In fact he’d have all of them free for his potato souffles!.. They’d let him, it was all right with the men, they had a big weakness for French fries. Ah! really tasty with lard, and Saumur wine if possible!.. It seems they were better than oysters when made a la Ten-Paw!. I think fried potatoes are the only real French vice!.. seriously speaking.. just right, to a turn, golden, salted, not too much, neither dry nor greasy, with a glass of white wine. You couldn’t tear them away when the midget got to the frying pan. There’d be heaping platefuls and endless cheering.. enough to bring down the whole whorehouse… Sometimes around 10 or 12 pimps crowded together at the table treating themselves to crispies.. without counting the ladies, naturally!..
"Ah!” he says to me. tackling the subject. "To go on with my story.. you poor mug, you sure are in the shit! ”
Looking at the photographs… we read the following gibberish. "The body of Titus Jerome Van Claben, the well-known pawnbroker, was found yesterday afternoon at five o’clock”. I had no idea his name was Jerome. in addition to Titus.. "badly mutilated and completely burned”..
It was easy English.
"The fire consumed the entire building and two neighboring houses as well.. No fire of such violence has broken out in Wigmore Alley, the well-known promenade in our lovely Greenwich Park, since 1768. The District Officer in charge of the investigation refuses to give us his opinion as to the origin of this disaster which, according to certain experts, might be due to foul play. The private life of Titus Jerome Van Claben was not quite what it might have been. In addition to his ordinary clients, Titus Van Claben received many visits from dubious people and vagabonds.. known, moreover, to the officers of Scotland Yard. Tongues have been wagging in the neighborhood of the disaster. Van Claben was known to have a certain taste for oriental dress and the smoking of hashish, long piano performances, and the easy French game of 'loto’… A middle-aged housekeeper, a former teacher named Delphine, is being actively sought..”
"But we weren’t playing loto!. We never played loto!.. It’s a downright lie! ”
I sat up!
"All right! But then you were really there?”
"How do you know?”
It’s true after all, how did he know?…
I reread the lousy sheet.. I started shivering.. right in front of the newspaper and all… I can tell you that those nosy reporters gave me the shakes. the shivers like that morning… in the park with Delphine..
"Listen!.. Listen!.. That’s just my luck!.. But how do you know about it, half-pint?”
"Heard about it at the Boss’s place, the Leicester!. They came back two days ago! Boro and Delphine.. Boy, did they eat!. Were they hungry!. You can’t imagine!.. They gobbled up everything! ”
"What did they say?”
I had to know.
"Cascade said that he never would’ve thought it of you!” "So they told everything! ”
"Absolutely everything! ”
"Then where did they go?”
"Go see!. Ah! they sure fixed you all right!”
"Fixed me?.. Ah! wait, take it easy!”
"They gave you the works all right! Naturally!.. You weren’t there!. Go see Cascade!”
Ah! I could see what he was up to. Just wait awhile, wise guy!. I say nothing!. I act dumb. So I leave the restaurant with him… In other words, I’m taking a risk… all or nothing!.. Outside we head for Cascade’s, we’re walking side by side. he’s so tiny he’s half-running to keep up with me.. toward Buckingham Palace.. our direction… I take a look around. I’m on the lookout. Got an idea. there’s nothing in front of the gate. Good!. Farther on, about two hundred yards.. Suddenly I grab him by the back of the neck. Ah! you little joker!.. I carry him straight into a corner, the squirming fish!.. hanging from my left fist!
"Listen, Ten-paw!”. I shake him. "Who’s paying you?” I ask.
"Paying me?.. Paying me?. No one! ”… he’s twisting and struggling.. he’s yelling..
"It wasn’t Cascade who sent you?”
I put him down on his feet.
"Cascade doesn’t send anyone!.. Get that, you big dope!
He settles things himself. But here’s the way he talked.. 'Ferdinand’s not what I thought he was!.. I took him in, in full confidence!.. as a very serious young man. Ferdinand’s double-crossed us!. he came to my house like a friend!
sent by Raoul!. poor Raoul!. He’s acted like a skunk!
Especially after being sent by Raoul!’. That’s what hurts him… Sent in confidence by Raoul!..'He’s acted like a skunk! ’ ”
He hadn’t minced words.
"You can imagine how Boro piled it on!. You weren’t there!.. So go there!. 'You’re quite right, Cascade!’.. Oh! the trimmings!. 'A little criminal!’. They were talking about you!.. 'He bashed poor Claben on the head!.. He swiped all the dough!.. He set the joint on fire!.. He ran away! ’.. Those are their very words! ”
"Ah! Say listen!..”
Hearing that gives me palpitations! What a crime! Ah! they’re strangling me!
"What? They dared, those fairies?.. Ah, the damned lousy skunks!.. Ah! just let me find them!.. So that’s exactly what they said?”
"In front of everyone there! ”
No doubt about it.
"And what about you, you little rat?” I ask.
I grab him by the throat..
"What about you? What’d you come around for?”
We were still in the doorway… He struggles around, he’s playing innocent.
"Ah! I was pimping I swear! ” he gasps… "I never lie to you, Ferdinand!”
He’s protesting. he’s groaning. wailing..
"I know you’re wounded, Ferdinand! I know you’re wounded! I wouldn’t want to hurt you!. Never!. I swear!. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you!. It’s just for your good, believe me, pal!.. They’re a mean crowd at the Leicester!. Watch out!. They’ve got it in for you!”
"Watch out for what?”
"I don’t know… I don’t know.”
Good, all right! I let him alone. We walk past the shops. I keep still. all right. I’m on the watch. Ah! I’m suspicious!. the son-of-a. Just wait, you little runt!. I was thinking.. You won’t get away with that stuff!.,I act dumb too, since that’s the game!. I play along.. there!. So go there!. ‘You’re quite right, Cascade!’.. Oh!
"Ten-paw, I’ve got confidence! ” I tell him.. “All things considered… all in all.. you’re absolutely right!.. I’m going back!. I want to see them all!. It’s settled!. You’re sure there won’t be any hard feelings?. Do you guarantee it?. You know I’m frank and regular!. I don’t like lies!.. Look me straight in the eyes! ”
He was too small.
I lift him up again from the ground… so he can look me straight in the eyes… He stares at me.. and I talk to him.
’‘Ten-paw, now listen to me! I didn’t steal anything! I’m telling you that now! You can believe me! I didn’t touch the old guy!..Do you believe me? You believe me? I’m all clear!”
“Ah! ” he says..
He doubts it.. he doubts. I see it’s bothering him. he’d have liked me to be guilty..
“I just swiped two sovereigns that’d fallen out of his bag! That’s all I admit to and that’s the size of it!. You’ll tell them! It’s very simple!”
I put him down again.
He takes me by the arm… He understands… I see he’s glad that he’s bringing me back.. After all, in spite of everything.. that I’m ready to go back to the Leicester..
Ah! I’m suspicious of him!..
“Say, how’d you find me?”
I ask him the same question again.
“Just so, you know… by accident!.. I was passing by! ”
Sure, sure, I think to myself!. just wait, shorty! accident, my ass!
He’s hanging on to my arm, he’s tiny..We keep going.. He gives me the latest gossip as we walk. the news at the Leicester… that two more men have left. Philippe and Julien.. that they’ve joined up in Dunkerque.. that they’ve left two more girls.. that dough’s been rolling in galore.. that Angele didn’t know where to put it.. that she’d already bought something like seven blue foxes and a three-quarter-length sable coat. That as for him, Ten-paw, he wasn’t going to go dragging around in the kitchens of clubs!. Not by a long shot!.. Even with trick cards!.. The others can have it!