The Flemish House by Georges Simenon, Georges Simenon; Translated by Shaun Whiteside Page B

are you so nervous? The
     Mother Superior was just telling me how highly she thinks of you!’
    â€˜Leave me alone!’ she
     pleaded.
    And at that moment there was a knock on
     the door, and the Mother Superior came in as if she had been waiting for the moment
     to intervene.
    â€˜Sorry! I know that our poor,
     sensitive Maria …’
    â€˜Has she always been like
     this?’
    â€˜She is a delicate character …
     When she knew that her sprain was going to immobilize her, and that she
     wouldn’t be able to take a class for at least a week, she fell into despair …
     Show us your face, Maria …’
    And the girl shook her head in vehement
     denial.
    â€˜We know, of course,’ the
     Mother Superior continued, ‘about the accusations that people are making about
     her family. I have held three masses that the truth may soon emerge … I’ve
     just been praying for you again at benediction, Maria …’
    At last she showed her face. A thin
     little face, very pale, with red marks produced by fever and tears.
    She didn’t look at all like Anna,
     but more like her mother, having inherited her features, fine but unfortunately so
     irregular that she could not pass for pretty.Her nose was too
     long and pointed, her lips wide and thin.
    â€˜Please forgive me!’ she
     said, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘I’m too nervous … To
     think I’ve been lying here while … Are you Detective Chief Inspector Maigret?
     Have you seen my brother?’
    â€˜I left him less than an hour ago.
     He was at your house, with Anna and your cousin Marguerite …’
    â€˜How is he?’
    â€˜Very calm … He’s confident
     …’
    Was she going to start crying again? The
     Mother Superior encouraged Maigret with a look. She was happy to see him talking
     like that, with a calm authority that could only make a favourable impression on an
     invalid.
    â€˜Anna told me you had decided to
     take the veil …’
    Maria was crying again. She didn’t
     even try to hide it. She took no interest in her appearance and showed her face,
     glistening and swollen.
    â€˜It’s a decision we’ve
     been waiting for her to take for a long time,’ the Mother Superior murmured.
     ‘Maria belongs more to religion than to the world …’
    Her fit began again, the sobbing burst
     painfully from her slender throat. And her body was still agitated, her hands
     clutching the covers.
    â€˜You see that I did the right
     thing, earlier, not to let that gentleman up!’ the nun said in a low
     voice.
    Maigret was still standing up, in his
     overcoat, which made him even bulkier. He looked at the bed and that girl in such a
     state.
    â€˜Has the doctor seen
     her?’
    â€˜Yes … He says the sprain is
     nothing … The most serious thing is the fit of nerves that came after it … Do you
     think we should leave her alone? Calm down, Maria … I’m going to send Mother
     Julienne, who will stay close to you …’
    The last image that Maigret caught was
     the whiteness of the bed, the sparse hair on the pillow and an eye that stared at
     him as he walked backwards towards the door.
    In the corridor, the Mother Superior
     spoke quietly as she slipped along the waxed floor.
    â€˜She has never enjoyed very good
     health … This scandal has taken its toll on her nerves, and I’m sure
     it’s because of her agitation that she fell down the stairs … She’s
     ashamed for her brother, for her family … She has told me several times that after
     that the order won’t allow her in … For hours at a time she remains prostrate,
     staring at the ceiling, without taking the slightest nourishment … Then, for no
     apparent reason, another fit will break out … We’re giving her injections to
     try to restore her …’
    They had reached the ground