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"Anderssen was making a good point," said Rubin, indignantly.
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"I think he was, too," said Avalon, "but what I wish to stress is that he is voluble, articulate,
and not backward at expressing his views. Yet during the cocktail period, when the
conversation dealt with his wife, he seemed to speak most reluctantly. From this, I infer that
the source of Mr. Anderssen's unhappiness may be Mrs. Anderssen. - Is that so, Mr.
Anderssen?"
Anderssen seemed stricken and remained silent.
Gonzalo said, "John, I explained the terms. You must answer."
Anderssen said, "I'm not sure how to answer."
Avalon said, "Let me be indirect. After all, sir, there is no intention to humiliate you. And
please be aware that nothing said in this room is ever repeated by any of us elsewhere.
That includes our esteemed waiter, Henry. Please feel that you can speak freely. Mr.
Anderssen, how long have you been married?"
"Two years. Actually, closer to two and a half."
"Any children, sir?"
"Not yet. We hope to have some one day."
"For that hope to exist, the marriage must not be foundering. I take it you are not
contemplating divorce."
"Certainly not."
"I take it then that you love your wife?"
"Yes. And before you ask, I am quite satisfied she loves me."
"There is, of course, a certain problem in being married to a beautiful woman," said Avalon.
"Men will flock about beauty. Are you plagued by jealousy, sir?"
"No," said Anderssen. "I've no cause for it. Helen - that's my wife - has no great interest in
men -"
"Ah," said Halsted, as though a great light had dawned.
"Except for myself," said Anderssen, indignantly. "She's not in the least bit asexual.
Besides," he went on, "Mario exaggerates. She does have this luxuriant head of remarkable
red hair, but aside from that she is not really spectacular. Her looks, I would say, are
average - though I must rely now on your assurance that all said here is confidential. I would
not want that assessment to be repeated. Her figure is good, and I find her beautiful, but
there are no men caught helplessly in her toils, and I am not plagued by jealousy."
"What about her temper?" put in Drake, suddenly. "That's been mentioned and you've
admitted she had one. I presume there's lots of fighting and dish throwing?"
"Some fights, sure," said Anderssen, "but no more than is par for the course. And no dish
throwing. As Mr. Avalon has pointed out, I'm articulate, and so is she, and we're both pretty
good at shouting, but after we work off our steam, we can be just as good at kissing and
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hugging."
"Then am I to take it, sir, that your wife is not the source of your troubles?" said Avalon.
Anderssen fell silent again.
"I must ask you to answer, Mr. Anderssen," said Avalon.
Anderssen said, "She is the problem. Just now, anyway. But it's too silly to talk about."
Rubin sat up at that and said, "On the contrary. Till now, I felt that Jeff was just wasting our
time over the kind of domestic irritations that we attend these dinners, in part, to escape. But
if there's something silly involved, then we want to hear it."
"If you must know," said Anderssen. "Helen says she's a witch."
"Oh?" said Rubin. "Has she always claimed this, or just recently?"
"Always. We joke about it. She would say she put me under enchantment to get me to marry
her, and that she would cast spells and get me a promotion or a raise. Sometimes, when
she is furious, she'll say, "Well, don't blame me if you blotch out in pimples just because
you're going to be that stupid and mean.' That sort of thing."
Rubin said, "It sounds harmless to me. She probably did put you under enchantment. You
fell in love with her and any woman of reasonable intelligence and looks can make a young
man fall in love with her if she works hard enough being charming. You can call that
enchantment if you wish."
"But I do get the promotions and raises."
"Surely that could be because you deserve them. Do you get the pimples, too?"
Anderssen smiled. "Well, I managed to trip and sprain an ankle and, of course, she said
she had changed the spell because she didn't want to spoil my pretty face."
Halsted laughed and said, "You don't really act disturbed at this, Mr. Anderssen. After all,
this sort of playacting by a young and vivacious woman isn't unusual. Personally, I find it
charming. Why don't you?"
Anderssen said, "Because she pulled it on me once too often. She did something that I
can't understand." He threw himself back in his chair and stared somberly at the table in
front of him.
Trumbull bent to one side as though to look into Anderssen's eyes and said, "You mean you
think she really is a witch?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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