568
PARTISAN REVIEW
"Listen, if you're blubbering again, I'm going to leave you here
with your valises."
"I'd like to see that."
"By the light of the moon, you may see me walking off with
my hands in my pockets. I'm not surprised now that your little
Mariette gave you the brush-off. Confidentially, she was finding you
too fussy. The fifty-five year old darlings, what they really like is
for a man to be a little bit frolicsome . You were not the type she
wanted."
In the shadow, one of GrandgiI's valises struck against an ob–
stacle. Martin had just set
his
down. He squared himself in front
of GrandgiI, bawling:
"Put that down on the ground, and let's have it out. I'm fed
up with your lies. The cops may run me in for this, but you will
get what's coming to you."
Breathless from fast walking and from the anger which was
strangling
him,
he made a headlong rush, almost blindly. Grandgil
seized him by one wrist and succeeded in getting possession of the
other, after having landed several sharp blows in Martin's ribs.
Martin shook himself in an effort to get free. His wrists were im–
prisoned in powerful hands, leaving them not the least play, and
threatening at every jerk to crush them. Beside himself, he started
butting his adversary in the chest. Grangil fell hack laughing to the
wall of the house and braced himself against it. Martin, legs spread
far apart and prancing, foolishly kept on pushing as if he hoped to
embed his enemy in the wall. Such was his desperate abandon that
the seam of his overcoat split between the shoulders, and he began
to utter sounds like short barks, whose rhythm corresponded to that
of his shoving.
"Take it easy," said GrandgiI. "At this rate, you're liable to
knock the house down. Play nicely, but don't hurt yourself."
Finally, leaning against the wall, he broke Martin's attack with
a single blow, and threw him back on the valises.
"Let's be going," he said pleasantly when he released Martin's
wrists. "It's late, you know. We're not there yet."
"I lost my hat," murmured Martin.
With the aid of a flashlight, Grandgil began hunting for the
hat with the rolled brim, whi ch had rolled off the pavement. Having
