TE17 Mysterious Montenegro

against the sculpture of our most eminent king, Louis XIV, and when I turned the other way I still felt his gaze on my back, that’s how it seemed to me, and I shuddered, I don’t know why, but it’s really the truth, I’d never felt shudders like that before, and it made me feel even colder, and then I heard steps coming toward me, and I knew exactly who it would be when I turned around, yes, it was that man who had looked at me so intensely near the sculpture, now he loomed over me, and I was sitting with my hand out for alms, he was wearing a grayish coat, a hunting knife hung from his belt, in one hand he had a walking stick, in the other a white muff, his face was stern, he seemed strange, and he looked around as if wanting to make sure no one was watching him, I should have known this wouldn’t turn out well, he looked at me for another moment and then laughed, his face changed, he bent toward me and said, I need someone to clean my house, you’ll be able to finish it in less than a day, but I wasn’t about to becheated, so I spoke, Sir, whatdoyou takeme for, I’mahonorable woman, who do you think I am, how do I know you haven’t got some other, dishonest intentions toward this ill-fated widow, to which he said, What are you talking about, I only need a chambermaid, I’ll give you proper pay and food, but it was all still suspect to me, yet, like I’ve told you, I’m a woman without an income, any work is welcome, I have to take risks sometimes, to hope that people are good and godly in their heart and soul, that they want to extend a helping hand to those most in need, then I asked, What will be my pay for tidying your house, and he said, One ecu, that’s a lot of money for me, you know, so I considered for a moment, looked once more into the face of that gentleman, intohis blueeyes, and agreed, what elsecould I do, and he laughed again, I got up, and we went together to a house near Nouvelle Halle, I thought I’d be cleaning that apartment for him, we went 102 Aleksandar Bečanović