He heard a slight cough and turned to his left. There was Riri, sitting at a table only one away from his! He quickly looked toward the square, but, in his churning thoughts, she was the only thing he could see, wearing that old orange coat of hers. She had only turned around for a moment, but her smiling eyes were full of tragedy. Was she following him on purpose, or had she simply wandered aimlessly across his path? Would it all end peaceably, or burst into a public scandal? Had she got rid of the thing, or was she still determined to keep it?

He decided to leave, but when he looked outside he saw that the storm was still raging, and resigned himself to remaining a prisoner inside the café. He resolved to leave Alexandria at the first opportunity, the next day if he could. Then he put on a careless air and rested his cheek on his fist as though he were pondering dreamily. Suddenly, he thought that her presence there might be part of a plan she had arranged with the police so as to arrest him, that now his name would be added to those of all the outstanding members of his generation who were being thrown outside the walls one after another. That might lead to something even worse too, for they would undoubtedly examine his bank account, and then they might start asking him where the money had come from. But before he realized it, the girl was sitting down at his table. “I thought I’d invite myself over,” she said, “since he doesn’t want to do it himself!”

He stared at her coldly so as to hide his alarm, and said nothing.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “We can sit together for a while, as old friends should.”

This was the first step in the trap, he told himself; maybe the other people involved were watching too. He decided to defend himself to the death. “What are you talking about?” he said in a voice loud enough for the people who were sitting nearby to hear. “I don’t understand a thing!”

His feigned ignorance surprised her, and the jovial look went out of her eyes. “Is that all you can say?” she muttered.

He stretched out his left hand in a display of bewilderment.

“Well, now,” she said in amazement, “so you don’t recognize me?”

“I’m sorry. Maybe you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

Her disappointment made her look sad. Then she closed her lips in anger, and her whole expression changed. She looked so threatening that he expected something terrible to happen in front of all the people sitting there. However, she simply got up.

“I suppose you’re going to say God creates forty people who all look exactly alike, aren’t you?” she said in a sarcastic and defiant tone.