CHAPTER XXI.
AN ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
Dr. Hortebise had for some time back given up arguing with Mascarin asto the advice the latter gave him. He had been ordered not to let Paulout of his sight, and he obeyed this command literally. He had taken himto dine at M. Martin Rigal's, though the host himself was absent; fromthere he took Paul to his club, and finally wound up by forcing theyoung man to accept a bed at his house. They both slept late, and weresitting down to a luxurious breakfast, when the servant announced M.Tantaine, and that worthy man made his appearance with the same smileupon his face which Paul remembered so well in the Hotel de Perou.The sight of him threw the young man into a state of fury. "At last wemeet," cried he. "I have an account to settle with you."
"You have an account to settle with me?" asked Daddy Tantaine with apuzzled smile.
"Yes; was it not through you that I was accused of theft by that oldhag, Madame Loupins?"
Tantaine shrugged his shoulders.
"Dear me," said he; "I thought that M. Mascarin had explainedeverything, and that you were anxious to marry Mademoiselle Flavia, andthat, above all, you were a young man of intelligence and tact."
Hortebise roared with laughter, and Paul, seeing his folly, blusheddeeply and remained silent.
"I regret having disturbed you, doctor," resumed Tantaine, "but I hadstrict orders to see you."
"Is there anything new then?"
"Yes; Mademoiselle de Mussidan is out of danger, and M. de Croisenoiscan commence proceedings at once."
The doctor drank off a glass of wine. "To the speedy marriage of ourdear friend the Marquis and Mademoiselle Sabine," said he gayly.
"So be it," said Tantaine; "I am also directed to beg M. Paul not toleave this house, but to send for his luggage and remain here."
Hortebise looked so much annoyed that Tantaine hastened to add: "Only asa temporary measure, for I am on the lookout for rooms for him now."
Paul looked delighted at the idea of having a home of his own.
"Good!" exclaimed the doctor merrily. "And now, my dear Tantaine, as youhave executed all your commissions, you can stay and breakfast with us."
"Thanks for the honor; but I am very busy with affairs of the Duke deChampdoce and must see Perpignan at once." As he spoke he rose, makinga little sign which Paul did not catch, and Hortebise accompanied him tothe door of the vestibule. "Don't leave that lad alone," said Tantaine;"I will see about him to-morrow; meanwhile prepare him a little."
"I comprehend," answered Hortebise; "my kind regards to that dearfellow, Perpignan."
This Perpignan was well known--some people said too well known--inParis. His real name was Isidore Crocheteau, and he had started lifeas a cook in a Palais Royal restaurant. Unfortunately a breach of theEighth Commandment had caused him to suffer incarceration for a periodof three years, and on his release he bloomed out into a private inquiryagent. His chief customers were jealous husbands, but as surely as oneof these placed an affair in his hands, he would go to the erring wifeand obtain a handsome price from her for his silence.
Mascarin and Perpignan had met in an affair of this kind; and as theymutually feared each other, they had tacitly agreed not to crosseach other's path in that great wilderness of crime--Paris. But whilePerpignan knew nothing of Mascarin's schemes and operations, theformer was very well acquainted with the ex-cook's doings. He knew,for instance, that the income from the Inquiry Office would not coverPerpignan's expenses, who dressed extravagantly, kept a carriage,affected artistic tastes, played cards, betted on races, and liked gooddinners at the most expensive restaurants. "Where can he get his moneyfrom?" asked Mascarin of himself; and, after a long search, he succeededin solving the riddle.
Daddy Tantaine, after leaving the doctor's, soon arrived at theresidence of M. Perpignan, and rang the bell.
A fat woman answered the door. "M. Perpignan is out," said she.
"When will he be back?"
"Some time this evening."
"Can you tell me where I can find him, as it is of the utmost importanceto both of us that I should see him at once?"
"He did not say where he was going to."
"Perhaps he is at the factory," said Tantaine blandly.
The fat woman was utterly taken aback by this suggestion. "What do youknow about that?" faltered she.
"You see I _do_ know, and that is sufficient for you. Come, is hethere?"
"I think so."
"Thank you, I will call on him then. An awfully long journey," mutteredTantaine, as he turned away; "but, perhaps, if I catch the worthy manin the midst of all his little business affairs, he will be more free inhis language, and not so guarded in his actual admissions."
The old man went to his task with a will. He passed down the RueToumenon, skirted the Luxemburg, and made his way into the Rue GuyLussac; from thence he walked down the Rue Mouffetard, and thence directinto one of those crooked lanes which run between the Gobelins Factoryand the Hopital de l'Oursine. This is a portion of the city utterlyunknown to the greater number of Parisians. The streets are narrow andhardly afford room for vehicles. A valley forms the centre of the place,down which runs a muddy, sluggish stream, the banks of which are denselycrowded with tanyards and iron works. On the one side of this valley isthe busy Rue Mouffetard, and on the other one of the outer boulevards,while a long line of sickly-looking poplars mark the course of thesemi-stagnant stream. Tantaine seemed to know the quarter well, andwent on until he reached the Champs des Alouettes. Then, with a sigh ofsatisfaction, he halted before a large, three-storied house, standing ona piece of ground surrounded by a mouldering wooden fence. The aspect ofthe house had something sinister and gloomy about it, and for a momentTantaine paused as if he could not make up his mind to enter it; butat last he did so. The interior was as dingy and dilapidated as theoutside. There were two rooms on the ground floor, one of which wasstrewn with straw, with a few filthy-looking quilts and blankets spreadover it. The next room was fitted up as a kitchen; in the centre was along table composed of boards placed on trestles, and a dirty-lookingwoman with her head enveloped in a coarse red handkerchief, and graspinga big wooden spoon, was stirring the contents of a large pot in whichsome terrible-looking ingredients were cooking. On a small bed in acorner lay a little boy. Every now and then a shiver convulsed hisframe, his face was deadly pale, and his hands almost transparent,while his great black eyes glittered with the wild delirium of fever.Sometimes he would give a deep groan, and then the old beldame wouldturn angrily and threaten to strike him with her wooden spoon.
"But I am so ill," pleaded the boy.
"If you had brought home what you were told, you would not have beenbeaten, and then you would have had no fever," returned the womanharshly.
"Ah, me! I am sick and cold, and want to go away," wailed the child; "Iwant to see mammy."
Even Tantaine felt uneasy at this scene, and gave a gentle cough toannounce his presence. The old woman turned round on him with an angrysnarl. "Who do you want here?" growled she.
"Your master."
"He has not yet arrived, and may not come at all, for it is not his day;but you can see Poluche."
"And who may he be?"
"He is the professor," answered the hag contemptuously.
"And where is he?"
"In the music-room."
Tantaine went to the stairs, which were so dingy and dilapidated as tomake an ascent a work of danger and difficulty. As he ascended higher,he became aware of a strange sound, something between the grindingof scissors and the snarling of cats. Then a moment's silence, a loudexecration, and a cry of pain. Tantaine passed on, and coming to arickety door, he opened it, and in another moment found himself in whatthe old hag downstairs had called the music-room. The partitions ofall the rooms on the floor had been roughly torn down to form thisapartment; hardly a pane of glass remained intact in the windows; thedingy, whitewashed walls were covered with scrawls and drawings incharcoal. A suffocating, nauseous odor rose up, absolutely ov
erpoweringthe smell from the neighboring tanyards. There was no furniture except abroken chair, upon which lay a dog whip with plaited leather lash. Roundthe room, against the wall, stood some twenty children, dirty, and intattered clothes. Some had violins in their hands, and others stoodbehind harps as tall as themselves. Upon the violins Tantaine noticedthere were chalk marks at various distances. In the middle of the roomwas a man, tall and erect as a dart, with flat, ugly features and lank,greasy hair hanging down on his shoulders. He, too, had a violin, andwas evidently giving the children a lesson. Tantaine at once guessedthat this was Professor Poluche.
"Listen," said he; "here, you Ascanie, play the chorus from the _Chateaude Marguerite_." As he spoke he drew his bow across his instrument,while the little Savoyard did his best to imitate him, and in asqueaking voice, in nasal tone, he sang:
"Ah! great heavens, how fine and grand Is the palace!"
"You young rascal!" cried Poluche. "Have I not bid you fifty times thatat the word 'palace' you are to place your bow on the fourth chalkmarkand draw it across? Begin again."
Once again the boy commenced, but Poluche stopped him.
"I believe, you young villain, that you are doing it on purpose. Now, gothrough the whole chorus again; and if you do not do it right, look outfor squalls."
Poor Ascanie was so muddled that he forgot all his instructions. Withoutany appearance of anger, the professor took up the whip and administeredhalf a dozen severe cuts across the bare legs of the child, whose shoutssoon filled the room.
"When you are done howling," remarked Poluche, "you can try again;and if you do not succeed, no supper for you to-night, my lad. Now,Giuseppe, it is your turn."
Giuseppe, though younger than Ascanie, was a greater proficient on theinstrument, and went through his task without a single mistake.
"Good!" said Poluche; "if you get on like that, you will soon be fit togo out. You would like that, I suppose?"
"Yes," replied the delighted boy, "and I should like to bring in a fewcoppers too."
But the Professor did not waste too much time in idle converse.
"It is your turn now, Fabio," said he.
Fabio, a little mite of seven, with eyes black and sparkling as those ofa dormouse, had just seen Tantaine in the doorway and pointed him out tothe professor.
Poluche turned quickly round and found himself face to face withTantaine, who had come quickly forward, his hat in his hand.
Had the professor seen an apparition, he could not have started moreviolently, for he did not like strangers.
"What do you want?" asked he.
"Reassure yourself, sir," said Tantaine, after having for a few secondsenjoyed his evident terror; "I am the intimate friend of the gentlemanwho employs you, and have come here to discuss an important matter ofbusiness with him."
Poluche breathed more freely.
"Take a chair, sir," said he, offering the only one in the room. "Mymaster will soon be here."
But Daddy Tantaine refused the offer, saying that he did not wish tointrude, but would wait until the lesson was over.
"I have nearly finished," remarked Poluche; "it is almost time to letthese scamps have their soup."
Then turning to his pupils, who had not dared to stir a limb, he said,--
"There, that is enough for to-day; you can go."
The children did not hesitate for a moment, but tumbled over each otherin their eagerness to get away, hoping, perhaps, that he might omit toexecute certain threats that he had held out during the lesson. The hopewas a vain one, for the equitable Poluche went to the head of the stairsand called out in a loud voice,--
"Mother Butor, you will give no soup to Monte and put Ravillet on halfallowance."
Tantaine was much interested, for the scene was an entirely new one.
The professor raised his eyes to heaven.
"Would," said he, "that I might teach them the divine science as I wouldwish; but the master would not allow me; indeed, he would dismiss me ifI attempted to do so."
"I do not understand you."
"Let me explain to you. You know that there are certain old women who,for a consideration, will train a linnet or a bullfinch to whistle anyair?"
Tantaine, with all humility, confessed his ignorance of these matters.
"Well," said the professor, "the only difference between those old womenand myself is, that they teach birds and I boys; and I know which I hadrather do."
Tantaine pointed to the whip.
"And how about this?" asked he.
Poluche shrugged his shoulders.
"Put yourself in my place for a little while," remarked he. "You see mymaster brings me all sorts of boys, and I have to cram music into themin the briefest period possible. Of course the child revolts, and Ithrash him; but do not think he cares for this; the young imps thrive onblows. The only way that I can touch them is through their stomachs. Istop a quarter, a half, and sometimes the whole of their dinner. Thatfetches them, and you have no idea how a little starvation brings themon in music."
Daddy Tantaine felt a cold shiver creep over him as he listened to thisfrank exposition of the professor's mode of action.
"You can now understand," remarked the professor, "how some airs becomepopular in Paris. I have forty pupils all trying the same thing. I amdrilling them now in the _Marguerite_, and in a little time you willhave nothing else in the streets."
Poluche was proceeding to give Tantaine some further information, when astep was heard upon the stairs, and the professor remarked,--
"Here is the master; he never comes up here, because he is afraid of thestairs. You had better go down to him."