Georges Simenon - Maigret Meets a Milord

Maigret Meets A Milord

Georges Simenon

the 2nd episode in the Maigret saga
Le Charretier de la Providence
translated by Robert Baldick
1931

A 3S digital back-up edition 1.0

Contents

PENGUIN BOOKS

Georges Simenon was born at Lige in Belgium in 1903. [NOTE: died in 1989] At sixteen he began work as a journalist on the Gazette de Lige . He has published over 212 novels in his own name, many of which belong to the Inspector Maigret series, and his work has been published in thirty-two countries. He has had a great influence upon French cinema, and more than forty of his novels have been filmed.

Simenons novels are largely psychological. He describes hidden fears, tensions and alliances beneath the surface of lifes ordinary routine which suddenly explode into violence and crime. Andr Gide wrote to him: You are living on a false reputationjust like Baudelaire or Chopin. But nothing is more difficult than making the public go back on a too hasty first impression. You are still the slave of your first successes and the readers idleness would like to put a stop to your triumphs there You are much more important than is commonly supposed; and Franois Mauriac wrote, I am afraid I may not have the courage to descend right to the depths of this nightmare which Simenon describes with such unendurable art.

Simenon has travelled a great deal and once lived on a cutter, making long journeys of exploration round the coasts of Northern Europe. A book of reminiscences, Letter to My Mother , was published in England in 1976. He is married and lives near Lausanne in Switzerland.

NOTE: This Omnibus Edition was split into its three component parts for digital release.

GEORGES SIMENON

MAIGRET MEETS A MILORD

comprised of

MAIGRET MEETS A MILORD

MAIGRET AND THE HUNDRED GIBBETS

MAIGRET AND THE ENIGMATIC LETT

PENGUIN BOOKS

Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Penguin Books, 625 Madison Avenue, New York, New York10022, U.S.A.

Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 1B4 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

Maigret Meets a Milord first published under the title Le Charretier de la Providence 1931

Copyright A. Fayard et Cie, 1931

This translation first published in Penguin Books 1963

Translation copyright the Estate of Robert Baldick, 1963

Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets first published under the title Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien 1931 Copyright A. Fayard et Cie, 1931

This translation first published in Penguin Books 1963 Translation copyright Tony White, 1963

Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett first published under the title Pietr-le-Letton 1931

Copyright A. Fayard et Cie, Paris, 1931

This translation first published in Penguin Books 1963

Translation copyright Daphne Woodward, 1963

Published in one volume in Penguin Books 1983 All rights reserved

Made and printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk Set in Monotype Garamond

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

CHAPTER 1
Lock 14

Nothing could be deduced from the most minute reconstruction of the facts, except that the find by the two carters from Dizy was so to speak impossible.

That Sundayit was the 4th of Aprilthe rain had started pouring down at three oclock in the afternoon.

At that time, in the port above Lock 14, which marked the junction between the Marne and the canal, there were two motor-barges going downstream, one boat unloading, and a dredger.

Shortly before seven oclock, when dusk was beginning to fall, a tanker, the co III , had arrived and entered the lock.

The lock-keeper had been in a bad temper, because some relations of his had called. He had shaken his head at a horse-barge which had arrived a minute later, moving at the slow pace of its two nags.

Not long after he had gone back into his house, the carter, a man he knew, had come in.

Can I go through? The skipper wants to get to Juvigny by tomorrow night.

You can go through if you like. But youll have to work the gates yourself.

The rain was falling more and more heavily. From his window, the lock-keeper saw the stocky figure of the carter trudging from one gate to the other, urging his horses forward, and fastening the mooring-ropes to the bollards.

The barge rose little by little above the walls. It was not the skipper who was holding the wheel, but his wife, a fat Brussels woman with peroxided hair and a shrill voice.

At twenty past seven the Providence was moored in front of the Caf de la Marine, behind the co III . The horses were taken on board. The carter and the skipper made for the caf, where there were some other seamen and two pilots from Dizy.

At eight oclock, when darkness had fallen completely, a tug arrived at the gates with the four boats it had in tow.

This added to the company in the Caf de la Marine. There were six tables occupied, with people calling from one table to another. The men coming in left puddles of water behind them and shook the mud off their boots.

In the next room, which was lit by an oil-lamp, the women were doing their shopping.

The air was heavy. There was talk of an accident which had occurred at Lock 8 and the delay which might be suffered by boats going upstream.

At nine oclock the wife of the Providence s skipper came to fetch her husband and the carter, who went off after farewells all round.

At ten oclock the lights were out on board most of the boats. The lock-keeper accompanied his relations as far as the main road to pernay, which crossed the canal two miles from the lock.

He saw nothing unusual. As he was passing the Caf de la Marine on his way back, he looked inside and was hailed by a pilot.

Come and have a drop! Youre soaking wet

He had a rum, still standing. Two carters got to their feet, sluggish with red wine, their eyes shining, and made for the stable adjoining the caf, where they slept on the straw, next to their horses.

They were not exactly drunk. But they had had enough wine to send them into a heavy sleep.

There were five horses in the stable, which was lit only by a storm-lantern with the wick turned down low.

At four oclock one of the carters roused his companion and the two of them started attending to their horses. They heard the horses on the Providence being brought off the barge and harnessed.

At the same time the proprietor of the caf was getting up and lighting the lamp in his bedroom, on the first floor. He too heard the Providence moving off.

At half past four the diesel engine of the tanker started spluttering, but it did not leave until a quarter of an hour later, after the skipper had drunk a hot toddy in the caf, which had just opened.

He had scarcely gone out and his boat had not yet reached the bridge before the two carters made their find.

One of them was pulling his horses towards the tow-path. The other was rummaging in the hay for his whip when his hand came into contact with something cold.

Startled by the touch of what felt like a human face, he went to get his lantern, and cast its light over the corpse which was going to send Dizy into a turmoil and upset the whole life of the canal.