Monsieur Hire (Mister hire)

Nobody knows how old Mister Hire is. For several years (how many years ?) he has been living in a room in a nondescript block. And yet, he is not poor. But he does not spend anything. One day he will have a better life. Maybe. It is as if his life was spent waiting for something. Waiting for an event which will explode into his life and turn it upside down. Monsieur Hire has no friends. People do not like him. But it is safe to say he does not like people either. Alice lives in the same building. She is about twenty, she works as a waitress in the local tea-room. Her employer puts her up in this unremarkable little studio, directly opposite Monsieur Hire's room, on the other side of the courtyard, a little lower down. How could she possibly have guessed that for weeks, maybe even months, Hire has been hovering behind his window, motionless, shielded by the half-light in his room -that he has been watching her closely. (pressbook)