telling me that things were too tight, that she couldn't get by on what I was

giving her. And I'd say to her, 'Why not work half-days? You'd be helping me out

on all the little extras. I bought you a new outfit just this month, I give you

twenty francs a day, I pay your rent, and what do you do? . . . You have coffee

in the afternoons with your friends. You even provide the coffee and sugar. And

me, I provide the money. I've been good to you, and this is how you repay me.'

But she wouldn't work; she just kept on telling me she couldn't make ends

meet-and that's what made me realize she was cheating on me."

 

Then he told me that he'd found a lottery ticket in her purse and she hadn't

been able to explain how she paid for it. A short time later he'd found a ticket

from the shop in Mont-de-Piete in her room which proved that she'd pawned two

bracelets. Until then he hadn't even known the bracelets existed. "It was clear

that she was cheating on me. So I left her. But first I smacked her around. And

then I told her exactly what I thought ofher. I told her that all she was

interested in was getting into the sack. You see, Monsieur Meursault, it's like

I told her: 'You don't realize that everybody's jealous of how good you have it

with me. Someday you'll know just how good it was.' "

 

He'd beaten her till she bled. He'd never beaten her before. ''I'd smack her

around a little, but nice-like, you might say. She'd scream a little. I'd close

the shutters and it always ended the same way. But this time it's for real. And

if you ask me, she still hasn't gotten what she has corning."

 

Then he explained that that was what he needed advice about. He stopped to