"Then I should have screamed like an eagle, and called for help! But it suited me to do my own cooking myself; to be able to say to M. Rudolph, "No one but I meddled in the affair. I have defended, and will defend, your young man; be tranquil!""
At this moment the keeper entered quickly.
"M. Germain, come, make haste, to the governor"s room. He wishes to speak to you at once. And you, Slasher, my boy, descend to the hall. You shall be provost if it suits you, for you have every requisite to fill the office, and the prisoners will not joke with a big un of your caliber."
"All the same to me-as well be captain as soldier while one is here."
"Will you still refuse my hand?" said Germain, cordially, to the Slasher.
"No, M. Germain, no; I believe that now I can allow myself this pleasure, and I do it with all my heart."
"We shall see each other again, for I am now under your protection. I shall have nothing more to fear, and from my cell I shall descend each day to the court."
"Be a.s.sured, if I wish it, they shall not speak to you except on all fours.
But, now I think of it, you know how to write; put down on paper what I have just related to you, and send it to M. Rudolph; he will know that he need have no more uneasiness about you, and that I am here for a good motive; for if he should learn elsewhere that the Slasher had stolen, and he did not know the game--thunder! that would not suit me."
"Rest satisfied: this very night I will write to my unknown protector; to-morrow you will give me his address, and the letter shall be sent.
Adieu, once more, thank you, my good fellow."
"Adieu, M. Germain; I go to return among this band of rascals, of whom I am provost; they will have to march pretty straight, or stand from under!"
"When I think that on my account you go to live for some time among these wretches--"
"What is that to me, now that there is no risk of their contaminating me.
M. Rudolph has washed me too well. I am insured against fire."
And the Slasher followed the keeper. Germain entered the apartment of the governor. What was his surprise--he found Rigolette there.
Rigolette, pale, with deep emotion, her eyes bathed in tears, and yet smiling through these tears, her face expressed a sentiment of joy, of happiness indescribable.
"I have good news to tell you, sir," said the governor. "The judges have just declared that no action lies against you, and I have the order to set you immediately at liberty."
"What do you say, sir? Can it be possible?"
Rigolette wished to speak; her too lively emotion prevented her; she could only make to Germain an affirmative sign with her head.
"This young lady arrived here a few moments after I had received the order to set you at liberty," added the governor. "A letter of all-powerful recommendation which she brought me has informed me of the touching devotion she has shown you during your stay in prison, sir. It is, then, with great pleasure that I have sent for you, certain that you would be very happy to give your arm to the lady on leaving the place."
"A dream! surely it is a dream!" said Germain. "Oh, sir, what kindness!
Pardon me if surprise--joy--prevents me from thanking you as I ought."
"And I, too, M. Germain, cannot find a word to say," added Rigolette.
"Judge of my happiness: on leaving you, I found the friend of M. Rudolph waiting for me."
"M. Rudolph again!" said the astonished Germain.
"Yes; now I can tell you all. M. Murphy said to me then, "Germain is free; here is a letter for the governor of the prison; before you arrive, he will have received the order to set Germain at liberty, and you can bring him away." I could not believe what I heard, and yet it was true.
Quick--quick--I took a cab--I arrived--and it is now below waiting for us."
We renounce the attempt to describe the delight of the two lovers when they left La Force; of the evening they pa.s.sed in the little chamber of Rigolette, which Germain left at eleven o"clock for a modest furnished apartment. Let us sum up in a few words the practical or theoretical ideas we have endeavored to place in relief in this episode of a prison life. We shall esteem ourselves very happy if we have shown the insufficiency, the impotency, and the danger of imprisonment in common. The disproportion which exists between the appreciation and punishment of certain crimes, and those of certain other offenses. And, finally, the material impossibility for the poorer cla.s.ses to enjoy the benefits of the civil laws.
CHAPTER XII.
PUNISHMENT.
We will conduct the reader again to the office of the notary, Jacques Ferrand. Thanks to the habitual loquacity of the clerks, almost constantly occupied with the increasing caprices of their patron, we can learn the events that occurred since the disappearance of Cecily.
"A hundred to ten, if the present state of his health continues, before a month the governor will be as dead as a doornail."
"The fact is, that since the servant who had the air of an Alsatian has left the house, he has had nothing but skin on his bones."
"And what skin!"
"I"ll wager he was in love with this Alsatian, for it is since her departure that he has shriveled up so!"
"He in love? what nonsense! on the contrary, he sees the priests more than ever; and the parish cure, a very respectable man (one must be just), went away yesterday, saying (I overheard him) to another priest who accompanied him," This is admirable! M. Ferrand is the personification of Charity and Generosity.""
"The cure said that? of himself? without prompting?"
"Yes! I heard him."
"Then, I can"t understand it at all. The cure has the reputation, and deserves it, of being what is called a right good pastor."
"It is true; and of him we must speak seriously and with respect; he is as good and charitable as "Little Blue Mantle," [Footnote: We must be allowed to mention here, with veneration, the name of that excellent man, M.
Champion, with whom we have not the honor of a personal acquaintance, but of whom all the poor of Paris speak with as much respect as grat.i.tude.] and when one says that of a man he is judged."
"Ay, that is not a little to say."
"No. For "Little Blue Mantle," as well as for the good priest, the poor have only one word, and a good word it is, from the heart."
"Then I return to my idea; when the cure affirms a thing, he must be believed, as he is incapable of telling a falsehood; and yet to think as he does, that our master is charitable and generous--that sticks in my throat."
"Oh! how pretty that is, Chalamel! how pretty."
"Seriously, I would just as soon believe that as I would a miracle. It would not be more difficult."
"M. Ferrand generous! he would skin an egg!"
"And yet the forty sous for our breakfast?"
"Beautiful proof! It is like a pimple on the end of a man"s nose--it is an accident."
"Yes, but, on the other hand, the head clerk told me that three days ago he sold out an enormous amount of treasury bonds, and that--"