Copperfield to arrive on the lift in order to tell him what she thought of him. âI must get to the Hotel Washington,â she said to herself.
Mr. Copperfield finally arrived, walking beside a boy with the luggage. She ran up to him.
âItâs the ugliest thing Iâve ever seen,â she said.
âWait a second, please, and let me count the luggage; I want to make sure itâs all here.â
âAs far as Iâm concerned, it could be at the bottom of the seaâall of it.â
âWhereâs my typewriter?â asked Mr. Copperfield.
âTalk to me this minute,â said his wife, beside herself with anger.
âDo you care whether or not you have a private bath?â asked Mr. Copperfield.
âNo, no. I donât care about that. Itâs not a question of comfort at all. Itâs something much more than that.â
Mr. Copperfield chuckled. âYouâre so crazy,â he said to her with indulgence. He was delighted to be in the tropics at last and he was more than pleased with himself that he had managed to dissuade his wife from stopping at a ridiculously expensive hotel where they would have been surrounded by tourists. He realized that this hotel was sinister, but that was what he loved.
They followed the bellhop to one of the rooms, and no sooner had they arrived there than Mrs. Copperfield began pushing the door backwards and forwards. It opened both ways and could only be locked by means of a little hook.
âAnyone could break into this room,â said Mrs. Copperfield.
âI dare say they could, but I donât think they would be very likely to, do you?â Mr. Copperfield made a point of never reassuring his wife. He gave her fears their just due. However, he did not insist, and they decided upon another room, with a stronger door.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
Mrs. Copperfield was amazed at her husbandâs vivacity. He had washed and gone out to buy a papaya.
She lay on the bed thinking.
âNow,â she said to herself, âwhen people believed in God they carried Him from one place to another. They carried Him through the jungles and across the Arctic Circle. God watched over everybody, and all men were brothers. Now there is nothing to carry with you from one place to another, and as far as Iâm concerned, these people might as well be kangaroos; yet somehow there must be someone here who will remind me of something ⦠I must try to find a nest in this outlandish place.â
Mrs. Copperfieldâs sole object in life was to be happy, although people who had observed her behavior over a period of years would have been surprised to discover that this was all.
She rose from her bed and pulled Miss Goeringâs present, a manicuring set, from her grip. âMemory,â she whispered. âMemory of the things I have loved since I was a child. My husband is a man without memory.â She felt intense pain at the thought of this man whom she liked above all other people, this man for whom each thing he had not yet known was a joy. For her, all that which was not already an old dream was an outrage. She got back on her bed and fell sound asleep.
When she awoke, Mr. Copperfield was standing near the foot of the bed eating a papaya.
âYou must try some,â he said. âIt gives you lots of energy and besides itâs delicious. Wonât you have some?â He looked at her shyly.
âWhere have you been?â she asked him.
âOh, walking through the streets. As a matter of fact, Iâve walked for miles. You should come out, really. Itâs a madhouse. The streets are full of soldiers and sailors and whores. The women are all in long dresses ⦠incredibly cheap dresses. Theyâll all talk to you. Come on out.â
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
They were walking through the streets arm in arm. Mrs. Copperfieldâs forehead was burning hot and her hands were cold. She felt
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