Maigret Goes to School by Georges Simenon

Author:Georges Simenon [Simenon, Georges]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Georges Simenon
ISBN: 9780156551564
Google: GdPxAAAAMAAJ
Amazon: 015655156X
Barnesnoble: 015655156X
Goodreads: 140755
Publisher: Harcourt
Published: 1953-12-31T11:00:00+00:00

* * *

Chapter 5

« ^ »

While Maigret was lighting his pipe there took place a kind of silent ceremony which reminded him, more vividly than anything else he had seen at Saint-André since the previous evening, of the village of his childhood. For a moment, in fact, Madame Sellier seemed to have been transformed into one of his own aunts, in a blue-and-white checked apron, her hair screwed into a knot on top of her head.

The woman had merely looked at her husband, with the very slightest widening of her eyes, and Julien had understood the message, gone over to the back door, through which his tall figure had vanished for a moment. His wife, without waiting for him to come back, had opened the cupboard and taken out two glasses belonging to the best service, those that were kept for when visitors came, and she was now wiping them with a clean cloth.

When the ironmonger reappeared, he was carrying a corked-up bottle of wine. He said nothing. Nobody needed to say anything. Anyone who had come from a great distance, or from some other planet, might have imagined that these actions formed part of a rite. They heard the sound of the cork being drawn from the bottle, the splash of the golden wine into the two glasses.

Obviously a little shy, Julien Sellier picked up one glass, looked through it sideways, and finally said:

‘Your very good health.’

‘Your very good health,’ responded Maigret.

After which the man withdrew to a shadowy corner of the room, while his wife went across to the stove.

‘Tell me, Marcel,’ began the chief-inspector, turning back to the boy, who had not moved, ‘I suppose you’ve never told a lie?’

The hesitation, if any, was brief, accompanied by a quick sidelong glance towards his mother.

‘Yes, sir, I have.’

He added hastily:

‘But I’ve always confessed.’

‘You mean you’ve gone to confession afterwards?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘At once?’

‘As soon as I could, because I didn’t want to die in sin.’

‘But they can’t have been very important lies?’

‘Pretty important.’

‘Would you very much mind telling me one of them, as an example?’

‘There was the time I tore my trousers, climbing a tree. When I got home I said I’d caught them on a nail in Joseph’s yard.’

‘And you went to confession that same day?’

‘The next day.’

‘And when did you own up to your father and mother?’

‘Not till a week later. Another time I fell into the pond when I was catching frogs. Papa and Mamma don’t let me play round the pond, because I catch cold easily. My clothes were all wet. I said another boy had pushed me when I was crossing the little bridge over the stream.’

‘And did you wait a week that time, before telling them the truth?’

‘Only two days.’

‘Do you often tell lies like that?’

‘No, sir.’

‘About every how often?’

Marcel paused for reflection, just as though this were an oral examination.

‘Less than once a month.’

‘Do your friends do it more often?’

‘Not all of them. Some do.’

‘Do they go to confession afterwards, like you?’

‘I don’t know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.