CHAPTER XXXVIII
"He tried hard to decide," Marie put in. "He thought of almost every kind of thing there is to think about!"
"I thought of every kind of thing," Spike corrected her.
"Beginning with a Rolls-Royce," said the witch.
Spike looked at her in surprise.
"The policeman told me how he found it standing in front of the pension."
"There was only an imaginary policeman."
"Yes, I know!"
"But he did not exist!"
"How can you say that? Are we or are we not talking about him? We have opinions and memories of him. You must admit there is more of him left than of most men."
Spike said angrily: "I made him up out of a memory of the real policeman who walks on the rue Vavin!"
"But he was on the rue Vavin when your imaginary policeman was talking to you in front of the pension!"
The witch stood stiffly erect, victorious.
"Monday evening, just before dinner," she declared, "I went out with Marie here after having tea in my apartment. We said good-by on the quai in the midst of the crowd. I stood looking at the dark water. The Eiffel Tower was black against the yellow sky.
"For me it is always unfamiliar. Its ugliness is portentous—a promise of a dreadful and alien future. But in the mind of the common man everywhere the tower is the emblem of Paris. An obvious target, I said to myself, and in that moment the tower was standing on its peak. Radio lines and supporting cables went whipping down.... I knew it was your work, and waited.
"Would you throw your omnipotent wish away for the sake of a jest—to express a splendid contempt for life? Would you so quickly choose unselfish destruction?
"I was excited. 'Last night'—thus the news would be flashed to the world—'Last night for an unknown reason the Eiffel Tower stood upon its head and in this position now stands!'
"I saw an army of newsmen hunting facts—interviewing cabinet ministers and engineers, importuning a thousand eye-witnesses, consulting their own imaginations, their own interests—inflating the simple unreasonable fact with opinion, rumor, lie and propaganda!
"They said the Germans did it! It was the moon! Madmen boasted they had used secret engines. In all countries men blind to beauty saw God Almighty in the ugly miracle of the Eiffel Tower!
"Exaltation thrilled me at the thought of worldwide confusion, the tragic bewilderment of philosopher, scientist and artist. I saw a vast terror of the unknown, and heard the shouting of the clergy, the gleeful whispering of the goblins of superstition!
"For a moment I anticipated triumph!" The witch raised her hands, fingers stiffly clutching, as if she would tear at Flecker's throat.... "And while I stood there deep in pleasant thoughts," she hissed, "the tower was back on its feet, and I knew what I had seen was only a reflection of your powerful imagination!"
The witch bowed her head. "I wept," she whispered.