CHAPTER X.
THE NEXT MORNING.
"Oh, my Christian ducats!" _Merchant of Venice_.
Gone!--gone!--both gone!--my new gold watch and my purse full of notesand Napoleons!
I rang the bell furiously. It was answered by a demure-looking waiter,with a face like a parroquet.
"Does Monsieur please to require anything?"
"Require anything!" I exclaimed, in the best French I could muster. "Ihave been robbed!"
"Robbed, Monsieur?"
"Yes, of my watch and purse!"
"_Tiens_! Of a watch and purse?" repeated the parroquet, lifting hiseyebrows with an air of well-bred surprise. "_C'est drole."_
"Droll!" I cried, furiously. "Droll, you scoundrel! I'll let you knowwhether I think it droll! I'll complain to the authorities! I'll havethe house searched! I'll--I'll...."
I rang the bell again. Two or three more waiters came, and the master ofthe hotel. They all treated my communication in the same manner--coolly;incredulously; but with unruffled politeness.
"Monsieur forgets," urged the master, "that he came back to the hotellast night in a state of absolute intoxication. Monsieur was accompaniedby a stranger, who was gentlemanly, it it true; but since Monsieuracknowledges that that stranger was personally unknown to him, Monsieurmay well perceive it would be more reasonable if his suspicions firstpointed in that direction."
Struck by the force of this observation, I flung myself into a chair andremained silent.
"Has Monsieur no acquaintances in Paris to whom he may apply foradvice?" inquired the landlord.
"None," said I, moodily; "except that I have a letter of introductionto one Dr. Cheron."
The landlord and his waiters exchanged glances.
"I would respectfully recommend Monsieur to present his letterimmediately," said the former. "Monsieur le Docteur Cheron is a man ofthe world--a man of high reputation and sagacity. Monsieur could not dobetter than advise with him."
"Call a cab for me," said I, after a long pause. "I will go."
The determination cost me something. Dismayed by the extent of my loss,racked with headache, languid, pale, and full of remorse for lastnight's folly, it needed but this humiliation to complete my misery.What! appear before my instructor for the first time with such a tale! Icould have bitten my lips through with vexation.
The cab was called. I saw, but would not see, the winks and nodsexchanged behind my back by the grinning waiters. I flung myself intothe vehicle, and soon was once more rattling through the noisy streets.But those brilliant streets had now lost all their charm for me. Iadmired nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing, on the way. I could thinkonly of my father's anger and the contempt of Dr. Cheron.
Presently the cab stopped before a large wooden gate with two enormousknockers. One half of this gate was opened by a servant in a sad-coloredlivery. I was shown across a broad courtyard, up a flight of loftysteps, and into a spacious _salon_ plainly furnished.
"Monsieur le Docteur is at present engaged," said the servant, with anair of profound respect. "Will Monsieur have the goodness to be seatedfor a few moments."
I sat down. I rose up. I examined the books upon the table, and thepictures on the walls. I wished myself "anywhere, anywhere out of theworld," and more than once was on the point of stealing out of thehouse, jumping into my cab, and making off without seeing the doctor atall. One consideration alone prevented me. I had lost all my money, andhad not even a franc left to pay the driver. Presently the door againopened, the grave footman reappeared, and I heard the dreadedannouncement:--"Monsieur le Docteur will be happy to receive Monsieur inhis consulting-room."
I followed mechanically. We passed through a passage thickly carpeted,and paused before a green baize door. This door opened noiselessly, andI found myself in the great man's presence.
"It gives me pleasure to welcome the son of my old friend JohnArbuthnot," said a clear, and not unfamiliar voice.
I started, looked up, grew red and white, hot and cold, and had not asyllable to utter in reply.
In Doctor Cheron, I recognised--
PYTHIAS!