Georges Simenon - Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets

Maigret And The Hundred Gibbets

Georges Simenon

the 4th episode in the Maigret saga
Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien
translated by tony white
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
Inspector Maigret Commits a Crime

No one noticed what was going on. No one suspected that a drama was being played out in the waiting-room of the small railway station where only six depressed-looking passengers were waiting, amid the smell of coffee, beer, and lemonade.

It was five oclock in the afternoon and night was falling. The lamps had been lit, but through the windows the German and Dutch Customs and railway officials could still be seen pacing up and down in the murk of the platform.

Neuschanz railway station is located in the extreme north of Holland, on the German frontier.

It is not an important station; Neuschanz is barely a village. No main lines pass through it. There are trains only in the mornings and evenings for the German workmen who, attracted by the high wages, work in the Dutch factories.

The same ritual is repeated each time. The German train stops at one end of the platform. The Dutch train waits at the other end.

The officials wearing orange caps and those in greenish or Prussian blue uniform meet, and together while away the hours wait for Customs formalities.

Since there are only about twenty passengers on each trip, and they are regulars who call the Customs officers by their Christian names, the formalities are soon completed.

The passengers then go and sit in the buffet which is typical of all frontier buffets. The prices are marked in both cents and Pfennigs . A showcase contains Dutch chocolate and German cigarettes. Both gin and schnapps can be had.

It was close that evening. A woman was dozing at the cash-desk. A jet of steam was coming from the percolator. The kitchen door was open and you could hear a radio whistling as a child was fiddling with it.

It all seemed ordinary, yet there were a few odd details which were enough to make the atmosphere heavy with a vague sense of mystery and adventure.

The uniforms of the two countries, for instance; and the contrast between the advertisements for German winter sports and for the Utrecht Trade Fair.

And a figure in one corner: a man of about thirty, with threadbare clothes and a pallid, ill-shaven face, wearing a soft hat of some kind of grey, who looked as if he might have wandered all round Europe.

He had arrived on the train from Holland. He had shown a ticket for Bremen, and the ticket collector had explained to him in German that he had picked the most roundabout route, with no fast trains.

The man had indicated that he did not understand. He had ordered some coffee, in French, and everyone had stared at him inquisitively.

His eyes were feverish and very deep-set. He smoked with his cigarette stuck to his lower lip, a mere detail, but enough to indicate either exhaustion or contempt.

At his feet was a small fibre suitcase, the kind sold in all cheap stores. It was new.

After hed got what hed ordered, he fished out of his pocket a handful of loose change which included French and Belgian coins and tiny Dutch silver pieces.

The waitress had to pick out the necessary coins herself.

Less notice was taken of a passenger sitting at the next table, a tall, heavy, broad-shouldered man. He was wearing a thick black overcoat with a velvet collar, and the knot of his tie was held up by a celluloid device.

The first man seemed tense and never stopped watching the officials through the glass door, as if he were afraid of missing his train.

The second, puffing away at his pipe, studied him calmly and steadily.

The nervous passenger left his seat for a couple of minutes to go to the W.C. Then the other, without even stooping, drew the small suitcase towards him with a simple movement of his foot, and pushed an identical one into its place.

Half an hour later, the train left. The two men settled themselves in the same third-class compartment, but did not speak to each other.

At Leer, the train emptied, but continued on its way for the benefit of these two passengers.

It was ten oclock when the train pulled in beneath the massive glass roof at Bremen, where everyones face looked grey in the arc-lights.