FELISBERTO HERNANDEZ
405
He was wearing a black silk mask and yell ow gloves.
" I tho ught you were a thi ef," sa id Alex, as Horace's laugh blew
bill ows in the mask.
" I can 't brea the or drink with thi s thing on. But before I remove it
I want you to take down the mirrors and lean them on chairs-like
thi s," sa id Horace, ta king one down and show ing him.
"They' d be safer if you turned the glass to the wall ," objected Alex.
" No, beca use I still want them to refl ect things."
"Yo u could lean their backs on the wa ll then ."
"No, because then they' d be a t the wrong angle and show my
face."
When Alex had done as he was to ld, Horace removed his mas k and
began to sip hi s wine, pacing u p and down a carpet in the middl e of the
room. T he way the mirrors ti p ped forward, toward him, leaning on the
chairs tha t separa ted them from him, made him think of them as
bowing servants wa tching him from under ra ised brows. T hey also
refl ected the fl oor crookedl y through the legs of the cha irs. After a
coup le o f drinks, he was bothered by thi s effect and decided to go to
bed.
T he next morning-he' d slept a t home tha t night-the chauffeur
came, on Mary's beha lf, to as k for money. He gave it to him without
as king where she was, but ass umed it meant she wouldn 't be back soon .
So, when the blonde doll arrived, he had her ta ken straight up
to
the
bedroom . At dinnertime, he had the twins dress her in an evening gown
and lead her to the ta ble. He a te with her sitting across from him; and
afterwa rds, in front of one of the twins, as ked Al ex : "Wha t do you
think of thi s one?"
"A bea uty, sir-very much like a spy I met during the war. "
"A lovely th ought, Alex."
T he nex t day he told the twins:
" From now on you 're to ca ll her Miss Eul ali e."
At dinnertime, he as ked the twins (who no longer hid from him ):
"Can you tell me who's in the dining room?"
"Mi ss Eul ali e," both the twins said a t once.
But o ut of ea rshot, ma king fun of Al ex, they sa id :
" It 's time to give the spy her hot wa ter. .. "
VII
Mary was wa iting for him in the student hotel, hoping he'd return
there . She went out onl y long enough for her room to be made. She
