Act of Passion by Georges Simenon Read Free Book Online Page B

spells. I wonder if her employer doesn't work her too hard ...'
    She was a stenographer with an insurance company. I have forgotten her name, but I can see her plainly, more heavily made up than the girls of our region, with enamelled finger-nails, high heels and a headstrong air.
    There was nothing really premeditated about it. It is customary in the case of young girls, who often have things to hide from their family, for a doctor to examine them, especially to question them without any witness present.
    'We'll just take a look, Madame Blain. If you would like to wait outside for a moment...'
    Immediately, I had the impression that the girl was laughing at me and I often wonder if I really had the look of a man haunted by sex. It is possible. I can't help it.
    'I'll bet you're going to ask me to get undressed ...'
    Just like that, without even giving me the time to open my mouth.
    'Oh! It's all the same to me, you know. Anyhow, all doctors are like that, aren't they!'
    She took off her dress as though she were in a bedroom, looking at herself in the mirror and afterwards smoothing her hair.
    'If you're thinking of tuberculosis, there's no use examining me, I had an X-ray taken last month .. .'
    Then, finally turning and facing me:
    'Shall I take off my slip?'
    'That won't be necessary.'
    'As you like. What shall I do?'
    'Lie down here and don't move.. .'
    'You're going to tickle me ... I warn you I'm terribly ticklish .. .'
    As I might have expected, the moment I touched her she began to giggle and squirm.
    A little bitch, your Honour. I detested her, and I could see her watching me for any tell-tale sign.
    'You can't make me believe that doesn't do anything to you. I am perfectly certain that if it were my mother or some other old woman, you wouldn't find it necessary to examine the same places ... If you could only see your eyes ...'
    I behaved like an idiot. She was no novice, I had the proof of that. She had noticed an unmistakable sign of the state I was in and it amused her, she was laughing, her mouth wide open. That is what I see most clearly about her: that open mouth and a little pink pointed tongue close to my face. I said, in a strangely unnatural voice:
    'Don't move... Just relax...'
    And suddenly she began to struggle: 'Ah no, I should say not... you must be crazy!..'
    Another detail I've just remembered, which should have made me more cautious. The cleaning woman was sweeping in the hall behind my office, and from time to time her broom knocked against the door.
    Why did I persist when my chances were so slim? In a very loud voice the girl declared: 'If you don't let me go, I'll yell.' What exactly did the cleaning woman hear? She knocked at the door. She looked in, asking: Did you call, Doctor?' I don't know what she saw. I stammered: 'No, Justine... Thank you...'
    And when the door closed behind her, the little devil burst out laughing.
    'You were frightened, weren't you? Serves you right. I'll get dressed now. What are you going to tell Mama?'
    It was my mother who learned of it from Justine. She never mentioned it to me. She gave no sign. But that same evening, or perhaps it was the next day, she remarked in her vague way, as though she were talking to herself:
    'I wonder if you haven't made enough money now to think of moving to the city...'
    And then, which is characteristic of her, following it immediately with:
    'After all, we shall have to go to live in the city sooner or later on account of your daughters, for they cannot go to the village school and will have to be sent to the convent...'
    I had not made a great deal of money, but I had made some, and had put it aside. Thanks to the home pharmacy, as we called it - that is, the latitude allowed country doctors in the matter of selling medicines.
    We were prosperous. The bit of land my mother had saved from disaster gave us a small income, without counting the wine, the chestnuts, and the few chickens and rabbits it provided, as well as wood for