"As to the young lady—excuse me, sir, the princess, I mean—as to the fair princess in room No. 22, I'll present her with...."
Monsalvat had turned his back on the man, and was trying to force his way out of the crowd. But people, eager to prolong the scene as much as possible, got in his way.
"What? What will you present her with?" shrilled the women.
"I'll present her with—excuse the expression, ladies!—with a yellow ticket!"
Coarse, brutal laughter greeted this witticism and people gathered round the superintendent to make him repeat his part of the dialogue. As Monsalvat went slowly up the stairs it seemed to him that these people were all flaunting their heartless mirth in his face. He was incapable of seeing or hearing anything. His feeling for Nacha had, for a moment, carried him away, spurred him to violence! But instantly, he had realized that if he did not curb it, it would be ruinous to himself, as well as to her. No, he could not risk leaving her alone, abandoned to herself, and to the cruelties she would be sure to experience.
After reaching his room, he began thinking of that humanity, whose foul words and coarse laughter were even then following him up the stairs. Now at last he saw how useless his ideals and his work were. What could he accomplish while men continued to be so full of evil? Yet whose fault was it? Whose but that of the men and women who allow the poor to wallow in poverty, ignorance, and the grossness which is perhaps but a protection necessary for self-preservation? No, the evil in these people was not inborn! It was acquired; it came from hunger, from disease, from the sense of being shut out from the banquet of life at which so many feast! And little by little he began to think of those who were still laughing at him under his window as no more than unconscious victims; and he pitied them, he even forgave them!
There was a knock at the door, and Nacha appeared, accompanied by Julieta. Mauli, lounging about the front door, was the only person in the house who had seen them come in. As they passed, he turned aside, but no sooner were they on their way up the stairs than he ran to get the superintendent; and together they tiptoed to Monsalvat's door, where they stood with an ear to the panel, listening, and kneeling to look through the keyhole. What they saw was a girl sobbing, and a man looking very wretched; but this of course failed to arouse any compassion in them. Finally when they saw that the girls were taking leave of their host, they scuttled away.
No sooner had Nacha and Julieta left him than Monsalvat went to the police station. He had no fears on Mauli's account; for, unpleasant as the man was, he was nevertheless in the employ of the department, and not likely therefore, Monsalvat thought, to take direct part in any plot of Arnedo's. So he had assured Nacha, quieting her fears a little. At the station they promised him to assign a special watchman to the house; and the latter returned with him, went up to Nacha's door, and told Monsalvat he would keep watch all night.
Monsalvat could not bring himself to believe that he had correctly heard the unbelievable things that Nacha was saying. How was it possible that Nacha should no longer love him, that she should be able to go away with Arnedo when, if what she declared was true, she hated the fellow! At certain moments he thought he must have dreamed the cruel words that rang in his ears: and that night as he lay in bed, Despair blew with icy breath upon his hands, and lips, creeping through his blood to his heart, and to his brain, threatening to wither forever the warm hope that was his life.
The next morning Nacha went to the store, and returned in an almost happy frame of mind. It had made her feel freer to tell Monsalvat how she felt towards him. Up to that moment it had seemed to her that she was deceiving him, and not treating him fairly. Now an enormous weight had been lifted from her conscience. Also she knew that Monsalvat had understood. Her words had caused him keen suffering, but now he would return to his old world and forget her!