Chapter nine
Winnie and Verloc
After Chief Inspector Heat had left, Verloc walked into the
shop, wondering what to say to Winnie. She had not moved and she still had her
hands over her face. When he spoke at last, her body began to shake.
‘Winnie, you know that I didn’t want anything to happen to
Stevie. Heat was stupid, telling you so suddenly like that, eh?’
When Winnie did not reply, Verloc thought that he should
leave her alone for a while. He went into the back room where the food still
lay on the table. Taking off his hat, he put it down lazily on the table
itself. Then, taking hold of the carving knife, he cut himself a piece of bread
and meat.
He had not eaten all day. There was no food in Michaelis's
cottage. When Michaelis had sat down that morning to write his book, Verloc had
called up the stairs, ‘I’m taking this young man home for a day or two.’ He had
not waited for an answer but had left the house quickly, followed by Stevie.
Now that his busy day was over, Verloc felt very empty. He ate standing up and
tried to make Winnie talk to him.
‘Come on Winnie. We’ve got to think of tomorrow. You will
have to be strong after I am taken away.’
Winnie’s body was shaking more than ever. Verloc felt sorry
for his wife but he really had no idea of how she felt about Stevie. He had
never understood much about Winnie.
‘You should look at me when I’m talking to you. Winnie.’
Winnie’s voice was flat and dead—sounding: ‘I never want to
look at you as long as I live.’
‘Come on Winnie. You can’t sit here in the shop. Someone may
come in. This won’t bring him back. At least you haven’t lost me, have you?’
Winnie sat without moving or speaking, and Verloc began to
feel afraid. He tried to take hold of her wrist but she suddenly jumped up and
ran away from him into the kitchen. She had not looked at him once.
Verloc sat down on the empty chair with a dark, thoughtful
look on his face. He was thinking about the future. What he saw was some time
in prison — not too long — and then life abroad somewhere. He had been so near
to success! But then the label on the coat was discovered. A small thing had
spoilt the plan. It was like standing on a banana skin in the dark and breaking
your leg.
He sighed heavily, locked the shop door and walked into the
kitchen. Winnie was sitting at the table where Stevie usually sat to draw his
circles. Her head was resting on her arms.
Verloc walked round and round the room like a large animal
in a cage. Finally he exploded: ‘You don’t know what a stupid. dangerous man I
had to work for. We’ve been married for seven years and all that time I was in
danger of losing my life but I didn’t say anything. What for? Why should you
have to worry? For eleven years my life has been in danger every day because I
tried to be helpful. Hundreds of revolutionaries with bombs in their pockets
were caught because I told important people about them in time, and yet that
pig made me go to the Embassy at eleven o’clock in the morning! Think of the
danger! I tell you Winnie, I almost killed him but then I thought of you. He
couldn’t go to the police either. You understand why, don’t you?’
‘No,’ Winnie said in a flat voice. ‘What are you talking
about?’
Verloc was tired and disappointed with his wife. She was
really acting very strangely. But he tried to smile and said. ‘You’ll have to
be strong, my girl. What’s done is done. Go to bed now. You need to cry for a
while.’
to be helpful. Hundreds of revolutionaries with bombs in
their pockets were caught because I told important people about them in time,
and yet that pig made me go to the Embassy at eleven o’clock in the morning!
Think of the danger! I tell you Winnie, I almost killed him bu.t then I thought
of you. He couldn’t go to the
police either. You understand why, don’t you?’
‘No,’ Winnie said in a flat voice. ‘What are you talking
about?’
Verloc was tired and disappointed with his wife. She was
really acting very strangely. But he tried to smile and said. ‘You’ll have to
be strong, my girl. What’s done is done. Go to bed now. You need to cry for a
while.’
But Winnie could not cry. Stevie’s terrible death had dried
her eyes, and her heart had become like a piece of ice. She couldn’t forget -
or forgive! On the white wall in front of her, she saw the past in pictures:
she and Stevie in a dark bedroom, their violent father trying to push open the
door; her mother cleaning, washing and cooking day after day. Finally she saw
Verloc and Stevie walking along the street, away from her — like father and
son. That had been less than two weeks ago.
Verloc looked hopefully at his wife who continued to stare
at the white wall in front of her.
He said. ‘You'll have to be strong Winnie and look after the
business while I’m away. It'll probably be for about two years. Then I'll let
you know when it’s time to sell everything. No one must know what you are going
to do, especially not the comrades. I don’t want a knife in my back as soon as
I come out.’ He looked at his wife and added with a little worried laugh: ‘I
like you too much for that.’
When Winnie heard these words, a little colour came into her
white face. She got up suddenly and went
towards the stairs.
Verloc, watching her go, felt disappointed. Winnie never
showed her feelings much, but surely this was different. Why couldn’t she be
nice to him? He sighed and cut himself another piece of meat.
But Winnie could not cry. Stevie’s terrible death had dried
her eyes, and her heart had become like a piece of ice. She couldn’t forget -
or forgive! On the white wall in front of her, she saw the past in pictures:
she and Stevie in a dark bedroom, their violent father trying to push open the
door; her mother cleaning, washing and cooking day after day. Finally she saw
Verloc and Stevie walking along the street, away from her — like father and
son. That had been less than two weeks ago.
Verloc looked hopefully at his wife who continued to stare
at the white wall in front of her.
He said. ‘You'll have to be strong Winnie and look after the
business while I’m away. It'll probably be for about two years. Then I'll let
you know when it’s time to sell everything. No one must know what you are going
to do, especially not the comrades. I don’t want a knife in my back as soon as
I come out.’ He looked at his wife and added with a little worried laugh: ‘I
like you too much for that.’
When Winnie heard these words, a little colour came into her
white face. She got up suddenly and went towards the stairs.
Verloc, watching her go, felt disappointed. Winnie never
showed her feelings much, but surely this was different. Why couldn’t she be
nice to him? He sighed and cut himself another piece of meat.
When Winnie came downstairs again, she was dressed in her
coat and a hat with a black veil that covered her face. Verloc tried not to
seem angry: ‘It’s twenty past eight, Winnie. Your mother will be in bed before
you get there. This is the kind of news that can wait.’
In fact, Winnie had simply wanted to run away, to get out of
the house. She was a free woman now, but what was she going to do now that she
was free? She sat down suddenly on the nearest chair looking like a visitor who
had come to visit for just a short while. Her silence made Verloc feel angrier.
‘Now look, Winnie,’
he said, ‘your place is here this evening. Take that hat
off. I can’t let you go out tonight.’
No, he can’t let me go. Of course, he can’t, thought Winnie.
Now that he has murdered Stevie. he will never let me go. He will want to keep
me for ever.
Verloc finally shouted furiously at her.
‘Can’t you say something? You really know how to make a man
angry. Oh, yes! I know your silences. I’ve seen them before today. But I’ve had
enough. To begin with, take this thing off. I can’t tell if l’m talking to a
woman or a dummy!’
He stepped forward and pulled off the veil. ‘That's better.
Look Winnie, I tried to find someone else to do the job, but there was no one,
don’t you understand? I'm not a murderer - it was an accident, he tripped over
the root of a tree. And it’s your doing as much as mine. You asked me to take
the boy out, again and again. Don’t make any mistake about it: you killed that
boy as much as I did.’
Winnie had listened to these words in silence and without
moving. Now she stood up like someone at the end of a visit and went towards
her husband with one arm held out. Her veil had fallen down on one side of her
face. But Verloc had moved away to the sofa without waiting to see his wife's
face. He threw himself down heavily. One side of his open coat was lying partly
on the ground. All he wanted was to go to sleep. As he made himself comfortable,
he said, ‘I wish that I had never seen Greenwich Park or anything like it.’
As these words reached Winnie, her eyes seemed to grow
larger.
A park! That’s where her brother had been killed! She let
herself see the destruction, all the leaves and the pieces of his body among
the small stones. They had picked him up with a shovel! She closed her eyes and
saw everything flying into the air like a firework, then falling to the ground
again. Stevie’s head was the last
thing to fall. For a minute it hung in the air like the last
star of an exploding firework, then slowly it disappeared. At last, she opened
her eyes.
Her face had changed. It was clear that she had decided to
do something. But Verloc, lying on the sofa, had noticed nothing.
‘Winnie,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Come here.’
‘Yes,’ answered Winnie the free woman, in a soft low voice.
She knew what she had to do now. From where she stood,
Verloc’s head and shoulders were hidden by the high side of the sofa. She kept
her eyes fixed on his feet.
Verloc moved a little on the sofa to make room for his wife.
Winnie came forward and as she passed the table she silently took the carving
knife in her hand. Verloc, lying on his back, sawon the wall the moving shadow
of an arm and a hand holding a huge knife. It moved slowly enough for him to
recognize the arm and the knife. His wife had gone mad!
He had no time to move at all. Before he could do anything,
the knife was already in his chest. After whispering the word ‘Don’t’, Verloc
died.
Winnie let go of the knife and sighed deeply. She had killed
her husband. The room seemed to move strangely around her, but she was calm.
Resting against the sofa, she was as still as her husband’s body.
After a while, she lifted her head and looked slowly at the
clock on the wall. She could hear a ticking sound but the clock had never
ticked like that before. Tic, tic, tic. What was it? Her eyes travelled slowly
down Verloc’s body until they arrived at the knife in his chest. Dark drops of
blood were falling faster and faster onto the floor with the sound of a crazy
clock. Blood!
Winnie cried out and ran to the door. The table was in her
way and she pushed it violently with both hands. The big plate with the meat on
it fell heavily to the floor taking with it Verloc’s hat.
Then everything became still. At the door, Winnie had
stopped. She was staring at the round hat lying in the middle of the floor: it
was rocking slowly from side to side.
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