660
RAMON SENDER
the grating supporting the heavy mesh were visible. At the top
these bars were bent toward the inside, to prevent anyone who
might climb up the grating from peering over and maybe falling
or deliberately throwing himself down into the street.
Reflections from the small table lamps were coloring the
mesh red and yellow.
The director and the attorney sat down at an unoccupied
table near the dance floor. Mr. Arner looked with some insis–
tence at Matilda who, realizing this, returned his glance in a
natural and friendly way. She had a pure, oval face, a warm
complexion, and wide blue eyes.
"I think you ought to dance with her," the physician sug–
gested.
Arner invited Matilda to dance. She was rather stiff despite
her youth and he could not lead her easily. Arner decided to let
her do the leading, but they did not get along that way either.
Then he apologized and asked; laughing: "Do you want to
be
a good girl and obey me?" She smiled: "I have always wanted
to obey. Since they brought me here, at least."
"Not before?"
"That's what they say. But now I'm a good girl."
As
he passed near them, the director flattered Arner:
"Eh, doctor, where in the devil did you learn how to dance
so well?"
Some people called Arner doctor because he had a doctorate
in jurisprudence from Yale. But Matilda misunderstood:
"As
soon as I saw you I knew you were a doctor," she said.
Arner dared not undeceive her. A windblown lock of her
hair tickled his forehead, reminding him that they were out in
the open. Matilda added:
"I like doctors from outside the sanatorium better than
those inside."
"That's natural, I suppose."
"Not so natural. But in reality the sanatorium doctors
aren't human. The director Smith looks like one of those stuffed
