Castles in the Air

  5.

  When I remembered Theodore--Theodore, whom only a thin partition wallhad separated from the full knowledge of the value of his ill-gottentreasure!--I could have torn my hair out by the roots with themagnitude of my rage. He, the traitor, the blackleg, was about totriumph, where I, Hector Ratichon, had failed! He had but to take thebracelet to Mlle. Mars himself and obtain the munificent reward whilstI, after I had taken so many risks and used all the brains and tactwherewith Nature had endowed me, would be left with the meagreremnants of the fifty francs which M. Jean Duval had so grudginglythrown to me. Twenty-five francs for a gold locket, ten francs for abouquet, another ten for bonbons, and five for gratuities to thestage-doorkeeper! Make the calculation, my good Sir, and see what Ihad left. If it had not been for the five francs which I had found inTheodore's pocket last night, I would at this moment not only havebeen breakfastless, but also absolutely penniless.

  As it was, my final hope--and that a meagre one--was to arouse onespark of honesty in the breast of the arch-traitor, and either bycajolery or threats, to induce him to share his ill-gotten spoils withme.

  I had left him snoring and strapped to the chair-bedstead, and when Iopened the office door I was marvelling in my mind whether I couldreally bear to see him dying slowly of starvation with that savourypie tantalizingly under his nose. The crash which I had heard a fewminutes ago prepared me for a change of scene. Even so, I confess thatthe sight which I beheld glued me to the threshold. There sat Theodoreat the table, finishing the last morsel of pie, whilst thechair-bedstead 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 andhis treachery, and was at great pains to explain to him how I hadgiven up my own bed and strapped him into it solely for the benefit ofhis health, seeing that at the moment he was threatened with deliriumtremens.

  He would not listen to reason or to the most elementary dictates offriendship. Having poured the vials of his bilious temper over mydevoted head, he became as perverse and as obstinate as a mule. Withthe most consummate impudence I ever beheld in any human being, heflatly denied all knowledge of the bracelet.

  Whilst I talked he stalked past me into the ante-chamber, wherehe at once busied himself in collecting all his goods and chattels.These he stuffed into his pockets until he appeared to be bulging allover his ugly-body; then he went to the door ready to go out. On thethreshold he turned and gave me a supercilious glance over hisshoulder.

  "Take note, my good Ratichon," he said, "that our partnership isdissolved as from to-morrow, the twentieth 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 theshuffling footsteps slowly descending the corridor. Then I followedhim, quietly, surreptitiously, as a fox will follow its prey. He neverturned 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 whichhe 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. Hetried 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; whenhe ran I ran; when he glued his nose to the window of an eating houseI halted under a doorway close by; when he went to sleep on a bench inthe Luxembourg Gardens I watched over him as a mother over a babe.

  Towards evening--it was an hour after sunset and the street-lamps werejust being lighted--he must have thought that he had at last got ridof me; for, after looking carefully behind him, he suddenly started towalk much faster and with an amount of determination which he hadlacked hitherto. I marvelled if he was not making for the Rue Daunou,where was situated the squalid tavern of ill-fame which he was wont tofrequent. I was not mistaken.

  I tracked the traitor to the corner of the street, and saw himdisappear beneath the doorway of the Taverne des Trois Tigres. Iresolved to follow. I had money in my pocket--about twenty-fivesous--and I was mightily thirsty. I started to run down the street,when suddenly Theodore came rushing back out of the tavern, hatlessand breathless, and before I succeeded in dodging him he fell into myarms.

  "My money!" he said hoarsely. "I must have my money at once! Youthief! You . . ."

  Once again my presence of mind stood me in good stead.

  "Pull yourself together, Theodore," I said with much dignity, "and donot make a scene in the open street."

  But Theodore was not at all prepared to pull himself together. Hewas livid with rage.

  "I had five francs in my pocket last night!" he cried. "You havestolen them, you abominable rascal!"

  "And you stole from me a bracelet worth three thousand francs to thefirm," I retorted. "Give me that bracelet and you shall have yourmoney back."

  "I can't," he blurted out desperately.

  "How do you mean, you can't?" I exclaimed, whilst a horrible fear likean icy claw suddenly gripped at my heart. "You haven't lost it, haveyou?"

  "Worse!" he cried, and fell up against me in semi-unconsciousness.

  I shook him violently. I bellowed in his ear, and suddenly, after thatone moment of apparent unconsciousness, he became, not only wideawake, but as strong as a lion and as furious as a bull. We closed inon one another. He hammered at me with his fists, calling me everykind of injurious name he could think of, and I had need of all mystrength to ward off his attacks.

  For a few moments no one took much notice of us. Fracas and quarrelsoutside the drinking-houses in the mean streets of Paris were sofrequent these days that the police did not trouble much about them.But after a while Theodore became so violent that I was forced to callvigorously for help. I thought he meant to murder me. People camerushing out of the tavern, and someone very officiously startedwhistling for the gendarmes. This had the effect of bringing Theodoreto his senses. He calmed down visibly, and before the crowd had hadtime to collect round us we had both sauntered off, walking inapparent amity side by side down the street.

  But at the first corner Theodore halted, and this time he confinedhimself to gripping me by the arm with one hand whilst with the otherhe grasped one of the buttons of my coat.

  "That five francs," he said in a hoarse, half-choked voice. "I musthave that five francs! Can't you see that I can't have that bracelettill I have my five francs wherewith to redeem it?"

  "To redeem it!" I gasped. I was indeed glad then that he held me bythe arm, for it seemed to me as if I was falling down a yawning abysswhich had opened at my feet.

  "Yes," said Theodore, and his voice sounded as if it came from a greatdistance and through cotton-wool,

  "I knew that you would be after that bracelet like a famished hyenaafter a bone, so I tied it securely inside the pocket of the blouse Iwas wearing, and left this with Legros, the landlord of the TroisTigres. 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 toclients in this manner on the condition that it is repaid withintwenty-four hours. I have got to pay him back before eight o'clockthis evening or he will dispose of the blouse as he thinks best. It isclose on eight o'clock now. Give me back my five francs, youconfounded thief, before Legros has time to discover the bracelet!We'll share the reward, I promise you. Faith of an honest man. Youliar, you cheat, you--"

  What was the use of talking? I had not got five francs. I had spentten sous in getting myself some breakfast, and three francs in asavoury pie flavoured with garlic and in a quarter of a bottle ofcognac. I groaned aloud. I had exactly twenty-five sous left.

  We went back to the tavern hoping against hope that Legros had not yetturned out the pockets of the blouse, and that we might induce him, bythreat or cajolery or the usurious interest of twenty-five sous, togrant his client a further twenty-four hours wherein to redeem thepledge.


  One glance at the interior of the tavern, however, told us that allour hopes were in vain. Legros, the landlord, was even then turningthe blouse over and over, whilst his hideous hag of a wife was talkingto the police inspector, who was showing her the paper that announcedthe offer of two thousand five hundred francs for the recovery of avaluable bracelet, the property of Mlle. Mars, the distinguishedtragedienne.

  We only waited one minute with our noses glued against the windows ofthe Trois Tigres, just long enough to see Legros extracting theleather case from the pocket of the blouse, just long enough to hearthe police inspector saying peremptorily:

  "You, Legros, ought to be able to let the police know who stole thebracelet. 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 honour and loyalty are theessential qualities in our profession? If Theodore had not been such aliar and such a traitor, he and I, between us, would have been richerby three thousand francs that day.

  CHAPTER VII

  AN OVER-SENSITIVE HEART