Читать книгу Mrs. Bridge - Evan S. Connell - Страница 24

18 • NEVER SPEAK TO STRANGE MEN

It was necessary to be careful among people you did not know. Mrs. Bridge did not wish to be rude, but, as her husband had more than once reminded her, and as anyone could see from the newspapers, there were all kinds of people in the world, and this, together with several other reasons, was why she did not want Carolyn running around in the north end of town.

Not long after Alice’s invitation had been rejected Mrs. Bridge was downtown shopping, paying very little attention to the people around her, when all at once she was conscious that a man was staring at her. She could not help glancing at him. She saw only that he was in his forties and that he was not badly dressed. She turned away and walked to another counter, but he followed her.

“How do you do?” he began, smiling and touching the brim of his hat.

Mrs. Bridge grew a little frightened and began looking around for assistance.

The man’s face became red and he laughed awkwardly. “I’m Henry Schmidt,” he said. There was a pause. He added nervously, “Gladys Schmidt’s husband.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Mrs. Bridge exclaimed. “I didn’t recognize you.”

They talked for a few minutes. He mentioned having seen Ruth coming out of a movie the previous week and commented that she was growing into quite a beauty, for which Mrs. Bridge thanked him. Finally he tipped his hat and said good-by.

“It’s so nice to see you,” she responded. “Do say hello to Gladys for me. We really should get together some evening.”