Maigret and the Spinster (19 page)

Madame Maigret had already been on the telephone three times.

“Hello!…No!…Don’t wait for me…I’ll probably be home pretty late!”

Suddenly, he had a craving for a plate of
choucroute garnie,
in a brasserie in Montmartre or Montparnasse, in company with his American.

Afterward, they saw one another home, and weaving from bar to bar and from beer to beer, they drank the night away. After all, it was only fair that Spencer Oats should have something to talk about when he got back to Philadelphia.

All the same, if it had not occurred to Monfils to take the photograph out of its frame…

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