The Three Evangelists

XXVI

MATHIAS WAS ROUSED FROM SLEEP BY A SERIES OF SHOUTS. JUMPING out of bed, he went to the window. Lucien was standing in the street calling his name and Marc’s. He had climbed up onto a big rubbish bin, it wasn’t clear why; perhaps he thought his voice would carry better from there, but he looked very precarious. Mathias picked up the broom handle and knocked on the ceiling to wake Marc. Hearing no response, he decided to do without his help and reached Lucien just as the latter was tottering from his perch.

‘You’re completely pissed,’ said Mathias. ‘What is it with you, yelling at the top of your voice in the street, at two in the morning?’

‘Lost my keys,’ said Lucien indistinctly. ‘Took them out of my pocket to open the gate and dropped them. Really, I promise you. Just slipped out of my hands. Passing the Eastern Front. Couldn’t find them in the dark.’

‘You’re the one who’s lost. Come on in, we’ll find them in the morning.’

‘Noooo, I want my keys!’ Lucien wailed, with the childish petulance and insistence of someone who is seriously drunk.

He escaped Mathias’ grip and started fumbling around uncertainly, nose to the ground, in front of Juliette’s gate.

Mathias saw Marc, who had woken up in turn and was coming up the path. ‘What took you so long?’ said Mathias.

‘I’m not a caveman,’ said Marc. ‘I don’t jump at the first sound of a wild beast. But do get a move on. Lucien’s going to wake the whole neighbourhood, he’ll wake Kyril. And Mathias, do you realise you’re walking about stark naked? Not that I’ve anything against it, I’m just telling you.’

‘So what?’ said Mathias. ‘This idiot got me out of bed in the middle of the night.’

‘You’ll catch your death.’

In fact Mathias felt a warm glow in the small of his back. He couldn’t understand why Marc felt the cold so much.

‘It’s OK,’ he said, ‘I’m feeling quite warm.’

‘Well, I’m not,’ said Marc. ‘Come on you, take one arm and I’ll take the other, and we’ll get him indoors.’

‘No, no!’ cried Lucien. ‘I need my keys.’

Mathias sighed and went a few yards along the cobbled street. Perhaps the idiot had dropped them long before he got home. No, there they were, between two cobblestones. Lucien’s keys were easy to spot. They were attached to an old lead soldier with red trousers and blue cape. This kind of thing left him cold, but Mathias could see why Lucien was attached to them.

‘Found them,’ he said. ‘OK, now we can go in.’

‘There’s no need to hold on to me,’ said Lucien.

‘Just get going,’ said Marc, not letting him go. ‘We’ve still got to get you up to the third floor. There’s no end to this.’

‘Military stupidity and the immensity of the sea are the two things which convey the idea of infinity,’ said Mathias.

Lucien stopped short in the middle of the garden. ‘Where did you hear that?’ he said.

‘From a trench newspaper called Making Progress,’ he said. ‘It was in one of your books.’

‘I didn’t know you read my stuff,’ said Lucien.

‘It’s a good idea to know who you’re living with,’ said Mathias. ‘And meanwhile, let’s get cracking. I really am starting to feel cold now.’

‘Ah,’ said Marc. ‘What did I tell you?’