Georges Simenon - The Sailors Rendezvous

The Sailors Rendezvous

Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas
the 9th episode in the Maigret Saga
1931

Georges Simenon

Translated from the French by Margaret Ludwig

A 3S digital back-up edition 1.0

Contents

Georges Simenon was born at Lige in Belgium in 1903. At sixteen he began work as a journalist on the Gazette de Lige . He has published over 180 novels, in his own name, seventy of which belong to the Inspector Maigret series, and his work has been published in thirty-two languages. 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 reputation just 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. He is married and has four children, and lives near Lausanne in Switzerland. He enjoys riding, fishing and golf.

Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

First published in Great Britain by Routledge in Maigret Keeps a Rendezvous , 1940 Published in Penguin Books 1970 Reprinted 1972

ISBN: 0-14-003136-7

Made and printed in Great Britain by C. Nicholls & Company Ltd Set in Linotype Times

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

THE SAILORS RENDEZVOUS

1. The Man Who Ate Glass

Hes the best lad in the place, and the mother, who has no one but him, may die of it. I am certain, as everyone is here, that he is innocent. But the sailors Ive talked to say that he will be condemned, because Civil Courts have never understood anything about sea affairs. Do all you can, as if it were for me. I read in the papers that you have become a big noise in the Police Judiciaire , and

It was a morning in June. The windows were all open in the flat on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, and Madame Maigret was finishing packing some big basket-trunks while Maigret, collarless, was reading the letter half-aloud.

Whos it from?

Jorissen. We were at school together. He became a teacher at Quimper. Tell me, are you very keen on spending our weeks holiday in Alsace?

She looked at him without understanding, the question was so unexpected. For twenty years they had invariably spent their holidays with relations in the same village in the east.

Suppose we went to the sea instead?

He re-read half-aloud some passages from the letter :

You are in a better position than I am for getting accurate information. Briefly, Pierre Le Clinche, a young man of twenty who was a pupil of mine, sailed three months ago on the Ocan , a Fcamp trawler which fishes cod in Newfoundland. The boat came back to port the day before yesterday. A few hours later, the captains body was found in the dock, and all the evidence points to murder. Now Pierre Le Clinche has been arrested

Fcamp would be no worse for a holiday than anywhere else, sighed Maigret, without enthusiasm.

But there was opposition. Madame Maigret was at home in Alsace, she helped with the jam and the plum-wine. The idea of living in a hotel in the company of other Parisians scared her.

What shall I do all day?

In the end she took some sewing and crochet-work.

Well, dont ask me to bathe. I warn you of that now.

They arrived at the Htel de la Plage at five oclock, and Madame Maigret immediately began rearranging their room to her taste. Then they dined.

And now Maigret, all alone, was pushing open the frosted glass door of a harbour caf, Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas .

Just opposite, the trawler Ocan was moored to the quay near a line of trucks. Acetylene lamps hung from the rigging, and in the harsh light people were moving about unloading the cod, which was passed from hand to hand and piled up in the trucks after being weighed.

There were ten of them working there, men and women, dirty, ragged, saturated with salt. And in front of the weighing-machine, a very clean young man, with a sea-cap over one ear and a note-book in his hand, was checking the weights. A rank, nauseating smell, which did not get less as you went away from it, and which the heat made heavier still, seeped into the bar.

Maigret sat down on a bench in an empty corner. The atmosphere around him was one of hubbub and excitement. The bar was full of sailors, some standing, others sitting, with their glasses on the marble tables.

What will you have?

Beer.

The proprietor came up after the barmaid.

You know, Ive another room across there for visitors. Here they make such a noise

He gave a wink.

After three months at sea one can understand, eh?

Theyre the crew of the Ocan ?

Most of them The other boats havent come back yet You mustnt mind them. There are some chaps who havent been sober for three days. Are you staying here? Youre a painter, I bet They come every now and again and sketch. Look! One of them did my head there, above the cash-desk.

But the inspector gave so little encouragement to his chatter that he went off, quite put out.

A copper! Who has a copper coin? cried a sailor who was hardly as tall or as broad as a boy of sixteen. He had a grizzled head, with irregular features. Some of his teeth were missing. Drink had made his eyes shine, and he had a three days growth of beard on his cheeks.

Someone gave him a copper. He bent it with his fingers, then put it between his teeth and snapped it in two.

Whose turn next?

He was showing off. He felt that he had caught the general attention, and was ready to do anything to hold it.

A bloated-looking engineer seized a coin, but he interrupted him:

Wait! Heres something else you must do.

He picked up an empty glass, took a big bite out of it and chewed up the bits, with every sign of satisfaction.

Ha! ha! You might be able to do that some day More drinks, Lon!

His glance roved round the room, like a second-rate actors, and stopped at Maigret. He frowned. For a moment he was taken aback. Then he came forward, but he was so drunk that he had to support himself on the table.

Come for me? he said with a swagger.

Steady, Ptit Louis!

Still the business of the pocket-book? Listen, you guys! You wouldnt believe me just now when I told you those stories about the Rue de Lappe Well, heres a big noise from the police going out of his way just because of this baby Will you let me have another drink?

Now all eyes were on Maigret.

Sit down here, Ptit Louis! Dont be a fool!