 Forward, Castles in the Air. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Lars Rolander. Castles in the Air by Baroness Emusca Orksi. Forward. In presenting this engaging rouge to my readers, I feel that I owe them, if not an apology, at least an explanation for this attempt at enlisting sympathy in favour of a man who was little to recommend him save his own unconscious humour. In very truth, my good friend Radishon, is an unblushing liar, thief, a forger, anything you will. His vanity is past belief, his scruples are non-existent. How he escaped a convict settlement is difficult to imagine, and hard to realise that he died, presumably some years after the event recorded in the last chapter of his autobiography, a respected member of the community, honoured by that same society which should have raised a punitive hand against him. Yet, this I believe is to be the case. At any rate, in spite of close research in the police records of the period, I can find no mention of Héctor Radishon. Heureux le peuple qui n'appart d'histoire applies therefore to him, and we must take it that fate and his own sorely troubled country dealt lightly with him. Which brings me back to my attempt at an explanation. If fate dealt kindly, why not we? Since time immemorial, there have been worse scoundrels unhung than Héctor Radishon, and he has the saving grace which few possesses of unruffled geniality. Buffeted by fate, sometimes starring, always thirsty, he never complains, and there is all through his autobiography what we might call an awel attitude about his outlook on life. Because of this, and because his very fatuity makes us smile, I feel that he deserves forgiveness, and even a certain amount of recognition. The fragmentary notes, which I have only very slightly modified, came into my hands by a happy chance one dull post-war November morning in Paris, when rain, sleet, and the north wind drew me for shelter under the arcades of the odium, and a kindly vendor of Michelinus printed matter and moulding manuscripts, allowed me to rummage amongst a load of old papers, which he was about to consign to the rubbish heap. I imagine that the notes were set down by the actual person to whom the genial Héctor Radishon recounted the most conspicuous events of his checkered career, and as I turned over the torn and musty pages which hung together by scraps of mouldy thread, I could not help feeling the humour, I, and the patas of that drabby side of old Paris, which was being revealed to me through the medium of this rude adventures. And even as holding the fragments in my hand, I walked home that morning through the rain, something of that same quaint personality, seen once more to haunt the dank and dreary streets of the once dazzling Ville Lumière. I seemed to see the shabby bottle-green coat, the nankine pantaloons, the downed heeled shoes of this confident of King's. I could hear his anxious self-satisfied laugh, and sensed his furtive footstep, whenever a chung-darm came into view. I saw his ruddy, shining face beaming at me, through the sleet and the rain as, like a veritable squire of dames, he minced his steps upon the boulevard, or, like a reckless smuggler, affronted the grave dangers of mountain fastnesses upon the juras. And I was quite glad to think that a life so full of unconscious humour had not been cut short upon the gallows, and I thought kindly of him, for he had made me smile. There is nothing fine about him, nothing romantic, nothing in his actions to cause a single thrill to the nerves of the most unsophisticated reader. Therefore I apologize in that I have not held him up to a just obliquy because of his crimes, and I ask indulgence for his turpitudes because of the laughter which they provoke. Emusca Orxi, Paris, 1921 End of Forward Read by Lars Rolander Section 1 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 Lars Rolander. Castles in the Air by Baroness Emusca Orxi, Chapter 1 Roland for his Oliver, Part 1 My name is Ratishon, Hector Ratishon, at your service, and I make so bold as to say that not even my worst enemy would think of minimizing the value of my services to the state. For twenty years now I have placed my powers at the disposal of my country. I have served the Republic and was confidential agent to citizen Robespierre. I have served the Empire and was secret factotum to our great Napoleon. I have served King Louis with a brief interval of one hundred days for the past two years, and I can only repeat that no one in the whole of France has been so useful or so seamless in tracing criminals, nosing out conspiracies or denouncing traitors as I have been. And yet you see me a poor man to this day. There has been a persistently malignant fate which has worked against me all these years and would but for a happy circumstance of which I hope anon to tell you, have left me just as I was in the matter of fortune when I first came to Paris and set up in business as a volunteer police agent at number 96 Rue Donot. My apartment in those days consisted of an aunt chamber, an outer office where, if need be, a dozen clients might sit, waiting their turn to place their troubles, difficulties, anxieties before the acutest brain in France, and an inner room wherein that same acute brain, mine, my dear sir, was once to ponder and scheme. That apartment was not luxuriously furnished, furniture being very dear in those days, but there were a couple of chairs and a table in the outer office, and a cupboard wherein I kept the frugal repost which served me during the course of a long and laborious day. In the inner office there were more chairs and another table littered with papers, letters, and packets, all tied up with pink tape, which cost three sews the meter, and bundles of letters from hundreds of clients, from the highest and the lowest in the land. You understand, people who wrote to me and confided in me today as kings and emperors had done in the past. In the aunt chamber there was a chair bedstead for theater to sleep on when I required him to remain in town, and a chair on which he could sit. And, of course, there was theater. Ah, my dear sir, of him I can hardly speak without feeling choked with the magnitude of my emotion. A noble indignation makes me dumb. Theater, sir, has ever been the cruel thorn that times out of number have wounded my oversensitive heart. Think of it, I had picked him out of the gutter. No, no, I don't mean this figuratively. I mean that, actually, and in the flesh I took him up by the collar of the tattered coat and dragged him out of the gutter in the re-blanche, where he was grubbing for trifles out of the slime and mud. He was frozen, sir, and starred. Yes, starred. In the intervals of picking filth up out of the mud, he held out a hand blue with cold to the passer's pie, and occasionally picked up a soot. When I found him in that pitiful condition, he had exactly twenty sunk him between him and absolute starvation. And I, sir Hector Ratishon, the confident of two kings, three autocrats, and an emperor, took that man to my bosom, fed him, clothed him, housed him, gave him the post of secretary in my intricate, delicate, immensely important business. And I did this, sir, at a salary which in comparison with his twenty sunk team must have seemed a princely one to him. His duties were light. He was under no obligation to serve me or to be at his post before seven o'clock in the morning. And all that he had to do then was to sweep out the three rooms, fetch water from the well in the courtyard below, light the fire in the iron stow, which stood in my inner office, shelled the haricots for his own mess of potage, and put them to boil. During the day his duties were lighter still. He had to run errands for me, open the door to prospective clients, show them into the outer office, explain to them that his master was engaged on affairs relating to the kingdom of France, and generally prove himself efficient, useful, and loyal. All of which qualities he assured me, my dear sir, he possessed to the fullest degree, and I believed him, sir. I nurtured the scorpion in my oversensitive bosom. I promised him ten percent on all the profits of my business, and all the remnants from my own humble reposts, red the skins of luscious sausages, the bones from savory cutlets, and the gravy from the tasty carrots and onions. You would have thought that his gratitude would become boundless, that he would almost worship the benefactor who had poured at his feet the full cornucopia of comfort and luxury. Not so. That man, sir, was a snake in the grass, a serpent, a crocodile. Even now that I have entirely severed my connection with that ingrate, I seem to feel the wounds like dagger thrusts, which he delked me with so callus a hand. But I have done with him, done, I tell you. How could I do otherwise than to send him back to the gutter from whence I should never have dragged him? My goodness, he repaid with an ingratitude so black that you, sir, when you hear the full story of his treachery, will exclaim aghast. Ah, you shall judge. His perfidy commenced less than a week after I had given him my third best pantaloons and three suit to get his hair cut, thus making a man of him. And yet you would scarcely believe it in the matter of the secret documents he behaved toward me like a veritable Judas. Listen, my dear sir. I told you, I believe, that I had my office in the Rue d'Ono. You understand that I had to receive my clients, many of whom were of exalted rank, in a fashionable quarter of Paris. I actually lodged in Passy, being fond of country pursuits, and addicted to fresh air in a humble hostelry under the sign of the grey cat. And there, too, Theodore had a bed. He would walk to the office a couple of hours before I myself started on the way, and I was wont to arrive as soon after ten o'clock of a morning as I could do conveniently. On this memorable occasion, of which I am about to tell you, it was during the autumn of 1815. I had come to the office unusually early, and had just hung my hat and coat in the outer room, and taken my seat at my desk in the inner office, there to collect my thoughts in preparation for the grave events which the day might bring forth, when suddenly an ill-dressed, dark-looking individual entered the room with so much assaying by your leave, and after having pushed Theodore, who stood by like a lout, most uncerminously to one side. Before I had time to recover from my surprise at this unseemly intrusion, the uncout individual thrust Theodore roughly out of the room, slammed Theodore in his face, and, having satisfied himself that he was alone with me, and that Theodore was too solid to allow of successful eavesdropping, he dragged the best chair forward, the one, sir, which I reserved for lady visitors. He threw his leg across it, and, sitting astride, he leaned his elbows over the back, and glowed at me as if he meant to frighten me. My name is Charles Saurie, he said abruptly, and I want your assistance in a matter which requires discretion, ingenuity, and alertness. Can I have it? I was about to make a dignified reply when he literally threw the next words at me, name your price and I will pay it, he said. What could I do save to raise my shoulders in token that the matter of money was one of supreme indifference to me, and my eyebrows in a manner of doubt that Monsieur Charles Saurie had the means were with to repay my valuable services? By way of rejoinder, he took out from the inner pocket of his coat a greasy lettercase, and with his exceedingly grimy fingers extracted there from some twenty banknotes, which a hasty glance on my part revealed as representing a couple of hundred francs. I will give you this as a retaining fee, he said, if you will undertake the work I want you to do, and I will double the amount when you have carried the work out successfully. 400 francs. It was not lavish. It was perhaps not altogether the price I would have named, but it was very good these hard times. You understand? We were all very poor in France in that year, 1815, of which I speak. I am always quite straightforward when I am dealing with a client who means business. I pushed aside the litter of papers in front of me, leaned my elbows upon my desk, rested my chin in my hands, and said briefly, Monsieur Charles Saurie, I listen. He drew his chair a little closer and dropped his voice almost to a whisper. You know the chancellery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? He asked. Perfectly, I replied. You know Monsieur de Marseille's private office? He is Chief Secretary to Monsieur de Talleyrand? No, I said, but I can find out. It is on the first floor immediately facing the service staircase, and at the end of the long passage which leads to the main staircase. Easy to find then, I remarked, quite. At this hour and until 12 o'clock, Monsieur de Marseille will be occupied in copying a document which I desire to possess. At 11 o'clock precisely, there will be a noisy disturbance in the corridor which leads to the main staircase. Monsieur de Marseille in all probability will come out of his room to see what the disturbance is about. Will you undertake to be ready at that precise moment to make a dash from the service staircase into the room to cease the document which no doubt will be lying on the top of the desk and bring it to an address which I am about to give you? It is risky, I am used. Very. He retorted dryly. Or I do it myself and not pay you for a hundred rounds for your trouble. Trouble, I exclaimed with a withering sarcasm. Trouble, you call it? If I am caught, it means penal servitude, new Caledonia perhaps. Exactly, he said, with the same irritating calmness. And if you succeed, it means four hundred francs. Take it or leave it as you please, but be quick about it. I have no time to waste. It is past nine o'clock already. And if you won't do the work, someone else will. For a few seconds longer, I hesitated. Schemes both varied and wild rushed through my active brain. Refuse to take this risk and announce the plot to the police. Refuse it and run to warn Monsieur de Marseille. Refuse it and I had little time for reflection. My uncouth client was standing, as it were, with a pistol to my throat, with a pistol and four hundred francs. The police might perhaps give me half a Louis for my pains, or they might possibly remember an unpleasant little incident in connection with the forgery of some treasury bonds, which they have never succeeded in bringing home to me. One never knows. Monsieur de Marseille might throw me a franc and think himself generous at that. All things considered then, when Monsieur Charles Saurier suddenly said, Well, with marked impatience, I replied, agreed, and within five minutes I had two hundred francs in my pocket with the prospect of two hundred more during the next four and twenty hours. I was to have a free hand in conducting my own share in the business, and Monsieur Charles Saurier was to call for the document at my lodging at Passy on the following morning at nine o'clock. I flatter myself that I conducted the business with remarkable skill. At precisely ten minutes to eleven, I rang at the chancellery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I was dressed as a respectable commissionery, and I carried a letter and a small parcel addressed to Monsieur de Marseille. First floor said the concierge curtly as soon as he had glanced at the superscription on the letter. Door faces top of the service stairs. I mounted and took my stand some ten steps below the landing, keeping the door of Monsieur de Marseille's room well in sight. Just as the bells of Notre-Dame boomed the hour, I heard what sounded like a furious altercation somewhere in the corridor just above me. There was much shouting, then one or two cries of murder, followed by others of, What is it, and what in the name of is all this infernal row about? Doors were opened and banged. There was a general running and rushing along that corridor. And the next minute the door in front of me was opened also, and a young man came out, pen in hand, and shouting just like everybody else. What the is all this infernal row about? Murder! Help! Came from the distant end of the corridor, and Monsieur de Marseille, undoubtedly it was he, did what any other young man under the like circumstances would have done. He ran to see what was happening, and to lend a hand in it, if need be. I saw a slim figure disappearing down the corridor at the very moment that I slipped into his room. One glance upon the desk sufficed. There lay the large official looking document with the royal signature affixed there too, and close beside it the copy which Monsieur de Marseille had only half finished. The ink on it was still wet. Hesitation, sir, would have been fatal. I did not hesitate, not one instant. Three seconds had scarcely elapsed before I picked up the document together with Monsieur de Marseille's half finished copy of the same, and a few loose sheets of chancellier paper which I thought might be useful. Then I slipped the lot inside my blouse. The bogus letter and parcel I left behind me, and within two minutes of my entry into the room I was descending the service staircase quite unconcernedly, and had gone past the concierge's lodge without being challenged. How thankful I was to breathe once more the pure air of heaven! I had spent an exceedingly agitated five minutes, and even now my anxiety was not altogether at rest. I did not walk too fast lest I attracted attention, and yet I wanted to put the river, the porno, and half a dozen streets between me and the chancellier of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No one who has not gone through such an exciting adventure as I have just recorded can conceive what were my feelings of relief and of satisfaction when I at last found myself quietly mounting the stairs which led to my office on the top floor of No. 96 Rue Donor. Now I had not said anything to Theodore about this affair. It was certainly a range between us when he entered my service as confidential clerk and doorkeeper, that in lieu of wages which I could not afford to pay him, he would share my meals with me and have a bed at my expense in the same house at Passy where I lodged. Moreover, I would always give him a fair percentage on the profits which I derived from my business. The arrangements suited him very well. I told you that I picked him out of the gutter, and I heard subsequently that he had gone through many an unpleasant skirmish with the police in his day, and if I did not employ him, no one else would. After all, he did earn a more or less honest living by serving me. But in this instance, since I had not even asked for his assistance, I felt that considering the risks of New Caledonia and a convict ship which I had taken, a Paltry 400 francs could not by any stretch of the imagination rank as a profit in a business, and Theodore was not really entitled to a percentage. Was he? So when I returned, I crossed the antechamber and walked past him with my accustomed dignity, nor did he offer any comment on my get-up. I often affected the disguise in those days, even when I was not engaged in business, and the dress and get-up of a respectable commissionery was a favorite one with me. As soon as I had changed, I sent him out to make purchases for our luncheon, five sous-worths of stale bread and ten sous-worths of liver sausage, of which he was inordinately fond. He would take the opportunity on the way of getting moderately drunk on as many glasses of absinthe as he could afford. I saw him go out of the outer door, and then I set to work to examine the precious document. Well, one glance was sufficient for me to realize its incalculable value, nothing more or less than a treaty of alliance between King Louis XVIII of France and the King of Prussia in connection with certain schemes of naval construction. I did not understand the whole diplomatic verbiage, but it was pretty clear to my unsophisticated mind that this treaty had been entered into in secret by the two monarchs, and that it was intended to prejudice the interests of both Denmark and Russia in the Baltic Sea. I also realized that both the governments of Denmark and Russia would no doubt pay a very considerable sum for the merest glance at this document, and that my client of this morning was certainly a secret service agent. Otherwise a spy of one of those two countries who did not choose to take the very severe risks which I had taken this morning, but who would, on the other hand, reap the full reward of the daring coup whilst I was to be content with four hundred France. Now I am a man of deliberation as well as of action, and at this juncture feeling that Theodore was still safely out of the way, I thought the whole matter over quietly, and then took what precautions I thought fit for the furthering of my own interests. To begin with, I set a work to make a copy of the treaty on my own account. I have brought the study of calligraphy to a magnificent degree of perfection, and the writing on the document was easy enough to imitate, as was also the signature of our gracious King Louis and of Monsieur de Talleyrand, who had countersigned it. If you remember, I had picked up two or three loose sheets of paper of Monsieur de Marseille's desk. These bore the arms of the chancellery of foreign affairs stamped upon them and were in every way identical with that on which the original document had been drafted. When I had finished my work, I flattered myself that not the greatest calligraphic expert could have detected the slightest difference between the original and the copy which I had made. The work took me a long time. When at last I folded up the papers and slipped them once more inside my blouse. It was close upon two. I wondered why Theodore had not returned with our luncheon, but ongoing to the little ante room which divides my office from the outer door. Great was my astonishment to see him lolling there on the rickety chair which he affectioned and half asleep. I had some difficulty in rousing him. Apparently he had got rather drunk while he was out and had then returned and slept some of his booze off without thinking that I might be hungry and needing my luncheon. Why didn't you let me know you had come back? I asked curtly, for indeed I was very cross with him. I thought you were busy. He replied with what I thought looked like a layer. I have never really cared for theater, you understand. However, I partook of our modest luncheon with him in perfect amity and brotherly love, but my mind was busy all the time. I began to wonder if Theodore suspected something, if so I knew that I could not trust him. He would try and ferret things out and then demand a share in my hardened emoluments to which he was really not entitled. I did not feel safe with that bulky packet of papers on me, and I felt that Theodore's bleary eyes were perpetually fixed upon the bulge in the left-hand side of my coat. At one moment he looked so strange that I thought he meant to knock me down. So my mind was quickly made up. After luncheon I would go down to my lodgings at Pasi and I knew of a snug little hiding place in my room there where the precious documents would be quite safe until such time as I was to hand them, or one of them, to Monsieur Charles Soret. This plan I put into execution and with remarkable ingenuity to. While Theodore was busy clearing up the debris of our luncheon, I not only gave him the slip, but as I went out I took the precaution of locking the outer door after me and taking the key away in my pocket. I thus made sure that Theodore could not follow me. I then walked to Pasi a matter of two kilometers and by four o'clock I had the satisfaction of stowing the papers safely away under one of the tiles in the flooring of my room and then pulling the strip of carpet in front of my bed snugly over the hiding place. Theodore's attic where he slept was at the top of the house whilst my room was on the ground floor and so I felt that I could now go back quite comfortably to my office in the hope that more remunerative work and more lavish clients would come my way before nightfall. End of Chapter 1 Part 1 Red by Lars Rolander Section 2 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 Orksi Chapter 1 A Roland for His Oliver Part 2 It was a little after five o'clock when I once more turned the key in the outer door of my room in the Rue Dunneau. Theodore did not seem in the least to resent having been locked in for two hours. I think he must have been asleep most of the time. Certainly I heard a good deal of shuffling when first I reached the landing outside the door, but when I actually walked into the apartment with an air of quite unconcern, Theodore was sprawling on the chair-beds-dead, with eyes closed and nose the colour of beetroot, and a meeting sounds through his thin cracked lips, which I could not, sir, describe graphically in your presence. I took no notice of him, however, even though as I walked past him I saw that he opened one blurry eye and watched my every movement. I went straight into my private room and shut the door after me, and here I assure you, my dear sir, I literally fell into my favourite chair, overcome with emotion and excitement. Think what I had gone through. The events of the last few hours would have turned any brain less keen, less daring than that of Hector Rattichand. And here was I, alone at last, face to face with the future. What a future, my dear sir! Fate was smiling on me at last. At last I was destined to reap a rich reward for all the skill, the energy, the devotion, which up to this hour I had placed at the service of my country and my king, or my emperor, as the case might be, without thought of my own advantage. Here was I now, in possession of a document, two documents, each one of which was worth at least a thousand francs to persons whom I could easily approach. One thousand francs was I dreaming. Five thousand would certainly be paid by the government whose agent Monsieur Charles Suri admittedly was, for one glance at that secret retreatry which would be so preduced so to their political interests, whilst Monsieur de Marseille himself would gladly pay another five thousand for the satisfaction of placing the precious document intact before his powerful and irascible uncle. Ten thousand francs! How few were possessed of such a sum in these days! How much could be done with it? I would not give up business altogether, of course, but with my new capital I would extend it, and there was a certain little house close to Chantilly, a house with a few acres of kitchen garden and some fruit trees, the possession of which would render me happier than any king. I would marry, oh yes, I would certainly marry, found a family. I was still young, my dear sir, and possibly good-looking. In fact, there was a certain young widow, humbly and amiable, who lived not far from Passey, who had on more than one occasion given me to understand that I was more than possibly good-looking. I had always been susceptible where the fair sex was concerned, and now, oh now, I could pick and choose. The comely widow had a small fortune of her own, and there were others. Thus I dreamt on for the better part of an hour, until soon after six o'clock there was a knock at the outer door, and I heard theatres shuffling footsteps crossing the small ante-room. There was some muttered conversation, and presently my door was opened, and theatres' ugly face was thrust into the room. All I did to say you, he said curtly. Then he dropped his voice, smacked his lips, and winked with one eye. Very pretty, he whispered, but has a young man with her whom she calls Arthur. Shall I send them in? I then and there made up my mind that I would get rid of theatre now that I could afford to get a proper servant. My business would in future be greatly extended. It would become very important, and I was beginning to detest theatre. But I said, show the lady in with becoming dignity, and a few moments later a beautiful woman entered my room. I was vaguely conscious that a creature of my own sex walked in behind her, but of him I took no notice. I rose to greet the lady and invited her to sit down, but I had the annoyance of seeing the personage whom deliberately she called Arthur coming familiarly forward and leaning over the back of her chair. I hated him. He was short and stout and florid, with an impertinent-looking moustache, a hair that was very smooth and oily, save for two tight curls which looked like the horns of a young goat on each side of the centre-parting. I hated him cordially and had to control my feelings not to show him the contempt which I felt for his fatuousness and his air of self-complacency. Fortunately the beautiful being was the first to address me, because I was able to ignore the very presence of the detestable man. You are, Monsieur Ratichon, I believe, she said in a voice that was dulcet and adorably tremulous, like the voice of some sweet, shy young thing in the presence of genius and power. Hector Ratichon, I replied calmly, Entirely at your service, mademoiselle, then I added with gendle-encouraging timeliness, mademoiselle, my name is Geoffrey, she replied, Madeline Geoffrey. She raised her eyes, such eyes, my dear sir, of a tender luscious grey fringed with lashes and dewy with tears. I met her glance, something in my own eyes must have spoken with mute eloquence of my distress. For she went on quickly with a sweet smile. And this, she said, pointing to her companion, is my brother Arthur Geoffrey. An exclamation of joyful surprise broke from my lips, and I beamed and smiled on Monsieur Arthur, begged him to be seated, which he refused, and finally I myself sat down behind my desk. I now looked with unmixed benevolence on both my clients, and then perceived that the lady's exquisite face bore unmistakable signs of recent sorrow. And now, mademoiselle, I said as soon as I had taken up a position indicative of attention and encouragement, will you deign to tell me how I can have the honour to serve you? Monsieur, she began in a voice that trembled with emotion, I have come to you in the midst of the greatest distress that any human being has ever been called upon to bear. It was by the merest accident that I heard of you. I have been to the police. They cannot, will not, act without I furnish them with certain information, which is not in my power to give them. Then, when I was half distraught with despair, a kindly agent there spoke to me of you. He said that you were attached to the police as a voluntary agent and that they sometimes put work in your way which did not happen to be within their own scope. He also said that sometimes you were successful. Nearly always, mademoiselle, I broke in firmly and with much dignity. Once more I beg of you to tell me in what way I may have the honour to serve you. It is not for herself, monsieur, here in the post, monsieur Arthur, whilst a blush suffused mademoiselle Joffre's lovely face that my sister decides to consult you. But for her fiancée, monsieur de Marcent, who is very ill indeed, hovering in fact between life and death, he could not come in person. The matter is one that demands the most profound secrecy. You may rely on my discretion, monsieur. I murmured without showing. I flatter myself. The slightest trace of that astonishment which at mention of monsieur de Marcent's name had nearly rendered me speechless. Monsieur de Marcent came to see me in outmost distress, monsieur, resumed the lovely creature. He had no one in whom he could or rather dared confide. He is in the chancellery for foreign affairs. His uncle, monsieur de Taleraan, thinks a great deal of him and often entrusts him with very delicate work. This morning he gave monsieur de Marcent a valuable paper to copy, a paper, monsieur, the importance of which it were impossible to overestimate. The very safety of this country, the honour of our king are involved in it. I cannot tell you its exact contents and it is because I would not tell more about it to the police that they would not help me in any way and referred me to you. How could they, said the chief commissary, to me run after a document, the contents of which they did not even know? But you will be satisfied with what I have told you. Will you not, my dear monsieur Ratishan? She continued with a pathetic quiver in her voice and a look of appeal in her eyes, which, saint Anthony himself could not have resisted, and helped me to regain possession of that paper, the final loss of which would cost monsieur de Marcent his life. To say that my feeling of elation of a while ago had turned to one of supreme beautitude would be to put it very mildly indeed. To think that there was this lovely being in tears before me and that it lay in my power to dry those tears with a word and to bring a smile round those perfect lips literally made my mouth water in anticipation. For I am sure that you will have guessed just as I did in a moment that the valuable document of which this adorable being was speaking was snugly hidden away under the flooring of my room in Pasi. I hated that unknown de Marcent. I hated this author who leaned so familiarly over her chair, but I had the power to render her a service beside which their lesser claims on her regard would pale. However, I am not the man to act on impulse even at a moment like this. I wanted to think the whole matter over first and, well, I had made up my mind to demand 5,000 francs when I handed the document over to my first client tomorrow morning. At any rate for the moment I acted, if I may say so, with great circumspection and dignity. I must presume, mademoiselle, I said in my most business-like manner, that the document you speak of has been stolen. Stolen, monsieur, she assented whilst the tears once more gathered in her eyes, and Monsieur de Marcent now lies at death's door with a terrible attack of brain fever brought on by shock when he discovered the loss. How and when was it stolen, I asked. Sometime during the morning, she replied, Monsieur de Teleran gave the document to Monsieur de Marcent at 9 o'clock, telling him that he wanted the copy by midday. Monsieur de Marcent set to work at once, laboured uninterruptedly until about 11 o'clock when a loud altercation followed by cries of murder and of help and proceeding from the corridor outside his door caused him to run out of the room in order to see what was happening. The altercation turned out to be between two men who had pushed their way into the building by the main staircase and who became very abusive to the shangdam who ordered them out. The men were not hurt, nevertheless they screamed as if they were being murdered. They took to their heels quickly enough and I don't know what has become of them, but... But, I concluded blandly, whilst Monsieur de Marcent was out of the room, the precious document was stolen. It was, Monsieur, exclaimed mademoiselle Joffrey, You will find it for us, will you not? Then she added more calmly, my brother and I are offering ten thousand francs reward for the recovery of the document. I did not fall off my chair, but I closed my eyes. The vision which the lovely ladies' words had conduit up dazzled me. Mademoiselle, I said with solemn dignity, I pledge you my word of honour that I will find the document for you and lay it at your feet or die in your service. Give me twenty hours during which I will move heaven and earth to discover the thief. I will go at once to the chancelerie and collect what evidence I can. I have worked under Monsieur de Robespierre, mademoiselle, under the great Napoleon and under the illustrious Fouché. I have never been known to fail once I have set my mind upon a task. In that case you will earn your ten thousand francs, my friend, said the odious Arthur Dryley, and my sister and Monsieur de Marseille will still be your debtors. Are there any questions you would like to ask before we go? None, I said loftily, choosing to ignore his snaring manner. If mademoiselle decides to present herself here tomorrow at two o'clock I will have news to communicate to her. You will admit that I carried off the situation in a becoming manner. Both mademoiselle and Arthur Joffrey gave me a few more details in connection with the affair. To these details I listened with well simulated interest. Of course they did not know that there were no details in connection with this affair that I did not know already. My heart was actually dancing within my bosom. The future was so entrancing that the present appeared like a dream. The lovely being before me seemed like an angel. An emissary from above come to tell me of the happiness which was in store for me. The house near Chantilly, the little widow, the kitchen garden, the magic words went on hammering in my brain. I long now to be rid of my visitors, to be alone once more so as to think out the epilogue of this glorious adventure. Ten thousand francs was the reward offered me by this adorable creature. Well, then why should not Monsieur Charles Surry on his side pay me another ten thousand for the same document which was absolutely undistinguishable from the first. Ten thousand instead of two hundred which he had the audacity to offer me. Seven o'clock had struck before I finally bowed my clients out of the room. Theodore had gone. The lacy lout would never stay as much as five minutes after his appointed time so I had to show the adorable creature and her fat brother out of the premises myself. But I did not mind that. I flatter myself that I can always carry off an awkward situation in a dignified manner. A brief allusion to the inefficacy of present-day servants, a jokers comment on my own simplicity of habits and the deed was done. Monsieur Arthur Joffrey and mademoiselle Madeleine, his sister were halfway down the stairs, and a quarter of an hour later I was once more out in the streets of Paris. It was a beautiful barmy night and I had two hundred francs in my pocket and there was a magnificent prospect of twenty thousand francs before me. I could afford some slight extravagance. I had dinnered one of the fashionable restaurants on the quay and I remained some time out on the terrace giving my coffee and liquor, dreaming dreams such as I had never dreamt before. At ten o'clock I was once more on my way to Passy. When I turned the corner of the street and came in sight of the squalid house where I lodged, I felt like a being from another world, twenty thousand francs. A fortune was waiting for me inside those dingy walls. Yes, twenty thousand, for by now I had fully made up my mind. I had two documents concealed beneath the floor of my bedroom, one so like the other that none could tell them apart. One of these I would restore to the lovely being who had offered me ten thousand francs for it and the other I would sell to my first and uncouth client for another ten thousand francs. Four hundred bar. Ten thousand shall you pay for the treaty, my friend, of the Danish or Russian secret service. Ten thousand it is worth that to you. In that happy frame of mind I reached the front door of my dingy abode. Imagine my surprise on being confronted with two agents of police each with fixed bayonet who refused to let me pass. But I lodged here, I said. Your name? queried one of them. Hector Rattichon, I replied, whereupon they gave me leave to enter. It was very mysterious. My heart beat furiously. Fear for the safety of my precious papers held me in a death-like grip. I ran straight to my room, locked the door after me and pulled the curtains together in front of the window. Then, with hands that trembled as if with orb, I pulled aside the strip of carpet which concealed the hiding place of what meant a fortune to me. I nearly fainted with joy. The papers were there quite safely. I took them out and replaced them inside my coat. Then I ran up to see if Theodore was in. I found him in bed. He told me that he had left the office while my visitors were still with me as he felt terribly sick. He had been greatly upset when, about an hour ago, the maid of all work had informed him that the police were in the house, that they would allow no one except the persons lodging in the house to enter it, and no one, once in, would be allowed to leave. How long these orders would hold, Good Theodore did not know. I left him moaning and groaning and declaring that he felt very ill, and I went in quest of information. The corporal in command of the chunked arms was exceedingly curt with me at first. But after a time he unbent and condescended to tell me that my landlord had been denounced for permitting a Bonaparte's club to hold its sittings in his house. So far, so good! Such denunciations were very frequently stays, and often ended unpleasantly for those concerned. But the affair had obviously nothing to do with me. I felt that I could breathe again, but there was still the matter of the consign. If no one saved the persons who lodged in the house would be allowed to enter it, how would M. Charles Suri contrived to call for the stolen document and, incidentally, to hand me over the 10,000 documents hoping for. And if no one once inside the house would be allowed to leave it, how could I meet M. Joffrey tomorrow at two o'clock in my office and receive 10,000 francs from her in exchange for the precious paper. Moreover, the longer the police stayed in this house and poked their noses about in affairs that concerned hardworking citizens like myself. Why? The greater the risk would be of the matter of the stolen document coming to light. It was positively maddening. I never undressed that night, but just lay down on my bed thinking. The house was very still at times, but at others I could hear the tramp of the police agents up and down the stairs and also outside my window. The latter gave on a small dilapidated back garden which had a wooden fence at the end of it. Beyond it were some rock gardens belonging to M. Laurent. It did not take me very long to realize that that way lay my fortune of 20,000 francs. But for the moment I remained very still. My plan was already made. At about midnight I went to the window and opened it cautiously. I heard no noise from that direction for some time and I bent my ear to listen. Not a sound. Either the sentry was asleep or he had gone on his round and for a few moments the way was free. Without a moment's hesitation I swang my legs over the sill. Still no sound. My heart beat so fast that I could almost hear it. The night was very dark. A thin mist like drizzle was falling. In fact the weather conditions were absolutely perfect for my purpose. Without most weariness I allowed myself to drop from the window ledge on to the soft ground below. If I was caught by the sentry I had my answer ready. I was going to meet my sweet tart at the end of the garden. It is an excuse which always meets with the sympathy of every true hearted Frenchman. The sentry would of course order me back to my room but I doubt if he would eluse me. The denunciation was against the landlord not against me. Still not a sound I could have danced with joy. Five minutes more and I would be across the garden and over that wooden fence and once more on my way to fortune. My fall from the window had been light as my room was on the ground floor but I had fallen on my knees and now as I picked myself up I looked up and it seemed to me as if I saw Theodore's ugly face at his attic window. Certainly there was a light there and I may have been mistaken as to Theodore's face being visible. The very next second the light was extinguished and I was left in doubt. But I did not pause to think. In a moment I was across the garden. My hands gripped the top of the wooden fence. I hoisted myself up with some difficulty I confess but at last I succeeded. I threw my legs over and gently dropped down then suddenly two rough arms encircled my waist and before I could attempt to free myself a cloth was thrown over my head and I was lifted up and carried away. Half suffocated and like an insentient bundle. When the cloth was removed from my face I was half sitting half lying in an armed chair in a strange room which was lighted by an oil lamp that hung from the ceiling above. In front of me stood Monsieur Arthur Joffrey and that beast Theodore. Monsieur Arthur Joffrey was coolly folding up the two valuable papers for the possession of which I had a convict ship and new Caledonia and which would have meant a fluence for me for many days to come. It was Theodore who had removed the cloth from my face. As soon as I had recovered my breath I made a rush for him for I wanted to strangle him but Monsieur Arthur Joffrey was too quick and too strong for me. He pushed me back into the chair. A.C. A.C. Monsieur Ratichon he said pleasantly do not went your wrath upon this good fellow. Believe me though his action may have depraved you of a few thousand France have also saved you from lasting and biting remorse this document which you stole from Monsieur de Marseille and so ingeniously duplicated involved the honour of our king and our country as well as the life of an innocent man. My sister's fiancé would never have survived the loss of the document which had been entrusted to his honour. I would have returned it to mademoiselle tomorrow I murmured. Only one copy of it I think he retorted. The other you would have sold to whichever spy of the Danish or Russian governments happened to have employed you in this discreditable business. How did you know? I said involuntarily. Through a very simple process of reasoning Monsieur Ratishon he replied blandly you are a very clever man no doubt but the cleverest of us is at times apt to make mistake. You made two and I profited by them. Firstly after my sister and I left you this afternoon you never made the slightest pretence of making inquires or collecting information about the mistakes theft of the document I kept an eye on you throughout the evening you left your office and strolled for a while on the case you had an excellent dinner at the restaurant des Anglais then you settled down to your coffee and liquor Well my good Monsieur Ratishon obviously you would have been more active in the matter if you had not known exactly where and when and how to lay your hands upon the document for the recovery of which my sister had offered you 10,000 francs I groaned I had not been quite so circumspect as I ought to have been but who would have thought I have had something to do with police work in my day continued Monsieur Joffrey blandly though not of late years but my knowledge and methods is not altogether rusty and my powers of observation are not yet dulled during my sister's visit to you this afternoon I noticed the blouse and cap of a commisionary lying in a bundle in a corner of your room now though Monsieur de Masson has been in a burning fever since he discovered his loss he kept just sufficient presence of mind at the moment to say nothing about that loss to many of the chancelleraire officials but to go straight home to his apartments in the Rue Royal and to send for my sister and for me when we came to him he was already partly delirious but he pointed to parcel and a letter which he had brought away from his office the parcel proved to be an empty box and the letter a blank sheet of paper but the most casual inquiry of the concierge at the chancellery excited the fact that the commisionary had brought these things in the course of the morning that was your second mistake my good Monsieur Ratichon not a very grey one perhaps but I have been in the police and somehow the moment I caught sight of that blouse and cap in your office I could not help connecting it with the commisionary who had brought a bogus parcel and letter to your brother-in-law a few minutes before that mysterious and unexplained altercation to place in the corridor again I groaned I felt as a child in the hands of that horrid creature who seemed to be dissecting all the thoughts which had run right through my mind these past twenty hours it was all very simple my good Monsieur Ratichon now concluded my tormentor still quite amably another time you will have to be more careful will you not you will also have to bestow more confidence upon your partner or servant directly I had seen that commisionary's blouse and cap I said to work to make friends with Monsieur Theodore when my sister and I left your office in the Rue de Noire we found him waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs five francs loose in his tongue he suspected that you were up to some game in which you did not mean him to have a share he also told us that you had spent two hours in labor's writing and that you and he both lodged at the dilapidated little inn called The Grey Cat in Passey I think he was rather disappointed that we did not shower more questions and therefore more arguments upon him well after I had denounced this house to the police as a bonapartist club and so it put under the usual consign I bribed the corporal of the chancdarmarie in charge of it to let me have Theodore's company for the little job I had in hand and also to clear the back garden of Centris so as to give you a chance and the desire to escape all the rest you know money will do many things my good Monsieur Ratishon and you see how simple it all was it would have been still more simple if the stolen documents had not been such an important one that the very existence of it must be kept a secret even from the police so I could not have you shadowed and arrested as a thief in the usual manner however I have the document and its ingenious copy which is all that matters would to God he added with a suppressed curse that I could get hold equally easily of the secret service agent to whom you a French man were going to sell the honour of your country then it was that though broken in spirit and burning of the punishment I would meet out to theatre my full faculties returned to me and I queried abruptly what would you give to get him 500 francs he replied without hesitation can you find him make it a thousand I retorted and you shall have him how will you give me 500 francs now I insisted and another 500 when you have the man and I will tell you agreed he said impatiently but I was not to be played with by him again I waited in silence until he had taken a pocketbook from the inside of his coat and counted out 500 francs which he kept in his hand now he commanded the man I then announced calmly will call on me for the document at my lodgings at the hostelry of the grey cat in the morning at nine o'clock good rejoined monsieur Joffrey we shall be there he made no demure about giving me the 500 francs but half my pleasure in receiving them vanished when I saw theatre's blurry eyes fixed ravenously upon them another 500 francs monsieur Joffrey went on quietly will be yours as soon as the spy is in our hands I did get that further 500 of course for monsieur Charles Surrey was punctual to the minute and monsieur Joffrey was there with the police to apprehend him but to think that I might have had 20,000 and I had to give theatre 50 francs on the transaction as he threatened me with the police when I talked of giving him the sack but we were quite good friends again after that until but you shall judge end of chapter 1 part 2 read by Lars Rolander section 3 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 Lars Rolander castles in the air by Baroness Emusca Orksi chapter 2 a fool's paradise part 1 ah my dear sir I cannot tell you how poor we all were in France in that year of grace 1816 so poor indeed that a dish of roast pork was looked upon as a feast and a new gown for the wife an unheard of luxury the war had ruined everyone 22 years and hopeless humiliation and defeat at the end of it the emperor handed over to the English a bourbon sitting on the throne of France prouds of foreign soldiers still lodging it all over the country until the country had paid its steps to her foreign invaders and thousands of our own men still struggling home through Germany and Belgium the remnants of Napoleon's Grand Army ex-prisoners of war or scattered units who had found their very ways home at last shoeless, coatless, half-starved and perished from cold and privations unfit for housework or for industry fit only to follow their fallen hero as they had done through a quarter of a century to victory and to death with me, sir business in Paris was almost at a standstill I who had been the confidential agent of two kings three democrats and one emperor I who had held diplomatic threads in my hands which had caused thrones to totter and tyrants to quake and who had brought more criminals and intrigers to book than any other man alive I now sat in my office in the rue d'uneau day after day with never a client to darken my doors even whilst crime and political intrigue were more ripe in Paris than they had been in the most corrupt days of the revolution and the consulate I told you I think that I had forgiven Theodore's abominable treachery in connection with a secret naval treaty and we were the best of friends that is outwardly of course within my inmost heart I felt sir that I could never again trust that shameless traitor that I had in very truth nurtured a serpent in my bosom but I am proverbially tender hearted you will believe me or not I simply could not turn that vermin out into the street he discerned it even he would have admitted when he was quite sober which he was not often that I had every right to give him the sack to send him back to the gutter whence he had come there to grab once more for scraps of filth and to stretch a half frozen hand to the charity of the passersby but I did not do it sir no I did not do it I kept him on at the office as my confidential servant I gave him all the crumbs that fell from my own table and he helped himself to the rest I made as little difference as I could in my intercourse with him I continued to treat him almost as an equal the only difference I did make in our mode of life was that I no longer gave him bed and board at the hostelry where I lodged in Pasi but placed the chair bed instead in the enter room of the office permanently at his disposal and allowed him five sue a day for his breakfast but owing to the scarcity of business that now came my way theodore had little or nothing to do and he was in very truth eating his head off and with that grumble grumble all the time threatening to leave me if you please to leave my service for more remunerative occupation as if anyone else would dream of employing such an out at elbows mud lark a jail bird sir if you will believe me thus the spring of 1816 came along with beauty and his promises and the thoughts of love which come eternally in the minds of those who have not yet fully done with youth love sir I dreamt of it on those long weary afternoons in April after I had consumed my scan to repass and whilst theodore in the enter room was snoring like a hog at even when tied out tightly I would sit for a while outside a humble cafe on the outer boulevards I watched the amorous couples wander past me on their way to happiness at night I could not sleep and bitter were my thoughts my revilings against a cruel fate that had condemned me a man with so sensitive a heart and so generous a nature to the sorrows of perpetual solitude that sir was my mood when on a never-to-be-forgotten afternoon toward the end of April I sat mooning disconsolately in my private room and a timid rat-hat at the outer door of the apartment drowsed theater from his brutish slumbers I heard him shuffling up to the door and I hurriedly put my necktie straight and smoothed my hair which had become disordered despite the fact that I had only indulged in a very abstemious discerning when I said that the knock at my door was in the nature of a timid rat-hat I did not perhaps describe it quite accurately it was timid if you will understand me and yet bold as coming from one who might hesitate to enter and nevertheless fees assured a welcome obviously a client I thought effectively sir the next moment my eyes were gladdened by the sight of a lovely woman beautifully dressed young, charming, smiling but to hide her anxiety trustful and certainly wealthy the moment she stepped into the room I knew that she was wealthy there was an air of assurance about her which only those who were not pestered with creditors she were too beautiful diamond rings upon her hands outside her perfectly fitting glove and her bonnet was adorned with flowers so exquisitely fashioned that a butterfly would have been deceived and would have perched on it with delight her shoes were the finest kid, shiny at the toes like tiny mirrors whilst her dainty ankles were framed in the film your lace frills of her pantalettes within the wide brim of her bonnet her exquisite face appeared like a rosebud nestling in a basket she smiled when I rose to greet her gave me a look that sent my susceptible heart a flutter and caused me to wish that I had not taken that bottle-green coat of mine to the mont de pieté only last week I offered her a seat which she took arranging her skirts about her with inimitable grace one moment I added as soon as she was seated and I am entirely at your service I took up a pen and paper an unfinished letter which I always kept handy for the purpose and wrote rapidly it always looks well for a lawyer or an agent confidential to keep a client waiting for a moment or two while he attends to the enormous pressure of correspondence which if allowed to accumulate for five minutes would immediately overwhelm him I signed and folded the letter through it with a nonchalant air into a basket filled to the brim with others of equal importance buried my face in my hands for a few seconds as if to collect my thoughts and finally said and now mademoiselle would you ordain to tell me what procures me the honour of your visit the lovely creature had watched my movements with obvious impatience a frown upon her exquisite prow but now she plunged straightway into her story Monsieur she said with that pretty determined air which became her so well my name is Estelle Bachelier I am an orphan an heiress of need of help and advice I did not know to whom to apply until three months ago I was poor and had to earn my living by working in a millionaire shop in the Rue Saint Honoré the concierge in the house where I used to lodge is my only friend but she cannot help me for reasons which will presently be made clear to you she told me however that she had a nephew named Theodore who was clerk to Monsieur Ratishan advocate and confidential agent she gave me your address and as I knew no one else I determined to come and consult you I flatter myself that though my countenance is exceptional and mobile I possess marvelous powers for keeping it impassive when necessity arises in this instance a mention of Theodore's name I showed neither surprise nor indignation yet you will readily understand that I felt both here was that man once more revealed as a traitor Theodore had an aunt of whom he had never as much as breathed a word he had an aunt and that aunt a concierge if I may so express it a woman of some substance who no doubt would often have been only too pleased to extend hospitality to the man who had so signally befriended her nephew a woman sir was undoubtedly possessed of savings which both reason and gratitude would cause her to invest in an old establishment and substantial business run by trustworthy and capable man such for instance as the bureau of a confidential agent in a good quarter of Paris which with the help of a little capital could be rendered highly lucrative and beneficial to all those concerned I determined then and there to give Theodore a piece of my mind and to insist upon an introduction to his aunt after which I begged the beautiful creature to proceed my father monsieur she continued died three months ago in England whether he had emigrated when I was a mere child leaving my poor mother to struggle alone for a livelihood as best she could my mother died last year monsieur and I have had a hard life and now it seems that my father made a fortune in England and left it all to me I was greatly interested in her story the first intimation I had of it monsieur was three months ago when I had a letter from an English lawyer in London telling me that my father Jean-Paul Bachelier that was his name monsieur had died out there and made a well living all his money about 100,000 francs to me yes yes I murmured for my throat felt parched and my eyes dim 100,000 francs she gots it seems she proceeded demurely that my father put it in his will that the English lawyers were to pay me the interest of the money until I married or reached the age of 21 then the whole of the money was to be handed over to me I had to steady myself against the table or I would have fallen over backwards this godlike creature whom the sum of 100,000 francs was to be paid over when she married had come to me for help and advice the thought sent my brain reeling I am so imaginative proceed mademoiselle I pray you I contrived to say with dignified calm well monsieur as I don't know a word of English I took the letter to monsieur far well who is the English traveler for madame Cecil the millionaire for whom I work he is a kind affable gentleman and was most helpful to me he was as a matter of fact just going over to England the very next day he offered to go and see the English lawyers for me and to bring me back all particulars of my dear father's death and of my unexpected fortune and said I for she had paused a moment did monsieur far well go to England on your behalf yes monsieur he went and returned about a fortnight later he had seen the English lawyers who confirmed all the good news which was contained in their letter they took it seems a great fancy to monsieur far well and told him that since I was obviously too young to live alone and needed a guardian to look after my interests they would appoint him my guardian and suggested that I should make my home with him until I was married or had attained the age of 21 monsieur far well told me that though this arrangement might be somewhat inconvenient in his bachelor establishment he had been unable to resist the entreaties of the English lawyers who felt that no one was more fitted for such onerous duties than himself seeing that he was English and so obviously my friend the scoundrel the black guard I exclaimed in an unguarded outburst of fury your pardon mademoiselle I added more calmly seeing that the lovely creature was casing at me with eyes full of astonishment not unmixed with distrust I am anticipating I am to understand then that you have made your home after this monsieur far well yes monsieur at number 65 is he a married man I asked casually he's a widower monsieur middle aged quite elderly monsieur I could have screamed with joy I was not yet 40 myself why she added gaily he's thinking of retiring from business he is as I said a commercial traveller in favor of his nephew monsieur adrien cassal once more I had to steady myself against the table the room swam round me 100,000 francs a lovely creature an unscrupulous widower an equally dangerous young nephew I rose and tottered to the window I flung it wide open a thing I never do save at moments of acute crisis the breath of fresh air did me good I returned to my desk and was able once more to see my habitual dignity and presence of mind in all this mademoiselle I said in my best professional manner I do not gather how I can be of service to you I am coming to that monsieur she resumed after a slight moment of hesitation even as an exquisite blush suffused her damasked cheeks you must know that at first I was very happy in the house of my new guardian he was exceedingly kind to me though there was times already when I fancied she hesitated more markedly this time and the blush became deeper on her cheeks I groaned aloud surely he's too old I suggested much too old she assented emphatically once more I would have screamed with joy had not a sharp pang like a dagger thrust shot through my heart but the nephew I said jokersly as indifferently as I could young monsieur what she replied with perfect indifference I hardly ever see him unfortunately it were not seemly for an avocat and the age and confidential of half the courts of Europe to execute the measures of a polka in the presence of a client or I would indeed have jumped up and danced with glee the happy thoughts were hammering away in my mind the old one is much too old the young one she never sees and I could have knelt down and kissed the hem of her gown for the exquisite indifference with which she had uttered those magic words oh I hardly ever see him words which converted my brightest hopes into glowing possibilities but as it was I held my emotions marvelously in check and with perfect sang frois once more asked the butchers creature how I could be of service to her in her need of late Monsieur she said as she raised a pair of limpid candid blue eyes to mine my position in Monsieur Farwell's house has become intolerable he pursues me with his attentions and he has become insanely jealous he will not allow me to speak to anyone and has even forbidden Monsieur Cassel his own nephew the house not that I care about that she added with an expressive shrug of the shoulders he has forbidden Monsieur Cassel the house rang like a pain in my air not that she cares about that what I actually contrived to say with a measured and judicial air was if you deign to entrust me with a conduct of your affairs I would at once communicate with the English lawyers in your name and suggest to them the advisability of appointing another guardian I would suggest for instance that I how can you do that Monsieur she broke in somewhat impatiently seeing that I cannot possibly tell you who these lawyers are eh I queried gasping I neither know their names nor their residence in England and once more I gasped will you explain I murmured it seems Monsieur that while my dear mother lived she always refused to take a single Sue from my father who had so basely deserted her of course she did not know that he was making a fortune over in England nor that he was making diligent inquires as to her whereabouts when he felt that he was going to die thus he discovered that she had died the previous year and that I was working in the atelier of Madame Cecil the well known milliner when the English lawyers wrote to me at that address they of course said that they would require all my papers of identification before they paid any money over to me and so when Monsieur farewell went over to England he took all my papers with him and she burst into tears and exclaimed pitchlessly oh I have nothing now Monsieur nothing to prove who I am Monsieur Farewell took everything even the original letter which the English lawyers wrote to me Farewell I urged can be forced by the law to give all your papers up to you oh I have nothing now Monsieur I am going to destroy all my papers unless I promise to become his wife and I haven't the least idea how and where to find the English lawyers I don't remember either their name or their address and if I did how could I prove my identity to their satisfaction I don't know a soul in Paris save a few irresponsible millinery apprentices at Madame Cecil who no doubt is hand in glove with Monsieur Farewell I am all alone in the world and friendless I have come to you Monsieur in my distress and you will help me will you not she looked more adorable in grief than she had ever done before to tell you that at this moment visions floated in my mind before which a vision of paradise would seem pale and tame were but to put it mildly I was literally soaring in heaven for you see I am a man of intellect and of action no sooner do I see possibilities before me than my brain soars in an imperian whilst conceiving daring plans for my body's permanent abode in Elysium at this present moment for instance to name but a few of the beatific visions which literally dazzled me with their regions I could see my fair client as a lovely and blushing bride by my side even whilst Monsieur X and X the two still unknown English lawyers handed me a heavy bag which bore the legend 100,000 francs I could see but I had not the time now to dwell on these ravishing dreams the buttress creature was waiting for my decision she had placed her fate in my hands I placed my hand on my heart mademoiselle I said solemnly I will be your advisor and your friend give me but a few days grace every hour every minute which I will spend in your service at that time I will not only have learned the name and address of the English lawyers but I will have communicated with them on your behalf and all your papers proving your identity will be in your hands then we can come to decision with regard to a happier and more comfortable home for you in the meanwhile I entreat you to do nothing that may precipitate Monsieur Falwell's actions do not encourage his advances but do not repulse them and above all keep me well informed of everything that goes on in his house she spoke a few words of touching gratitude then she rose and with a gesture of exquisite grace she extracted a hundred franc note from her reticule and placed it upon my desk mademoiselle I protested with splendid dignity I have done nothing as yet ah, but you will Monsieur she entreated in an accent that completed my subjugation to her charms besides you do not know me how could I expect you to work for me and not to know if in the end I should repay you for all your trouble I pray you take this small sum without dimour Monsieur Falwell keeps me well supplied with pocket money there will be another hundred for you when you place the papers in my hands I bowed to her and having once more assured her of my unswerving loyalty to her interests I accompanied her to the door and alone saw her graceful figure slowly descend the stairs and then disappear along the corridor then I went back to my room and was only just in time to catch Theodore calmly waiting the hundred front note which my fair client had left on the table I secured the note and I didn't give him a black eye for it was no use putting him in a bad temper when there was so much to do End of Chapter 2 Part 1 Read by Lars Rolander Section 4 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 Orksi Chapter 2 A Fool's Paradise Part 2 That very same evening I interviewed the concierge of the 65 Rued Pyramid From him I learnt that M. Farwell lived on a very small income on the top floor of the house that his household consisted of a housekeeper who cooked and did the work of the apartment for him and an odd job man who came every morning to clean boots knives, draw water and carry up fuel from below I also learnt that there was a good deal of gossip in the house about the presence of Farwell's bachelor establishment of a young and beautiful girl whom he tried to keep a virtual prisoner under his eye The next morning, dressed in a shabby blouse, a paka cap and trousers frayed out round the ankles, I Hector Ratichand, the confident of kings, was launching under the porticoire of number 65 Rued Pyramid I was watching the movements of a man similarly tired to myself as he crossed and recrossed the courtyard to draw water from the well or to fetch wood from one of the sheds and then disappeared up the main staircase A casual tactful enquiry of the concierge assured me that that man was indeed in the employ of M. Farwell I waited as patiently and inconspicuously as I could and at 10 o'clock I saw that my man had previously finished his work for the morning and had finally come down the stairs ready to go home I followed him I will not speak of the long halt in the cabaret du chien noir where he spent an hour and a half in the company of his friends playing dominoes and drinking au devis, whilst I had perforced to cool my heels outside. Suffice it to say that I did follow him to this house just behind the fish market and that half an hour later tied out but triumphant having knocked at his door I was admitted into the squalid room which he occupied He surveyed me with obvious mistrust, but I soon reassured him. My friend M. Farwell has recommended you to me, I said with my usual affability I was telling him just a while ago that I needed a man to look after my office in the corner of the morning and he told me that in you I would find just the man I wanted Granted the fellow very sullenly I thought I work for Farwell in the mornings why should he recommend me to you am I not giving satisfaction Perfect satisfaction I rejoined urbanly that is just the point M. Farwell decides to do you a good turn seeing that I offered to pay you 20 soos for your morning's work instead of the 10 which you are getting from him I saw his eyes glisten at mention of the 20 soos I'd best go and tell him then that I'm taking on your work he said and his tone was no longer sullen now quite unnecessary I rejoined I arranged everything with M. Farwell before I came to you he has already found someone else to do his work I'll want you to be at my office by seven o'clock tomorrow morning and I added for I'm always cautious and judicious and I now placed a piece of silver in his hand here are the first 20 soos on a count he took the money and promptly became very civil even obsequious he not only company me to the door but all the way down the stairs and assured me all the time that he would do his best to give me entire satisfaction I left my address with him and sure enough he turned up at the office the next morning at seven o'clock precisely theater had had my orders to direct him in his work and I was left free to enact the second scene of the moving drama in which I was determined to play the hero and to ring down the curtain to the sound of the wedding bells I took on the work of odd job man at 65 rude pyramid yes I even I who had sat in the private room of an emperor discussing the destinies of Europe but with a beautiful bride and 100,000 France as my goal I would have worked in a coal mine or on the galleys for such a gear down the task I must tell you was terribly irksome to a man of my sensibilities endowed with an active mind and a vivid imagination the dreary monotony of fetching water and fuel from below and polishing the boots of that arch scoundrel Farwell would have made a less stout spirit quay I had of course seen through the scoundrel's game at once he had rendered Estelle quite helpless by keeping all her papers of identification and by withholding from her all the letters which no doubt the English lawyers wrote to her from time to time thus she was entirely in his power but thank heaven only momentarily for I Hector Rattichon Argus Eid was on the watch now and then the monotony of my existence and the hardship of my task were relieved by a brief glimpse of Estelle for a smile of understanding from her lips now and then she would contrive her as she brushed past me while I was polishing the scoundrel's study floor any luck yet and this quiet understanding between us gave me courage to go on with my task after three days I had conclusively made up my mind that Monsieur Farwell kept his valuable papers in the drawer of the bureau in the study after that I always kept a lump of wax ready for use in my pocket on the ninth day I was very nearly caught trying to take an impression of the lock of the bureau drawer on the seventh I succeeded and took the impression over to a locksmith I knew of and gave him an order to have a key made to fit it immediately on the ninth day I had the key then commenced a series of disappointments and of unprofitable days which would have daunted one less bold determined I don't think that Farwell ever suspected me but it is a fact that never once did he leave me alone in his study whilst I was at work there polishing the oak floor and in the meanwhile I could see how he was pursuing my beautiful Estelle with his unwelcome attentions at times I feared that he meant to abduct her he was a powerful personality and she seemed like a little bird fighting against the fascination of a serpent latterly too an air of discouragement seemed to dwell upon her lovely face I was half distraught with anxiety and once or twice whilst I knelt upon the hard floor scrubbing and polishing as if my life depended on it whilst he the unscrupulous scoundrel sat calmly at his desk reading or writing I used to feel as if the next moment I must attack him with my scrubbing brush and knock him down senseless whilst I ransacked his drawers my horror of anything approaching violence saved me from so foolish a step then it was that in the hour of my blackest despair a flash of genius pierced through the darkness of my misery for some days now Madame Dupont Farwell's housekeeper had been exceedingly laughable to me every morning now when I came to work there was a cup of hot coffee waiting for me and when I left a small parcel of something appetizing for me to take away hello I said to myself one day when over a cup of coffee I could sight over small piggy eyes leering at me with an unmistakable expression of admiration does salvation lie where I expected it for the moment I did nothing more than wink at the fat old thing but the next morning I had my arm round her waist a meter and a quarter sir where it was tied in the middle and had imprinted a kiss upon her glossy cheek what that love making cost me I cannot attempt to describe once Estelle came into the kitchen when I was staggering under a load of 100 kilos sitting on my knee an approachable glance which she cast at me filled my soul with unspeakable sorrow but I was working for her dear sake working that I might win her in the end a week later Monsieur Farewell was absent from home for the evening Estelle had retired to her room and I was a welcome visitor in the kitchen where Madame Dupont had laid out a regular feast for me I had brought a couple bottles of champagne with me and what with the unaccustomed drink and the ogling and love making to which I treated her 100 kilos of foolish womanhood was soon hopelessly adult and incapable I managed to drag her to the sofa where she remained quite still with a beatific smile upon her podgy face her eyes swimming in happy tears I had not a moment to lose the very next minute I was in the study and with a steady hand was opening the drawers of the bureau and turning over the letters and papers which I found therein suddenly an exclamation of triumph escaped my lips I held a packet in my hand on which was written in a clear hand the papers of Mademoiselle Estelle Bachelier a brief examination of the packet sufficed it consisted of a number of letters written in English which language I only partially understand but they all bore the same signature John Pike and Sons solicitors and the address was at the top 168 Cornhill London it also contained my Estelle's birth certificate her mother's marriage certificate and her police registration card I was wrapped in the contemplation of my own continuity in having thus brilliantly attained my goal when Estelle's thin noise in the next room roused me from my trance and brought up vividly to my mind the awful risks which I was running at this moment I turned like an animal at bay to see Estelle's beautiful face peeping at me through the half open door she whispered have you got the papers I waved the packet triumphantly she excited and adorable stepped briskly into the room let me see she murmured excitedly but I emboldened by success cried gaily not till I have received compensation for all that I have done and endured compensation in the shape of a kiss oh I won't say that she threw herself in my arms then and there no no she demurred all young girls seems demurr under the circumstances but she was adorable coy and tender in turns pooting and coaxing and playing like a kitten till she had taken the papers from me and with a woman's natural curiosity had turned the English letters over and over even though she could not read a word of them then sir in the midst of her innocent frolic and at the very moment when I was on the point of snatching this which she had so tantalizingly denied me we heard the opening and closing of the front door Monsieur Farewell had come and there was no other aggress from the study save the sitting room which in its turn had no other aggress but the door leading into the very passage for even now Monsieur Farewell was standing hanging up his hat and cloak on the rack we stood hand in hand Estelle haunting the door through which Monsieur Farewell would presently appear tonight we fly together I declared where to she whispered can you go to the woman at your former lodgings yes then I will take you there tonight tomorrow we will be married before the procurer Durois in the evening will leave for England yes yes she murmured when he comes in I'll engage him in conversation I continued hurriedly a dash for the door and run downstairs as fast as you can I'll follow as quickly as may be and meet you under the port she had only just time to nod a cent when the door which gave on the sitting room was pushed open and Farewell unconscious at first of our presence stepped quietly into the room he cried more puzzled than angry when he suddenly caught sight of us both what are you doing here with that lout I was trembling with excitement not fear of course though Farewell was a powerful looking man a head taller than I was I stepped boldly forward covering the adored one with my body the lout I said with calm dignity has frustrated the machinations of a naïve tomorrow I go to England in order to place mademoiselle Estelle Bachelier under the protection of her legal guardians misuse pike and sons solicitors of London he gave a cry of rage and before I could retire to some safe entrenchment behind the table or the sofa he was upon me like a mad dog he had me by the throat and I had rolled backwards down onto the floor with him on the top of me squeezing the breath out of me till I barely thought that my last hour had come Estelle had run out of the room like a startled hare this of course was in accordance with my instructions to her but I could not help wishing then that she had been less obedient and somewhat more helpful as it was I was beginning to feel a mere worm in the grip of that savage scoundrel whose face I could perceive just above me distorted with passion whilst horse acculations escaped his trembling lips you madlonsome fool you old, you toad this for your interference he added as he gave me a vigorous punch on the head I felt my senses reeling my head was swimming my eyes no longer could see distinctly it seemed as if an unbearable pressure upon my chest would finally squeeze the last breath out of my body I was trying to remember the prayers I used to murmur my mother's knee for virally I thought that I was dying when suddenly through my fading senses came the sound of a long horse cry whilst the floor was shaken as with an earthquake the next moment the pressure on my chest seemed to relax I could hear Farwell's voice uttering language such as it would be impossible for me to put on record and through it all horse and convulsive cry so I can't hurt him you limbo satan you gradually strength returned to me I could see it as well as here and what I saw filled me with wonder and with pride wander at ma'am Dupont's plaque pride in that her love for me had given such power to her mighty arms a rouse from her slumbers by the sound of the scuffle she had run to the study only to find me in deadly peril of my life without a second hesitation she had rushed on Farwell seized him by the collar pulled him away from me and then thrown the whole weight over hundred kilos upon him rendering him helpless a woman, lovely selfless woman my heart prayed to remorse in that I could not remain in order to thank my plucky deliverer I nevertheless finally struggled to my feet and fled from the apartment and down the stairs never drawing breath till I felt Estelle's hand resting confidingly upon my arm I took her to the house where she used to lodge and placed her under the care of the kind concierge who was Theodore's aunt then I too went home determined to get a good night's rest the morning would be a busy one for me there would be the special license to get the Curie of St. Chuck to interview the religious ceremony to arrange for and the places to book on the stage coach for Boulogne en route for England and Fortune I was supremely happy and slept the sleep of the just I was up e-times and started on my round of business at eight o'clock the next morning I was a little troubled about money because when I had paid for the license and given to the Curie the required fee for the religious service and ceremony I had only five France left out of the hundred which the adored one had given me however I booked the seats on the stage coach and determined to trust to luck once Estelle was my wife all money care would be at an end since no power on earth could stand between me and the hundred thousand France the happy goal for which I had so ably striven the marriage ceremony was fixed for eleven o'clock it was just upon ten when at last with a light heart and springy step I ran up the dingy staircase which led to the adored one's apartment I knocked at the door it was opened by a young man who with a smile courtiously made me enter I felt a little bewildered and slightly annoyed my Estelle should not receive this from young men at this hour I pushed past the intruder in the passage and walked boldly into the room beyond Estelle was sitting upon the sofa her eyes bright her mouth smiling a dimple in each cheek I approached her without stretched arms but she paid no heed to me and turned to the young man who had followed me into the room Adrien? she said this is kind Monsieur Ratichon who at risk of his life obtained for us all my papers of identification and also the valuable name and address of the English lawyers Monsieur? added the young man as he extended his hand to me Estelle and I will remain eternally your deptors I struck at the hand which he had so impudently held out to me and turned to Estelle with my usual dignified calm but with wrath expressed in every line on my face Estelle? I said this oh she retorted with one of her provoking smiles you must not call me Estelle you know or Adrien will smack your face we are indeed grateful to you my good Monsieur Ratichon she continued more seriously and though I only promised you another hundred francs when your work for me was completed my husband and I have decided to give you a thousand francs of the risks which you ran on our behalf your husband? I stammered I was married to Monsieur Adrien Cassalle a month ago she said but we had perforce to keep our marriage a secret because Monsieur Farewell once vowed to me that unless I became his wife he would destroy all my papers of identification and then even if I ever succeeded in discovering who were the English lawyers who had charge of my father's money I could never prove it to them that I and no one else was entitled to it but for you dear Monsieur Ratichon added the cruel and shameless one I should indeed never have succeeded in the midst of this overwhelming cataclysm I am proud to say that I retain mastery of my rage and contry to say with perfect calm but why have deceived me mademoiselle why have kept your marriage a secret from me was I not toiling and working and risking my life for you and would you have worked quite so enthusiastically for me queered the false one archly if I had told you everything I groaned perhaps she was right I don't know I took the thousand francs I never saw Monsieur and Madame Cassalle again but I met Madame Dupont by accident soon after she has left Monsieur Farwell's service she still weighs 100 kilos I often call on her of an evening ah well end of chapter 2 part 2 read by Lars Rolander