Castles in the Air Read online

  4.

  It was a little after five o'clock when I once more turned the key inthe outer door of my rooms in the Rue Daunou.

  Theodore did not seem in the least to resent having been locked in fortwo hours. I think he must have been asleep most of the time.Certainly I heard a good deal of shuffling when first I reached thelanding outside the door; but when I actually walked into theapartment with an air of quiet unconcern Theodore was sprawling on thechair-bedstead, with eyes closed, a nose the colour of beetroot, andemitting 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, Isaw that he opened one bleary eye and watched my every movement. Iwent straight into my private room and shut the door after me. Andhere, I assure you, my dear Sir, I literally fell into my favouritechair, overcome with emotion and excitement. Think what I had gonethrough! The events of the last few hours would have turned any brainless keen, less daring than that of Hector Ratichon. And here was I,alone at last, face to face with the future. What a future, my dearSir! Fate was smiling on me at last. At last I was destined to reap arich reward for all the skill, the energy, the devotion, which up tothis hour I had placed at the service of my country and my King--or myEmperor, as the case might be--without thought of my own advantage.Here was I now in possession of a document--two documents--each oneof which was worth at least a thousand francs to persons whom I couldeasily approach. One thousand francs! Was I dreaming? Five thousandwould certainly be paid by the Government whose agent M. CharlesSaurez admittedly was for one glance at that secret treaty which wouldbe so prejudicial to their political interests; whilst M. de Marsanhimself would gladly pay another five thousand for the satisfaction ofplacing the precious document intact before his powerful and irascibleuncle.

  Ten thousand francs! How few were possessed of such a sum in thesedays! How much could be done with it! I would not give up businessaltogether, of course, but with my new capital I would extend it and,there was a certain little house, close to Chantilly, a house with afew acres of kitchen garden and some fruit trees, the possession ofwhich would render me happier than any king. . . . I would marry! Oh,yes! I would certainly marry--found a family. I was still young, mydear Sir, and passably good looking. In fact there was a certain youngwidow, comely and amiable, who lived not far from Passy, who had onmore than one occasion given me to understand that I was more thanpassably good looking. I had always been susceptible where the fair sexwas concerned, and now . . . oh, now! I could pick and choose! The comelywidow had a small fortune of her own, and there were others! . . .

  Thus I dreamed on for the better part of an hour, until, soon aftersix o'clock, there was a knock at the outer door and I heardTheodore's shuffling footsteps crossing the small anteroom. There wassome muttered conversation, and presently my door was opened andTheodore's ugly face was thrust into the room.

  "A lady to see 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 shecalls Arthur. Shall I send them in?"

  I then and there made up my mind that I would get rid of Theodore nowthat I could afford to get a proper servant. My business would infuture be greatly extended; it would become very important, and I wasbeginning to detest Theodore. But I said "Show the lady in!" withbecoming dignity, and a few moments later a beautiful woman entered myroom.

  I was vaguely conscious that a creature of my own sex walked in behindher, but of him I took no notice. I rose to greet the lady and invitedher to sit down, but I had the annoyance of seeing the personage whomdeliberately she called "Arthur" coming familiarly forward and leaningover the back of her chair.

  I hated him. He was short and stout and florid, with animpertinent-looking moustache, and hair that was very smooth and oilysave 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 tocontrol my feelings not to show him the contempt which I felt for hisfatuousness and his air of self-complacency. Fortunately the beautifulbeing was the first to address me, and thus I was able to ignore thevery presence of the detestable man.

  "You are M. Ratichon, I believe," she said in a voice that was dulcetand adorably tremulous, like the voice of some sweet, shy young thingin the presence of genius and power.

  "Hector Ratichon," I replied calmly. "Entirely at your service,Mademoiselle." Then I added, with gentle, encouraging kindliness,"Mademoiselle . . . ?"

  "My name is Geoffroy," she replied, "Madeleine Geoffroy."

  She raised her eyes--such eyes, my dear Sir!--of a tender, lusciousgrey, fringed with lashes and dewy with tears. I met her glance.Something in my own eyes must have spoken with mute eloquence of mydistress, for she went on quickly and with a sweet smile. "And this,"she said, pointing to her companion, "is my brother, Arthur Geoffroy."

  An exclamation of joyful surprise broke from my lips, and I beamed andsmiled on M. Arthur, begged him to be seated, which he refused, andfinally I myself sat down behind my desk. I now looked with unmixedbenevolence on both my clients, and then perceived that the lady'sexquisite face bore unmistakable signs of recent sorrow.

  "And now, Mademoiselle," I said, as soon as I had taken up a positionindicative of attention and of encouragement, "will you deign to tellme how I can have the honour to serve you?"

  "Monsieur," she began in a voice that trembled with emotion, "I havecome to you in the midst of the greatest distress that any human beinghas ever been called upon to bear. It was by the merest accident thatI heard of you. I have been to the police; they cannot--will not--actwithout I furnish them with certain information which it is not in mypower to give them. Then when I was half distraught with despair, akindly agent there spoke to me of you. He said that you were attachedto the police as a voluntary agent, and that they sometimes put workin your way which did not happen to be within their own scope. He alsosaid that sometimes you were successful."

  "Nearly always, Mademoiselle," I broke in firmly and with muchdignity. "Once more I beg of you to tell me in what way I may have thehonour to serve you."

  "It is not for herself, Monsieur," here interposed M. Arthur, whilst ablush suffused Mlle. Geoffroy's lovely face, "that my sister desiresto consult you, but for her fiance M. de Marsan, who is very illindeed, hovering, in fact, between life and death. He could not comein person. The matter is one that demands the most profound secrecy."

  "You may rely on my discretion, Monsieur," I murmured, withoutshowing, I flatter myself, the slightest trace of that astonishmentwhich, at mention of M. de Marsan's name, had nearly rendered mespeechless.

  "M. de Marsan came to see me in utmost distress, Monsieur," resumedthe lovely creature. "He had no one in whom he could--or ratherdared--confide. He is in the Chancellerie for Foreign Affairs. Hisuncle M. de Talleyrand thinks a great deal of him and often entrustshim with very delicate work. This morning he gave M. de Marsan avaluable paper to copy--a paper, Monsieur, the importance of which itwere impossible to overestimate. The very safety of this country, thehonour of our King, are involved in it. I cannot tell you its exactcontents, and it is because I would not tell more about it to thepolice 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 documentthe contents of which they did not even know? But you will besatisfied with what I have told you, will you not, my dear M.Ratichon?" she continued, with a pathetic quiver in her voice and alook of appeal in her eyes which St. Anthony himself could not haveresisted, "and help me to regain possession of that paper, the finalloss of which would cost M. de Marsan his life."

  To say that my feeling of elation of a while ago had turned to one ofsupreme beatitude would be to put it very mildly indeed. To think thathere was this lovely being in tears before me, and that it lay in mypower to dry those tears with a word and to bring a smile round thoseperfect lips, literally made my mou
th water in anticipation--for I amsure that you will have guessed, just as I did in a moment, that thevaluable document of which this adorable being was speaking, wassnugly hidden away under the flooring of my room in Passy. I hatedthat unknown de Marsan. I hated this Arthur who leaned so familiarlyover her chair, but I had the power to render her a service besidewhich their lesser claims on her regard would pale.

  However, I am not the man to act on impulse, even at a moment likethis. I wanted to think the whole matter over first, and . . .well . . . I had made up my mind to demand five thousand francs whenI handed the document over to my first client to-morrow morning. Atany rate, for the moment I acted--if I may say so--with greatcircumspection and dignity.

  "I must presume, Mademoiselle," I said in my most business-likemanner, "that the document you speak of has been stolen."

  "Stolen, Monsieur," she assented whilst the tears once more gatheredin her eyes, "and M. de Marsan now lies at death's door with aterrible attack of brain fever, brought on by shock when he discoveredthe loss."

  "How and when was it stolen?" I asked.

  "Some time during the morning," she replied. "M. de Talleyrand gavethe document to M. de Marsan at nine o'clock, telling him that hewanted the copy by midday. M. de Marsan set to work at once, laboureduninterruptedly until about eleven o'clock, when a loud altercation,followed by cries of 'Murder!' and of 'Help!' and proceeding from thecorridor outside his door, caused him to run out of the room in orderto see what was happening. The altercation turned out to be betweentwo men who had pushed their way into the building by the mainstaircase, and who became very abusive to the gendarme who orderedthem out. The men were not hurt; nevertheless they screamed as if theywere being murdered. They took to their heels quickly enough, and Idon't know what has become of them, but . . ."

  "But," I concluded blandly, "whilst M. de Marsan was out of the roomthe precious document was stolen."

  "It was, Monsieur," exclaimed Mlle. Geoffroy piteously. "You willfind it for us . . . will you not?"

  Then she added more calmly: "My brother and I are offering tenthousand francs reward for the recovery of the document."

  I did not fall off my chair, but I closed my eyes. The vision whichthe lovely lady's words had conjured up dazzled me.

  "Mademoiselle," I said with solemn dignity, "I pledge you my word ofhonour that I will find the document for you and lay it at your feetor die in your service. Give me twenty hours, during which I will moveheaven and earth to discover the thief. I will go at once to theChancellerie and collect what evidence I can. I have worked under M.de Robespierre, Mademoiselle, under the great Napoleon, and under theillustrious Fouche! I have never been known to fail, once I have setmy mind upon a task."

  "In that case you will earn your ten thousand francs, my friend," saidthe odious Arthur drily, "and my sister and M. de Marsan will still beyour debtors. Are there any questions you would like to ask before wego?"

  "None," I said loftily, choosing to ignore his sneering manner. "IfMademoiselle deigns to present herself here to-morrow at two o'clock Iwill have news to communicate to her."

  You will admit that I carried off the situation in a becoming manner.Both Mademoiselle and Arthur Geoffroy gave me a few more details inconnexion with the affair. To these details I listened with wellsimulated interest. Of course, they did not know that there were nodetails in connexion with this affair that I did not know already. Myheart was actually dancing within my bosom. The future was soentrancing that the present appeared like a dream; the lovely beingbefore me seemed like an angel, an emissary from above come to tell meof the happiness which was in store for me. The house nearChantilly--the little widow--the kitchen garden--the magic words wenton hammering in my brain. I longed now to be rid of my visitors, to bealone once more, so as to think out the epilogue of this gloriousadventure. Ten thousand francs was the reward offered me by thisadorable creature! Well, then, why should not M. Charles Saurez, onhis side, pay me another ten thousand for the same document, which wasabsolutely undistinguishable from the first?

  Ten thousand, instead of two hundred which he had the audacity tooffer me!

  Seven o'clock had struck before I finally bowed my clients out of theroom. Theodore had gone. The lazy lout would never stay as much asfive minutes after his appointed time, so I had to show the adorablecreature and her fat brother out of the premises myself. But I did notmind that. I flatter myself that I can always carry off an awkwardsituation in a dignified manner. A brief allusion to the inefficiencyof present-day servants, a jocose comment on my own simplicity ofhabits, and the deed was done. M. Arthur Geoffroy and MademoiselleMadeleine his sister were half-way down the stairs. A quarter of anhour later I was once more out in the streets of Paris. It was abeautiful, balmy night. I had two hundred francs in my pocket andthere was a magnificent prospect of twenty thousand francs before me!I could afford some slight extravagance. I had dinner at one of thefashionable restaurants on the quay, and I remained some time out onthe terrace sipping my coffee and liqueur, dreaming dreams such as Ihad never dreamed before. At ten o'clock I was once more on my way toPassy.