第58章

The little man on his feet, buttoned up and ready to go, was no taller than the seated Ossipon.He levelled his spectacles at the latter's face point-blank.

`You might ask the police for a testimonial of good conduct.They know where every one of you slept last night.Perhaps if you asked them they would consent to publish some sort of official statement.'

`No doubt they are aware well enough that we had nothing to do with this,' mumbled Ossipon, bitterly.`What they will say is another thing.'

He remained thoughtful, disregarding the short, owlish, shabby figure standing by his side.`I must lay hands on Michaelis at once, and get him to speak from his heart at one of our gatherings.The public has a sort of sentimental regard for that fellow.His name is known.And I am in touch with a few reporters on the big dailies.What he would say would be utter bosh, but he has a turn of talk that makes it go down all the same.'

`Like treacle,' interjected the Professor, rather low, keeping an impassive expression.

The perplexed Ossipon went on communing with himself half audibly, after the manner of a man reflecting in perfect solitude.

`Confounded ass! To leave such an imbecile business on my hands.And I don't even know if--'

He sat with compressed lips.The idea of going for news straight to the shop lacked charm.His notion was that Verloc's shop might have been turned already into a police trap.They will be bound to make some arrests, he thought, with something resembling virtuous indignation, for the even tenor of his revolutionary life was menaced by no fault of his.And yet unless he went there he ran the risk of remaining in ignorance of what perhaps it would be very material for him to know.Then he reflected that, if the man in the park had been so very much blown to pieces as the evening papers said, he could not have been identified.And if so, the police could have no special reason for watching Verloc's shop more closely than any other place known to be frequented by marked anarchists - no more reason, in fact, than for watching the doors of the Silenus.There would be a lot of watching all round, no matter where he went.Still--`I wonder what I had better do now?' he muttered, taking counsel with himself.

A rasping voice at his elbow said, with sedate scorn: `Fasten yourself upon the woman for all she's worth.'

After uttering these words the Professor walked away from the table.

Ossipon, whom that piece of insight had taken unawares, gave one ineffectual start, and remained still, with a helpless gaze, as though nailed fast to the seat of his chair.The lonely piano, without as much as a music stool to help it, struck a few chords courageously, and beginning a selection of national airs, played him out at last to the tune of `The Blue Bells of Scotland'.The painfully detached notes grew faint behind his back while he went slowly upstairs, across the hall, and into the street.

In front of the great doorway a dismal row of newspaper sellers standing clear of the pavement dealt with their wares from the gutter.It was a raw, gloomy day of the early spring; and the grimy sky, the mud of the street, the rags of the dirty men harmonized excellently with the eruption of the damp, rubbishy sheets of paper soiled with printers' ink.The posters, maculated with filth, garnished like tapestry the sweep of the kerbstone.

The trade in afternoon papers was brisk, yet, in comparison with the swift, constant march of foot traffic, the effect was of indifference, of a disregarded distribution.Ossipon looked hurriedly both ways before stepping out into the cross-currents, but the Professor was already out of sight.