"Nothing, Colonel. The arrival of the King of Greece has been perfectly carried out."
"The crowd?"
"Oh, indifferent on the whole; come to have a look at him out of curiosity."
"Ah, no King of Spain affair?"
"No, no! Out of that I got this scar on my forehead."
"Well," cried the colonel, "it"s an ill wind that blows n.o.body any good! You will get the cross all the quicker!"
Lieutenant de Loubersac smiled.
Hofferman continued:
"My dear fellow, ... you know ... the vanished doc.u.ment!... It"s extremely important--it will have to be found!"
"Good, Colonel!"
"Have you just now a particularly sharp agent?... Shrewd?"
"Yes, Colonel," said de Loubersac, after a moment"s reflection.
"Who is he?"
"The man engaged on the V---- affair."
"When shall you see him?"
"This afternoon, Colonel. We have an appointment for three-thirty."
"The worst of it is this affair is making no end of talk--scandal--it"s the very devil and all! Some fools of papers who deal in scandal are scaring the public with rumours of war: they speak of the eventual rupture of diplomatic relations. The financial market is unsteady--the Jews are selling as hard as they can, and that is disquieting, for those fellows have a quicker scent than any one....
Lieutenant, it is urgent: set your agent to work at once! He must act with discretion, of course, but he must act as quickly as possible--it is urgent!"
"And what are the conditions, Colonel?"
After a moment"s reflection, Hofferman replied:
"You must make and get the best conditions you can."
It was noon, and twelve was striking. The vast ministerial premises, where silence had reigned till then, were filled with murmurs and the sharp sound of voices: there were hurrying footsteps on the stairs, doors banged: the offices were emptying for a couple or hours.
"Ah, ha!" cried Captain Loreuil, jamming an enormous soft hat down on his head till it all but covered his eyes. This gave him the appearance, either of an artist of sorts or of a seller of chestnuts!
Now behold the handsomest cavalier of France and Navarre!...
And he struck up, in a clear voice:
"_Ah, how I would love this cuira.s.sier_ _If I were still a demoiselle._"
Henri de Loubersac, who had just collided with the captain, burst into laughter, and warmly shook hands with him.
A limited number of people, some curious, others merely idle, were standing motionless in the Zoological Gardens. They were lining the palisade which surrounds the rocky basin where half a dozen crocodiles were performing their evolutions.
Besides children and nursemaids and governesses, there were also poverty-stricken creatures in rags, some students, a workman or two, the inevitable telegraph boy who was loitering on the way instead of hastening onwards with the telegrams, and, noticeably, a fair young man, smart, in tight-fitting overcoat and wearing a bowler hat. He had been standing there some ten minutes, and was giving but scant attention to the saurians. He was casting furtive glances around him, as though looking for someone.
If he were awaiting the arrival of some member of the fair s.e.x, it hardly seemed the place for a love-tryst, this melancholy Zoological Gardens, misty, with the leaves falling, gradually baring the trees at the approach of winter.
A uniform suddenly appeared in one of the paths: it was a sergeant belonging to the commissariat department, who was pa.s.sing rapidly, bent on business.
Directly the fair young man saw him he left his place by the palisade and hid himself behind a tree, muttering:
"Decidedly one has to be constantly on the defensive!" He unb.u.t.toned his coat and looked at his watch.
"Twenty-five minutes past three! He will not be long now!"
Two hundred yards from this spot, before the chief entrance to the Gardens, a crowd had gathered; inveterate idlers jostling one another in the circle they had formed round a sordid individual, a miserable old man with a long white beard, who was drawing discordant sounds from an old accordion.
Some kindly housewives, some shock-headed errand-boys, were exercising their lungs to the utmost, trying to help the musician to play according to time and tune.
But, in spite of the goodwill about him, the poor man could not manage to play one single bar correctly, and his helpers bawled in vain.
At the end of a few minutes the accordion player gave up his attempts, and, taking his soft and ancient hat in his hand, he put in practice a much easier exercise: he made the round of the company to collect their offerings. The crowd melted like magic, leaving him solitary, hat in hand, and with only a few sous in it for his pains. With a resigned air, the man pocketed his meagre takings, then, pushing the accordion up on his back where it was held in place by a strap, he walked, bent, staggering, towards the gate. He pa.s.sed through it and entered the Gardens.
The old man went to a secluded seat behind the museum. Almost immediately he saw a well-dressed young man approaching, the very same who some ten minutes before had been staring at the crocodiles with but lukewarm interest.
The young man seated himself beside the old accordion player without seeming to notice him. Then, in an almost inaudible voice, as if speaking to himself, the young man uttered these words:
"Fine weather! The daisy is going to bloom."
At once the accordion player added.
"And the potatoes are going to sprout!"
They identified each other.
The two men were alone in this deserted corner of the garden; they drew closer together and began to converse.
"Are things still going well, Vagualame?"
"My faith, Monsieur Henri, that depends."...
The old accordion player cast a rapid penetrating glance at the countenance of his companion: it was done with the instinctive ease of habit.