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By Root 1319 0

figured out that Charvet and Clémence had left, because she could no longer see their silhouettes on the milky glass. Nothing ever happened in there that she did not eventually figure out from abrupt revelations garnered from the actions of the arms and heads silently projected onto the glass. She was a very good guesser, interpreting the elongated noses, parted fingers, wide-open mouths, and defiant shoulders, following the conspiracy, step by step, with such accuracy that she could report daily on where everything stood. One evening she saw evidence of the conspiracy's brutal climax. She made out the shadow of Gavard's pistol, the enormous profile of a revolver, its long barrel, black against the pale window. The pistol appeared and disappeared several times. It was the weapon she had been talking about at Madame Quenu's. Then, on a different evening, she was no longer able to follow, but she imagined them making cartridges as she saw endless lengths of fabric being measured out. She went in the following morning using the pretext of wanting to borrow a candle from Rose, and out of the corner of her eye, on the table in the little room, she caught sight of a pile of red cloth that seemed very frightening.

Her report for the following day was of the utmost gravity. “I don't want to frighten you, Madame Quenu,” she said. “But things are going too far. I'm afraid, I tell you. You cannot repeat what I am about to tell you for anything in the world. If they knew, they would slash my throat.”

Then, once the charcutière swore not to expose her, she told her of the red cloths. “I just don't know what it could be. There was a huge pile of the things. It looked like blood-soaked rags. Logre— you know, the hunchback—had one of them over his shoulder. He looked like an executioner. One thing is sure, it's some kind of underhanded plot.”

Lisa didn't answer. She was gazing downward and seemed lost in thought while she was fiddling with a fork handle and arranging petit salé on platters. Mademoiselle Saget continued softly, “If I were you, I wouldn't be too calm. I'd want to know. Why don't you go upstairs and have a look in your brother-in-law's room?”

This gave Lisa a slight shiver. She dropped her fork and examined the old woman with a worried eye, believing she had grasped what Mademoiselle Saget was doing.

Mademoiselle Saget continued, “After all, it's fair. Your brother-in-law might go too far if you let him. We were talking about you yesterday at Madame Taboureau's. She really is a good friend to you. She said that you were much too nice and if it were up to her, she would have put an end to it a long time ago.”

“Madame Taboureau said that?” murmured Lisa absentmindedly.

“Yes, she did, and Madame Taboureau is a woman to be listened to. Try to find out what that red material is. Then you'll tell me, won't you?”

But Lisa was no longer listening. She looked at the Petit Gervais cheeses and the escargots on the other side of the string of sausages in the display. She seemed lost in some internal struggle that caused two small wrinkles to show on her silent face. Meanwhile the old woman had stuck her nose closer to the dishes on the counter. As though talking to herself, she muttered, “Well, look at that. There's some sliced sausages. They must be getting dry left a long time all cut up like that. Oh, and look, that boudin has burst open. Apparently it was stabbed with a fork. Someone ought to take it out of there. It's messing up the plate.”

Still distracted, Lisa handed her the sliced sausage and the broken blood sausage. “For you, if you'd like.”

It all vanished into the bag. Mademoiselle had become so used to gathering gifts that she didn't even bother with thanks anymore. Every morning she carried away the leftover scraps of the charcuterie. Then off she went to La Sarriette and Madame Lecœur to get her dessert and talk to them about Gavard.

Once she was alone, Lisa sat down on the bench behind the counter, as though she believed that being comfortable would help her to make a better decision. She had been very worried