Hector and the Secrets of Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

down his cigar and leaned over to Hector. ‘I’d like to have a quiet word with you,’ he said.
    ‘Whenever you like,’ said Hector.
    ‘We’ll wait until the others have gone,’ said Gunther.
    Everyone seemed quite cheerful at dinner; they had the healthy glow of people who have been swimming in the sea and begun to get a tan, and even old François seemed very jaunty. He was chatting to a young employee of the company and making her laugh. Clara had begun a long discussion with Ethel, and Hector overheard the word ‘multi-orgasmic’, which Ethel seemed to repeat often.
    And then everyone stood up and people began making their way back to their bungalows. Hector gave Clara a little wave, and she left, too. As he watched her walk through the door and glance back at him, Hector had another awful feeling, but he quickly told himself he was imagining things – he knew that Clara loved him.
     
    The three of them, Hector, Gunther and Marie-Claire, sat facing one another in big armchairs made of tropical wood in the lounge area in Gunther’s suite. Gunther relit his cigar and the tall maître d’hôtel came in with the drinks they had ordered: cognac for Gunther and Marie-Claire, and coconut milk with a straw for Hector, who had never liked drinking after dinner. The tall maître d’hôtel left the bottle of cognac next to Gunther.
    It was dark outside, and you could hear the sound of the waves, and Hector thought about the crabs that were perhaps still making love under the moonlight.
     
     
    A large file lay on the low table, and Hector was surprised to read on the cover the name of somebody he knew; it was the eminent professor of Happiness Studies he had met in the country of More, or, for people who are fond of geography, America. The eminent professor was a small, skinny man with a big nose and a big tuft of white hair, who spoke very quickly and who thought even more quickly. He was carrying out a lot of complicated research to try to discover whether happiness was largely a question of character (you are happy because you have a talent for happiness) or a question of circumstances (you are happy if you have things in your life that make you happy). The eminent professor’s name was Cormorant, which was quite amusing because with his big nose and his tuft of white hair he looked a bit like the bird of the same name.
    Hector liked him a lot and they often exchanged emails. Professor Cormorant told Hector things about happiness which gave him ideas about how to treat his unhappy patients. He and the professor very rarely met and there was a big age difference between them, but they had struck up a long-distance friendship.
    ‘You know him,’ said Gunther, taking a photo of Professor Cormorant from the file.
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘A brilliant mind.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘An outstanding researcher.’
    ‘Without a doubt.’
    Gunther took a puff of his cigar, as though to calm himself. Hector had the impression he was angry.
    ‘He’s working for us,’ said Marie-Claire.
    ‘On happiness?’
    ‘No, on love.’
    Marie-Claire explained that the big pharmaceutical company had funded some new research into love, and as Professor Cormorant was already a world expert in the study of emotions it had been easy for him to switch from happiness to love because both are combinations of complex emotions. Hector was very interested. The professor had never mentioned this new research to him.
    ‘There was a confidentiality clause,’ Marie-Claire explained, ‘for him and his team of researchers. They were working in collaboration with our researchers.’
    Hector looked out of the corner of his eye at Gunther, who was still puffing on his cigar as though to calm himself.
    ‘Were you developing a new drug?’
    ‘Do you remember what you were saying this morning? We don’t choose who we fall in love with? We fall out of love with a person we’d like to go on loving? We’re trying to find a solution to that