376
PARTISAN REVIEW
a few days he discovered that there never was any sea breeze at all. The
yell ow curtains hung listlessly, and flies became trapped in their folds
and buzzed endlessly, monotonously, without hope. In another week,
the room began to seem dusty and hot, as hostile, tiring, and unlivable
as any other place in the village.
But Maria was kind to him. She washed his socks, cooked plain but
ample meals, and in the evenings, when he returned, always disap–
pointed, sometimes angry, she listened to him patiently, watching him
with sympathetic eyes. Once or twice, after he fell silent, he thought he
caught her making a small, timid gesture as if she wanted to ruffle his
hair; but she always pulled back and quickly busied herself polishing
forks or stirring sugar into her cup of coffee.
"They are good people, Costas," she once said in her slow and rich
voice-the only beautiful thing left about her. "They don't mean to
offend you, but ... well, they don't like your presence here."
"But why? What have I ever done to them?" he exclaimed, and
immediately winced at sounding like a little boy.
Maria looked at him sadly.
"Things are different in Inos," she said. "I was born here, I've lived
my life here, and I'll die here-and in all this time no crimes have ever
been committed, no laws broken . Well, maybe once in a while a young
wife gets restless and goes behind her husband's back, but that's all it is,
neigh bors' gossip.... "
"And no husband has ever become jealous enough to get up to a bit
of good old murder?" he said, laughing with the slightest tinge of regret
in his voice.
Her eyes looked through him, gathering darkness.
"The sea, Costas, the sea is the only murderer around here," she said
quietly. "But you can't arrest the sea, can you, my dear?"
From the men at the Leaping Oyster Constantine had heard that
Maria had lost first her husband and then her only son at sea. She her–
self never mentioned it, so now he said nothing. For a moment he hesi–
tantly considered patting her hand, but then changed his mind. He did
not want her to know that he knew.
II
JULY
ENDED, AND
AUGUST SCORCHED the earth . Things were slowly get–
ting better. Of course, this was not the position Constantine had envi–
sioned for himself back in Athens-but then, this was a perfect
opportunity to observe human nature before moving on to other, more
important places. Inos had its quiet charms. Some of the fishermen, he
