind of errands?" she asks harshly.
    Lol raises her head, is terrified. I contemplate bursting into the room and obliging Tatiana to shut up. Lol responds immediately, her tone a trifle guilty:
    "Oh, some pieces of china impossible to match, for one thing. You keep on hoping some store in the suburbs will have the pattern you want."
    "John Bedford mentioned something about an errand you went on last week out in the suburbs . . . somewhere way out . . . and you got home so late . . . goodness! Tell me, is that true, Lol?"
    "In that short space of time he managed to tell you all that?"
    I move from one bay window to another, to see or hear better. Lol's voice no longer betrays any trace of concern. She has simply turned a shade more toward Tatiana. What she is about to say does not interest her. She seems to be listening, listening for something that Tatiana cannot hear: my movements to and fro along the walls.
    "It happened quite naturally. We were talking about you, your life, about your finicky habits, which seem to worry him slightly. Were you aware of that?"
    "He's never mentioned it to me, at least not that I remember," Lol says. "I have a feeling he likes to see me go out"—she then adds: "Listen to the music, and to them playing billiards. They've forgotten about us too. We don't do much entertaining, especially this late. I really do enjoy it, though."
    "You wanted to buy some shrubs, didn't you? some plants for a hedge?" Tatiana asks, this time a little too casually.
    "One of John's friends told me that in this region some people had succeeded in growing pomegranates. So I began to keep an eye out for some."
    "You had one chance in a thousand of finding any, Lol."
    "No," Lol says gravely, "not even one."
    This lie doesn't bother Tatiana. On the contrary.
    Lol is lying. Careful this time, taking due precaution to vary her approach, Tatiana ventures to touch on another area, further back in time.
    "Were we actually such close friends in school? How do we look in that photograph?"
    Lol seems distressed.
    "I'm afraid I've mislaid it again," she says.
    Now Tatiana knows for sure: Lol Stein is also lying to her. The lie is glaring, incomprehensible, totally inexplicable. Lol is smiling at Tatiana. It is as though Tatiana is giving up, as though she has made up her mind not even to try and understand.
    "I can't really remember now whether we were such close friends," Lol says.
    "In school," Tatiana says. "Don't you remember being in school?"
    Tatiana is staring