JIMMYJIMMY

BASSEsur pattes et large d'epaules, elle promenait sur uncorps sanssexe un beau visage paysan: teint bronze, yeuxreflechis, long museau renard. Ses cheveux noirs et platsetaient rejetes en arriere; sa voix nette et virile se distin-guait a peine de celledes soldatspar une note un peu felee,parfois, quand elle parlait de ses montagnes. On r appelaitJimmy. Officiellement elle etait interprete. Mais dans cechateau, perdu au milieu des collines et des marais autri-chiens, dans un enchevetrement d,arbustes fins comme descheveux, emmelescomme des toilesd'araignee, ellen'avaitrien d,autre a faire que de surveiller Olga, cette petiteprostituee ramasseequelquesmois auparavant, qu'elle avaitnourrie, pans~, lavee, et a laquelle elle s'etait attacheecomme a l'animal ingrat et familier qu'on tire du ruisseau.Olga avait tout d'ailleurs du chat d'egout: tres maigre,tres jeune, une broussaille de cheveux clairs, et un rireegare.

Les soldatsattendaient un ordre de depart. Tous les soirsdans la grande salle,entre lesmeubleseventreset les ballotsdeja faitsd'oll s,echappaientici un bijou derobe,la quelqueinutile lingerie, la encore une toile coupee hors de soncadre - et qu'a la premiere marche forcee, celui qui l'avaitarrachee dans l'ivressedu pillagepermis laisseraithonteuse-ment tomber au coin d'un bois - tous les soirs on dinait,on buvait la cave du comte, on hurlait des chansonsobscenes, et on trinquait a la sante de la petite Olga quidansait sur la table en deshabille de Valenciennes,Opheliedeguiseeen Bacchante.

SHE had short legs and broad shoulders, but, above hersexlessbody, her face had the good looks of a peasant.Tanned skin,thoughtful eyes,a long foxy face.Her smooth,black hair was thrown back; her clear masculinevoice wasonly just distinguishablefrom the soldiers' by its slightlybreaking note when she spoke about her mountains. Shewas calledJimmy. She was officiallyan interpreter; but inthis castle, lost in the midst of the Austrian hills andmarshes, in a tangle of shrubs as delicate.as hair and en-meshedlike spiders' webs, shehad nothing to do but watchover Olga, the little prostitute who had been picked up afew months earlier.Jimmy had fed Olga, patched her up,washed her and attached herself to the girl as she would toan over-friendly but unappreciative animal she had pickedup out of the gutter. Moreover, Olga really gave the im-pressionof a gutter-cat: she was very young and thin, hada shaggy mop of fair hair and a wild laugh.

The soldiers were waiting for their marching orders.

They had dinner every night in the big dining-hall, sur-rounded by disembowelled furniture and ready-packedbundles. Here, there was a stolen jewel which emerged

from the packs, there some uselesslingerie, and there againa canvas which had been cut from its frame. The soldierwho had seizedthis last article in the frenzied excitement ofthe authorized pillage would drop it shamefully in therecessesof awood during the firstforced march. Amidstthis,

they would drink the contents of the count's cellar,yell outobscene songs, and clink their glassesto the health of littleOlga who used to dance on the table in a mere nothingof Valencienneslace, Ophelia disguisedas a Bacchante.

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Le general vivait avec son Ievrier clansla bibliotheque.On le trouvait toujours lisant; le chien faisait ses griffessur quelque dictionnaire. Parfois l'officier paraissait audebut du repas, mais il fuyait vite le tapage, les verrescasses,le vin rougissant les nappes damasseesqu'une foissalieson entassait clansun coin. On se preoccupait peu deson absence: Jimmy etait la pour egayer tout le monde,Jimmy et son joyeux visage brun, son revolver toujourspret. «Le premier qui embete Olga, je l'abats comme unchien», declarait-elle volontiers en le posant devant elle _Jimmy qui savait mieux que personne encourager d'une"bourrade un soldatnostalgique,ecrire pour une fianceeunelettre d'amour poetique qu'on n'avait plus qu'a recopier,soigner sans tendresse mais avec precision une blessuredouloureuse, chanter de sa voix forte et fausse tous lescouplets des Trois orflvres ou de l'Arlilleur et meme enrajouter. Jimmy etait leur camarade a tous. lis la con-sideraient si peu comme -une femme que jamais ils ne luieussentoffert de porter son sacpendant les longuesmarchesde nuit: elle e6t plutot porte le leur. Ne lui etait-il pasarrive, pendant plusieursheures, de charger sur son epaulerobuste, comme une gerbe, Olga epuiseeet endormie, sescheveux blonds balayant le sol?Jamais ilsn'eussent songe arire de son corps epaissi,un peu tasse, tant illeur semblaitpeu un corps de femme, enferme comme le leur dans un

uniforme graisseux, tache de boue et de cambouis.Jamaisils n'eussent pense qu'elle avait quarante ans. Elle etaitJimmy, voila tout; cela ne posait plus de question.

Les paysannes des environs suffisaient aux besoins de la128

JIMMY

The general lived with his greyhound in the library. Hewas always to be found reading. The dog would sharpenhis claws on some dictionary or other. Sometimes theofficer would appear at the beginning of a meal,"but fledquickly from the uproar, the broken glasses,and the winereddening the damask tablecloths which were piled up in acorner once they were soiled. His absencegave them littleconcern; Jimmy was there to cheer everyone up, Jimmy,with her merry brown face and her revolver alwaysready.

'The first man who pestersOlga, I'll kill him like a dog,'she would say with relish, placing the revolver in front ofher. And this came from Jimmy, who knew, better thananyone, how to cheer up a homesick soldier with a slap onthe back. She could compose a poetic love-letter for afiancee which only had to be copied out, she could carefor a painful wound efficiently, if not gently; she couldsing all the verses of 'The Three Goldsmiths' or 'TheGunner' in her strong, out-of-tune voice and even add ona few more. Jimmy was everyone's friend. The fact that shewas a woman had so little effecton the men that they wouldnever have offered to carry her pack during the long nightmarches; it was more likely that she would have carriedtheirs. Hadn't she already carried Olga for a number ofhours, bearing her over her strong shoulder like a sheaf,her blonde hair sweeping the ground, when she wasexhausted and fast asleep. They would never have dreamtof laughing at her thickened, somewhat squat body. Itseemed so very little like a woman's body, wrappedup like their own in a greasy uniform, spotted withmud and dirty oil. They would never have thoughtof her as forty. Shewas simply Jimmy; that answered allquestions.

The peasant women in the neighbourhood satisfiedthe129

JIMMY

troupe. Mais s'il arrivait qu'un camarade trop longtempspoursuivi par Olga en folie, s'agrippant a lui comme unechatte, la bousculatdansun coin sombre, tous s'appliquaienta distraire l'attention deJimmy, a lui cacherl'incident, et lecoupable etait pendant quelques heures toise avec severitepar vingt paires d'yeux remplis de soldarite masculine.

JIMMY

needsof the troops. But if one of the men hustled Olga intoa dark corner after she had been wildly pursuing him forhours, clinging to him like a cat, everyone would make aneffort to distract Jimmy's attention and hide the incidentfrom her. And, for a long time, the guilty man wouldendure the disapproving gaze of twenty pairs of eyes, allregistering masculine solidarity.

Jimmyand Olga sleptin the large bedroom which lookedout over the marshes.The mistsand the entangled growthof spindly, grey bushes, the reddish tints of autumn andthe monotony of waiting without any news sometimesinduced a mild melancholy in Jimmy, but this didn't lastlong. Olga kept changing her dress. The occupants of thecastle had left without taking anything with them. Littleclawing hands had rummaged mercilessly through thecupboards full of linen and dresses,the casketswhere thejewels belonging to the lady of the house were laid out,the silver flaskscontaining her perfumes. They had sharedthe jewels out fairly amongst each other. After all, eachman had to take a souvenir back from the war to his wife

or girlfriend. But everyone had agreed to leave the ward-robe to Olga, and the little prostitute, excited by so manyriches,ran through the brambles in the countess'slong day-dresses, soiled and tore her linen, bathed herself in herperfumes, taking a delight in messing, tearing and ruiningthings which had till then been so carefully preserved.

Jimmyet Olga couchaient dans la grande chambre quidonnait sur lesmarais; lesbrumes et lesenchevetrementsdefms arbustes gris, les rousseurs de I'automne et la mono-

tonie de cette attente sans nouvelles portaient parfoisJimmy a une facile melancolie, qui du reste ne duraitguere. Olga changeait de robe a chaque instant: lesoccupants du chateau etaient partis sansrien emporter, etles armoires pleines de linge et de robes, les coffrets ons'alignaient les bijoux de la chatelaine,sesparfums dans desflacons d'argent avaient ete bouleverses sans pitie par lespetites mains griffues. On s'etait equitablement partage lesbijoux. Il fallait tout de'meme que chacun puisserapportera sa femme ou a sa petite amie un souvenir de la guerre.Mais tout le monde avait ete d'accord pour laisser lagarde-robe a Olga, et la petite prostituee, affoIeepar tantde richesses,courait dans les ronces avec les longues robesd'appartement de lacomtesse,souillaitet dechiraitsonlinge,se baignait dans ses parfums, toute a la joie de salir, dedechirer, d'user ce qui avait ete jusque-la soigneusementpreserve.

Vers sept heures, le matin, Bravo, l'ordonnance, pene-trait brutalement dans le chaosparfume de la chambre.

- Tu es pret, mon vieux?

n partait avec Jimmy chasser la sarcelle, le lapin, lecanard, chasse probIematique qui leur etait pretexte alongues coursesdans la rosee «pour entretenir les muscles»,et surtout ades visitesfrequentes l'arme au poing, clansles

130

At about sevenin the morning, Bravo, the orderly, cameabruptly into the perfumed chaos of the bedroom.

'Ready, old chap?'He and Jimmy would go off to shoot teal, rabbits and

duck. It was an implausible hunting expedition, whichgave them a pretext to make long sorties in the dew (' tokeep our muscles in working order ') and, above all, to

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- Tu prends du ventre, mon vieux, disait l' une.

JIMMY

visitthe neighbouring farms at frequent intervals,clutchingtheir pistols. They would slowly make their way back,after filling their belts with eggs, and tying a fowl by itsfeetwith a pieceof string. The men watched out for theirarrival and greeted them with laughter and hoots. 'Is thatwhat you've stalked and killed?' And someone would goupstairsto wake Olga who would prepare an omelette orroastchicken, dressedin a satin mantilla.

But the order to leave still did not come; and their stayin this place of mists, in this silence that was scarcelydistUrbedby singing and shouting, ended by getting thebetter of evenJimmy's gaiety. The pleasureof squanderingother people's things became less keen and dwindled tonothing. They got tired of sleeping in their boots in thebig four-poster beds. Dust accumulated on the bundlesfilledwith plunder. In the evenings they wrote reams totheir families,they drank less,they almost gave up singing.The general deigned to reappear and to issue some orderswhich they were only too happy to obey. In the glow ofthe large chandeliers,which were now back inplace,Jimmyand Bravo would play manilla, belote and poker. Lyingagainstthe chimney-piece,Olga, who had put on her coarselinen dress again, would play with the greyhound. Theadvent of food was no more than a diversion of little

interest.Jimmy and Bravo prolonged their morning walks;sideby sidethey looked likedumpy and somewhat paunchybrothers, for their unhooked tunics were gaping open.

'You're putting it on around the stomach, l11ate,'shesaid.

'It's our age...' said the other, stretching himselfwithout conviction.

Sometimes their evenings, which started so early, werestill illuminated by a burst of high spirits. They roasted a

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fermes des environs d' on ils revenaient lentement, avec des

reufs plein la ceinture, et quelque volaille domestiqueattachee par les pattes a un bout de ficelle. Leur arriveeetait guettee, accueillie par des rires et des huees.

- C'est ~a que vous avez tue a I'aff"ut?Et on montait reveiller Olga qui, en mantille de satin,

preparait l' omelette ou le poulet roti.

Mais l'ordre de depart n'arrivait toujours pas, et lesejour dans cet endroit de brumes, dans ce silence quechants et cris troublaient a peine finit par avoir raisonmeme de la gaiete de Jinimy. Lajoie du gaspillage devintmoins intense, disparut. On se lassade coucher bottes dansles grands lits a baldaquins; la poussieres'accumula sur lesballots charges de rapines. Le soir, on ecrivait des volumesa sa famille, on buvait moins, on ne chantait presque plus.Le general daign~ reparaitre, donner quelques ordresauxquelson fut trop heureux d'obeir. A la lueur des grandschandeliersredresses,Jimmy et Bravo jouaient a la manille,a la belotel, au poker. Couchee contre la cheminee, Olgaqui avait repris sa robe de toile jouait avec le levrier.L'arrivee des victuaillesn'etait plus qu'une diversion sansgrand interet. Et leurs tuniques degrafees, baillant, cote acote, se ressemblant comme deux freres, courtauds et unpeu ventrus, Jimmy et Bravo prolongeaient leurs prome-nades du matin.

C' d A L dai I' " .- est e notre age . . ., rcpon t autre en s ettrant

sansconviction.

Parfois encore quelque grande flambee dejoie illuminaitles soirs tot commences. On rotit un veau dans la grande

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cheminee, chacun vida son litre plein, et Olga dansa surla table entre les verre~ renverses.

JIMMY

calf in the big fireplace,each of them emptied his full litreof wine and Olga danced on the table between the over-turned glasses.

A few days later, the count's library disgorged, frombehind a pile of dictionaries that had fallen down, acollection of Japanese etchings w4ich were passed fromhand to hand with howls of laughter. Olga chortled andwent red ;Jimmy castthe appreciativeeyeof the connoisseuron them, with one hand on the nape of her neck, and, lateinto the night, the men were still shouting violent obsceni-ties from one bedroom to another and laughing loudly likechildren.

But everything returned to its state of torpor. Olga hadfits of crying and gave herselfdespairingly to anyone whowanted to have her. She prowled about the corridorshowling like a cat on heat, and there was no glimmer ofamusement inJimmy's meaningful looks at her ever readyrevolver. She longed for them to leave; but sometimes,when she smiled, a shadow of sweetnessin the dimple ofher cheek was a sudden reminder to Bravo that the oldfriend, smoking a pipe opposite him, had once been a girl,and he was startled.

The torpor could only produce a storm. Finally, oneevening everything erupted. Olga was more drunk or morenervy than usual and was waiting for Jimmy to turn herback, or at any rate, get absorbed in some card game, sothat she could throw herself at someone as usual. She was

hanging around the neck of a soldier; he was excited but abit embarrassedby this and was doing his best to push heraway. Jimmy, in shirt sleeves,was smoking her pipe andsitting astride a chair in front of the fireplace. Suddenly:

'Will you do me a a favour and throw that litde tarton the floor, dear boy?' she said, in a voice raucous withanger.

Quelques jours plus tard, la bibliotheque du comtevomit, par-dessus une pile de dictionnaires ecroules, unecollection d'estampesjaponaises qui passerent de main enmain, avec des hurlements de rire. Olga gloussait enrougissant; une main poseesur sa nuque, Jimmy appreciaitd'un air connaisseur, et tard dans la nuit, les hommes secriaient encore, d'une chambre a l'autre,d'enormesobsce-nites, avec de grands rires puerils.

Mais tout retomba dans la torpeur. Olga eut des crisesde larmes, se donna eperdument a qui voulait la prendre.Elle rodait dans les couloirs avec des gemissements dechatte, et le regard que Jimmy posait sur son revolverdegaine n'avait plus nuance de plaisanterie. Elle soupiraitapres le depart; mais parfois, quand elle souriait, uneombre de douceur au creux de la joue rappelait tout acoup a Bravo stupefait que le vieil ami qui, en face delui, fumait la pipe, avait ete unejeune fille.

Cette torpeur devait provoquer un orage. Un soir enfintout eclata. Plus ivre ou plus nerveuse que d'habitude,Olga qui attendait toujours pour s'ofttir, que Jimmy euttourne le dos, ou du moins fut absorbee dans quelquepartie de cartes, se pendait au cou d'un soldat, excite maisun peu gene, qui la repoussaitde son mieux. En manchesdechemise,Jimmy fumait la pipe, a chevalsur une chaise,devantla cheminee.Tout a coup:

- Mon petit, veux-tu me faire le plaisir de jeter cettepetite putain a terre? dit-e1led'une voix rauque de colere.

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Le gar~on en riant essayait de se debarrasser d'Olga,mais rendue furieuse par l'apostrophe, celle-cis'agrippait alui, sansqu'il pOtlui faire lacher prise.

Tout a coup elle poussa un cri. Jimmy qui avait degrafeson ceinturon lui en assenaitun grand coup sur les reins;Olga se redressaimmediatement, sejeta sur elle en hurlantde rage. De salarge main,Jimmy I'avait sanspeinejetee surle sol, et tandis qu'elle y demeurait prostree en sanglotant,allait se rasseoir tranquilIement, si l'autre en proie a uneveritable crise d'hysterie, ne s'etait pas mise a crier d'unevoix etrangIeede larmes et de fureur:

- Ah! c'est facilede me battre, de faire la loi aux autres,de sortir ton revolver! Mais tu ne t'imagines tout de memepas que tes guetres et ta pipe, ~ remplace un homme? Cen'est pas un fusil qu'il me faut, espece de vieilIe folIe,c'est. ..

Elle se tUt. Jimmy marchait vers elIe, dans le silencestupefie de tous ces hommes dont elIe avait blesse- aussi

etrange que cela parOt - la pudeur. Les yeux de Jimmyetaient si terribles que dans une angoissepresque semblablea celIede la mort, la fille s'aplatit contre le sol, griffant lesdallesde sesdoigts crispes.Mais comme l'autre, par le couet par les poignets, la saisissait,pour I'emporter sansdoute,griffant, mordant, s'agitant avec fureur, elIe reussit a saisirle col de la chemise trop large, et avec un crissementsoudain l'etoffe se dechira laissantapercevoir a Bravo et asescamaradesau comble de la gene un sein brun, flasqueetride. Co~e il se fOt precipite sur un champ de bataillepour la trainer, blessee, vers une ambulance, Bravo quisentait cette humiliation pire qu'une blessure se precipitavers celIe qu'il appelait toujours «mon vieux copain» et,maintenant d'une main la faible fille hurlante, aida pieuse-ment Jimmy a mettre sa tunique, pour lui remettre ensuiteOlga par la peau du cou, comme un petit chat qu'on va

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JIMMY

The boy, laughing, tried to push Olga off; but she wasinfuriated by the outburst and clung on to him, so that hecouldn't get her to let go.

Suddenly, shecried out. Jimmy, who had unhooked herbelt, dealther a mighty blow on the back. Olga straightenedup immediately and hurled herself on her, howling withrage. Jimmy had thrown her effortlesslyon the groundwith her big hands and, whilst she lay there prostrate withsobs,was calmly going to sit down again- if the other girl,who was in the grip of a genuine fit of hysterics, had notbegun to scream in a voice strangled with tears and fury:·Oh! it's easyto hit me, and lay down the law for othersand pull out your revolver! But do you really think yourpipe and gaiters take the place of a man? It's not a rifle Jneed, you stupid old bag, it's . . .'

She fell silent.Jimmy was walking towards her; all themen were stupefied,silent, their senseof decorum had beenoffended by her - strange as it may seem. The look inJimmy's eyes was so terrible that the girl fell flat on theground, clawing the flagstoneswith clenchedfmgers, in ananguish which almost resembled that of death. But asJimmy seized her by the neck and wrists, apparently tocarry her off, she scratched, bit, wriggled with fury andmanaged to grasp the collar of Jimmy's overlarge shirt.With a sudden ripping noise, the material tore, allowingBravo and his colleagues, who were overcome with em-barrassment, to see a brown, flabby and wrinkled breast.Just as he would have leapt onto the battlefield to drag awounded Jimmy to an ambulance, Bravo, who felt thishumiliation worse than a wound, leapt towards thewoman he alwayscalled· myoId mate' and, holdingtheweak, screaming girl with one hand, reverently hehelped Jimmy put on her tunic, and then returned Olga

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noyer. Dans les couloirs, les hurlements de celle-ci, amoitie etrangIeepar une poigne de fer, decrurent. Quelquesminutes plus tard un bruit pareil a un claquement de porteparvint aux oreillesde Bravo, et quand Jimmy, sa tuniquebien sangIee, a peine paIie, vint achever leur partie decartes, personne ne lui demanda rien. Mais elle remarquaqu'on ne la regardait pas en face, et ses mains tremblaientIegerement en donnant les cartes.

Le lendemain a l'aube, Bravo vint la chercher commed'habitude, niaiscen'etait paspour la chasse.ns sefrayerentun chemin a travers lesbranches,jusqu'a I'eau.

- Heureusement, lesmarais sont la pour un coup! dit-elleen s'essuyantles mains a son pantalon khaki.

lis revinrent plus lentement. Un timide soleil dorait lehaut desarbres et les buissonspleins de rosee.

- Tu crois qu'ils n'y penseront plus? demanda-t-elle touta coup. .

C'etait la premiere foisque pravo voyait de la crainte surce visage energique: cela lui fit de la peine.

- Pourquoi veux-tu qu'ils y pensent?n la regarda bien en face.- Et sijamais . . . c'est la guerre, apres tout. . .- C'estjuste, dit Jimmy en riant. Une ou deux grenades

bien placees, et j' ai une chance de passer pour le soldatmconnu.

L'agitation regnait au chateau.- On part! cria quelqu'un des qu'ils furent a portee de la

VOIX.

Le hasard faisait bien les choses: Bravo alia prendre lesordres du general. En revenant, il voulut voir ce que faisait(Ison camarade». Dans la chambre en desordre, accroupiesur le parquet souillede tachessombres,la pipe aux dents, etla posant de temps en temps pour siffioter,Jimmy entassaitdans son sac les derniers bijoux de la comtesse.

- Ah! dit Bravosansreflechir,toi, t'es un homme!

JIMMY

to her by the scruff of her neck like a small cat that'sgoing to be drowned. Her cries, half strangled by an irongrip, grew faint in the corridors. A few minutes later, asound like a door slamming came to Bravo's ears, and whenJimmy came to finish their card game, her tunic carefullydone up, hardly any paler, nobody asked her anything.But she noticed that they did not look at her directly, andher hands trembled slightly as she dealt out the cards.

At dawn the following morning, Bravo came to lookfor her as usual, but not to go hunting. They forced theirway through the branches,until they reached the water.

'For once I'm glad the marshes are there,' she said,wiping her hands on her khaki trousers.

They returned more slowly. A faint sun gilded the topsof the trees and the dew-covered bushes.

'Do you think they'll forget all about it?' she askedsuddenly.

It was the first time Bravo had seenfear on her energeticface. It made him sad.

'Why should they remember?' He looked her straightin the eye. 'And what if they do . . . it's wartime afterall. . .'

'That's true,' saidJimmy, laughing. 'One or tWo well-placed grenades and I might well become the unknownsoldier.'

The castlewas in an uproar.'We're off!' said someone as soon as they were within

hearing. A stroke of chance,you might call it. Bravo wentoff to get orders from the general. When he came back,he wanted to seewhat 'his mate' was up to. Jimmy was inthe untidy bedroom crouching on the parquet floor whichwas stained with dark spots. From time to time she tookout the pipe between her teeth, to whistle. She was stashingthe last of the countess'sjewels into her bag.

'Ah!' said Bravo impulsively, 'You're a real11l3n.'