Consolation by James Wilson

Author:James Wilson [James Wilson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571307166
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2015-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

This encounter left me feeling oddly shaken, so – although it was still broad daylight when I emerged once more into Rue Pervenche, and I knew I should have more than enough time, if I wanted, to walk back to the hotel before dinner – I decided to distract myself by taking the new Métropolitain instead. I paid my fifty centimes for a first-class ticket at the Bastille station, then briefly reverted to excited schoolboy-hood as the train appeared by some invisible force. Less than ten minutes later I found myself at Lancry, being swept up to the surface on a great well-spring of humanity that finally deposited me on the street directly opposite the Rue Casque d’Or.

I crossed towards it, pausing in the middle of the road to avoid a cab. Rather than hurrying past, however, the driver slowed suddenly, as if to let me go in front of him. I raised a hand in thanks, and went on – half-running, so as not to delay him any more than was necessary. But when I reached the other side, I was conscious that I had still not heard the horse starting off again.

Curious, I looked back. The cab had not moved, and there was a blurred face peering out of the window at me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see it more clearly; but it promptly receded into the darkness, and the curtain fell back across the glass. The next moment, the driver cracked his whip, and the horse jolted into action.

A coincidence, I told myself: someone who thought he knew you, and then realized he didn’t.

But still, as I entered the hotel, I could not shake off a faint feeling of unease.

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