Collected Works of Eugène Sue Page 7

  “Well, my little white face, dost hear me?” said the monster, advancing. “If thou dost not come, I’ll poke your eye out, and make you a match for the Chouette. And thou with the moustache,” he said to Rodolph, “if thou dost not stand from between me and the wench, I’ll crack thy crown.”

  “Defend me! oh, defend me!” cried Fleur-de-Marie to Rodolph, clasping her hands. Then, reflecting that she was about to expose him to great danger, she added, in a low voice, “No, no, do not move, Mister Rodolph; if he comes nearer, I will cry out for help, and for fear of the disturbance, which may call in the police, the ogress will take my part.”

  “Don’t be alarmed, my child,” said Rodolph, looking calmly at the Schoolmaster; “you are beside me, — don’t stir; and as this ill-looking scoundrel makes you as well as myself feel uncomfortable, I will kick him out.”

  “Thou?” said the Schoolmaster.

  “I!” said Rodolph. And, in spite of the efforts of the Goualeuse, he rose from the table. Despite his hardihood, the Schoolmaster retreated a step, so threatening were the looks, so commanding the deportment, of Rodolph. There are peculiar glances of the eye which are irresistible, and certain celebrated duellists are said to owe their bloody triumphs to this fascinating glance, which unmans, paralyses, and destroys their adversaries. The Schoolmaster trembled, retreated a step, and, for once, distrustful of his giant strength, felt under his blouse for his long cut-and-thrust knife. A murder would have stained the tapis-franc, no doubt, if the Chouette, taking the Schoolmaster by the arm, had not screamed out:

  “A minute, a minute, fourline, — let me say a word! You shall walk into these two ‘muffs’ all the same, presently.”

  The Schoolmaster looked at her with astonishment. For some minutes she had been looking at Fleur-de-Marie with fixed and increasing attention, as if trying to refresh her memory. At length no doubt remained, and she recognised the Goualeuse.

  “Is it possible?” she cried, clasping her hands in astonishment. “It is Pegriotte, who stole my barley-sugar. But where do you come from? Is it the devil who sends you back?” and she shook her clenched hand at the young girl. “You won’t come into my clutch again, eh? But be easy; if I do not pull out your teeth, I will have out of your eyes every tear in your body. Come, no airs and graces. You don’t know what I mean. Why, I have found out the people who had the care of you before you were handed over to me. The Schoolmaster saw at the Pré (the galleys) the man who brought you to my ‘crib’ when you were a brat, and he has proofs that the people who had you first were ‘gentry coves’” (rich people).

  “My parents! Do you know them?” cried Fleur-de-Marie.

  “Never mind whether I know them or not, you shall know nothing about it. The secret is mine and my fourline’s, and I will tear out his tongue rather than he shall blab it. What! it makes you snivel, does it, Pegriotte?”

  “Oh, no,” said Goualeuse, with a bitterness of accent; “now I do not care ever to know my parents.”

  Whilst La Chouette was speaking, the Schoolmaster had resumed his assurance, for, looking at Rodolph, he could not believe that a young man of slight and graceful make could for a moment cope with him, and, confident in his brutal force, he approached the defender of Goualeuse, and said to the Chouette, in an imperious voice:

  “Hold your jaw! I’ll tackle with this swell, and then the fair lady may think me more to her fancy than he is.”

  With one bound Rodolph leaped on the table.

  “Take care of my plates!” shouted the ogress.

  The Schoolmaster stood on his guard, his two hands in front, his chest advanced, firmly planted on his legs, and arched, as it were, on his brawny legs, which were like balusters of stone. At the moment when Rodolph was springing at him, the door of the tapis-franc opened with violence, and the charcoal-man, of whom we have before spoken, and who was upwards of six feet high, dashed into the apartment, pushed the Schoolmaster on one side rudely, and coming up to Rodolph, said, in German, in his ear:

  “Monseigneur, the countess and her brother — they are at the end of the street.”

  At these words Rodolph made an impatient and angry gesture, threw a louis d’or on the bar of the ogress, and made for the door in haste. The Schoolmaster attempted to arrest Rodolph’s progress, but he, turning to him, gave him two or three rapid blows with his fists over the nose and eyes, and with such potent effect, that the beast staggered with very giddiness, and fell heavily against a table, which alone prevented his prostration on the floor.

  “Vive la Charte! those are my blows, — I know them,” cried the Chourineur; “two or three more lessons like that, and I shall know all about it.”

  Restored to himself after a few moments, the Schoolmaster darted off in pursuit of Rodolph, but he had disappeared with the charcoal-man in the dark labyrinth of the streets of the Cité, and the brigand found it useless to follow.

  At the moment when the Schoolmaster had returned, foaming with rage, two persons, approaching from the opposite side to that by which Rodolph had disappeared, entered into the tapis-franc, hastily, and out of breath, as if they had been running far and fast. Their first impulse was to look around the room.

  “How unfortunate!” said one of them; “he has gone, — another opportunity lost.”

  The two newcomers spoke in English. The Goualeuse, horror-struck at meeting with the Chouette, and dreading the threats of the Schoolmaster, took advantage of the tumult and confusion caused by the arrival of the two fresh guests in the tapis-franc, and, quietly gliding out by the half-opened door, left the cabaret.

  CHAPTER VI.

  THOMAS SEYTON AND THE COUNTESS SARAH.

  THE TWO PERSONS who had just entered the tapis-franc were quite of another class from those who ordinarily frequented it. One, tall and erect, had hair almost white, black eyebrows and whiskers, a long and tanned face, with a stiff, formal air. His long frock coat was buttoned up to the throat, à la militaire. We shall call this individual Thomas Seyton. His companion was young, pale, and handsome, and appeared about thirty-one or two years of age. His hair, eyebrows, and eyes were of a deep black, which showed off the more fully the pure whiteness of his face. By his step, the smallness of his stature, and the delicacy of his features, it was easy to detect a woman in male habiliments. This female was the Countess Sarah Macgregor. We will hereafter inform our readers of the motives and events which had brought the countess and her brother into this cabaret of the Cité.

  “Call for something to drink, Thomas, and ask the people here about him; perhaps they may give us some information,” said Sarah, still speaking English.

  The man with white hair and black eyebrows sat down at a table, whilst Sarah was wiping her forehead, and said to the ogress, in excellent French, “Madame, let us have something to drink, if you please.”

  The entrance of these two persons into the tapis-franc had excited universal attention. Their dress, their manners, all announced that they never frequented low drinking-shops, whilst, by their restless looks and disturbed countenances, it might be judged that some very powerful motives had led them hither. The Chourineur, the Schoolmaster, and the Chouette viewed them with increasing curiosity.

  Startled by the appearance of such strange customers, the ogress shared in the general surprise. Thomas Seyton, a second time, and with an impatient tone, said, “We have called for something to drink, ma’am; pray let us have it.”

  Mother Ponisse, flattered by their courtesy of manner, left her bar, and, coming towards her new guests, leaned her arms on their table, and said, “Will you have a pint of wine in measure or a bottle?”

  “A bottle of wine, glasses, and some water.”

  The ogress brought the supplies demanded, and Thomas Seyton threw her a five-franc piece, and refused the change which she offered to him.

  “Keep it, my good woman, for yourself, and perhaps you will take a glass with us.”

  “You’re uncommon purlite, sir,” looking at the countess’s brother with
as much surprise as gratitude.

  “But tell me, now,” said he; “we had appointed to meet a friend in a cabaret in this street, and have, perhaps, mistaken the house in coming here.”

  “This is the ‘White Rabbit,’ at your service, sir.”

  “That’s right enough, then,” said Thomas, making a sign to Sarah; “yes, it was at the ‘White Rabbit’ that he was to give us the meeting.”

  “There are not two ‘White Rabbits’ in this street,” said the ogress, with a toss of her head. “But what sort of a person was your friend?”

  “Tall, slim, and with hair and moustaches of light chestnut,” said Seyton.

  “Exactly, exactly; that’s the man who has just gone out. A charcoal-man, very tall and stout, came in and said a few words to him, and they left together.”

  “The very man we want to meet,” said Tom.

  “Were they alone here?” inquired Sarah.

  “Why, the charcoal-man only came in for one moment; but your comrade supped here with the Chourineur and Goualeuse;” and with a nod of her head, the ogress pointed out the individual of the party who was left still in the cabaret.

  Thomas and Sarah turned towards the Chourineur. After contemplating him for a few minutes, Sarah said, in English, to her companion, “Do you know this man?”

  “No; Karl lost all trace of Rodolph at the entrance of these obscure streets. Seeing Murphy disguised as a charcoal-seller, keeping watch about this cabaret, and constantly peeping through the windows, he was afraid that something wrong was going on, and so came to warn us. Murphy, no doubt, recognised him.”

  During this conversation, held in a very low tone, and in a foreign tongue, the Schoolmaster said to the Chouette, looking at Tom and Sarah, “The swell has shelled out a ‘bull’ to the ogress. It is just twelve, rains and blows like the devil. When they leave the ‘crib,’ we will be on their ‘lay,’ and draw the ‘flat’ of his ‘blunt.’ As his ‘mot’ is with him, he’ll hold his jaw.”

  If Tom and Sarah had heard this foul language, they would not have understood it, and would not have detected the plot against them.

  “Be quiet, fourline,” answered the Chouette; “if the ‘cull’ sings out for the ‘traps,’ I have my vitriol in my pocket, and will break the phial in his ‘patter-box.’ Nothing like a drink to keep children from crying,” she added. “Tell me, darling, sha’n’t we lay hands on Pegriotte the first time we meet with her? And only let me once get her to our place, and I’ll rub her chops with my vitriol, and then my lady will no longer be proud of her fine skin.”

  “Well said, Chouette; I shall make you my wife some day or other,” said the Schoolmaster; “you have no equal for skill and courage. On that night with the cattle-dealer, I had an opportunity of judging of you; and I said, ‘Here’s the wife for me; she works better than a man.’”

  “And you said right, fourline; if the Skeleton had had a woman like me at his elbow, he would not have been nabbed with his gully in the dead man’s weasand.”

  “He’s done up, and now he will not leave the ‘stone jug,’ except to kiss the headsman’s daughter, and be a head shorter.”

  “What strange language these people talk!” said Sarah, who had involuntarily heard the last few words of the conversation between the Schoolmaster and the Chouette. Then she added, pointing to the Chourineur, “If we ask this man some questions about Rodolph, perhaps he may be able to answer them.”

  “We can but try,” replied Thomas, who said to the Chourineur, “Comrade, we expected to find in this cabaret a friend of ours; he supped with you, I find. Perhaps, as you know him, you will tell us which way he has gone?”

  “I know him because he gave me a precious good hiding two hours ago, to prevent me from beating Goualeuse.”

  “And have you never seen him before?”

  “Never; we met by chance in the alley which leads to Bras Rouge’s house.”

  “Hostess, another bottle of the best,” said Thomas Seyton.

  Sarah and he had hardly moistened their lips, and their glasses were still full; but Mother Ponisse, doubtless anxious to pay proper respect to her own cellar, had frequently filled and emptied hers.

  “And put it on the table where that gentleman sits, if he will permit,” added Thomas, who, with Sarah, seated themselves beside the Chourineur, who was as much astonished as flattered by such politeness.

  The Schoolmaster and the Chouette were talking over their own dark plans in low tones and “flash” language. The bottle being brought, and Sarah and her brother seated with the Chourineur and the ogress, who had considered a second invitation as superfluous, the conversation was resumed.

  “You told us, my good fellow, that you met our comrade Rodolph in the house where Bras Rouge lives?” inquired Thomas Seyton, as he hob and nobbed with the Chourineur.

  “Yes, my good fellow,” replied he, as he emptied his glass at a gulp.

  “What a singular name is Bras Rouge! What is this Bras Rouge?”

  “Il pastique la maltouze” (smuggles), said the Chourineur, in a careless tone, and then added, “This is jolly good wine, Mother Ponisse!”

  “If you think so, do not spare it, my fine fellow,” said Seyton, and he filled the Chourineur’s glass as he spoke.

  “Your health, mate,” said he, “and the health of your little friend, who — but mum. ‘If my aunt was a man, she’d be my uncle,’ as the proverb says. Ah! you sly rogue, I’m up to you!”

  Sarah coloured slightly as her brother continued, “I did not quite understand what you meant about Bras Rouge. Rodolph came from his house, no doubt?”

  “I told you that Bras Rouge pastique la maltouze.”

  Thomas regarded the Chourineur with an air of surprise.

  “What do you mean by pastique la mal —— What do you call it?”

  “Pastiquer la maltouze. He smuggles, I suppose you would call it; but it seems you can’t ‘patter flash?’”

  “My fine fellow, I don’t understand one word you say.”

  “I see you can’t talk slang like M. Rodolph.”

  “Slang?” said Thomas Seyton, looking at Sarah with an astonished air.

  “Ah! you are yokels; but comrade Rodolph is an out-and-out pal, he is. Though only a fan-painter, yet he is as ‘downy’ in ‘flash’ as I am myself. Well, since you can’t speak this very fine language, I tell you, in plain French, that Bras Rouge is a smuggler, and, besides that, has a small tavern in the Champs Elysées. I say, without breaking faith, that he is a smuggler, for he makes no secret of it, but owns it under the very nose of the custom-house officers. Find him out, though, if you can; Bras Rouge is a deep one.”

  “What could Rodolph want at the house of this man?” asked Sarah.

  “Really, sir, or madam, which you please, I know nothing about anything, as true as I drink this glass of wine. I was chaffing to-night with the Goualeuse, who thought I was going to beat her, and she ran up Bras Rouge’s alley, and I after her; it was as dark as the devil. Instead of hitting Goualeuse, however, I stumbled on Master Rodolph, who soon gave me better than I sent. Such thumps! and especially those infernal thwacks with his fist at last. My eyes! how hot and heavy they did fall! But he’s promised to teach me, and to—”

  “And Bras Rouge, what sort of a person is he?” asked Tom. “What goods does he sell?”

  “Bras Rouge? Oh, by the Holy! he sells everything he is forbidden to sell, and does everything which it is forbidden to do. That’s his line, ain’t it, Mother Ponisse?”

  “Oh! he’s a boy with more than one string to his bow,” answered the ogress. “He is, besides, principal occupier of a certain house in the Rue du Temple, — a rum sort of a house, to be sure; but mum,” added she, fearing to have revealed too much.

  “And what is the address of Bras Rouge in that street?” asked Seyton of the Chourineur.

  “No. 13, sir.”

  “Perhaps we may learn something there,” said Seyton, in a low voice, to his sister. “I will send Karl th
ither to-morrow.”

  “As you know M. Rodolph,” said the Chourineur, “you may boast the acquaintance of a stout friend and a good fellow. If it had not been for the charcoal-man, he would have ‘doubled up’ the Schoolmaster, who is there in the corner with the Chouette. By the Lord! I can hardly contain myself, when I see that old hag, and know how she behaved to the Goualeuse, — but patience, ‘a blow delayed is not a blow lost,’ as the saying is.”

  The Hotel de Ville clock struck midnight; the lamp of the tavern only shed a dim and flickering light. Except the Chourineur and his two companions, the Schoolmaster, and the Screech-owl, all the guests of the tapis-franc had retired one after the other.

  The Schoolmaster said, in an undertone, to the Chouette, “If we go and hide in the alley opposite, we shall see the swells come out, and know which road they take. If they turn to the left, we can double upon them at the turning of the Rue Saint Eloi; if to the right, we will wait for them by the ruins close to the tripe-market. There’s a large hole close by, and I have a capital idea.”

  The Schoolmaster and the Chouette then went towards the door.

  “You won’t, then, take a ‘drain’ of nothin’ to-night?” said the ogress.

  “No, Mother Ponisse, we only came in to take shelter from the rain,” said the Schoolmaster, as he and the Chouette went out.

  CHAPTER VII.

  “YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE.”

  THE NOISE WHICH was made by the shutting of the door aroused Tom and Sarah from their reverie, and they rose, and, having thanked the Chourineur for the information he had given them, the fellow went out, the wind blowing very strongly, and the rain falling in torrents. The Schoolmaster and the Chouette, hidden in an alley opposite the tapis-franc, saw the Chourineur go down the street, in the direction of the street in which the house in ruins was situated. His steps, which were somewhat irregular, in consequence of the frequent libations of the evening, were soon unheard amidst the whistling of the storm and the sheets of rain which dashed against the walls. Sarah and Tom left the tavern in spite of the tempest, and took a contrary direction to the Chourineur.