"Have you got consciences--your sort?" cried de Loubersac, casting a glance of withering contempt at the supposed old man.
There was a silence. Then de Loubersac walked up to the old accordion player and asked anxiously:
"Can you give me proofs of the truth of what you have just a.s.serted?"
"Perhaps," was the evasive answer.
"You will have to give me proofs," insisted de Loubersac.
"Proofs?... I have none," replied the mysterious old fellow. "But I have intuitions; better still, my confidence is grounded on a strong probability."
This statement came to de Loubersac with the force of a stunning blow: it came from one whom he considered his best agent: he knew Vagualame always weighed his words: his information was generally correct.
"We cannot continue this conversation here," he said. "To-morrow we must meet as usual--and remember--do not attempt to accost me without using the pa.s.sword."
"Now, how the deuce am I to know what this famous word is?" Juve asked himself. Then he had an inspiration.
"We must not use it again," he announced. "I have reason to think our customary pa.s.sword is known ... I will explain another time ... it is a regular story--a long one."
"All right," agreed de Loubersac. "What should it be?... Suppose I say _monoplane_?"
"I will answer _dirigible_," said Juve-Vagualame.
"Agreed."
De Loubersac rapidly mounted the steps leading to the quay, glad to close a detestable interview.
Juve-Vagualame remained below. He struck his forehead.
"Monsieur Henri!" he called.
"What?"
"The meeting place to-morrow?"
De Loubersac had just signalled to a taxi: he leaned over the parapet and called to Juve-Vagualame, who had got no farther than the middle of the steps:
"Why at half past three, in the garden, as usual!"
"Oh, ho!" said the old accordion player. "He will be furious! I shall play him false--bound to--for how can I keep the appointment--confound it! What garden? Whereabouts in it?" Then, as he regained the quay, Juve laughed in his false white beard.
"What do I care? I snap my fingers at that rendezvous. I have extracted from him what I wanted to know--it matters not a jot if I never set eyes on him again! And ... now ... it is we two, Bobinette!"
XIV
BEFORE A TOMB
"This is a surprise!"
Mademoiselle de Naarboveck stopped. She smiled up at Henri de Loubersac.
"Do you know, I saw in this gla.s.s that you were following us," she said, pointing to a mirror placed at an angle in a confectioner"s shop at the corner of rue Biot.
These artless remarks put the handsome lieutenant out of countenance: he blushed hotly, but he pressed the little hand held out to him so simply, and with such a look of frank pleasure. He stammered some excuse for not having recognised her. He bowed pleasantly to Wilhelmine"s companion, Mademoiselle Berthe.
Wilhelmine turned to her.
"This meeting was not prearranged: it is one of pure chance." The tone was defensive without a touch of the apologetic.
Mademoiselle Berthe smiled, and declared that she had not for a moment supposed that the meeting had been prearranged.
De Loubersac gazed considerably at the two girls. Wilhelmine was looking particularly pretty. Beneath her fur toque shone ma.s.ses of her pale gold hair, framing a charming little face. A long velvet coat with ermine stole suggested the youthful contours of her slender figure. Mademoiselle Berthe wore rough blue cloth, and a large hat trimmed with wings, which set off her piquant face with its irregular features and ruddy locks.
Wilhelmine and Henri de Loubersac strolled on together in the direction of the Hippodrome. Mutual protestations of love were, exchanged. Presently Wilhelmine asked:
"But what brought you in this direction?"
"Oh, I was going ... to pay a visit ... it is a piece of very good luck my coming across you like this."
De Loubersac seemed to have something on his mind. Despite his protestations he did not look as if he were enjoying this chance meeting.
"Where were you bound for, Wilhelmine?" he asked.
She looked up at her lover with sad eyes. Pointing in the direction of the cemetery of Montemartre, she replied in a low tone:
"I am going to visit the dear dead."
"Would you allow me to accompany you?" begged de Loubersac.
Wilhelmine shook her head.
"I must ask you to allow me to go there alone. It is my custom to pray there without witnesses."
De Loubersac turned towards Mademoiselle Berthe with a questioning look--a gesture of interrogation.
Wilhelmine replied to it:
"As a rule I go to the cemetery alone. You see me with my companion to-day because my father wished it. Since the sad affair which has thrown a shadow over our life, he is in a constant state of anxiety about my safety: he does not wish me to go about unaccompanied. I shall be waited for at the cemetery."
Wilhelmine"s candid eyes gazed at de Loubersac, who was gnawing his moustache with a preoccupied air.
"What is the matter, Henri?" she asked.