Leventhal’s voice broke as he cried, “That? Isn’t that anything? You followed me around and snooped, before. I let you in here and you get your dirty hands all over my things, my private business, my letters.”
“Well, now, that’s not true. I haven’t touched your letters. I’m not interested in your business.”
“Where did I find these!” Leventhal threw the cards down. “In my bathrobe that you were wearing.”
“That’s where I found them. I don’t like to defend myself against such accusations. They’re not fair. This is the kind of thing that gets people in trouble.”
“Isn’t this yours?” Leventhal picked up a clipping from the classified ads.
“Oh, I know what was in that pocket. But some of it was there when I put the robe on. Maybe you object to the fact that I used the robe. I’m sorry, I..”
Leventhal refused to be deflected. “You mean to say that you didn’t go through my desk?”
Allbee made a movement of sincere, straightforward denial.
“How about this. Where did you get this?” Leventhal pointed to Shifcart’s card.
“I found it on the floor. Now, there I’ll admit… if I did anything really wrong it was to take that card. It was on the floor near your bed. I had no right to keep it. Perhaps you needed it. I should have asked. But I didn’t think of that. I was interested in it. In fact, I was going to bring it up in connection with something I’ve been thinking about but kept forgetting.”
“You’re lying.”
Allbee was silent. He stood looking at him.
“I didn’t put the postcards in the bathrobe,” said Leventhal, “and this card of Shifcart’s was in the desk.”
Allbee answered simply, “If you didn’t put them there, then a third party must have. I know I didn’t.”
“But you read them!” He said this violently, but he wanted to sink away.
“Yes, I did,” Allbee dropped his eyes as if to spare him.
“Damn you to hell!” Leventhal shouted in anguish and outrage. “That’s not all you read. What else!”
“Nothing.”
“You did!”
“No, that was all. I couldn’t avoid looking them over. It wasn’t intentional. But I took them out of the pocket and so I had to see what they were. It’s mostly your wife’s fault. She should have put them in an envelope — things like that. I never would have pulled a letter out of an envelope. But I read this before I realized what it was. It’s not so serious, is it? What’s so special about your cards? Any wife might write like that to a husband, or a husband to a wife. And an old married man like me… it’s not the same as if a young person, say a young girl, got hold of them. And even then, I wonder if anybody is innocent. And last of all, I don’t think it would matter to your wife. This is not the kind of thing for postcards. If she cared, she’d have written it in a letter.”
“I still think you’re lying.”
“Well, if you do, I can’t change your mind. But I’m not. Why not keep your desk locked, as long as you don’t trust me?”
“It is now.”
“You should have locked it sooner. Nobody likes to be jumped on like this. Keep it locked. You have a right to lose your temper when there’s definite proof that somebody is monkeying with your private things. It’s not very nice. But neither are such accusations. Suppose I did look in your desk, and I absolutely deny it, why should I want to carry the cards around?”
“Why should you? Search me!”
“Like a mental case? Not me, you’ve got the wrong party.”
Leventhal did not know what more to say. Perhaps he was wrong. Except when Allbee spoke of young girls he made sense and even that, fully explained, might not be irrelevant. Besides, the haircut, the shirt and tie, and the fact that he was sober made a difference. It was the haircut mainly; it gave him a new aspect. His face appeared more solid. Leventhal all at once felt nothing very strongly; he only had a certain curiosity about Allbee. He sat down beside the desk. Allbee sank into the easy chair and stretched his legs out.
After a few minutes of silence he said, “Did you see this morning’s paper?”
“Why, what’s in the paper?”
“There was an item in it I thought you might have picked up. It’s about Rudiger. Really about Rudiger’s son, but he was mentioned too. The son’s in the army and he was promoted, yesterday. To the rank of major.”
“What about it?”
“I just happened to notice. I was in the barber shop looking at the paper and saw the boy’s picture. He worked in the office for a while. He’s a very ordinary boy. Nice… I can’t criticize him. Just a college boy; very ordinary, no special spark. It’s no business of mine; that is, it can’t do me any good or harm. But I’m always interested in the way things work themselves out. Now somebody without influence spends twenty years in the service, first in this hole of a garrison and then in that one, lives with native girls because he can’t afford to marry. Maybe he gets a little rank in the end, becomes a second lieutenant. You can’t tell me it isn’t a matter of influence.”
“It probably is,” said Leventhal idly.
“Yes. Not that I have anything against him because he happens to be his father’s son. Why shouldn’t he take advantage of the old man’s position? And what else can the old man do for him?” He suddenly changed the subject with a quick laugh. “Notice my haircut?”
“I see.”
“I didn’t drink, either. That’s not what you expected, is it?”
“Go ahead, surprise me.”
“No, you thought I’d get looped again.”
“Maybe.”
“I told you I wasn’t that far gone.”
“I’m glad to see it.”
“Are you?” There was a break of excitement in his hilarity.
“Sure,” said Leventhal. He felt a responsive laugh forming in his chest and he held it down. “What do you want, a basket of roses?”
“Why not?”
“A medal?” Leventhal began to smile.
“Yes, a medal.” He coughed thickly. “I ought to have one.”
“You ought to get one.”
“Well, I wasn’t even tempted, to be honest about it. I didn’t have to fight a yen; not a bit of trouble.”
Allbee bent forward and laid his hand on the arm of Leventhal’s chair, and for a short space the two men looked at each other and Leventhal felt himself singularly drawn with a kind of affection. It oppressed him, it was repellent. He did not know what to make of it. Still he welcomed it, too. He was remotely disturbed to see himself so changeable. However, it did not seem just then to be a serious fault.
“I had clippers on the sides.” Allbee brought the tips of his fingers to his head. “I got into the habit. It’s cleaner that way, I’ve learned. Because of nits. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Leventhal shrugged.
“Oh, if you got them in your hair, hair like that. . Your hair amazes me. Whenever I see you, I have to study it. With some people you sometimes doubt if it’s real and you want to see if your man is wearing a wig. But your hair; I’ve often tried to imagine how it would be to have hair like that. Is it hard to comb?”
“What do you mean, is it hard?”
“I mean, does it tangle. It must break the teeth out of combs. Say, let me touch it once, will you?”
“Don’t be a fool. It’s hair. What’s hair?” he said.
“No, it’s not ordinary hair.”
“Ah, get out,” Leventhal said, drawing back.
Allbee stood up. “Just to satisfy my curiosity,” he said, smiling. He fingered Leventhal’s hair, and Leventhal found himself caught under his touch and felt incapable of doing anything. But then he pushed his hand away, crying, “Lay off!”
“It’s astonishing. It’s like an animal’s hair. You must have a terrific constitution.”