 Section 11 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 5 The Toys Part 2 A moment or two later, Monsieur Ernest Barthé or whatever his real name may have been, entered the room. Whether he had encountered his exquisite sister on the corridor or the stairs, I could not tell. His face in the dim light of the hanging lamp looked impenetrable and sinister. This way, Monsieur Barro, he said curtly, Just for one brief moment the thought occurred to me to throw myself upon him with my whole weight, which was considerable, and make a wild dash for the front door. But it was more than probable that I should be intercepted and brought back, after which no doubt I would be an object of suspicion to these rascals, and my life would not be worth an hour's purchase. With the young girl's warnings ringing in my ears, I felt that my one chance of safety, and of circumventing these criminals, lay in my seeming ingeniousness and complete gillessness. I assumed a perfect professional manner, and followed my companion up the stairs. He ushered me into a room just about the one where I had been waiting up to now. Three men dressed in rough clothes were sitting at a table on which stood a couple of tankers and four empty pewter mugs. My employer offered me a glass of ale, which I declined. Then we got to work. At the first words which Monsieur Urti uttered, I knew that all my surmises had been correct. Whether he himself was Monsieur Aristide Fournier, or another partner of that firm, or some other rascal engaged in nefarious doings, I could not know. Certain it was that, through the medium of cypher words and phrases, which he thought were unintelligible to me, and which he ordered me to interpret into English, he was giving directions through the three men with regard to the convoying of contraband cargo over the frontier. There was much talk of toys and babies. The latter were to take a walk in the mountains and to avoid the thorns. The toys were to be securely fastened and well protected against water. It was obviously a case of mules, and the goods, the thorns being the customs officials. By the time that we had finished, I was absolutely convinced in my mind that the cargo was one of English files or racers. For it was evidently extraordinarily valuable, and not at all bulky, seeing that two babies were to carry all the toys for a considerable distance. The men, too, were obviously English. I tried the few words of Russian that I knew on them, and their faces remained perfectly blank. Yes, indeed, I was on the track of Monsieur Aristide Fournier, and of one of the most important halls of enemy goods which had ever been made in France. Not only that I had also before me one of the most brutish criminals it had ever been my misfortune to come across. A bully, a fiend of cruelty. In very truth, my fertile brain was seething with plans for eventually laying that abominable ruffian by the heels. Hanging would be merciful punishment for such a miscreant. Yes, indeed, five thousand France, a goodly sum in those days, sir, was practically assured me. But over and above mere lucre there was the certainty that in a few days time I should see the light of gratitude shining out of a pair of lustrous blue eyes, and a winning smile chasing away the look of fear and of sorrow from the sweetest face I had seen for many a day. Despite the turmoil that was raging in my brain, however, I flatter myself that my manner with the rascals remained consistently calm, business-like, indifferent to all saved to the work in hand. The Suadissant Ernest Bertie spoke invariably in French, either dictating his orders or seeking information, and I made verbal translation into English of all that he said. The seance lasted close upon an hour, and presently I gathered that the affair was terminated, and that I could consider myself dismissed. I was about to take my leave having apparently completed my work, when Monsieur Ernest Bertie called me back with a curt command. One moment, Monsieur Barot, he said. At Monsieur's service I responded blindly. As you see, he continued, these fellows do not know a word of French. All along the way, which they will have to traverse, they will meet friendly outposts, who will report to them on the condition of the roads and warn them of any danger that might be had. Their ignorance of our language may be a source of infinite peril to them. They need an interpreter to accompany them over the mountains. He paused a moment or two, then added abruptly. Would you care to go? The matter is important, he went on quietly, and I am willing to pay you. It means a couple of nights' journey, a halt in the mountains during the day, and there will be ten thousand France for you if the toys reach Saint Claude safely. I suppose that something in my face betrayed the eagerness which I felt. Here was indeed the finger of Providence pointing to the best means of undoing this abominable criminal. Not that I intended to risk my neck for any ten thousand France he choose to offer me. But as the trusted guide of this ingenious babies, I could convoy them not to Saint Claude as he blindly believed, but straight into the arms of Le Roux and the customs officials. Then, that is understood, he said in his usual dictatorial manner, taking my consent for granted. Ten thousand France, and you will accompany these gentlemen and their babies as far as Saint Claude? I am a poor man, sir, I responded meekly. Of course you are, he broke in roughly. Then, from a number of papers which lay upon the table, he selected one which he held out to me. Do you know Saint Sir? he asked. Yes, I replied. It's a short walk from Geckes. This he added pointing to a paper which I had taken from him. It's a plan of the village and of the pass of Serg close by. Studied carefully. At some point someway up the pass which I have marked with a cross, I and my men with the babies will be waiting for you tomorrow evening at eight o'clock. You cannot possibly fail to find the spot for the plan is very accurate and very minute. And it is less than five hundred meters from the last house at the entrance of the pass. I shall escort the men until then and hand them over into your charge for the mountain journey. Is that clear? Perfectly. Very well then, you may go. The carriage is outside the door. You know your way? He dismissed me with a curtain-odd and the next two minutes saw me outside this house a mystery and installed inside the ramshackle vehicle on my way back to my lodgings. I was worn out with fatigu and excitement and I imagine that I slept most of the way. Certain it is that the journey home was not nearly so long as the outward had been. The rain was still coming down heavily, but I cared nothing about the weather, nothing about fatigu. My path to fame and fortune had been made easier for me than in my wildest dreams I would have dared to hope. In the morning I would see Le Roux and make final arrangements for the capture of those impudent smugglers. And I thought the best way would be for him to meet me and the babies and the toys at the very outset of our journey as I did not greatly relish the idea of crossing lonely and dangerous mountain paths in the company of these ruffians. I reached home without adventure. The vehicle drew up just outside my lodgings and I was about to alight when my eyes were attracted by something white which lay on the front seat of the carriage. Conspiciously placed so that the light from the inside lantern fell full upon it. I had been too tired and too dazed, I suppose, to notice the thing before. But now, on closer inspection, I saw that it was a note and that it was addressed to me. Monsieur Aristide Barrault, interpreter, and below my name were the words very urgent. I took the note feeling a thrill of excitement running through my veins at his touch. I alighted and the vehicle immediately disappeared into the night. I had only caught one glimpse of the horses and none at all of the coachmen. Then I went straight into my room and by the light of the table lamp I unfolded and read the mysterious note. It bore no signature, but at the first words I knew that the writer was none other than the lovely young creature who had appeared to me like an angel of innocence in the midst of that den of thieves. Monsieur, she had written in a hand which had clearly been trembling with agitation, You are good, you are kind, I entreat you to be merciful. My dear mother whom I worship is sick with terror and misery. She will die if she remains any longer under the sway of that inhuman monster who, alas, is my own brother. And if I lose her I shall die too, for I should no longer have anyone to stand between me and his cruelties. My dear mother has some relations living at St Claude. She would have gone to them before now, but my brother keeps us both virtue prisoners here, and we have no means of arranging for such a perilous journey for ourselves. Now, by the most extraordinary stroke of good fortune, my brother will be absent all day tomorrow and the following night. My dear mother and I feel that God himself is showing us the way to our release. Will you, can you help us, dear Monsieur Barou? Mother and I will be at gigs tomorrow, at one hour after sundown. We will lie perdu in the little tavern du roi de Rome, where, if you come to us, you will find us waiting anxiously. If you can do nothing to help us, we must return brokenhearted to our hated prison, but something in my heart tells me that you can help us. All that we want is a vehicle of some sort, and the escort of a brave man like yourself, as far as St Claude, where our relatives will thank you on their knees for your kindness and generosity to two helpless, miserable, unprotected women, and I will kiss your hands in unbounded gratitude and devotion. It were impossible, Monsieur, to tell you the varied emotions which filled my heart, when I had produced that heart-rending appeal. All my instincts of chivalry were aroused. I was determined to do my duty to these helpless ladies, as a man and as a garland night. Even before I finally went to bed, I had settled in my mind what I meant to do. Fortunately it was quite possible for me to reconcile my duties to my Emperor and those which I owed to myself in the matter of the reward for the apprehension of the smugglers, with my burning desire to be the saviour and protector of the lovely creature whose beauty had inflamed my impressionable heart, and to have my hands kissed by her in gratitude and devotion. The next morning Leroux and I were deep in our plans, whilst we sipped our coffee outside the crane shore. He was beside himself with joy and excitement at the prospective hall, which would, of course, free down enormously to his credit, even though the success of the whole undertaking would be due to my epumen, my resourcefulness, and my pluck. Fortunately I found him not only ready, but eager to render me what assistance he could in the matter of the two ladies, who had thrown themselves so entirely on my protection. We might get valuable information out of them, he remarked, in the excess of their gratitude they may betray. Many more secrets and nefarious doings of the firm of Fournier Freire. Which further proves, I remarked, how deeply you and Monsieur Le Ministre of Police are indebted to me over this affair. He did not argue the point, indeed we were both of us far too much excited to waste words in useless bickering. Our plans for the evening were fairly simple. We both poured over the map which Fournier Bertie had given me, until we felt that we could reach blindfolded the spot which had been marked with a cross. We then arranged that Le Roux should be take himself thither with a strong posse of shangdams during the day, and lie hidden in the vicinity until such time as I myself appeared upon the scene. I identified my friends of the night before, parlayed with them for a minute or two, and finally retired, leaving the law in all its majesty as represented by Le Roux to deal with the rascals. In the meantime I also mapped out for myself my own share in this night's adventurous work. I had hired a vehicle to take me as far as Sanktsurg, here I intended to leave it at the local inn, and then proceed on foot up the mountain pass to the appointed spot. As soon as I had seen the smugglers safely in the hands of Le Roux and the shangdams, I would make my way back to Sanktsurg as rapidly as I could, step into my vehicle, drive like the wind back to Gex, and place myself at the disposal of my fair angel and her afflicted mother. Le Roux promised me that at the custom station on the French frontier, the officials would look after me and the ladies, and that a pair of fresh horses would be ready to take us straight on to Sankt Claude, which if all was well, we could then reach by daybreak. Having settled all these matters we parted company, he to arrange his own affairs with the commissary of police and the customs officials, and I to await with as much patience as I could the hour when I could start for Sanktsurg. The night, just as I anticipated, promised to be very dark, a thin drizzle which wetted the unfortunate pedestrian to the marrow had replaced the torrential rain of the previous day. Twilight was closing in very fast. In the late autumn afternoon I drew to Sanktsurg, after which I left the chairs in the village, and boldly started to walk up the mountain pass. I had studied the map so carefully that I was quite sure of my way, but though my appointment with the rascals was for eight o'clock, I wished to reach the pointy spot before the last flicker of grey light had disappeared from the sky. Soon I had left the last house well behind me. Boldly I plunged into the narrow path. The loneliness of the place was indescribable. Every step which I took on the stony track seemed to rouse the echoes of the grim heights which rose precipitously on either side of me. And in my mind I felt aghast at the extraordinary courage of those men who, like Aristide Fournier and his gang, chose to front such obvious and manyfold dangers as these frowning mountain regions held for them for the sake of paltry lurker. I had walked according to my reckoning just upon five hundred meters through the gorge, when on ahead I perceived the flicker of lights which appeared to be moving to and fro. The silence and loneliness no longer seemed to be absolute. A few meters from where I was, men were living and breathing, plotting and planning, unconscious of the net which the unerring hand of a skillful fowler had drawn round them and their misdeeds. The next moment I was challenged by a preemptory halt, recognition followed, Monsieur Ernest Bertie or Aristide Fournier, whichever he was, acknowledged with a few words my punctuality. Whilst through the gloom I had took a rapid stock of his little party, I saw the vague outline of three men and a couple of mules which appeared to be heavily laden. They were assembled on a flat piece of ground which appeared like a ruthless cavern carved out of the mountainside. The walls of rock around them afforded them both cover and refuge. They seemed in no hurry to start. They had the long night before them, so one of them remarked in English. However, presently Monsieur Fournier Bertie gave the signal for the start to be made, he himself preparing to take leave of his men. Just at that moment my ears caught the welcome sound of the tramping of feet, and before any of the rascals there could realize what was happening, their way was spared by Leroux and his shrunk-darm who'd loudly gave the order. Hands up in the name of the Emperor! I was only conscious of the confused murmur of voices, of the click of firearms, of words of command passing to and fro, and of several violent herbs uttered in the not unfamiliar voice of Monsieur Aristide Fournier. But already I had spied Leroux, I only exchanged a few words with him, for indeed my share of the evening's work was done as far as he was concerned, and I made haste to retrace my steps through the darkness and the rain, along the lonely mountain path, to watch the gold-varchivalry and manly ardour beckon to me from afar. I found my vehicle waiting for me at Saint-Serg, and by the promise of an additional pour-voir, I succeeded in making the driver whip up his horse to some purpose. Less than an hour later we drew up at Geck's outside the little inn, pretentiously called Le Roi de Rome. On a lighting I was met by the proprietors, who in answer to my inquiry after two ladies who had arrived that afternoon, at once conducted me upstairs. Already my mind was busy conjuring up visions of the fair lady of Jester Eve. The landlady threw open a door and ushered me into a small room, which reeked of stale food and damp clothes. I stepped in and found myself face to face with a large and exceedingly ugly old woman, who rose with difficulty from the sofa as I entered. She arresteed by row, she said, as soon as the landlady had closed the door behind me. At your service, madame, I stammered, but I was indeed almost aghast. Never in my life had I seen anything so grotesque as this woman. To begin with, she was more than ordinarily stout and unwieldy. Indeed, she appeared like a veritable mountain of flesh. But what was so disturbing to my mind was that she was nothing but a hideous character of her lovely daughter, whose dainty features she grotesquely recalled. Her face was seamed and wrinkled, her white hair was plastered down above her yellow forehead. She wore an old-fashioned bonnet tied under her chin, and her huge bulk was draped in a large pattern, Kasmir Shawl. Oh, I expect it to see my dear daughter beside me, my good Monsieur Barrault, she said, after a while speaking with remarkable gentleness and dignity. I confess, madame, I murmured. Ah, the darling has sacrificed herself for my sake. We found today that though my son was out of the way, he had set his abominable servants to watch over us. Soon we realized that we could not both get away. It meant one of us staying behind to act the part of unconcerned and to throw dust in the eyes of our jailers. My daughter, ah, she is an angel, Monsieur, feared that the disappointment and my son's cruelty when he returned on the morrow and found that he had been tricked would seriously endanger my life. She decided that I must go and that she would remain. But madame, I protested. I know, Monsieur, she rejoined with the same calm dignity which already had commanded my respect. I know that you think me a selfish old woman, but my answer, Monsieur, she is an angel of a truth made all the arrangements and I could not help but obey her, but have no fears for her safety, Monsieur. My son would not dare lay hands on her as often as he has done on me. Angel will be brave and our relations at St Claudeville directly we arrive make arrangements to go and fetch her and bring her back to me. My brother is an influential man. He would never have allowed my son to murderize me and Angel and he known what we have had to endure. Of course I could not then tell her that all her fears for herself and the loudly Angel could now be laid to rest. Her ruffianly son was even now being conveyed by Le Roux and his shrunk arms to the frontier where the law would take its course. I was indeed not sorry for him. I was not sorry to think that he would end his evil life upon the guillotine or the gallows. I was only grieved for Angel who would spend a night and a day perhaps more in agonized suspense knowing nothing of the events which at one great swoop would free her and her beloved mother from the tyranny of a hated brother and send him to expiate his crimes. Not only did I grieve, sir, for the tender victim of that man's brutality but I trembled for her safety. I did not know what minions or confederates for Nye Bertie had left in the lonely house-jonder or under what orders they were in case he did not return from his nocturnal expedition. Indeed for the moment I felt so agitated at thought of that beautiful Angel's peril that I looked down with anger and scorn at the fat old woman who ought to have remained beside her daughter to comfort and to shield her. I was on the point of telling her everything and dragging her back to her post of duty which she would never have relinquished. Fortunately my sense of what I owed to my professional dignity prevented my taking such a step. It was clearly not for me to argue. My first duty was to stand by this helpless woman in distress who had been committed to my charge and to convey her safety to Saint Claude after which I could see to it that Mademoiselle Angel was brought along too as quickly as influential relatives could contrive. In the meanwhile I derived some consolation from the thought that at any rate for the next four and twenty hours the lovely creature would be safe. No news of the arrest of Aristead Fournier could possibly reach the lonely house until I myself could return thither and take her under my protection. So I said nothing but with perfect gallantry just as if fat Madame Fournier had been a young and beautiful woman, I begged her to give herself the trouble of mounting into the carriage which was waiting for her. It took time and trouble, sir, to hoist that mass of solid flesh into the vehicle and the driver grumbled not a little at the unexpected weight. However his horses were powerful, fiery, mountain ponies and we made headway through the darkness and along the smooth departmental road at moderate speed. I may say that it was a miserable, uncomfortable journey for me sitting as I was forced to do on the narrow front seat of the carriage without support for my head or room for my legs. But Madame Spark filled the whole of the back seat and it never seemed to enter her head that I too might like the use of a cushion. However even the worst moments and the weariest journeys must come to an end and would reach the frontier in the small hours of the morning. Here we found the customs officials ready to render us any service we might require. Le Roux had not failed to order the fresh relay of horses and whilst these were being put to the police officers of the station gave Madame and myself some excellent coffee. Beyond the formal, Madame has nothing to declare for His Majesty's customs and my companions equally formal. Nothing, monsieur, except my personal belongings. They did not ply us with questions and after half an hour's halt we again proceeded on our way. We reached St Claude at daybreak and following Madame's directions the driver pulled up in front of a large house in the avenue to Jura. Again there was the same difficulty in hoisting the unwieldy lady out of the vehicle but this time in response to my vigorous pull at the outside bell the concierge and another man came out of the house and very respectfully they approached Madame and conveyed her into the house. While they did so she apparently gave them some directions about myself for unknown the concierge returned and with extreme politeness told me that Madame Von Yee greatly hoped that I would stay in St Claude a day or two as she had the desire to see me again very soon. She also honoured me with an invitation to dine with her that same evening at seven o'clock. This was the first time I noticed that the name Von Yee was actually used in connection with any of the people with whom I had become so dramatically involved. Not that I had ever doubted the identity of the ruffianly earnest Bertie still it was very satisfactory to have my surmises confirmed. I concluded that the fine house in the avenue to Jura belonged to Madame Von Yee's brother and I vaguely wondered who he was. The invitation to dinner had certainly been given in her name and the servants had received her with a show of respect which suggested that she was more than a guest in her brother's house. Be that as it may, I betook myself for the nuns to the hotel de Moine in the centre of the town and killed time for the rest of the day as best as I could. For one thing I needed a rest after the emotions and the fatigue of the past forty-eight hours. Remember, sir, I had not slept for two nights and had spent the last eight hours on the narrow front seat of a jolting chair. So I had a good rest in the afternoon and at seven o'clock I presented myself once more at the house in the avenue to Jura. My intention was to retire early to bed after spending an agreeable evening with the family who would no doubt overwhelm me with their gratitude and at daybreak I would drive back to Gex after I had heard all the latest news from Le Roux. I confess that it was with a pardonable feeling of agitation that I tagged at the wrought iron bell pole on the Peron of the magnificent mansion in the avenue de Jura. To begin with I felt somewhat rueful at having to pair before ladies at this hour in my travelling clothes and then you will admit, sir, that it was a somewhat awkward predicament for a man of highly sensitive temperament to meet on terms of equality a refined if stout lady whose son he had just helped to send to the gallows. Fortunately there was no likelihood of Madame Fournier being as yet aware of this unpleasant fact even if she did know at this hour that her sans-silic adventure had come to grief she could not possibly in her mind connect me with his ill fortune. So I allowed the sumptuous valet to take my hat and coat and I followed him with as calm a demeanor as I could assume up the richly carpeted stairs. Obviously the relatives of Madame Fournier were more than well to do. Everything in the house showed evidence of luxury not to say wealth. I was ushered into an elegant saloon wherein every corner showed traces of dainty feminine hands. There were embroidered silk cushions upon the sofa, lace covers upon the tables whilst a work basket filled with a riot of many-coloured silks stood invitingly open. And through the apartment, sir, a scent of violets lingered and caressed my nostrils reminding me of a buttress creature in distress whom it had been my good fortune to succour. I had waited less than five minutes when I heard a swift elastic step approaching through the next room and the second or so later before I had time to take up an appropriate posture the door was thrown open and the exquisite vision of my waking dreams the beautiful angel stood smiling before me. Madame Moacel, I stammered somewhat clumsily. For of the truth I was hardly able to recover my breath and surprise had well nigh robbed me of speech. How comes it that you are here? She only smiled in reply the most adorable smile I had ever seen on any human face so full of joy, of mischief I, of triumph was it. I asked after Madame, again she smiled and said Madame was in her room resting from the fatigues of a journey. I had scarce recovered from my initial surprise when another more complete still confronted me. This was the appearance of Monsieur Aristide Fournier whom I had fondly imagined already expiating his crimes in a frontier prison but who now entered also smiling, also extremely pleasant who greeted me as if we were lifelong friends and who then, I scarce could believe my eyes placed his arm affectionately round his sister's waist whilst she turned her sweet face up to his and gave him a fond, nay, a loving look a loving look to him who was a brute and a bully and a miscreant, amenable to the gallows. True, this appearance was completely changed his eyes were bright and kindly his mouth continued to smile his manner was herbane in the extreme when he finally introduced himself to me as Aristide Fournier, my dear Monsieur Ratishon at your service. He knew my name he knew who I was whilst I I had to pass my hand once or twice over my forehead and to close and reopen my eyes several times for of a truth it all seemed like a dream I tried to stammer out a question or two but I could only gasp and the lovely Anchelle appeared highly amused at my distress Let us dine, she said gaily after which you may ask as many questions as you like In very truth I was in no mood for dinner puzzlement and anxiety appeared to grip me by the throat and to choke me it was all very well for the beautiful creature to laugh and to make marry she had cruelly deceived me played upon the chords of my sensitive heart for purposes which no doubt would presently be made clear but in the meanwhile since the smuggling of the English files had been successful as it apparently was what had become of Leroux and his shangdarms what tragedy had been enacted in the narrow gorge of Saint-Serve and what oh what had become of my hopes of that five thousand francs for the prehension of the smugglers promised me by Leroux Can you wonder that for the moment the very thought of dinner was abhorrent to me but only for the moment the next sumptuous ballad had thrown open the folding doors and down the vista of the stately apartment I perceived a table richly laden with china and glass and silver whilst a distinctly savoury odor was wafted to my nostrils We will not answer a single question the fair Angel reiterated with adorable determination until after we have dined What, sir, would you have done in my place? I believe that never until this hour had Ectoratichon reached to such a sublimity of manner I bowed with perfect dignity in token of obedience to the fair creature, sir Then, without a word, I offered her my arm She placed her hand upon it and I conducted her to the dining room whilst Aristide Fournier, who at this hour should have been on a fair way to being hanged followed in our wake Ah, it seemed indeed a lovely dream one that lasted through an excellent and copious dinner and which turned to delightful reality when over a final glass of succulent madera Monsieur Aristide Fournier slowly counted out one hundred notes worth one hundred francs each and presented these to me with a gracious nod Your fee, monsieur, he said and allow me to say that never have I paid out so large a sum with such a willing hand But I have done nothing, I murmured from out of the depths of my bewilderment Mademoiselle Angèle and Monsieur Fournier looked at one another and, no doubt, I presented a very comical spectacle for both of them burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter Indeed, monsieur, quoth Monsieur Fournier as soon as he could speak coherently you have done everything that you set out to do and done it with perfect chivalry you conveyed the toys safely over the frontier as far as Saint Claude But, but how, I stammered, how? Again Mademoiselle Angèle laughed and through the ripples of a laughter came her merry words Maman was very fat, was she not, my good Monsieur Ratichand? Did you not think she was extraordinary like me? I caught the glance in her eyes and they were literally glowing with mischief Then, all of a sudden, I understood She had impersonated a fat mother covered her lovely face with lines worn a disfiguring wig and an antiquated bonnet and round her slender figure she had tacked away thousands of packages of English files I could only gasp astonishment, not to say admiration at her plaque literally took my breath away But, Monsieur Bertie, I murmured my mind in a turmoil my thoughts running right through my brain the Englishman, the mules, the pacts Monsieur Bertie, as you see, stands before you now in the person of Monsieur Fongier, she replied The Englishmen were three faithful servants who threw dust not only in your eyes, my dear Monsieur Ratichand But in those are the customs officials while the pacts contained harmless personal luggage which was taken by your friend and his shangdarms to the customs station at Mijoux And there, after much swearing equally solemnly released with many apologised to Monsieur Fongier who was allowed to proceed un molested on his way and who arrived here safely this afternoon whilst Maman divested herself of her fat and once more became the slender madame Aristide Fongier at your service She bobbed me dainty curtsy and I could only try and hide the pain which this last cruel stab had inflicted on my heart She was not mademoiselle after all and henceforth it would even be wrong to indulge in dreams of her But the ten thousand France crackled pleasantly in my breezed pocket and when I finally took leave of Monsieur Aristide Fongier and his charming wife I was an exceedingly happy man But Leroux never forgave me Of what he suspected me I do not know or if he suspected me at all He certainly must have known about Fat Maman from the customs officials who had given us coffee at Mijoux but he never mentioned the subject to me at all nor has he spoken to me since that memorable night To one of his colleagues he once said that no words in his vocabulary could possibly be adequate to express his feelings End of Chapter 5 Part 2 Read by Lars Rolander Section 12 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 Emushka Orksi Chapter 6 Honor Among Part 1 Ah my dear sir It is easy enough to despise our profession but believe me that all the finer qualities those of loyalty and of truth are essential not only to us but to our subordinates if we are to succeed in making even a small competence out of it Now let me give you an instance Here was I Hector Rattichon settled in Paris in that eventful year 1816 which saw the new order of things finally swept aside and the old order resumed its triumphant sway which saw us all including our God-given King Louis the 18th as poor as the proverbial church mice and as eager for a bit of comfort and luxury as a hungry dog is for a bone The year which saw the army disbanded and hordes of unemployed and unemployable men wandering this consulate and half-starved through the country seeking in vain for some means of livelihood while the Allied troops well fed and well clothed stalked about as if the sacred soil of France was so much dirt under their feet The year my dear sir during which more intrigues were hatched and more plots concocted than in any previous century in the whole history of France we were all trying to make money since there was so precious little of it about those of us who had brains succeeded and then not always Now I had brains I do not boast of them they are a gift from heaven but I had them and good looks too and a general air of strength coupled with refinement which was bound to appeal to anyone needing help and advice and willing to pay for both and yet but you shall judge You know my office in the Rue du Nord you have been in it plainly furnished but as I said these were not days of luxury there was an enter chamber too where that traitor, blackmailer and thief Theodore, my confidential clerk in those days lodged at my expense some opportune clients at bay for what was undoubtedly a liberal salary ten percent on all the profits of the business and yet he was always complaining the ungrateful, avaricious brute Well sir on that day in September it was the tenth I remember 1816 I must confess that I was feeling exceedingly dejected not one client for the last three weeks half a frang in my pocket and nothing but a small quarter of Strasbourg patty in the larger Theodore had eaten most of it and I had just sent him out to buy two sous worth of stale bread therewith to finish the remainder but after that you will admit sir that a less buoyant spirit would not have remained so long undaunted I was cursing that loud Theodore inwardly for he had been gone half an hour and I strongly suspected him of having spent my two sous on a glass of absinthe when there was a ring at the door and I, Hector Rattishon the confident of kings and intimate counselor of half the aristocracy in the kingdom was forced to go and open the door just like a common lackey but here the sight which greeted my eyes fully compensated me for the temporary humiliation for on the threshold stood a gentleman who had wealth written plainly upon his fine clothes upon the dainty linen and his throat and wrists upon the quality of his rich satin necktie and the perfect set of his fine cloth pantaloons which were of an exquisite shade of dove grey when then the apparition spoke inquiring with just a sufficiency of aristocratic hoarder whether Monsieur Hector Rattishon were in you cannot be surprised my dear sir that my dejection fell from me like a cast of mantle and that all my usual urbanity of manner returned to me as I informed the elegant gentleman that Monsieur Rattishon was even now standing before him and begged him to take the trouble to pass through into my office this he did and I placed a chair in position for him he sat down having previously dusted the chair with a graceful sweep of his lace edged handkerchief then he raised a gold-dream eyeglass to his right eye with a superlatively elegant gesture and surveyed me critically for a moment or two here he said I'm tell my good Monsieur Rattishon that you are a trustworthy fellow and one who is willing to undertake a delicate piece of business for a moderate honorario except for the fact that I did not like the word moderate I was enchanted with him rumor for once has not lied Monsieur I replied in my most attractive manner well he rejoined I won't say curtly but with business like privacy for all purposes connected with the affair which I decide to treat with you my name as far as you are concerned shall be Jean de Val understand? perfectly Monsieur Le Marquis I replied with a bland smile it was a wild guess but I don't think that I underestimated my new client's rank for he did not wins you know mademoiselle Mars he queried the actress I replied perfectly she's playing in Le Rêve at the Theatre Royal just now she is in the first and third acts of the play she wears a gold bracelet set with large green stones I noticed it the other night in the seat in the parterre I may say I want that bracelet broke in the so-called Jean de Val uncerniously the stones are false the gold struts I admire mademoiselle Mars immensely I dislike seeing her wearing false jewellery I wish to have the bracelet copied in real stones and to present it to her as a surprise on the occasion of the 25th performance of Le Rêve it will cost me King's ransom and her for the time being an infinite amount of anxiety she sets great stall by the valueless trinket solely because of the merit of its design and I want its disappearance to have every semblance of a theft all the greater will be the lovely creature's pleasure when at my hands she will receive an infinitely precious jewel the exact counterpart in all say its intrinsic value of the trifle which she had thought lost it all sounded deliciously romantic a flavour of the past century before the endless war and abysmal poverty that killed all jewellery in us clung to this proposed transaction there was nothing of the routrier nothing of a Jean de Val in this polished man of the world who had thought out this subtle scheme for ingratiating himself in the eyes of his Lady Fair I murmured an appropriate phrase placing my services entirely at Monsieur Le Marquis's disposal and once more he broke in on my polished diction with that briskry which betrayed the man accustomed to be silently obeyed Mademoiselle Marce wears the bracelet he said during the third act of La Rère at the end of the act she enters her dressing room and her maid helps her to change her dress during this entract Mademoiselle with her own hands puts by all the jewellery which she has to wear during the more gorgeous scenes of the play in the last act the final of the tragedy she appears in a plain stuf gown whilst all her jewellery reposes in the small iron safe in her dressing room it is while Mademoiselle is on the stage during the last act that I want you to enter her dressing room and to extract the bracelet out of the safe for me I, Monsieur Le Marquis I stammered I, to steal her firstly Monsieur Rattichon or whatever your confounded name may be interposed my client with inimitable hotter understand that my name is Chante Valle and if you forget this again I shall be under the necessity of laying my cane across your shoulders and incidentally to take my business elsewhere secondly let me tell you that your affectations of outraged property are lost on me seeing that I know all about the stolen treaty which enough Monsieur Chante Valle I said with the dignity equal if not greater than his own do not I pray you misunderstand me I am ready to do your service but if you will dain't explain how I am to break open an iron safe inside a crowded building and extract there from a trinket without being caught in the act and locked up for house breaking and theft I shall be eternally your debtor the extracting of the trinket is your affair he rejoined Riley I will give you 500 francs if you bring the bracelet to me within 14 days but I stammered again your task will not be such a difficult one after all I will give you the duplicate key to the safe he dived into the breezed pocket of his coat and drew from it a somewhat large and clumsy key which he placed upon my desk I managed to get that easily enough he said nonchalantly a couple of nights ago when I had the honour of visiting Mademoiselle in her dressing room a piece of wax in my hand Mademoiselle's momentary absorption in her reflection while her maid was doing her hair and the impression of the original key was in my possession but between taking a model of the key and the actual theft of the bracelet out of the safe there is a wide gulf which a gentleman cannot breach over therefore I choose to employ you, Monsieur Éviratichon to complete the transaction for me for 500 francs I queried Blanley it is a fair sum, he argued make it a thousand, I rejoined firmly and you shall have the bracelet within 14 days he paused a moment in order to reflect his steel grey eyes, cool and disdainful were fixed searchingly on my face I pride myself on the way that I bear that kind of scrutiny so even now I look bland and with all purposeful and capable very well, he said after a few moments and he rose from his chair as he spoke it shall be a thousand francs Monsieur Éviratichon and I will hand over the money to you in exchange for the bracelet but it must be done within 14 days, remember? I tried to induce him to give me a small sum on account I was about to take terrible risks, remember house breaking, larcency, theft, call it what you will it meant the police correctional and a couple of years in New Orleans for sure he finally gave me 50 francs and once more threatened to take his business elsewhere so I had to accept and to look as her bane and dignified as I could he was out of the office and about to descend the stairs when a thought struck me where and how can I communicate with Monsieur Jean Duval I asked when my work is done I will call here he replied at ten o'clock of every morning that follows the performance of Le Rêve we can complete our transaction then across your office desk the next moment he was gone Theodore passed him on the stairs and asked me with one of his impertinent liars whether we had a new client and what we might expect from him I shrugged my shoulders a new client I said disdainfully Baa vague promises of a couple of Louis for finding out if Madame his wife sees more of a certain captain of the guards than Monsieur the husband cares about Theodore sniffed he always sniffs when financial matters are on the tapas anything on account he queried a paltry ten francs I replied and I may as well give you your share of it now I tossed a franc to him across the desk by the terms of my contract with him you understand he was entitled to ten percent of every profit accruing from the business in Lille of wages but in this instance do you not think that I was justified in looking on one franc now and perhaps twenty when the transaction was completed as a more than just honorarium for his share in it was I not taking all the risks in this delicate business would it be fair for me to give him a hundred francs for sitting quietly in the office or sipping absinthe at the neighbouring bar whilst I risked New Orleans not to speak of the gallows he gave me strange look as he picked up the silver francs spat on it for luck bit it with his great yellow teeth to ascertain if it were counterfeit or genuine and finally slipped it into his pocket and shuffled out of the office whistling through his teeth an abominable low deceitful creature that Theodore you will see an arm but I won't anticipate the next performance of Le Reve was announced for the following evening and I started on my campaign as you may imagine it did not prove an easy matter to obtain excess through the stage door to the back of the theatre was one thing a frown to the doorkeeper had done the trick to mingle with the scene shifters to talk with the supers to take off my hat with every form of deep respect to the principles had been equally simple I had even succeeded in placing a bouquet on the dressing table of the great Tragedienne on my second visit to the theatre a dressing room door had been left ajar during that memorable fourth act which was to see the consummation of my labours I had the bouquet in my hand having brought it expressly for that purpose I pushed open the door and found myself face to face with a young though somewhat forbidding damsel who preemptorily demanded what my business might be in order to minimize the risk of subsequent trouble I had assumed the disguise of a middle-aged anglish red side whiskers florid complexion a ginger coloured wig plastered rigidly over the air towards the temples high stock collar nankine pantaloons a patch of a one eye and an eyeglass fixed in the other my own sainted mother would never have known me with becoming diffidence I explained in broken French that my deep though respectful admiration of Mademoiselle Mars had prompted me to lay a flora tribute at her feet I decided nothing more the damsel eyed me coldly though at the moment I was looking quite my best diffident yet courteous a perfect gentleman of the old regime then she took the bouquet from me and put it down on the dressing table I fancied that she smiled not unkindly and I ventured to pass the time of day she replied not altogether disapprovingly she sat down by the dressing table and took up some needle work which she had obviously thrown aside on my arrival close by on the floor was a solid iron chest with huge ornamental hinges and a large escutcheon over the lock it stood about a foot high and perhaps a couple of feet long there was nothing else in the room that suggested a receptable for jewelry this therefore was obviously the safe which contained the bracelet after the self same second my eyes lighted on a large and clumsy looking key which lay upon the dressing table and my hand at once wandered instinctively to the pocket of my coat and closed convulsively on the duplicate one which the Suadisson Jean Duval had given me I talked eloquently for a while the damsel answered in monosyllables but she sat unmoved at needle work and after ten minutes or so I was forced to beat a retreat I returned to the charge at the next performer the performance of Le Reve this time with a box of bonbons for the maid instead of the bouquet for the mistress the damsel was quite amenable to a little conversation quite willing that I should dally in her company she munched the bonbons and coquetted a little with me but she went on stolidly with her needle work and I could see that nothing would move her out of that room where she had obviously been left in charge then I bethought me of Theodore I realized that I could not carry this affair through successfully without his help so I gave him a further five francs as I said to him it was out of my own savings and I assured him that a certain Monsieur Jean Duval had promised me a couple of hundred francs when the business which he had entrusted to me was satisfactorily concluded it was for this business so I explained that I required his help and I was quite satisfied his task was of course a very easy one what a contrast to the risk I was about to run twenty five francs my dear sir just for knocking at the door of Mademoiselle Mars dressing room during the fourth act whilst I was engaged in conversation with the attractive guardian of the iron safe and to say in well assumed breathless tones Mademoiselle Mars has been taken suddenly on well on the stage will her maid go to her at once? it was some little distance from the dressing room to the wings down a flight of illighted stone stairs which demanded cautious accent and descent Theodore had orders to obstruct the maid during her progress as much as he could without rousing her suspicions I reckoned that she would be fully three minutes going questioning finding out that the whole thing was a hoax and running back to the dressing room three minutes in which to open the chest extract the bracelet and incidentally anything else of value there might be close to my hand well I had thought of that eventuality too one must think of everything you know that is where genius comes in then if possible relock the safe so that the maid on her return would find everything apparently in order and would not perhaps raise the alarm until I was safely out of the theatre it could be done oh yes it could be done with a minute to spare and tomorrow at ten o'clock Monsieur Jean Duval would appear and I would not part with the bracelet until a thousand francs had passed from his pocket into mine I must get Theodore out of the house by the way before the arrival of Monsieur Duval a thousand francs I had not seen a thousand francs all at once for years what a dinner I would have tomorrow there was a certain little restaurant in the Rue de Peeport where they concocted a casolet of goose liver and pork chops with haricot beans which I only tell you that how I got through the rest of that day I cannot tell you the evening found me quite unhabituated now behind the stage of the theatre royal nodding to one or two acquaintances most of the people looking on me with great respect and talking of me as the eccentric millore I was supposed to be pining for an introduction to the great Tragedy Dien who very exclusively as usual had so far given me the cold shoulder ten minutes after the rise of the curtain on the fourth act I was in the dressing room presenting the maid with a gold locket which I had bought from a cheap Jack's Barrow for five and twenty francs which was the last of the fifty which I had received from Monsieur de Val on account the damsel was eyeing the locket somewhat disdainfully and giving me grudging thanks for it when there came a hurried knock at the door the next moment theodore poked his ugly face into the room he too had taken the precaution of assuming an excellent disguise he kept set a slant over one eye cry me face the blouse of a seam shifter madde moselle bars he gasp breathlessly she's been taken ill on the stage very suddenly she's in the wings asking for her maid they think she will faint the damsel rose visibly frightened I'll come at once she said and without the slightest flurry she picked up the key of the safe and slipped it into her pocket I fancied that she gave me a look as she did this oh she was a pearl among Abigail's then she pointed unsurprisingly to the door Milor was all she said but of course I understood I had no idea that English Milors could be thus treated by Pert maidens but what cared I for social amenities just then my hand had closed of the duplicate key of the safe and I walked out to the room in the wake of the damsel Theodore had disappeared once in the passage the girl started to run a second or two later I heard the patter of her high-heeled shoes down the stone stairs I had not a moment to lose to slip back into the dressing room was but an instant's work the next I was kneeling in front of the chest the key fitted the lock accurately one turn and the lid flew open the chest was filled with a Michelinus collection of theatrical properties all lying loose, showy necklaces, chains, pendants all of them obviously false but lying beneath them and partially hidden by the meritorious ornaments were one or two boxes covered with velvet such as Dewler's use my keen eyes noted these at once I was indeed in luck for the moment however my hand farsened on a leather case which reposed on the top in one corner and which a very obviously from its shape contained a bracelet my hands did not tremble though I was spivering with excitement I opened the case there indeed was the bracelet the large green stones the magnificent gold setting the whole jewel dastlingly beautiful if it were real the thought flashed through my mind it would be indeed priceless I closed the case and put it on the dressing table beside me I had at least another minute to spare 60 seconds wearing to die for those velvet covered boxes which my hand was on one of them when a slight noise caused me suddenly to turn and look behind me it all happened as quickly as a flash of lightning I just saw a man disappearing through the door one glance at the dressing table showed me the whole extent of my misfortune the case containing the bracelet had gone and at that precise moment I heard a commotion from the direction of the stairs and a woman screaming at the top of her voice thief stop thief then sir I brought upon the perilous situation that presence of mind for which the name of Hector Rattishon will forever remain famous it was a single flared movement I slipped one of the velvet covered cases which I still had in my hand into the breezed pocket of my coat I closed down the lid of the iron chest and locked it with a duplicate key and I went out of the room closing the door behind me the passage was dark the damsel was running up the stairs with a couple of stage hands behind her she was explaining to them volubly the heroic little Christ the infamous hoax to which she had fallen a victim you might think sir that there was I caught like a rat in a trap and with that velvet covered case in my breezed pocket by way of damning evidence against me not at all sir not at all not so is Hector Rattishon the keenest secret agents France has ever known the confident of kings brought to earth by an untold move of fate even before the damsel and the stage hands had reached the top of the stairs and turned into the corridor which was on my left I had slipped round noiselessly to my right and found shelter in a narrow doorway where I was screened by the surrounding darkness and by projection of the frame while the three of them made straight for Mademoiselle's dressing room and spent some considerable time there in uttering varied ejaculations when they found the place and the chest to all appearances untouched I slipped out of my hiding place sped rapidly along the corridor and was soon halfway down the stairs here my habitual composure in the face of danger stood me in good stead it enabled me to walk compulsorily and not too hurriedly through the crowd behind the scenes super, scene shifters, principles none of whom seemed to be aware as yet of the hoax practiced on Mademoiselle Marseille's maid and I reckon that I was out of the stage door exactly five minutes after Theodore had called the damsel away but I was minus the bracelet and in my mind there was the firm conviction that that traitor Theodore had played me one of his abominable tricks as I said the whole thing had occurred as quickly as a flash of lightning but even so my keen experienced eyes had retained the impression of a peaked cap and the corner of a blue blouse as they disappeared through the dressing room door End of Chapter 6 Part 1 read by Lars Rolander Section 13 of Castles in the Air This is a Libre of Obstrecording for Librevox Recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit Librevox.org Reading by Lars Rolander Castles in the Air by Baroness Emusca Orksi Chapter 6 Honor Among Part 2 Tacked weariness and strength were all required you must admit in order to deal with the present delicate situation I was speeding along the Rue de Richelieu on my way to my office my intention was to spend the night there where I had a chair bedstead on which I had off before slept soundly after a day's hard work and anyhow it was too late to go to my lodging surpassee at this hour Moreover Theodore slept in the antechamber of the office and I was more firmly convinced than ever who had stolen the bracelet black leg, thief, traitor I'm used but thou hast not done with Hector Ratishon yet in the meanwhile I bethought me of the velvet-covered box in my breezed pocket and of the ginger-coloured hair and whiskers that I was still wearing and which might prove an unpleasant piece to conviction in case the police were after the stolen bracelet With a view to examining and getting rid of the other I turned into the square louis which as usual was very dark and folly deserted Here I took off my wig and whiskers and threw them over the railings into the garden then I drew the velvet-covered box from my pocket opened it and groped for its contents Imagine my feelings my dear sir when I realized that the case was empty Fate was indeed against me that night I had been fooled and cheated by a traitor and had risked New Orleans and worse for an empty box For a moment I must confess that I lost that imperturbable sang frois which is the admiration of all my friends and with a genuine oath I flung the case over the railings in the wake of the millour's hair and whiskers then I hurried home Theodore had not returned he did not come in until the small hours of the morning and then he was in a state that I can only describe with your permission as hoggish He could hardly speak I had him at my mercy neither tacked nor weariness was required for the moment I stripped him to his skin he only laughed like an imbecile his eyes had a horrid squint in them he was hideous I found five France in one of his pockets but neither in his clothes nor in his person did I find the bracelet What have you done with it? I cried for by this time I was maddened with rage I don't know what you are talking about his damage thickly as he tottered towards his bed gave me a bark my five France you thief the brutish creature finally blurted out airy fell into a hog like sleep Desperate evils need desperate remedies I spent the rest of the night thinking hard by the time that dawn was breaking my mind was made up Theodore's sturchous breathing assured me that he was still in sentient I was muscular in those days and he a meager attenuated drink-sudden creature I lifted him out of his bed in the ante chamber and carried him into mine in the office I found a coil of rope and strapped him tightly in the chair bedstead so that he could not move I tied a scarf round his mouth so that he could not scream Then at six o'clock when the humbler eating houses begin to take down their shouts I tied a scarf around his mouth and when the eating houses begin to take down their shutters I went out I had Theodore's five France in my pocket and I was desperately hungry I spent ten sous on a cup of coffee and a plate of fried onions and haricot beans and three France on a savory pie highly flavored with garlic and a quarter bottle of excellent cognac I drank the coffee and ate the onions and the beans and I took the pie back home I placed the table close to the chair bedstead and on it I disposed the pie and the cognac in such a manner that the moment Theodore worked his eyes were bound to a light on them Then I waited I absolutely ached to have a taste of that pie myself It smelled so good but I waited Theodore worked at nine o'clock He struggled like a fool but he still appeared half-taste No doubt he thought that he was dreaming Then I sat down on the edge of the bed and cut myself off a large piece of the pie I ate it with Marc Relish in front of Theodore whose eyes nearly started out of their sockets Then I brewed myself a cup of coffee The mingled Theodore of coffee and garlic filled the room It was delicious I thought that Theodore would have a fit The vein stood out on his forehead and a kind of gurgle came from behind the scarf round his mouth Then I told him he could partake of the pie and coffee if he told me what he had done with the bracelet He shook his head furiously and I left the pie, the cognac and the coffee on the table before him and went into the ante chamber closing the office door behind me and leaving him to meditate on his treachery What I wanted to avoid above everything was the traitor meeting Monsieur Jean de Val He had the bracelet of that I was as convinced as that I was alive But what could he do with a piece of false jewellery He could not dispose of it saved to a vendor of theatrical properties who no doubt was well acquainted and would not give more than a couple of francs for what was obviously stolen property After all, I had promised Theodore 20 francs He would not be such a fool as to sell that birthright for a mess of potage and the sole pleasure of doing me a bad turn There was no doubt in my mind that he had put the thing away somewhere in what he considered a safe place pending a reward being offered by Mademoiselle Mars for the recovery of the bracelet The more I thought of this the more convinced I was that that was indeed his proposed plan of action Oh, how I love the black leg and my in-depth thought would be to dog his every footstep and never let him out of my sight until I forced him to discourage his ill-gotten booty At ten o'clock Monsieur Jean de Val arrived as was his wand, supercilious and brisk as usual I was just explaining to him that I hoped to have excellent news for him after the next performance of Le Red when there was a Priam Thry ring at the bell I went to open the door and there stood a police inspector in uniform with a sheaf of papers in his hands Now I'm not over fond of our Paris police they poke their noses in where they are least wanted their incompetence favours the machinations of Rouge and frustrates the innocent ambitions of the just However, in this instance, the inspector looked amiable enough though his manner, I must say, was as usual unpleasantly curt Here, Ratishon, he said there has been an impudent theft of a valuable bracelet out of Mademoiselle Mars' dressing-room at the Theatre Royal last night You and your mate frequent all sorts of places of ill-fame You may hear something of the affair I chose to ignore the insult and the inspector detached a paper from the sheaf which he had held and threw it across the table to me There is a reward of 2,500 francs, he said for the recovery of the bracelet You will find on that paper an accurate description of the jewel It contains the celebrated Marouni Emerald presented to the exemplar by the Sultan and given by him to Mademoiselle Mars Whereupon he turned unceremoniously on his heel and went, leaving me face to face with a man who had so shamefully tried to swindle me I turned and resting my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand I looked mutely on the sois de sang Jean de Val and equally mutely pointed with an accusing finger to the description of the famous bracelet which he had declared to me was merely stress and base metal But he had the impudence to turn on me before I could utter a syllable Where is the bracelet, he demanded You consummate liar, you Where is it? You stole it last night What have you done with it? I extracted at your request, I replied With as much dignity as I could come on A piece of theatrical jewelry which you stated to me to be worthless out of an iron chest the key of which you placed in my hands I Enough of this rubbish, he broke in roughly You have the bracelet, give it me now or He broke off and looked somewhat alone in the direction of the office door from the other side of which there had just come a loud crash followed by a loud if unintelligible vit operation What had happened I could not guess All that I could do was to carry off the situation as boldly as I dared You shall have the bracelet, sir I said in my most suave manner You shall have it, but not unless you will pay me three thousand francs for it I can get two thousand five hundred by taking it straight to Mademoiselle Mars And be taken up by the police for stealing it He retorted How will you explain this being in your possession? I did not blanche That is my affair, I replied Will you give me three thousand francs for it? It is worth sixty thousand francs to a clever thief like you You hound, he cried with a livid rage and raised his cane as if he would strike me Aye, it was cleverly done, Monsieur Chandeval, whoever you may be I know that the gentleman thief is a modern product of the old regime But I did not know that the fraternity could show such a fine specimen as yourself Pay Hector Ratishong a thousand francs for stealing a bracelet for you worth sixty Indeed, Monsieur Chandeval, you deserve to succeed Again he shook his cane at me If you touch me, I declared boldly, I shall take the bracelet at once to Mademoiselle Mars He beat his lip and made a great effort to pull himself together I haven't three thousand francs by me, he said Go fetch the money, I retorted, and I'll fetch the bracelet He demurred for a while, but I was firm And after he had threatened to thrash me to knock me down and to denounce me to the police He gave in and went to fetch the money When I remembered Theodore Theodore, whom only a thin partition wall had separated from the full knowledge of the value of his ill-gotten treasure I could have torn my hair out of the roots with the magnitude of my range He, the traitor, the black leg, was about to triumph where I, Hector Ratishong had failed He had but to take the bracelet to Mademoiselle Mars himself and obtain the munificent reward Whilst I, after I had taken so many risks and used all the brains and tact wherewith the nature had endowed me Would be left with the meager remnants of the fifty francs which Monsieur Jean de Val had so grudgingly thrown to me Twenty-five francs for a gold locket, ten francs for a bouquet, another ten for bombons, and five for gratuities to the stage doorkeeper Make the calculation my good sir and see what I had left If it had not been for the five francs which I had found in Theodore's pocket last night I would at this moment not only have been breakfastless but also absolutely penniless As it was my final hope and that, a meager one, was to arouse one spark of honesty in the breast of the arch-traitor And either by cajolery or threats to induce him to share his ill-gotten spoils with me I had left him snoring and strapped to the chair-beds-dead, and when I opened the office door I was marvelling in my mind whether I could really bear to see him dying slowly of starvation With that savory pie tantalizingly under his nose The crash which I had heard a few minutes ago prepared me for a change of scene Even so I confessed that the sight which I beheld glued me to the threshold There sat Theodore at the table, finishing the last morsel of pie, whilst the chair-beds-dead lay in a tangled heap upon the floor I cannot tell you how nasty he was to me about the whole thing Although I showed myself at once ready to forgive him all his lies and his treachery And was at great pains to explain to him how I had given up my own bed and strapped him into it solely for the benefit of his health Seeing that at the moment he was threatened with delirium tremens He would not listen to reason or to the most elementary dictates of friendship Having poured the vials of his bilious temper over my devoted head He became as perverse and as obstinate as a mule With the most consummate impudence I ever beheld in any human being He flatly denied all knowledge of the bracelet Whilst I talked his talk passed me into the antechamber where he at once busied himself in collecting all his goods and chattels These he stuffed into his pockets until he appeared to be bulging all over his ugly body Then he went to the door ready to go out On the threshold he turned and gave me a supercilious glance over his shoulder Take note my good Ratishon He said that our partnership is dissolved as from tomorrow the 20th day of September As from this moment you infernal scoundrel I cried But he did not pause to listen and slammed the door in my face For two or three minutes I remained quite still Whilst I heard the shuffling footsteps slowly descending the corridor Then I followed him quietly surreptitiously as if Fox will follow its prey He never turned round once but obviously he knew that he was being followed I will not weary you my dear sir with the details of the dance which he led me in and about Paris during the whole of that memorable day Never a morsel passed my lips from breakfast to long after sundown He tried every trick known to the profession to throw me off the scent But I stuck to him like a leech When he sauntered I sauntered when he ran I ran When he glued his nose to the window of an eating house I halted under a doorway close by When he went to sleep on a bench in the Luxembourg Gardens I watched over him as a mother over a babe Towards the evening it was an hour after sunset and the street lamps were just being lighted He must have thought that he had at last got rid of me For after looking carefully behind him he suddenly started to walk much faster And with an amount of determination which he had lacked hitherto I marveled if he wasn't making for the re denure where was situated the squalid tavern of ill-fame which he was want to frequent I was not mistaken I tracked the traitor to the corner of the street and I saw him disappear beneath the doorway of the tavern de Troitigre I resolved to follow I had money in my pocket about twenty-five sous and I was smightily thirsty I started to run down the street when suddenly Theodore came rushing back out of the tavern Hatless and breathless and before I succeeded in dodging him he fell into my arms My money! he said hoarsely I must have my money at once you thief you Once again my presence of mind stood me in good stead Pull yourself together Theodore I said with much dignity and do not make a scene in the open street But Theodore was not at all prepared to pull himself together he was livid with rage I had five francs in my pocket last night he cried You have stolen them you abominable rascal And you stole from me a bracelet worth three thousand francs to the firm I retorted give me that bracelet and you shall have your money back I can't he blurted out desperately How do you mean you can't I exclaim Was the horrible fear like an icy claw suddenly gripped at my heart You haven't lost it have you Worse he cried and fell up against me in semi-unconsciousness I shook him violently I bellowed in his ear and suddenly after that one moment of apparent unconsciousness He became not only wide awake but a strong as a lion and as furious as a ball We closed in on one another He hammered at me with his fists calling me every kind of injurious name he could think of And I had need of all my strength to ward off his attacks For a few moments no one took much notice of us Fracas and quarrels outside the drinking houses in the mean streets of Paris were so frequent these days That the police did not trouble much about them But after a while Theodore became so violent that I was forced to call vigorously for help I thought he meant to murder me people came rushing out of the tavern and someone very Officiously started whistling for the shungdowns This had the effect of bringing Theodore to his senses He calmed down visibly and before the crowd had had time to collect round us We had both saunted off walking in apparent amity side by side down the street But at the first corner Theodore halted and this time he confined himself to gripping me by the arm With one hand whilst the other he grasped one of the buttons of my coat That five francs he said in a hoarse half choked voice I must have that five francs can't you see that I can't have that bracelet till I have my five francs wherewith to redeem it To redeem it I gasped I was indeed glad then that he held me by the arm for it seemed to me as if I was falling down adorning a bis Which had opened at my feet Yes said Theodore and his voice sounded as if it came from a great distance and through cotton ball I knew that you would be after that bracelet like a famished hyena after a bone So I tied it securely inside the pocket of the blouse I was wearing And I left this with Ligro the landlord of the Truatigre It was a good blouse he lent me five francs on it Of course he knew nothing about the bracelet then but he only lends money to clients in this manner on the condition that it is repaid within 24 hours I've got to pay him back before eight o'clock this evening or he will dispose of the blouse as he thinks best It is close on eight o'clock now Give me back my five francs you confound it safe before Ligro has time to discover the bracelet We'll share the reward I promise you faith of an honest man you lie you cheat you What was the use of talking I had not got five francs I had spent ten sous in getting myself some breakfast and three francs in a savory pie Flavored with garlic and in a quarter of a bottle of cognac I groaned aloud I had exactly twenty five sous left We went back to the tavern hoping against hope that Ligro had not yet turned out the pockets of the blouse And that we might induce him by threat or cajolery or the usurious interest of twenty five sous to grant his client a further twenty four hours We're in to redeem the pledge One glance at the interior of the tavern however told us that all our hopes were in vain Ligro the landlord was even then turning the blouse over and over Whilst his hideous haggar wife was talking to the police inspector Who was showing her the paper that announced the offer of two thousand five hundred francs for the recovery of a valuable bracelet The property of Mademoiselle Mars the distinguished Tragedienne We only waited one minute with our noses glued against the window of the Troitegre Just long enough to see Ligro extracting the leather case from the pocket of the blouse Just long enough to hear the police inspector saying peremptorily Ligro ought to be able to let the police now host all the bracelet You must know who left that blouse with you last night Then we both fled incontinently down the street Now sir was I not right when I said that honor and loyalty are the essential qualities of our profession If Theodore had not been such a liar and such a traitor He and I between us would have been richer by three thousand francs that day End of chapter 6 part 2 read by Loche Rolander