THE MAID'S SHOES
43
They stopped two floors below. He got out and nearsightedly
scanned the names on the brass plates above the bells. Finding the
one he wanted, he pressed the bell. A maid opened the door and
let them in. She seemed frightened at Rosa's expression.
"Is the doctor in?" The professor asked the doctor's maid.
"I will see."
"Please ask him if he will see me for a minute. I live in the
building, two flights up."
"Si, signore." She glanced again at Rosa, then went inside.
The Italian doctor came out, a short middle-aged man with a
beard. The professor had once or twice passed him in the cortile
of the apartment house. The doctor was buttoning his shirt cuff.
"I am sorry to trouble you, sir," said the professor. "This is
my maid, who has been having difficulty. She is eager to determine
whether she is pregnant. Can you assist her?"
The doctor looked at him, then at the maid, who had a hand-
kerchief to her eyes.
"Let her come into my office."
"Thank you," said the professor. The doctor nodded.
The professor went up to his apartment. In a half hour the
phone rang.
"Pronto."
It was the doctor. "She is not pregnant," he said, "she
IS
frightened. She also has trouble with her liver."
"Can you be certain, doctor?"
"Yes."
"Thank you," said the professor. "Please send me the bill."
"I will," said the doctor and hung up.
Rosa came into the apartment. "The doctor told you?" the pro–
fessor said. "You aren't pregnant."
"It's the Virgin's blessing," she said.
"Indeed, you are lucky." Speaking quietly, he told her she
would have to go. "I'm sorry, Rosa, but I simply cannot be con–
stantly caught up in this sort of thing.
It
upsets me so that I can't
work."
"I know." She turned her head away.
The door bell rang. It was Annando, a small, thin man in a
long gray overcoat. He was wearing a rakish black Borsalino and a
