CHAPTER XXVII.
THE LAST LINK.
For some days M. Mascarin had not shown himself at the office, andBeaumarchef was terribly harassed with inquiries regarding his absentmaster. Mascarin, on the day after the evening on which Tantaine hadmet Caroline Schimmel at the Grand Turk, was carefully shut up inhis private room; his face and eyes were red and inflamed, and heoccasionally sipped a glass of some cooling beverage which stood beforehim, and his compressed lips and corrugated brow showed how deeply hewas meditating. Suddenly the door opened, and Dr. Hortebise entered theroom.
"Well!" exclaimed Mascarin, "have you seen the Mussidans, as I told youto do."
"Certainly," answered Hortebise briskly; "I saw the Countess, and toldher how pressing the holders of her letters were growing, and urged onher the necessity for immediate action. She told me that both she andher husband had determined to yield, and that Sabine, though evidentlybroken-hearted, would not oppose the marriage."
"Good," said Mascarin; "and now, if Croisenois only follows out theorders that I have given him, the marriage will take place withoutthe knowledge of either De Breulh or Andre. Then we need fear them nolonger. The prospectus of the new Company is ready, and can be issuedalmost immediately; but we meet to-day to discuss not that matter, butthe more important one of the heir to the Champdoce title."
A timid knock at the door announced the arrival of Paul who came inhesitatingly, as if doubtful what sort of a reception he might receive;but Mascarin gave him the warmest possible welcome.
"Permit me," said he, "to offer you my congratulations on having wonthe affections of so estimable and wealthy a young lady as MademoiselleFlavia. I may tell you that a friend of mine has informed me of the veryflattering terms in which her father, M. Rigal, spoke of you, and I canassure you that if our mutual friend Dr. Hortebise were to go to thebanker with an offer of marriage on your part, you have no cause todread a refusal."
Paul blushed with pleasure, and as he was stammering out a few words,the door opened for the third time, and Catenac made his appearance. Tocover the lateness of his arrival, he had clothed his face in smiles,and advanced with outstretched hands toward his confederates; butMascarin's look and manner were so menacing, that he recoiled a fewsteps and gazed on him with an expression of the utmost wonder andsurprise.
"What is the meaning of this reception?" asked he.
"Can you not guess?" returned Mascarin, his manner growing more and morethreatening. "I have sounded the lowest depths of your infamy. I wassure the other day that you meant to turn traitor, but you swore to thecontrary, and you--"
"On my honor--"
"It is useless. One word from Perpignan set us on the right track. Wereyou or were you not ignorant that the Duke de Champdoce had a certainway of recognizing his son, and that was by a certain ineffaceablescar?"
"It had escaped my memory----"
The words faded from his lips, for even his great self-command failedhim under Mascarin's disdainful glance.
"Let me tell you what I think of you," said the latter. "I knew that youwere a coward and a traitor. Even convicts keep faith with each other,and I had not thought you so utterly infamous."
"Then why have you forced me to act contrary to my wishes?"
This reply exasperated Mascarin so much that he grasped Catenac by thethroat, and shook him violently.
"I made use of you, you viper," said he, "because I had placed you insuch a position that you could not harm us. And now you will serveme because I will show you that I can take everything from you--name,money, liberty, and _life_. All depends upon our success. If we fail,you fall into an abyss of the depth and horrors of which you can haveno conception. I knew with whom I had to deal, and took my measuresaccordingly. The most crushing proofs of your crime are in the hands ofa person who has precise orders how to act. When I give the signal, hemoves; and when he moves, you are utterly lost."
There was something so threatening in the silence that followed thisspeech that Paul grew faint with apprehension.
"And," went on Mascarin, "it would be an evil day for you if anythingwere to happen to Hortebise, Paul, or myself; for if one of us were todie suddenly, your fate would be sealed. You cannot say that you havenot been warned."
Catenac stood with his head bent upon his breast, rooted to the groundwith terror. He felt that he was bound, and gagged, and fettered handand foot. Mascarin swallowed some of the cooling draught that stoodbefore him, and tranquilly commenced,--
"Suppose, Catenac, that I were to tell you that I know far more of theChampdoce matter than you do; for, after all, your knowledge is onlyderived from what the Duke has told you. You think that you have hitupon the truth; you were never more mistaken in your life. I, perhapsyou are unaware, have been many years engaged in this matter. Perhapsyou would like to know how I first thought of the affair. Do youremember that solicitor who had an office near the Law Courts, and dida great deal of blackmail business? If you do, you must remember that hegot two years' hard labor."
"Yes, I remember the man," returned Catenac in a humble voice.
"He used," continued Mascarin, "to buy up waste paper, and searchthrough the piles he had collected for any matters that might beconcealed in the heterogeneous mass. And many things he must have found.In what sensational case have not letters played a prominent part? Whatman is there who has not at one time or other regretted that he has hadpen and ink ready to his hand? If men were wise, they would use thosepatent inks, which fade from the paper in a few days. I followed hisexample, and, among other strange discoveries, I made this one."
He took from his desk a piece of paper--ragged, dirty, and creased--and,handing it to Hortebise and Paul, said,--
"Read!"
They did so, and read the following strange word:
"TNAFNEERTONIOMZEDNEREITIPZEYAETNECONNISIUSEJECARG;"
while underneath was written in another hand the word, "Never."
"It was evident that I had in my hands a letter written in cipher, and Iconcluded that the paper contained some important secret."
Catenac listened to this narrative with an air of contempt, for he wasone of those foolish men who never know when it is best for them toyield.
"I daresay you are right," answered he with a slight sneer.
"Thank you," returned Mascarin coolly. "At any rate, I was deeplyinterested in solving this riddle, the more as I belonged to anassociation which owes its being and position to its skill inpenetrating the secrets of others. I shut myself up in my room, andvowed that I would not leave it until I had worked out the cipher."
Paul, Hortebise, and Catenac examined the letter curiously, but couldmake nothing of it.
"I can't make head or tail of it," said the doctor impatiently.
Mascarin smiled as he took back the paper, and remarked,--
"At first I was as much puzzled as you were, and more than once wastempted to throw the document into the waste-paper basket, but a secretfeeling that it opened a way to all our fortunes restrained me. Ofcourse there was the chance that I might only decipher some foolishjest, and no secret at all, but still I went on. If the commencement ofthe word was written in a woman's hand, the last word had evidentlybeen added by a man. But why should a cryptogram have been used? Was itbecause the demand was of so dangerous and compromising a character thatit was impossible to put it in plain language? If so, why was thelast word not in cipher? Simply because the mere rejection of what wascertainly a demand would in no manner compromise the writer. You willask how it happens that demand and rejection are both on the same sheetof paper. I thought this over, and came to the conclusion that theletter had once been meant for the post, but had been sent by hand.Perhaps the writers may have occupied rooms in the same house. Thewoman, in the anguish of her soul, may have sent the letter by a servantto her husband, and he, transported by rage, may have hurriedlyscrawled this word across it, and returned it again: 'Take this to yourmistress.' Having settled this point, I attacked the cipher, and, afterfourteen
hours' hard work, hit upon its meaning.
"Accidentally I held the piece of paper between myself and the light,with the side on which the writing was turned from me, and read it atonce. It was a cryptogram of the simplest kind, as the letters formingthe words were simply reversed. I divided the letters into words,and made out this sentence: '_Grace, je suis innocente. Ayez pitie;rendez-moi notre enfant_ (Mercy, I am innocent. Give me back our son).'"
Hortebise snatched up the paper and glanced at it.
"You are right," said he; "it is the art of cipher writing in itsinfancy."
"I had succeeded in reading it,--but how to make use of it! The mass ofwaste paper in which I found it had been purchased from a servant ina country house near Vendome. A friend of mine, who was accustomed todrawing plans and maps, came to my aid, and discovered some faintsigns of a crest in one corner of the paper. With the aid of a powerfulmagnifying glass, I discovered it to be the cognizance of the ducalhouse of Champdoce. The light that guided me was faint and uncertain,and many another man would have given up the quest. But the thought waswith me in my waking hours, and was the companion of my pillow duringthe dark hours of the night. Six months later I knew that it was theDuchess who had addressed this missive to her husband, and why she haddone so. By degrees I learned all the secret to which this scrap ofpaper gave me the clue; and if I have been a long while over it, it isbecause one link was wanting which I only discovered yesterday."
"Ah," said the doctor, "then Caroline Schimmel has spoken."
"Yes; drink was the magician that disclosed the secret that for twentyyears she had guarded with unswerving fidelity."
As Mascarin uttered these words he opened a drawer, and drew from it alarge pile of manuscript, which he waved over his head with an air oftriumph.
"This is the greatest work that I have ever done," exclaimed he. "Listento it, Hortebise, and you shall see how it is that I hold firmly, atthe same time, both the Duke and Duchess of Champdoce, and Diana theCountess of Mussidan. Listen to me, Catenac,--you who distrusted me, andwere ready to play the traitor, and tell me if I do not grasp success inmy strong right hand." Then, holding out the roll of papers to Paul, hecried, "And do you, my dear boy, take this and read it carefully. Letnothing escape you, for there is not one item, however trivial it mayseem to you, that has not its importance. It is the history of a greatand noble house, and one in which you are more interested than you maythink."
Paul opened the manuscript, and, in a voice which quivered with emotion,he read the facts announced by Mascarin, which he had entitled "TheMystery of Champdoce."
[The conclusion of this exciting narrative will be found in the volumecalled "The Mystery of Champdoce."]
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