THE TERRACE
687
the husband began mixing highballs:
"I was worried," he said with a natural calm, "because
Matty took the revolver, but I see that everything has gone well,
fortunately."
She opened her purse and there was a moment of stupe–
faction in both men when they saw her with the revolver in her
hand. But Bob took the gun ,and handed it to the husband who,
gesticulating with it, said to his wife:
"May I ask where you have been, my dear?"
"We have made a trip around the world," she said with an
innocent expression.
"You see?" commented the husband, addressing Bob.
Bob thought he detected a whiff of asphalt. He confirmed
Matilda's words, stating that they had just flown around the
planet. The husband looked at both of them with a perturbed
expression.
"Well, in any case you know, my dear, that I can give you
a divorce whenever you wish," he said, more affable than ever.
While he was speaking Bob thought he saw his left ear
move. The three of them were standing and laughing foolishly.
The husband added several amiable and vague phrases, which
Bob answered in the same tone, and shortly afterward Matilda
said that she was ready to leave and went out leading Bob by the
hand.
In a few minutes they were at the bar. They sat down at
their usual table, almost in the dark. "I'm worried," she re–
marked. "It must not be easy to divorce a dead man."
"But your husband is alive!"
"Ah," she said, "that's what you think."
Bob felt sure that the poisoning had been a trick of the
husband. He had wanted to try out Matilda and see how far
her dangerousness would go. He put two harmless tablets in the
cyanide tube and warned his wife to be careful with them, as
they would cause instant death. A trick of daring prudence in–
deed. -It turned out all right, that is to say, badly.
