 Section 8 of Castles in the Air This is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Lars Rolander Castles in the Air by Baroness Emusca-Arxie Chapter 4, Carissimo, Part 2 Not much data to go on, you will, I think, admit. And I can assure you, sir, that had I not possessed that unbounded belief in myself, which is the true hallmark of genius, I would at the outset have felt profoundly discouraged. As it was, I found just the right words of consolation and of hope, wherewith to bow my brilliant client out of my humble apartments, and then to settle down to deep and considered meditation. Nothing, sir, is so conducive to thought as a long brisk walk through the crowded streets of Paris. So I brushed my coat, put on my hat at a becoming angle, and started on my way. I walked as far as Suresne, and I thought. After that, feeling fatigued, I sat on the terrace of the Café Bourbon, overlooking the river. There I sipped my coffee and thought. I walked back into Paris in the evening, and still thought, and thought, and thought. After that I had some dinner, washed down by an agreeable bottle of wine. Did I mention that the lovely creature had given me a hundred francs on account? Then I went for a stroll along the cave Voltaire, and I may safely say that there is not a single side and tortuous street in its vicinity that I did not explore from end to end, during the course of that never-to-be-forgotten evening. But still my mind remained in a chaotic condition. I had not succeeded in forming any plan. What a quandary, sir! Oh, what a quandary! Here was I, Hector Ratichand, the confident of kings, the right hand of two emperors, set to the task of stealing a dog. For that is what I should have to do. From an unscrupulous gang of thieves whose identity, abode, and methods were alike unknown to me. Truly, sir, you will own that this was a Herculean task. Vaguely my thoughts reverted to theatre. He might have been of good counsel, for he knew more about thieves than I did. But the ungrateful wretch was out of the way on the one occasion when he might have been of use to me, who had done so much for him. Indeed, my reason told me that I need not trouble my head about theatre. He had vanished. That he would come back presently was, of course, an indubitable fact. People like Theodore never vanished completely. He would come back and demand, I know, not what. His share, perhaps, in a business which was so promising, even if it was still so vague. Five thousand francs. Around some. If I gave Theodore five hundred, the sum would at once appear meager, unimportant. Four thousand five hundred francs, it did not even sound well to my mind. So I took care that Theodore vanished from my mental vision as completely as he had done for the last two days from Iken. And as there was nothing more that could be done that evening, I turned my weary footsteps toward my lodgings at Passy. All that night, sir, I lay wakeful and tossing in my bed, alternately fuming and rejecting plans for the attainment of that golden gold, the recovery of Madame de Nol's pet dog, and the whole of the next day I spent in vain quest. I visited every haunt of ill fame known to me within the city. I walked about with a pistol in my belt, a hunk of bread and cheese in my pocket, and slowly growing despair in my heart. In the evening Madame de Nol called for news of Carissimo, and I could give her none. She cried, sir, and implored, and her tears and entreaties got onto my nerves until I felt ready to fall into hysterics. One more day, and all my chances of a bright and wealthy future would have vanished. Unless the money was forthcoming on the morrow, the dog would be destroyed, and with him my every hope of that five thousand francs. And though she still irredated charm and luxury from her entire lovely person, I begged her not to come to the office again, and promised that as soon as I had news to impart, I would at once present myself at her house in the forbore Saint-Cermain. That night I never slept one wink. Think of it, sir. The next few hours were destined to see me either a prosperous man for many days to come, or a miserable, helpless, disappointed wretch. At eight o'clock I was at my office, still no news of Theodore. I could now no longer dismiss him from my mind. Something had happened to him. I could have no doubt. This anxiety added to the other more serious one drew me to stay bordering on frenzy. I hardly knew what I was doing. I wandered all day up and down the Cévoltaire and the Cé de Grande Augustine, and in and around tortuous streets till I was dog-tired, distracted, half-crazy. I went to the morgue, thinking to find their Theodore's dead body, and found myself vaguely looking for the mutilated corpse of Charissimo. Indeed, after a while Theodore and Charissimo became so inextricably mixed up in my mind, that I could not have told you if I was seeking for the one or for the other, and if Madame Lacomte-Esternol was now waiting to clasp her pet dog or my man of all work to her exquisite bosom. She, in the meanwhile, had received a second yet more peremptory missive through the same channel as the previous one. A grimy, deformed man with junior-colored hair, and wearing a black patch of a one eye, had been seen by one of the servants lolling down the street where Madame lived, and subsequently the concierge discovered that an exceedingly dirty scrap of paper had been thrust under the door of his lodge. The writer of the epistle demanded that Madame Lacomte-Est should stand in person at six o'clock, that same evening at the corner of the Rue Gunnego behind Institut de France. Two men, each wearing a blue blouse and peak cap, would meet her there. She must hand over the money to one of them, whilst the other would have Charissimo in his arms. The missive closed with the usual threats that if the police were mixed up in the affair, or the money not forthcoming, Charissimo would be destroyed. Six o'clock was the hour fixed by these abominable thieves for the final doom of Charissimo. It was now close on five. In a little more than an hour my last hope of five or ten thousand France, and a smile of gratitude from a pair of lovely lips, would have gone, never again to return. A great excess of righteous rage seized upon me. I determined that those miserable thieves, whoever they were, should suffer for the disappointment which I was now enduring. If I was to lose five thousand France, they at least should not be left free to pursue their evil ways. I would communicate with the police. The police should meet the miscreants at the corner of the Rue Gunnego. Charissimo would die. His lovely mistress would be broken hearted. I would be left to mourn yet another illusion of a possible fortune. But they would suffer in jail, or in New Caledonia, the consequences of all their misdeeds. Fortified by this resolution, I turned my weary footsteps in the direction of the Shang-Den Marie, where I intended to lodge my denunciation of those abominable thieves and blackmailers. The night was dark. The streets elighted. The air bitterly cold. A thin drizzle, half rain, half snow, was descending, chilling me to the bone. I was walking rapidly along the river bank, with my coat collar pulled up to my ears, and still instinctively peering up every narrow street which debauches on the quay. Then suddenly I spied Theodore. He was coming down the reborn, slouching along with head bent in his usual way. He appeared to be carrying something not exactly heavy, but cumbersome under his left arm. Within the next few minutes he would have been face to face with me, for I had come to halt at the angle of the street, determined to have it out with the rascal then and there, in spite of the cold, and in spite of my anxiety about Charissimo. All of a sudden he raised his head and saw me, and in a second he turned on his heel and began to run up the street in the direction whence he had come. At once I gave chase. I ran after him, and then, sir, he came for a second within the circle of light, projected by the street lanthan. But in that one second I had seen that which turned my frozen blood into liquid lava. A tail, sir. A dog's tail, fluffy and curly, projecting from beneath that rachrian's left arm. A dog, sir. A dog, Charissimo, the darling of Madame La Conteste and Old's heart. Charissimo, the recovery of whom would mean five thousand francs into my pocket. Charissimo, I knew it. For me there existed but one dog in all the world. One dog and one spawn of the devil, one arch-traitor, one limb of Satan, Theodore. How he had come by Charissimo, I had no time to conjecture. I called to him. I called his accursed name using appellations which fell short of those which he deserved. But the louder I called, the faster he ran, and I, breathless, panting, ran after him, determined to run him to earth, fearful lest I should lose him in the darkness of the night. All down the reborn we ran, and already I could hear behind me the heavy and more lesser tramp of a couple of shangdans who in their turn had started to give chase. I tell you, sir, the sound lent wings to my feet. A chance, a last chance, was being offered me by a benevolent fate to earn that five thousand francs, the keystone to my future fortune. If I had the strength to seize and hold Theodore until the shangdans came up, and before he had time to do away with the dog, the five thousand francs could still be mine. So I ran, sir, as I had never run before. The beads of perspiration poured down from my forehead. The breath came sturturous and hot from my heaving breast. Then suddenly Theodore disappeared. Disappeared, sir, as if the earth had swallowed him up. A second ago I had seen him dimly, yet distinctly through the veil of snow and rain ahead of me, running with that unmistakable shuffling gait of his, hugging the dog closely under his arm. I had seen him, another effort and I might have touched him. Now the long and deserted street lay dark and mysterious before me, and behind me I could hear the measured tramp of the shangdans and their peremptory call of halt in the name of the king. But not in vain, sir, am I called Ectoratishan. Not in vain have kings and emperors reposed confidence in my valor and my presence of mind. In less time than it takes to relay, I had already marked with my eye the very spot down the street where I had last seen Theodore. I hurried forward and sought ones that my surmise had been correct. At that very spot, sir, was a low doorway which gave on a dark and dank passage. The door itself was open, I did not hesitate. My life stood in the balance, but I did not falter. I might be fronting within the next second or two a gang of desperate thieves, but I did not quake. I turned into that doorway, sir. The next moment I felt a stunning blow between my eyes. I must remember calling out with all strength on my lungs. Police, shangdans, am I? Then nothing more. I worked with the consciousness of violent wordy warfare carried on around me. I was lying on the ground, and the first things I saw were three or four pairs of feet standing close together. Gradually out of the confused hubbub, a few sentences struck my reawakened senses. The man is drunk. I won't have him inside the house. I'll tell you this is a respectable house. This from a shrill feminine voice. We've never had the law inside our doors before. By this time I had succeeded in racing myself on my elbow, and by the dim light of a hanging lamp somewhere down the passage, I was pretty well able to stake stock of my surroundings. The half-dozen bedroom candlesticks on a table up against the wall, the row of keys hanging on hooks fixed to a board above, the glass partition where the words concierge and reception painted across it. All told me that this was one of those small, mostly squalid and disreputable lodging-houses or hotels in which this quarter of Paris still abounds. The two shunned arms who had been running after me were arguing the matter of my presence here with the proprietor of the place and with the concierge. I struggled to my feet, whereupon for the space of a solid two minutes I had to bear as calmly as I could the abuse and vituperation which the feminine proprietor of this respectable house chose to hurl at my unfortunate head, after which I obtained a hearing from the bewildered minions of the law. To them I gave as brief a succinct a narrative as I could of the events of the past three days, the theft of Carissimo, the disappearance of Theodore, my meeting him a while ago with a dog under his arm, his second disappearance, this time within the doorway of this respectable abode, and finally the blow which alone had prevented me from running the abominable thief to earth. The shunned arms at first were incredulous. I could see that they were still under the belief that my excitement was due to over-indulgence in alcoholic liquor, whilst Madame the proprietress called me an abominable liar for daring to suggest that she harbored thieves within her doors. Then suddenly, as if in vindication of my character, there came from a floor above the sound of a loud shrill bark, Carissimo, I cried triumphantly. Then I added in a rapid whisper, Madame la Contesternol is rich, she spoke of a big reward for the recovery of her pet. These happy words had the effect of stimulating the seal of the shunned arms. Madame the proprietress grew somewhat confused and incoherent, and finally blurted it out that one of her lodgers, a highly respectable gentleman, did keep a dog but that there was no crime in that surely. One of your lodgers, with the representative of the law, when did he come? About three days ago, she replied salently. What room does he occupy? Number twenty-five on the third floor. He came with his dog, I interposed quickly. A spaniel? Yes. And your lodger? Is he an ugly, slouchy creature with hooked nose, bleary eyes, and shaggy yellow hair? Back to this she vouched, saved no reply. Already the matter had passed out on my hands. One of the shunned arms prepared to go upstairs and made me follow him, whilst he ordered his comrade to remain below and on no account to allow anyone to enter or leave the house. The proprietress and concierge were warned that if they interfered with the due execution of the law, they would be severely dealt with after which we went upstairs. For a while as we sent it we could hear the dog barking furiously. Then presently, just as we reached the upper landing, we heard a loud curse, a scramble, and then a picturesque whine quickly smothered. My very heart stood still. The next moment, however, the shangdam had kicked open the door on number twenty-five. I followed him into the room. The place looked dirty and squalid in the extreme, just the sort of place I should have expected Theodore to haunt. It was almost bare, save for a table in the centre, a couple of rickety chairs, a broken down bedstead, and an iron stove in the corner. On the table a tallow candle was spluttering and throwing a very feeble circle of light around. At first glance I thought that the room was empty. Then suddenly I heard another violent expletive and became aware of a man sitting close beside the iron stove. He turned to stare at us as we entered. But to my surprise it was not Theodore's ugly face which confronted us. The man sitting there alone in the room, where I had expected to see Theodore and Charisma, had a shaggy beard and an undoubted junior hue. He had on a blue blouse and a peaked cap. Beneath his cap his lank hair protruded more decided in colour even than his beard. His head was sunk between his shoulders and right across his face from the left eyebrow over the cheek and as far as his ear. There he had a hideous crimson scar which told us vividly against the ghastly pallor of his face. But there was no sign of Theodore. At first my friend the shangdarn was quite obeying. He asked very politely to see Monsieur's pet dog. Monsieur denied all knowledge of a dog which denial only tended to establish his own gill and the veracity of my own narrative. The shangdarn thereupon became more peremptory and the man promptly lost his temper. I in the meanwhile was glancing round the room and soon spied a wall cupboard which had obviously been deliberately screened by the bed-stead. While my companion was bringing the whole majesty of the law to bear upon the miscreants' denigrations, I calmly dragged the bed-stead aside and opened the cupboard door. An aculation from my quivering throat brought the shangdarn to my side. Crouching in the dark recess of the wall cupboard was Carissimus, not dead, thank-godness, but literally shaking with terror. I pulled him out as gently as I could, for he was so frightened that he growled and snapped viciously at me. I handed him to the shangdarn, for by the side of Carissimus I had seen something which literally froze my blood within my veins. It was Theodore's hat and coat which he had been wearing when I chased him to this house of mystery and of ill-fame and wrapped together with it was a rag all smeared with blood, whilst the same hideous stains were now distinctly visible on the door of the cupboard itself. I turned to the shangdarn who at once confronted the abominable malefactor with the obvious proofs of a horrible crime. But the depraied wretch stood by, sir, perfectly calm, and with a cynicism in his whole bearing which I had never before seen equaled. Ah, now nothing about that cold! he asserted with the shrug of the shoulders. No more about the dog. The shangdarn by this time was purple with fury. Not know anything about the dog, he exclaimed, in a voice choked with righteous indignation. Why he? he barked. But this indisputable fact in no way disconcerted the miscreant. Ah, the dog japping, he said with consummate impudence what I thought he was in the next room. No wonder he added coolly, since he was in a wall cupboard. A wall cupboard, the shangdarn rejoined triumphantly, situated in the very room which you occupied at this moment. That is a mistake, my friend, the cynical wretch retorted, undaunted. I do not occupy this room. I do not lodge in this hotel at all. Then how came you to be here? I came on a visit to a friend who happened to be out when I arrived. I found a pleasant fire here and I sat down to warm myself. Your nice and unwarranted eruption into this room has so bewildered me that I no longer know whether I am standing on my head or on my heels. We'll show you soon enough what you are standing on my fine fellow, the shangdarn reposted with breezy cheerfulness, alone. I must say that the pampered minion of the law arose splendidly to the occasion. He ceased the miscreant by the arm and took him downstairs there to confront him with the proprietors of the establishment, while I, with marvellous presence of mind, to possession of Charissimo, and hid him as best as I could beneath my coat. In the hall below a surprise and disappointment were in store for me. I had reached the bottom of the stairs when the shrill feminine accents of Madame the proprietors struck unpleasantly on my head. Now, now, I'll tell you, she was saying, this man is not my luncher. He never came here with a dog. There she added volubly and pointing an unwashed finger at Charissimo who was struggling and groaning in my arms. There is the dog. A gentleman brought him with him last Wednesday when he inquired if he could have a room here for a few nights. Number twenty-five happened to be vacant and I had no objection to dogs. I let the gentleman have the room, and they paid me twenty soot in advance when he took possession and told me he would keep the room three nights. The gentleman? What gentleman? The shun down queried. Rather inanely, I thought. My lodger, the woman replied, he's out for the moment, but he will be back presently. Oh, Mike, no doubt, the dog is his. What is he like? The minion of the law queried abruptly. Oh, the dog! She retorted impudently. No, no, your lodger! Once more the unwashed finger went up and pointed straight at me. I describe him well enough just now, thin and slouching as wise. He has length, yellow hair and nose, perpetually crimson, with a cold, no doubt, and pale, watery eyes. Theodore, I exclaimed mentally, bewildered the shun down pointed to his prisoner. But this man, he queried. Why, the proprietor replied, I've seen Monsieur twice, or was it three times, he would visit number twenty-five now and then. I will not wear you with further accounts of the close examination to which the representative of the law subjected the personnel of the squalid hotel. The concierge and the man of all work did indeed confirm what the proprietor said, and whilst my friend the shun down puzzled and floundering or scratching his head in complete bewilderment, I thought that the opportunity had come for me to sleep quietly out by the still open door and make my way as fast as I could to the sumptuous abode in the forbore Saint-Chaman, where the gratitude of Madame de Nol together with five thousand francs were even now awaiting me. After Madame the proprietress had identified Carissimus, I had once more carefully concealed him under my coat. I was ready to seize my opportunity, after which I would be free to deal with a matter of Theodore's amazing disappearance. Unfortunately, just at this moment, the little brute gave a jab and the minion of the Lord once interposed and took possession of him. The dog belongs to the police now, sir, he said sternly. The fatuous Jovenel wanted his share of the reward, you see. End of chapter four, part two, read by Loche Rolander. Section nine of Castles in the Air This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Loche Rolander Castles in the Air by Baroness Emusca Orxi Chapter four, Carissimus, part three Having been forced thus to give up Carissimus and with him all my hopes of a really substantial fortune. I was determined to make the red-pulled miscreant suffer for my disappointment and the minions of the law sweet in the exercise of their duty. I demanded theater. My friend, my comrade, my right hand. I had seen him not ten minutes ago, carrying in his arms this very dog whom I had subsequently found inside a wall cupboard beside a blood-stained coat. Where was theater? Pointing an avenging finger at the red-headed reprobate, I boldly accused him of having murdered my friend with a view to robbing him of the reward offered for the recovery of the dog. This brought a new train of thought into the wooden-pates of the Shandar. A quartet of them had by this time assembled within the respectable precincts of the Hotel de Cadet. One of them senior to the others had once dispatched a younger comrade to the nearest commissary of police for advice and assistance. Then he ordered us all into the room pompously-labeled reception, and there proceeded once more to interrogate us all, making copious notes in his leather-bound book all the time, whilst I, moaning and lamenting the loss of my faithful friend and man of all work, loudly demanded the punishment of his assassin. Theater's coat, his hat, the blood-stained rag, had all been brought down from number 25 and laid out upon the table ready for the inspection of Monsieur the Commissary of Police. That gentleman arrived with two private agents, armed with full powers, and wrapped in the magnificent imperturbability of the law. The Jean-Dame had already put him offay of the events, and as soon as he was seated behind the table, upon which reposed the pieces to conviction, he in his turn proceeded to interrogate the ginger-pated miscreant. But strive how he might, Monsieur the Commissary, elected no further information from him than that which we all already possessed. The man gave his name as Aristide Nicolette. He had no fixed abode. He had come to visit his friend who lodged in number 25 in the Hotel de Cadet. Not finding him at home, he had sat by the fire and waited for him. He knew absolutely nothing of the dog and absolutely nothing of the whereabouts of Theodore. We'll soon see about that, asserted Monsieur the Commissary. He ordered a perquisition of every room and every corner of the hotel. Madame the proprietress loudly lamenting that she and her respectable house would henceforth be disgraced for ever, but the thieves, whoever they were, were clever. Not a trace of any illic practice was found on the premises and not a trace of theatre. Had he indeed been murdered, the thought now had taken root in my mind, for the moment I had even forgotten Carissimus and my vanished five thousand france. Well, sir, Aristide Nicolette was marched off to the depot, still protesting his innocence. The next day he was confronted with Madame la Contestinale, who could not say more than that he might have formed part of the gang who had jostled her on the cable tear, whilst the servant who had taken the missive from him failed to recognize him. Carissimus was restored to the arms of his loving mistress, but the reward for his recovery had to be shared between the police and myself. Three thousand france going to the police were prehended the thief and two thousand to me who had put them on the track. It was not a fortune, sir, but I had to be satisfied. But in the meanwhile the disappearance of theatre had remained an unfathomable mystery. No amount of questionings and cross questionings, no amount of confrontations and perquisitions had brought any new matter to light. Aristide Nicolette persisted in his statements as did the proprietress and the concierge of the Hotel de Cadet in theirs. Theatre had undoubtedly occupied room number twenty-five in the hotel during the three days while I was racking my brain as to what had become of him. I equally undoubtedly saw him for a few moments running up the reborn with Carissimus tail projecting beneath his coat. Then he entered the open doorway of the hotel and henceforth his whereabouts remained a baffling mystery. Beyond his coat and hat the stain-drag and the dog himself there was not the faintest indication of what became of him after that. The concierge bowed that he did not enter the hotel. Aristide Nicolette vowed that he did not enter number twenty-five. But then the dog was in the cupboard and so were the hat and coat and even the police were bound to admit that in the short space of time between my last glimpse of theatre and the Shang-Dams entry into room twenty-five it would be impossible for the most experienced criminal on earth to murder a man, conceal every trace of the crime and so dispose of the body as to baffle the most minute inquiry and the most exhaustive search. Sometimes when I thought the whole matter out I felt that I was growing crazy. Thus about a week or ten days went by and I had just come reluctantly to the conclusion that there must be some truth in the old medieval legends which tell us that the devil runs away with his elect from time to time when I received a summons from I pursued a commissary of police to present myself at his bureau. He was pleasant and urbane as usual but to my anxious query after theatre he only gave me the old reply. No trace of him can be found. Then he added, we must therefore take it for granted my good Monsieur Ratichon that your man of all work is of his own free will keeping out of the way. The murder theory is untenable we have had to abandon it. The total disappearance of the body is an unanswerable argument against it. Would you care to offer a reward for information leading to the recovery of your missing friend? I hesitated. I certainly was not prepared to pay anyone for finding theatre. Think it over my good Monsieur Ratichon to rejoin Monsieur Le Commissaire pleasantly. But in the meanwhile I must tell you that we have decided to set Aristide Nicollet free. There is not a particle of evidence against him either in the matter of the dog or of that of your friend. Madame de Nol's servants cannot swear to his identity whilst you have sworn that you last saw the dog in your man's arms. That being so, I feel that we have no right to detain an innocent man. Well, sir, what could I say? I knew well enough that there was not a title of solid evidence against the man Nicollet nor had I the power to move the police of his Majesty the King from their decision. In my heart of hearts I had the firm conviction that the ginger-pulled ruffian knew all about Charissimo and all about the present whereabouts of that rascal theater. But what could I say, sir? What could I do? I went home that night to my lodging-set-basis more perplexed than ever I had been in my life before. The next morning I arrived at my office soon after nine. The problem had presented itself to me during the night of finding a new man of all work who would serve me on the same terms as that ungrateful rich theater. I mounted the stairs with a heavy step and opened the outer door of my apartment with my private key. And then, sir, I assure you that for one brief moment I felt that my knees were giving way under me and that I should presently measure my full length on the floor. There, sitting at the table in my private room, was theater. He had done one of the many suits of clothes which I always kept at the office for purposes of my business. And he was calmly consuming a luscious sausage which was to have been part of my dinner today and finishing a half bottle of my best ordo. He appeared fully unconscious of his enormities and when I taxed him with his villainess and plied him with peremptory questions he met me with a dog's silence and a salky attitude which I have never seen equaled in all my life. He flatly denied that he had ever walked the streets of Paris with a dog under his arm or that I had ever chased him up the Rue-Borne. He denied ever having lodged in the Hôtel-de-Cadet or being acquainted with his proprietress or with the red-pulled hunchback Miss Créan named Aristide Nicolette. He denied that the coat and hat found in Rue-Number 25 were his. In fact, he denied everything and with an impudence, sir, which was past belief. But he put crown to his insolence when he finally demanded 200 francs from me. His share in the sum paid to me by Madame de Nol for the recovery of a dog. He demanded this, sir, in the name of justice and of equity and even brandished our partnership contract in my face. I was so irate at his audacity, so disgusted that presently I felt that I could not bear the sight of him any longer. I turned my back on him and walked out of my own private room, leaving him there still munching my sausage and drinking my bordeaux. I was going through the ante-chamber due to going out into the street for a little fresh air when something in the aspect of the chair-bed stood on which that abominable brute theater had apparently spent the night attracted my attention. I turned over one of the cushions and with a cry of rage, which I took no pains to suppress, I seized upon what I found lying beneath a blue linen blouse, sir, a peaked cap, a ginger-colored wig and beard, the villain, the abominable mount-bang, the wretch, the... I was well-nigh choking with wrath. With the damning pieces of conviction in my hand I rushed back into the inner room. Already my cry of indignation had aroused the vampire from his orgy. He stood before me, sheepish, grinning, and taunted me, sir, taunted me for my blindness in not recognizing him under the disguise of the so-called arrested Nicolette. It was a disguise which he had kept by him in case of an emergency when first he decided to start business as a dog thief. Charissimo had been his first serious venture and but for my interference it would have been a fully successful one. He had worked the whole thing out with marvellous cleverness, being greatly assisted by Madame Sainte, the proprietress of the Hotel de Cadet, who was a friend of his mother's. The lady, it seems, carried on a lucrative business of the same sort herself, and she undertook to furnish him with the necessary confederates for the carrying out of his plan. The proceeds of the affair were to be shared equally between himself and Madame. The confederates who helped to jostle Madame de Nol whilst her dog was being stolen were to receive five francs each for their trouble. When he met me at the corner of the re-born, he was on his way to the Rue Gunagor, hoping to exchange Charissimo for five thousand francs. When he met me, however, he felt that the best thing to do for the moment was to seek safety in flight. He had only just time to run back to the hotel to warn Madame Sainte of my approach and beg her to detain me at any cost. Then he flew up the stairs, changed into his disguise, Charissimo barking all the time furiously. Whilst he was trying to pacify the dog, the latter bit him severely in the arm, drawing a good deal of blood. The crimson scar across his face was a last happy inspiration, which put the finishing touch to his disguise and to the hood-winking of the police and of me. He had only just time to staunch the blood from his arm and to thrust his own clothes and Charissimo into the wall cupboard when the gendarm and eye burst in upon him. I could only gasp for one brief moment the thought rushed through my mind that I would denounce him to the police for... for... but that was just the trouble. Of what could I accuse him of murdering himself or of stealing Madame de Nol's dog? The commissary would hardly listen to such a tale, and it would make me seem ridiculous. So I gave Theodore the soundest thrashing he ever had in his life and fifty frowns to keep his mouth shut. But did I not tell you that he was a monster of ingratitude? End of Chapter 4 Part 3 Read by Lars Rolander Section 10 of Castles in the Air This is a Librebox recording, or Librebox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librebox.org Reading by Lars Rolander Castles in the Air by Baroness Emusca Orxi Chapter 5 The Toys Part 1 You are right, sir. I very seldom speak on my halcyon days. Those days when the greatest monarch the world has ever known honored me with his intimacy and confidence. I had my office in the Rue Saint Rochthen at the top of a house just by the church and not a stone's throw from the palace. And I can tell you, sir, that in those days ministers of state, foreign ambassadors, I, and members of his Majesty's household were up and down my staircase at all hours of the day. I had not yet met Theodore then, and fate was one to smile on me. As for Monsieur Le Duc de Tramp, minister of police, he would send to me or for me whenever an intricate case required special acumen, resourcefulness and secrecy. Thus in the matter of the English files have I told you of it before? No? Well, then you shall hear. Those were the days, sir, when the Emperor's Berlin Decrees were going to sweep the world clear of English commerce and of English enterprise. It was not a case of paying heavy duty on English goods or a still heavier fine if you smuggled. It was total prohibition and hanging if you were caught wringing so much as a beater of Bradford cloth for half a dozen shuffle files into the country. But you know how it is, sir. The more strict the law, the more ready are certain lawless human creatures to break it. Never was smuggling so rife as it was in those days. I'm speaking now of 1810 or 11. Never was it so daring or smugglers so reckless. Monsieur le Duc d'Autrône had his hands full. I can tell you. It had become a matter for the secret police. The Coast Guard or the Customs Officials were no longer able to deal with it. Then one day, Hippolyte Leroux came to see me. He called the man well, a keen sleuth hound, if ever there was one, and well did he deserve his name, for he was a red fox. Ratishon, he said to me, without preamble, as soon as he had seated himself opposite to me, and I had placed half a bottle of Good Bordeaux and a couple of glasses on the table. I want your help in the matter of these English files. All that we can in our department, Monsieur le Duc has doubled the Customs Personnel on the Swiss Frontier. The Coast Guard is both keen and efficient, and yet we know that at the present moment there are thousands of English files used in this country, even inside his Majesty's own armament works. Monsieur le Duc d'Autrône is determined to put an end to the scandal. He has offered a big reward for information which will lead to the conviction of one or more of the chief culprits. And I am determined to get that reward with your help if you will give it. What is the reward, I ask simply. Five thousand francs, he replied. Your knowledge of English and Italian is what caused me to offer you a share in this splendid enterprise. It's no good lying to me, Leroux, I broke in quietly, if we are going to work amicably together. He swore. The reward is ten thousand francs. I made the shot at adventure knowing my man well. I swear it is not, he asserted hotly. Swear again, I retorted, for I'll not deal with you for less than five thousand. He did swear again and protested loudly, but I was firm. Have another glass of wine, I said, after which he gave in. The affair was bound to be risky. Smugglers of English goods were determined and desperate men who were playing for high stakes and risking their necks on the board. In all matters of smuggling knowledge of foreign languages was an invaluable asset. I spoke Italian well and knew some English. I knew my worth. We both drank a glass of cognac and sealed our bond then and there. After which Leroux drew his share closer to my desk. Listen then, he said. You know the firm of Founier Freire in the Rue Colbert. By name of course, cutlers and surgical instruments makers by appointment to his Majesty. What about them? Monsieur Le Duc has had his eyes on them for some time. Founier Freire, I ejaculated. Impossible. A more reputable firm does not exist in France. I know, I know, he rejoined impatiently. And yet it is a curious fact that Monsieur Aris did Founier, the junior partner has lately bought for himself a house at Saint Claude. At Saint Claude? I ejaculated. Yes, he responded dryly. Very near to Geckes. What? I shrugged my shoulders, for indeed the circumstances did appear somewhat strange. Do you know Geckes, my dear sir? Ah, it is a curious and romantic spot. It has possibilities both natural and political, which appear to have been expressly devised for the benefit of the smuggling fraternity. Nestling in the midst of the Dura mountains it is outside the custom zone of the empire. So you see the possibilities, do you not? Geckes soon became the picturesque warehouse of every conceivable kind of contraband goods. On one side of it there was the Swiss frontier and the Swiss government was always willing to close one eye in the matter of customs, provided his palm was sufficiently greased by the light-fingered gentry. No difficulty, therefore, as you see, in getting contraband goods, even English ones, as far as Geckes. Here they could be hidden until a fitting opportunity occurred for smuggling them into France. Opportunities for which the Dura, with their narrow defiles and difficult mountain paths afforded magnificent scoop. St. Claude of which Le Roux had just spoken as the place where Monsieur Aristide Fournier had recently bought himself a house is in France only a few kilometers from the neutral zone of Geckes. It seemed a strange spot to choose for a wealthy and fashionable member of Parisian bourgeois society. I was bound to admit. But I'm used. One cannot go to Geckes without a permit from the police. Not by road, Le Roux assented, but you will earn that there are means available to men who are young and vigorous like Monsieur Fournier, who, moreover, I understand an accomplished mountaineer. You know Geckes, of course. I had crossed the Dura once in my youth, but was not intimately familiar with the district. Le Roux had a carefully drawn-out map of it in his pocket. This he laid out before me. These two roads he began tracing the windings of a couple of thin red lines on the map with the point of his finger and only two made ones that lead in and out of the district. Here is the Valcerine he went on pointing to a blue line, which flows from north to south, and both the roads wind over bridges that span the river close to our frontier. The French custom stations are on our side of those bridges. But besides those two roads, the frontier can, of course, be crossed by one or another of the innumerable mountain tracks which are only accessible to pedestrians or mules. That is where our customs officials are powerless. For the tracks are precipitous and offer unlimited cover to those who know every inch of the ground. Several of them lead directly into St Claude at some considerable distance from the custom stations. The tracks which are being used by Monsieur Aristide Fournier for the felonious purpose of trading with the enemy. On this I would stake my life. But I mean to be even with him and if I get the help which I require from you I am convinced that I can lay him by the heels. I am your man, I concluded simply. Well, he resumed. Are you prepared to journey with me to Gex? When do you start? Today. I shall be ready. He gave a deep sigh of satisfaction. Then listen to my plan, he said. Will journey together as far as St Claude. From there you will push on to Gex and take up your abode in the city styling yourself as interpreter. This will give you the opportunity of mixing with some of the smuggling fraternity and it will be your duty to keep both your eyes and ears open. I, on the other hand, will take up my quarters at Mishu the French Custom Station which is on the prompter about half a dozen kilometers from Gex. Every day I'll arrange to meet you either at the latter place or somewhere halfway and hear what news you may have to tell me. And mine, Ratishon, he added sternly. It means running straight or the reward will slip through our fingers. I choose to ignore the course insinuation and only repost it quietly. I must have money on account. I'm a poor man and I will be out of pocket by the transaction from the hour I start for Gex to that when you pay me my fair share of the reward. By way of a reply he took out a case from his pocket. I saw that it was bulging over with banknotes which confirmed me in my conviction both that he was actually an emissary of the minister of police and that I could have demanded an additional thousand France without fear of losing the business. I'll give you five hundred on account he said as he leaked his ugly thumb preparatory to counting out the money before me. Make it a thousand I retorted and call it additional not on account. He tried to argue I'm not keen on the business I said with calm dignity so if you think that I'm asking too much there are others no doubt do the work for less. It was a bold move but it succeeded. Le Roux laughed and shrugged his shoulders then he counted out ten hundred franc notes and laid them out upon the desk but before I could touch them he laid his large bony hands over the lot and looking me straight between the eyes he said with earnest significance English files are worth as much as twenty francs a piece in the market I know Fournier fraires would not take the risks which they are doing for a consignment of less than ten thousand I doubt if they would I rejoined blandly it will be your business to find out how and when the smugglers propose to get their next consignment over the frontier Exactly and to communicate any information may he have obtained to me and to keep an eye on the valuable cargo course I concluded Yes, he said roughly an eye but hands off understand my good rightishon or there'll be trouble he did not wait to hear my indignant protest he had risen to his feet and had already turned to go how he stretched his great course hand out to me all in good part I took his hand he meant no harm did old Leroux he was just a common vulgar fellow who did not know a gentleman when he saw one and we parted the best of friends a week later I was at Gecks at St Claude I had parted from Leroux and then hired a chaise to take me to my destination it was a matter of 15 kilometers by road over the frontier of the custom zone and through the most superb scenery I had ever seen in my life we drove through narrow gorges on each side of which the mountain heights rose rugged and precipitous to incalculable altitudes above from time to time only did I get peeps of almost imperceptible tracks along the declivities tracks on which it seemed as if goats alone could obtain a fruiting once hundreds of feet above me I spied a couple of mules descending what seemed like a sheer perpendicular path down the mountainside the animals appeared to be heavily laden and I marveled what forbidden goods lay hidden within their packs and whether in the days that were to come I too should be called upon to risk my life on those delictivities following in the footsteps of the reckless and desperate criminals whom it was my duty to pursue I confess that at the thought and with those pictures of grim nature before me I felt an unpleasant shiver coursing down my spine nothing of importance occurred during the first fortnight on my sojourn at Gex I was installed in moderately comfortable furnished rooms in the heart of the city close to the church and market square in one of my front windows situated on the ground floor I had placed a card bearing the inscription Aristide Barrault interpreter and below Anglès Allemande Italian I had even had a few clients conversations between the local police and some poor riches caught in the act of smuggling a few yards of Swiss silk or a couple of cream cheeses over the French frontier and sent back to Gex to be dealt with by the local authorities Leroux had found lodgings at Michaud and twice daily he walked over to Gex to consult with me we met mornings and evenings at the café restaurant at Crane Shaw an obscure little tavern situated on the outskirts of the city he was waxing impatient at what he called my supinus for indeed so far I had nothing to report there was no sign of Monsieur Aristide Fournier no one in Gex appeared to know anything about him though the proprietor of the principal hotel in the town did recollect having had a visitor a name once or twice during the past year but of course during this early stage of my stay in the town it was impossible for me to believe anything that I was told I had not yet succeeded in winning the confidence of the inhabitants and it was soon pretty evident to me that the whole countryside was engaged in the perilius industry of smuggling everyone from the mayor downwards did a bit of a deal now and again in contraband goods in ordinary cases it only meant fines if one was caught or perhaps imprisonment for repeated offences but four or five days after my arrival at Gex I saw three fellows handed over to the police of the department they had been caught in the act of trying to ford the vulsarin with half a dozen pack mues with English cloth they were hanged at St Claude two days later I can assure you sir that the news of this summary administration of justice sent another cold shiver down my spine and I marveled if indeed Leroux's surmises were correct and if a respectable tradesman like Aristide Fournier would take such terrible risks even for the sake of heavy gains I had been in Gex just a fortnight when the weather which hitherto had been splendid turned to squalls and storms we were then in the second week of September a torrential rain had fallen the whole of one day during which I had only been out in order to meet Leroux as usual at the Café du Crenshaw I had just come home from our evening meeting it was ten o'clock and I was preparing to go comfortably to bed when I was startled by a violent ring at the front doorbell I had only just time to wonder if this belated visitor decide to see me or my worthy landlady Madame Bounon when her heavy footsteps resounded along the passage the next moment I heard my name spoken peremptorily by a harsh voice Madame Bounon's reply was that Monsieur Istin Barot was indeed within a few seconds later she ushered my nocturnal visitor into my room he was wrapped in a dark mantle from head to foot and he wore a wide-brimmed hat pulled right over his eyes he did not remove either as he addressed me without further preamble you are an interpreter he inquired speaking very rapidly in sharp commanding tones at your service I replied my name is Ernst Barotty I want you to come with me at once to my house I require your services intermediary between myself and some men who have come to see me on business these men whom I wish you to see are Russians he added I fancied as an afterthought but they speak English fluently I suppose that I looked just as I felt somewhat dubious owing to the lateness of the hour and the darkness of the night not to speak of the abominable weather for he continued with marked impatience it is imperative that you should come at once though my house is at some little distance from here I have a chair outside which will also bring you back and he added significantly I will pay you whatever you demand it is very late I demurred the weather your fee man he broke in roughly and let's get on 500 francs I said at a venture come, was his court reply I will give you the money as we drive along I wished I had made it a thousand apparently my services were worth a great deal to him however I picked up my mantel and my hat and within a few seconds was ready to go I shouted up to Madame Bournon that I would not be home for a couple of hours but that as I had my key I need not disturb her when I returned once outside the door I almost regretted my ready acquiescence in this nocturnal adventure the rain was beating down unmercifully and at first I saw no sign of a vehicle but in an answer to my visitor's sharp command I followed him down the street as far as the market square at the corner of which I spied the dim outline of a carriage and a couple of horses without wasting too many words Monsieur Ernest Bertie bundled me into the carriage and very soon we were on the way the night was impenetrably dark and the chase more than ordinary rickety but little opportunity to ascertain which way we were going a small lantern fixed opposite to me in the interior of the carriage and flickering incessantly before my eyes made it still more impossible for me to see anything outside the narrow window my companion sat beside me silent and absorbed after a while I ventured to ask him which way we were driving through the town and replied curtly my house is just outside Devon now Devon is as I knew quite close to the Swiss frontier it is a matter of 7 or 8 km an hour's drive at the very least in this supremely uncomfortable vehicle I tried to induce further conversation but made no headway against my companion's taciturnity however I had little cause to paint in an other direction after the first quarter of an hour and when we had left the cobblestones of the city behind us he drew a bundle of notes from his pocket and by flickering light of the lantern he counted out 10-50 frung notes and handed them without another word to me the dry was unspeakably wearism but after a while I suppose that the monotonous rumbling of the wheels of the rain against the window paints lulled me into a kind of torpor certainly it is that presently much sooner than I had anticipated the chase drew up with a jerk and I was roused to full consciousness by hearing Monsieur Bertie's voice saying curtly here we are come with me I was stiff sir and I was shivering not so much with cold as with you will readily understand that all my faculties were now on the key-vive somehow or other during the wearism drive by the side of my close-tongued companion my mind had farsen on the certitude that my adventure this night or a close connection to the firm of Hunier Frères and to the English Files which were coursing so many sleepless nights to Monsieur Le Duc de Tron of police but nothing in my manner as I stepped out of the carriage under the porch of the house which loomed dark and massive out of the surrounding gloom betrayed anything of what I felt outwardly I was just a worthy bourgeois an interpreter by profession and delighted at the re-munitory work so opportunity put in my way the house itself appeared lonely as well as dark Monsieur Bertie led the way across a narrow passage at the end of which there was a door which he pushed open saying in his usual abrupt manner go in there and wait I'll send for you directly then he closed the door on me and I heard his footsteps recrossing the corridor and presently ascending some stairs I was left alone in a small sparsely furnished room dimly lighted by an oil lamp which hung down from the ceiling there was a table in the middle of the room a square of carpet on the floor and a couple of chairs beside a small iron stove I noticed that the single window was closely shuttered and barred I sat down and waited at first the silence around me was only broken by the pattering of the rain against the shutters sowing the wind down the iron chimney pipe but after a little while my senses which by this time had become super acute were conscious of various noises within the house itself footsteps overhead a confused murmur of voices and a known, the unmistakable sound of a female voice raised as if in treaty or in complaint somehow a vague feeling of alarm possessed itself of my nervous system I began to realise my position alone a stranger in a house as to whose situation I had not this remotest idea and among a set of men who, if my surmises were correct, were nothing less than a gang of determined and dangerous criminals the voices, especially the female one, were now sounding more clear and tiptoed to the door and very gently opened it there was indeed no mistaking the tone of desperate pleading which came from some room above and through a woman's lips I even caught the words oh don't, oh don't not again repeated at intervals with pitiful insistence mastering my not unnatural anxiety I opened the door a little farther and slipped out into the passage all my instincts of chivalry towards beauty in distress aroused by those pictures' cries forgetful of every possible danger and of all prudence I had already darted down the corridor determined to do my duty as a gentleman as soon as I had ascertained whence had come those cries of anguish when I heard the froo-froo of and a rapid patter of small feet down the stairs the next moment a radiant vision, all white muscling fair curls and the scent of violets descended on me from above a soft hand closed over mine and drew me, unresisting back into the room from whence I had just come bewildered I gazed on the winsome apparition before me and beheld a young girl slender as a lily dressed in a soft clinging gown which made her appear more slender still her fair hair arranged in a tangle of unruly curves from the dainty oval of her face she was exquisite, sir and the slenderness of her you cannot imagine it she looked like a young sapling bending to the gale but what cut me to the heart was the look of terror and of misery in her face she clasped her hands together and the tears gathered in her eyes go sir, go at once she murmured under her breath speaking very rapidly do not waste a minute I beg of you as you've valued your life go before it is too late but mademoiselle I stammered for indeed her words and appearance had roused all my worst fears but also my instincts of the sleuthhound sending his quarry don't argue I beg of you continued the lovely creature who indeed seemed the prey of overwhelming emotions fear, horror, pity when he comes back do not let him find your hair explain I know what to say only I entreat you go sir, I have many faults but cowardice does not happen to be one of them and the more the angel pleaded the more determined was I to see this business through I was of course quite convinced by now that I was on the track of Monsieur Aristide Fournier and the English Files I was not going to let 5,000 France and the gratitude of the Minister of Police slipped through my fingers so easily mademoiselle I rejoined as calmly as I could let me assure you that though your anxiety for me is like mana to a starving man I have no fears for my own safety I have come here in the capacity of a humble interpreter I certainly am not worth putting out of the way moreover I have been paid for my services and these I will render to my employer to the best of my capabilities ah but you don't know she retorting not departing one dot from her attitude of terror and of entreaty you don't understand this house Monsieur she added in a horse whisper is nothing but a den of criminals where in no honest man or woman is safe pardon mademoiselle I reposted as lightly and as gallantly as I could I see before me the living proof that angels at any rate dwell therein alas sir she rejoined with a heart-rending sigh if you mean me I am only to be pitted my dear mother and I are not but slaves to the will of my brother who uses us as tools for his nefarious ends but I stammered horrified beyond speech at the vista of villainy which her words had opened up before me my mother sir she said simply is old and ailing she's dying of anguish her son's misdeeds I would not could not leave her yet I would give my life to see her free from that miscreant's clutches my whole soul was stirred to its depth by the intensity of passion which rang through this delicate creature's words what weird and apes a mystery of inquity and of crime lay hid I wondered between these walls in what tragedy had I thus accidentally become involved while fulfilling my prosaic duty in the interest of His Majesty's Exchequer as in a flash it suddenly came to me that perhaps I could serve both this lovely creature and the Emperor better by going out of the house now and lying hidden all the night through somewhere in its vicinity until in daylight I could locate its exact situation then I could communicate with the Leroux at once and procure the apprehension of this Bertie or Fongy who apparently was a desperate criminal already a bold plan was taking shape in my brain and with my mind's eye I had measured the distance which separated me from the front door and safety when in the distance I heard heavy footsteps slowly descending the stairs I looked at my lovely companion and saw her eyes gradually delating with increased horror she gave a smothered cry pressed her handkerchief to her lips then she murmured hoarsely too late and fled precipitately from the room leaving me a prey to mingled emotions such as I had never experienced before End of Chapter 5 Part 1 Read by Lars Rolander