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PARTISAN REVIEW
a right to do it. Look how they provoke you. Punch the rascal's nose
for him, and his wife's too."
Martin was laughing so heartily that, as to spitting, he couldn't
have done it. The ram seized his empty cup and threw it with all
his might against a wall shelf, where it was shattered on the belly
of a full bottle. The unhappy couple dared not even tum their heads
to ascertain the damage. Though he disapproved of the breakage,
Martin laughed till he cried.
"My dream man," Grandgil said to him, "my great heart, you
are more timid than any village queen, but I cannot resist your
charm. Your valises, I will carry them as far as Havre, on foot, on
my knees, it matters not how, it matters not where. Let me have
them. I never want to see these people again."
Taking up the valises, he started toward the door and shot back
over his shoulder at the publicans:
"Baboons, from now on I ignore you. I erase you from my
memory."
Shreds of clouds were still drifting across the sky, but the stars
had come out. The shadow cast by the roofs stood out distinctly on
the moon-whitened fac;ades of the houses on the opposite side. At long
intervals transverse streets cut across the night with an arrow of
brightness. Martin w,as walking along in good spirits. The ram had
conquered him. He forgave him everything, as one forgives a naughty
child, and he forgot the cellar, the betrayals, the cigarettes, the mys–
tery of his person, and even his gilded jaws. Besides, Grandgil seemed
to him now less secretive, as if he had suddenly opened all his
windows.
"All the same, they hadn't done anything to you," he said,
after walking a short distance. "You will tell me, they are not hand–
some, and I agree. But how can they help that? And after all, what
does it matter? When it comes to beauty, I can tell you plenty about
that. Beauty often doesn't mean much. A person who judged by
appearances.... "
"Never mind about it," interrupted Grandgil. His tone was very
dry. M,artin was reluctant to take offense. He was still able to forgive
the naughty child, but his high spirits were dashed. Besides, the con–
sciousness of his responsibility had just come back to him, and the
light of the moon made him anxious. He did not dare ask the ram
