The old woman rose from the corner of the mattress she had seated herself on.
"True? You"re Elizabeth Dollon?... Well, that"s funny! Have you been nabbed long?..."
"You ask if it is long since I was...?"
"Nabbed!... Taken!... Arrested!... Eh?"
Elizabeth nodded in the affirmative. It seemed to her that an infinity of time had pa.s.sed since her imprisonment at Saint Lazare.
"I was nabbed last night. If you want to know my name, I"m called Mother Toulouche. They say I"m one of the band of Numbers, and that I receive stolen goods! Lies! That"s well understood!"
Elizabeth had no desire to go into such an unsavoury question. This horrid old woman rather frightened her; but, such had been her distress and fears since she had been a prisoner, that it was a relief not to be quite alone; to have even this old creature to speak to was better than solitary confinement.
In her character of old jail-bird, Mother Toulouche made herself quickly at home.
"Moved to-morrow, they say I"m to be! Pity! At bottom you"re not one of the scurvy sort, but you must be here to play spy on me, for all that!... When do you go out? Are you long for Saint Lago?" Alas, how could Elizabeth tell?
"I like being a barrister," thought Fandor, as he entered Saint Lazare.
"For the last hour I have felt a different person, much more serious, more sure of myself, not to say, more eloquent!... I must be eloquent, since I have succeeded in persuading my friend, Maitre Dubard, to get himself appointed officially as Mademoiselle Dollon"s counsel; then to obtain a permit of communication, and to hand this same permit over to me, so that his identification papers, safely tucked away in my portfolio, make of me the most indisputable of Maitres Dubard!"
Fandor might well congratulate himself! By means of this ruse--his own idea--he was enabled to see Elizabeth, not in the prison parlour, but in a special cell, and without a witness. As Fandor crossed the threshold of the sordid building, he said to himself:
"I am Maitre Dubard, visiting his client, in order to prepare her defence!"
He easily accomplished the necessary formalities, and, at last, he saw himself being conducted by a morose warder to a little parlour, scantily furnished with a table and a few stools.
"Please be seated, maitre," said the surly fellow. "I"ll fetch your client along!"
Fandor put down his portfolio, but remained standing, anxious, all aquiver at the thought that he was about to see his dear Elizabeth appear between two warders, just like a common prisoner!
"In a moment she will be here," thought he.... But she must on no account recognise him on entering! By an exclamation she might betray his ident.i.ty and complicate things! Therefore, Fandor feigned to be absorbed in a newspaper he unfolded and raised, so as to hide his face from the approaching pair. The door opened.
"Come now! Go in!..." growled the warder. "Maitre, when you wish to leave, you have only to ring."
The door fell to, heavily, behind the warder.
Fandor made a sharp movement. He stood revealed. He hurried up to Elizabeth.
"Oh, tell me how you are, Mademoiselle Elizabeth!" he cried.
But the girl was struck dumb: she grew suddenly pale, and made no reply.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Will you not give me your hand even? You do not understand why I am here? I had to see you, speak to you without a witness ... that"s why I have pa.s.sed myself off as an advocate!"
The startled girl was regaining her self-control. Fandor was gazing at her with frankly admiring eyes.
"Poor Elizabeth! How I have made you suffer!"
The poor girl"s eyes filled with tears.
"Why have you betrayed me?" she demanded in a voice trembling with restrained emotion. "Oh, how could you get me arrested? You, who well know I am not guilty?"
"You really believe I have betrayed you? You actually credited me with that?"
These two young people, meeting in a prison parlour under such tragic circ.u.mstances, were hurt and even angry with each other.
Elizabeth Dollon went on:
"Why did you not tell me that you had found on that piece of soap traces of my brother"s finger-marks? Why did you accuse me of having received a visit from him, when you yourself had proved that he was dead?"
Fandor took Elizabeth"s two little hands in his and pressed them long and tenderly.
"My dear Elizabeth, when I engineered this theatrical stroke in the presence of the examining magistrate, in order to secure your arrest, believe me, I had no time to warn you of what I meant to do.... Ah, if I could have warned you--but it would have only disturbed you to no good purpose, besides--your being really taken by surprise was a help--there could not be any idea of collusion.... Of course, you want the answer to this riddle? You shall have it--that is why I am here.... Don"t you remember, Elizabeth, that on the evening before the fatal day you told me that I had twice rung you up on the telephone? And that each time you answered the call you could not find me at the end of the line?... You cannot imagine what I felt when I heard you say that! I never telephoned! I never telephoned to the convent!
"The obvious conclusion was, that the individuals who, for some reason, did not wish to make themselves known, did wish to keep track of you, and to a.s.sure themselves that you were still at the convent, rue de la Glaciere...."
Fandor"s voice trembled a little, as he went on:
"And I was at once afraid, my poor child, that these people who were pursuing you, might be the very same who had got into Madame Bourrat"s house, and had tried to kill you.... Ah, do you not see how greatly it hurt and troubled me to think that I had taken you to the convent, and had there placed you in security--as I thought--but where you were far from being safe?"
Again Fandor took Elizabeth"s hands in his.
"You do understand now, dear child, why I had you arrested?... I felt you would be safe here.... You see, I could not get your persecutors imprisoned and so prevent them from getting at you. To imprison you was the alternative: you are better guarded here than elsewhere."
Elizabeth smiled a little smile when she saw how moved Fandor was.
"But," replied she, "there is the other point! You certainly told me that you were sure my brother was killed in prison--in his cell!"
"Certainly, I did! The a.s.sa.s.sination of your brother was premeditated.
If the criminals have had accomplices at the Depot, and such there certainly were, they have been bought over little by little.... The fact of your brother"s murder is fresh in the memory of the police, of all, therefore, a special watch is kept over you. I ascertained that it would be so, and Fuselier himself a.s.sured me of it: there is a warder specially told off to keep a close guard over you, a safe man, known to be beyond suspicion.... No, Elizabeth, do believe me, if I was the cause of your horrified surprise the other day, and then of your imprisonment, I wished to be sure that you were as safe as it was possible to be; then, freed from such intense anxiety, I felt I should be at liberty to continue my investigations.... Do say you forgive me!"
All Elizabeth could say was:
"But why not have warned me?... I still can"t quite see!..."
"Why, because, I only thought of the plan at the last moment! Also, because I feared you might not be able to act surprise naturally enough!... It was absolutely--yes, absolutely necessary--that everyone should take your arrest seriously.... Surely, Elizabeth, you can understand that!"
He repeated his plea.
"Do, do say you forgive me, Elizabeth!"
The smile returned to Elizabeth"s lips: she was much moved.
"Indeed, I do... You are always my very good friend: you think of everything, and you watch over me as if ..."