CHAPTER IX
The prominence given by the Press to the suicide of the Boulevard de Villiers rendered the negotiations between the Stage and the Church all the more difficult. The reporters had given the fullest details of the event, and it was pointed out by the Abbe Mirabelle, the Archbishop"s second vicar, that to open the doors of the parish church to Chevalier, as matters then stood, was to proclaim that excommunicated persons were ent.i.tled to the prayers of the Church.
But for that matter, Monsieur Mirabelle himself, who in this affair displayed great wisdom and circ.u.mspection, paved the way to a solution.
"You must fully understand," he observed to Madame Doulce, "that the opinion of the newspapers cannot affect our decision. We are absolutely indifferent to it, and we do not disturb ourselves in the slightest degree, no matter what fifty public sheets may say about the unfortunate young fellow. Whether the journalists have told the truth or distorted it is their affair, not mine. I do not know and I do not wish to know what they have written. But the fact of the suicide is notorious. You cannot dispute it. It would now be advisable to investigate closely, and by the light of science, the circ.u.mstances in which the deed was committed. Do not be surprised by my thus invoking the aid of science.
Science has no better friend than religion. Now medical science may in the present case be of great a.s.sistance to us. You will understand in a moment. Mother Church ejects the suicide from her bosom only when his act is an act of despair. The madmen who attempt their own lives are not those who have lost all hope, and the Church does not deny them her prayers; she prays for all who are unfortunate. Now, if it could be proved that this poor boy had acted under the influence of a high fever or of a mental disorder, if a medical man were in a position to certify that the poor fellow was not in possession of his faculties when he slew himself with his own hand, there would be no obstacle to the celebration of a religious service."
Having hearkened to the words of Monsieur l"Abbe Mirabelle, Madame Doulce hastened back to the theatre. The rehearsal of _La Grille_ was over. She found Pradel in his office with a couple of young actresses, one of whom was soliciting an engagement, the other, leave of absence.
He refused, in conformity with his principle never to grant a request until he had first refused it. In this way he bestowed a value upon his most trifling concessions. His glistening eyes and his patriarchal beard, his manner, at once amorous and paternal, gave him a resemblance to Lot, as we see him between his two daughters in the prints of the Old Masters. Standing on the table was an amphora of gilt pasteboard which fostered this illusion.
"It can"t be done," he was telling each of them. "It really can"t be done, my child----Well, after all, look in to-morrow."
Having dismissed them, he inquired, as he signed some letters:
"Well, Madame Doulce, what news do you bring?"
Constantin Marc, appearing with Nanteuil, hastily exclaimed:
"What about my scenery, Monsieur Pradel?"
Thereupon he described for the twentieth time the landscape, upon which the curtain ought to rise.
"In the foreground, an old park. The trunks of the great trees, on the north side, are green with moss. The dampness of the soil must be felt."
And the manager replied:
"You may rest a.s.sured that everything that can be done will be done, and that it will be most appropriate. Well, Madame Doulce, what news?"
"There is a glimmer of hope," she replied.
"At the back, in a slight mist," said the author, "the grey stones and the slate roofs of the Abbaye-aux-Dames."
"Quite so. Pray be seated, Madame Doulce; you have my attention."
"I was most courteously received at the Archbishop"s Palace," said Madame Doulce.
"Monsieur Pradel, it is imperative that the walls of the Abbaye should appear inscrutable, of great thickness, and yet subtilized by the mists of coming night. A pale-gold sky----"
"Monsieur l"Abbe Mirabelle," resumed Madame Doulce, "is a priest of the highest distinction----"
"Monsieur Marc, are you particularly keen on your pale-gold sky?"
inquired the stage manager. "Go on, Madame Doulce, go on, I am listening to you."
"And exquisitely polite. He made a delicate allusion to the indiscretions of the newspapers----"
At this moment Monsieur Marchegeay, the stage manager, burst into the room. His green eyes were glittering, and his red moustache was dancing like a flame. The words rolled off his tongue:
"They are at it again! Lydie, the little super, is screaming like a stoat on the stairs. She says Delage tried to violate her. It"s at least the tenth time in a month that she has come out with that story. This is an infernal nuisance!"
"Such conduct cannot be tolerated in a house like this," said Pradel.
"You"ll have to fine Delage. Pray continue, Madame Doulce."
"Monsieur l"Abbe Mirabelle explained to me in the clearest manner that suicide is an act of despair."
But Constantin Marc was inquiring of Pradel with interest, whether Lydie, the little super, was pretty.
"You have seen her in _La Nuit du 23 octobre_; she plays the woman of the people who, in the Plaine de Grenelle, is buying wafers of Madame Ravaud."
"A very pretty girl, to my thinking," said Constantin Marc.
"Undoubtedly," responded Pradel. "But she would be still prettier if her ankles weren"t like stakes."
And Constantin Marc musingly replied.
"And Delage has outraged her. That fellow possesses the sense of love.
Love is a simple and primitive act. It"s a struggle, it"s hatred.
Violence is necessary to it. Love by mutual consent is merely a tedious obligation."
And he cried, greatly excited.
"Delage is prodigious!"
"Don"t get yourself into a fix," said Pradel.
"This same little Lydie entices my actors into her dressing-room, and then all of a sudden she screams out that she is being outraged in order to get hush-money out of them. It"s her lover who has taught her the trick, and takes the coin. You were saying, Madame Doulce----"
"After a long and interesting conversation," resumed Madame Doulce, "Monsieur l"Abbe Mirabelle suggested a favourable solution. He gave me to understand that, in order to remove all difficulties, it would be sufficient for a physician to certify that Chevalier was not in full possession of his faculties, and that he was not responsible for his acts."
"But," observed Pradel, "Chevalier wasn"t insane. He was in full possession of his faculties."
"It"s not for us to say," replied Madame Doulce. "What do we know about it?"
"No," said Nanteuil, "he was not in full possession of his faculties."
Pradel shrugged his shoulders.
"After all, it"s possible. Insanity and reason, it"s a matter of appreciation. To whom could we apply for a certificate?"
Madame Doulce and Pradel called to mind three physicians in succession; but they were unable to find the address of the first; the second was bad-tempered, and it was decided that the third was dead.
Nanteuil suggested that they should approach Dr. Trublet.
"That"s an idea!" exclaimed Pradel. "Let us ask a certificate of Dr.
Socrates. What"s to-day? Friday. It"s his day for consultations. We shall find him at home."
Dr. Trublet lived in an old house at the top of the Rue de Seine. Pradel took Nanteuil with him, with the idea that Socrates would refuse nothing to a pretty woman. Constantin Marc, who could not live, when in Paris, save in the company of theatrical folk, accompanied them. The Chevalier affair was beginning to amuse him. He found it theatrical, that is, appropriate to theatrical performers. Although the hour for consultations was over, the doctor"s sitting-room was still full of people in search of healing. Trublet dismissed them, and received his theatrical friends in his private room. He was standing in front of a table enc.u.mbered with books and papers. An adjustable arm-chair, infirm and cynical, displayed itself by the window. The director of the Odeon set forth the object of his call, and ended by saying: