I
GOODWIN' S WEEKLY. 13 H
mE MEETING
By Charles Louis Philippe
(This story is selected from the
'Contes du Matin," published in Paris
by the "Nouvelle Revue Francaise." '
It was translated for the Now York
Evening Post.)
nE passed her. Then he had the
foolish thought that if ho stop
ped before a shop window she would
come and stand near him. She did
nothing of the kind and kept on her
way.
Then he made up his mind to speak
to her. She was as disagreeable as
she had been in the last days they
had spent together. She pretended
astonishment and exclaimed:
"Goodness! They told me you were
dead!"
At that he became horribly vexed.
If he had been dead she would have
gone on living as if nothing had hap
pened. She was very well dressed. He
could not have said whether the coat
she had on was in beaver, or rabbit
skin, or astrakhan. He did not even
know the names of the garments she
put on her back. He was half sorry
he had spoken to her, and suddenly
felt himself very small beside her. He
tried to take a joking tone.
"Well! well! You look as if busi
ness was good!"
She answered:
""Yes, indeed! You had a fine idea
when you sued for a divorce. It's
turned out well for me."
For a little while he walked along
beside her like a niny. She gave him
no encouragement, and he looked as
if he was following her he looked
like a man who forces his company
on a woman he has just met on the
l- street. And when he asked her,
"What are you doing now?" she kept
straight ahead, saying: "What you
T faee. I'm walking."
Thus they reached the Place do la
Bastille. He would have to cross to
the right from the middle of the side
his train. He turned to go that way
She waved her hand to the left and
walk so as to get to the station for
said:
"I'm going up here."
She stopped out of politeness as she
was leaving him. She showed him
rather ostentatiously that she had
good manners. He did not know how
to say goodbye to her. She would be
able to say that he had run after her
and that she had repulsed him. Thero
was a cafe in front of them, and to
take from her the chance of any such
, boast, he suggested:
"If you're not in a great hurry, sup
pose W3 go in here."
She burst out laughing, thought it
over for a moment, and then exclaim
ed: "I don't mind. Thqt will be rather
funny."
They went' in. They sat down op
posite each other. They waited to bo
served. A waiter brought their
drinks.
Then a strange phenomenon hap
pened. The woman, especially, never
expected it. The man suddenly found
on his tongue the words ho used to
employ when they lived together. It
had been a habit of his when ho came
home every evening at G o'clock after
spending the afternoon at the office
to say as soon as he saw her: "Well?"'
That meant: "Well, has anything hap
pened while I was away?" Eight
years had passed since they had seen
each other. When he opened his
mouth a word came out:
"Well?"
Never in ordinary circumstances
did he speak thus to any other wo
man. She could not help smiling and mak
ing a little sign with her head as she
recognized the familiar word.
Something of the same kind hap
pened to her. She had always made
a point of inspecting him from head
to foot before he went out and set
ting right any negligence in his
clothes. He would always have look
ed as if he had been sleeping in his
clothes if sjie had not taken care to
do this. In spite of herself she glanc
ed over him and said:
"I see that you haven't yet learned
how to tie a tie. Listen just bend
over the table a little. I'm going to
straigliten your tie for you."
He laughed. It was true; he wore
his tie anyhow. He leaned forward
and she tied it very carefully,. When
she had finished he looked at himself
in the mirror of the cafe, and she
added, laughing:
"Yes, it's really funny. It still
makes me uncomfortable to see you
not dressed right."
Neither of them had any longer the
least feeling of embarassment.
He told her all that had happened
to him during the last eight years,
just as he used to tell her formerly
what had happened to him during the
afternoon.
Ho had married again a year after
the divorce. He had two children,
two little girls. The eldest was six
years old and the second was five
He was still in the same office. He
lived at Saint-Mande. When he had
met her he was going to the Vin
cennes station to take his train. When
he had told that much ho had told all
his life. He became silent.
All the same, it was curious. The
more he looked at her the more he
lealized that he had never seen her
properly. From the time they were
married he had always believed that
her eyes were blue. Since the di
vorce, whenever he thought of her he
always imagined for some reason or
other that she had gray eyes, clear
gray fine eyeb and no mistake!
which showed you that she wasn't
dark. He told her what he had ob
served. She laughed and said:
"There, "you see! You have nevei
understood me."
She showed interest in everything
that had happened' to him. To got a
still clearer idea of his life she asked
him:
"And what is your wife like?"
Ho hesitated before he answered:
"Do you know what's the truth,
Alice? A man has only one wife;
that's the first one. Afterwards a man
marries for someone to keep house,
or to havo a family."
How sad he was after ho had said
these words! How happy they might
have been if she had only wished it!
He spoke of this to her. Ho said:
"Oh, why didn't you stick to me?"
Singularly enough, as it seemed to
him who knew her and had noticed
in the last days of their life together
with what obstinacy she followed her
questionable courses and how she al
ways insisted that she was right, she
now replied, softly and frankly:
"Yes, there it is. I was eight years
younger than I am today. A person is
silly when she is young."
She was very nice, as she was in
the early times of their marriage,
when she had a very good heart and
one could always persuade her by ap
pealing to her best side. He said to H
H
"You haven't told me what you H
have been doing during xthe last eight H
years." M
She answered: H
"My poor, dear man, you wouldn't iH
want me to tell you. You know well JH
enough what thero is for a divorced H
woman to do." H
Then he said to her: H
"It's some consolation for me, Alice, H
that you aren't in abject poverty." H
Thoy were two good friends, very H
saddened on each side of a table in a H
cafe. She excused herself to him: H
"You must'nt think hard of mo be- H
cause I didn't welcome you when you H
spoke to me. I played the haughty. H
And indeed it would have been much H
better if I hadn't answered you. You H
can see yourself you were wrong. H
Now we're going to be happy thinking jH
of each other." JH
But they had not the time to talk H
at any length. The clock of the cafe H
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