THE WOMAN FROM MEXICO
37
of defiance, as it were, towards Sergio and the Mexican. Luci–
ano, just like a bad film actor, took a long pull at
his
cigarette,
let forth a cloud of smoke and then said, with an affected drawl:
"Splendid, splendid, that's really splendid . . . So I was quite
right, wasn't I, eh? . . . You were just longing for it. A fine
sort
of friend, I must say ..."
Sergio felt himself blushing. It was not
so
much that he
had been caught in the act, as that he now found himself in a
position of inferiority in relation to a man he despised. He re–
flected, however, that it's an
ill
wind that blows no one any
good:
this,
surely, was the moment to break with his friend. And
so,
forcing himself to a tone of resentment, he said: "In any
case I'm not your friend."
"Well, what then?" said Luciano dramatically.
"Furthermore," went on Sergio, "Albina is not your wife.
She's free to go with anyone she likes. She asked me
to
come
up here and I came."
"Is that true?" demanded Luciano, turning to Albina.
It was all turning out exactly like a scene in a film. Albina
burst out with a vehement contradiction. "No, it's not true,
he's a liar. It was he who kept on insisting. I didn't in the least
want him to come ... he forced
his
way in." She had taken
Luciano's hand and was
~ing
it, frantically, on the palm and
on the back.
"So you're a liar too," said Luciano with a mocking laugh.
"Oh, go to hell," cried Sergio fervently.
The Mexican woman got up from the sofa, went over to
Sergio and, placing a hand on
his
shoulder, said something
that Sergio did not understand but which he interpreted as:
"Let it be ... You'd better go away." He thrust her from him
and went on angrily: "Let it be understood that from now on–
wards everything's finished between us.
If
you happen to meet
me, I forbid you absolutely to greet me or speak to me ..."
