The Congo Venus
Page 20
He paused, and looked with a touch of uncertainty at Emily, and then looked at Miss Finney again and said, “I have come to give you the rest of Gollmer’s story, the rest of the life of once-Doctor Gollmer.” He chuckled, and said, “Old Gollmer is a macareau from now on. Yes, after so long a time, old Gollmer winds up a macareau.”
“Dear me,” said Miss Finney. “Well, at our age it’s an easier life than doctoring. Do you want to tell me about it?” She added, “Don’t mind Hoopie and Emily.”
Gollmer chuckled again and said, “You see, I can not make a go of it here any longer, there is no point in trying to fool myself on that score. And Mademoiselle Baba has an elder sister in Marseille who has a successful—establishment, and we have had the most cordial letter, from her, in response to one from Baba, saying that there are places for her and Mademoiselle Lala in it.” He paused long enough to get over a slight hump of embarrassment, and then went on more freely, having got it out of the way.
“With what the girls make, we figure that the three of us can live very comfortably,” he said. “And even old Gollmer may be of some assistance. After all, there are many little things a man like myself can do to make himself helpful around a place.”
“What do the girls think of all this?” Miss Finney asked.
“Baba and Lala? They will be happy. They are always happy. Perhaps you do not know. I found them in a very curious place—” He changed his mind, and cut the sentence off. “Sometimes I think they have missed the excitement,” he said, “although we have been quite content here. But the girls must have an assured future. Lala is perhaps careless, but Baba is very sage, and I think everything will work out quite well.”
“There’s quite a bit of music and all that stuff in Marseille, isn’t there?” Miss Finney said helpfully. “Painting and stuff like that.”
“Oh, yes,” said Gollmcr. “I expect to enjoy the cultural life of the city very much. I must be leaving, Dr. Finney, and thank you.”
“Gosh,” said Miss Finney. She stood up rather awkwardly, and walked into the room and to the door with Gollmer. There was a moment’s dead quiet, then I heard her say, “Well—good luck, Doctor,” and I was glad she had used the appellation of honor on him for her last word.
She came back and sat down, rather heavily. Nobody spoke.
Finally I said, “I notice you called him Doctor.”
“Oh, hell, that was just a slip,” Miss Finney said.
Then again nobody spoke. I sucked up the last of my lemonade and the straw made a big gurgle in the bottom of the glass.
Emily said tentatively, “Mary—”
“What is it, Emily?”
“That word he used. Mac something.”
“You make it sound so Scotch,” Miss Finney said, “and it couldn’t be more French. Macareaux. Men who live off women’s earnings.”
“I see,” said Emily.
“I doubt you do,” Miss Finney said. “For instance, if you were married, and your husband lived off what you earn as a missionary, he wouldn’t be a macareau.”
“Oh, but I do see,” said Emily casually. “You mean prostitutes.”
Miss Finney looked at her in a dazed way. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. “That’s what I mean.”
“I thought that was what it was,” Emily said, “but I wasn’t sure you understood.” Miss Finney’s mouth dropped open and she got it closed again with difficulty. Little Emily sat there for a moment or two, looking out over the river, meditating upon the ways of macareaux and their women. Finally she said, in a tone of innocent wisdom:
“Well, why not, if it makes everybody happy?”
“I dunno,” Miss Finney managed to say. “I dunno, Emily. Sometimes I really dunno.”
Out on the river, the six o’clock launch came into view, very tiny. There was even a sunset back of it. The best seats on the launch are the three right in the stern. It was really too far away, and the water glistened too much, for me to see plainly, but I like to imagine that I saw three figures waving at us from back there.
For more “Mary Finney” mysteries by Matthew Head, and the rest of the Vintage lineup from Felony & Mayhem Press, please visit our website: FelonyAndMayhem.com
All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictitious.
THE CONGO VENUS
A Felony & Mayhem mystery
PUBLISHING HISTORY
First print edition (Simon & Schuster): 1950
Felony & Mayhem print and digital editions: 2018
Copyright © 1950 by Matthew Head
All rights reserved
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63194-106-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Head, Matthew, 1907-1985, author.
Title: The Congo Venus / Matthew Head.
Description: New York : Felony & Mayhem Press, 2018. | “A Felony & Mayhem mystery.”
Identifiers: LCCN 2017060958| ISBN 9781631941375 (trade pbk.) | ISBN 9781631941061 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Kinshasa (Congo)--Fiction. | Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3505.A53196 C66 2018 | DDC 813/.52--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017060958