Maigret's Holiday by Georges Simenon

rested on the venetian blinds
letting in streaks of light, Maigret guessed that he was thinking of the sea with its
sails and its seagulls, which he could see from his study in the morning, while he
savoured the quality of the air and the subtlest fragrances from the moment he opened
his eyes.
    â€˜I love the peace and quiet … I
love my house …’
    As he also loved his books with their
beautiful bindings, the curios dotted around the room that awaited the caress of his
fingers.
    â€˜I could quite easily have become
antisocial, and perhaps that is why I force myself to play bridge every day. It sounds
straightforward and natural, doesn’t it? Each person’s life sounds
straightforward until an event occurs and then people scrutinize us, no longer as
ourselves, but in relation to that event. I think that is why I invited you to come. I
didn’t think twice about it at the time. I saw you looking at me several times.
May I ask you a personal question? What was your training?’
    It was Maigret’s turn
to appear more docile than the most docile of his ‘customers’.
    â€˜I dreamed of being a doctor and I did
my first three years of medicine. My father’s death put an end to my studies and I
joined the police by chance.’
    He was not afraid that Bellamy would be
shocked by the word in this refined, bourgeois atmosphere.
    â€˜I was going to say to you,’
replied Bellamy, ‘that your eyes always seem to be searching for a diagnosis. For
the last two days, a lot of people have been staring at me with curiosity, some with
involuntary alarm. Oh yes! I can feel it. I don’t think I am liked, because I am
not bothered about endearing myself to people. Did you know that that is generally what
people are the least willing to forgive their fellow human beings? That is probably why
so few men have the courage to live their lives without worrying what people think of
them.
    â€˜I wasn’t worried, two days ago.
And I’m still not worried now. But I did feel the need to explain myself to you
…’
    As if he were afraid of having betrayed a
certain vulnerability or a weakness, he added hastily, with a faint smile that Maigret
was beginning to recognize:
    â€˜Perhaps I was simply trying to avoid
complications? I realized that you were intrigued, that you wanted to know, that you
would try to find out at all costs. Some men put off irksome things until later and
others deal with them straight away. I am one of the latter.’
    â€˜And I am a very irksome
“thing”, aren’t I?’
    â€˜Not terribly. You don’t know
me. You don’t know thetown. Anything that people tell you is
likely to be twisted and you don’t like that, admit it, you are only happy when
you
feel
the truth in your bones.’
    He seized the portrait of his sister-in-law
and looked at it.
    â€˜I was very fond of that girl, but I
repeat that my feelings for her were purely fraternal. I am aware that things are often
otherwise. A man can easily be in love with two sisters, especially if they are both
living under his roof. That is not the case and, besides, Lili was not in love with me.
I’ll go further. I was exactly the opposite of what she loved. She found me cold
and cynical. She often said that I had no heart.
    â€˜All this of course is no proof that
the accident was indeed an accident, but …’
    Maigret listened to him while continuing to
think about the girl on the stairs. There was no doubt that Doctor Bellamy had been
shocked by her presence in the house. Initially, he had been taken aback. He had looked
at her as if she were a stranger and was visibly wondering what she was doing in his
home.
    Afterwards, when all of her had appeared on
the landing, he had known who she was, Maigret had read it in his eyes.
    He probably knew at that moment whom she had
come to see.
    The household was no doubt unaccustomed to
seeing new faces. Hadn’t