A cry, or rather a savage howl, came up from the depths of the cellar.
"Oh, there is my darling, who says "good-day" to his mamma," said La Chouette, ironically; and she descended a few steps to conceal her prize in some corner.
"I am hungry!" cried the Schoolmaster, in a voice trembling with rage; "do you mean I am to die here like a mad beast?"
"You are hungry, poor puss!" said La Chouette, shouting with laughter.
"Well, suck your thumb!"
The noise of a chain shaken violently was heard; then a sigh of restrained rage.
"Take care! take care! you will hurt your leg, poor dear papa!" said Tortillard.
"The child is right; keep quiet, old pal," said the old woman; "the chain and rings are strong, old No-eyes; they come from old Micou, who only sells first rate articles. It is your own fault; for why did you allow yourself to be tied when you were asleep? Afterward there was nothing to be done, but to slip on the chain, and bring you down here, in this nice cool place, to preserve you, my sweet!"
"It"s a shame--he"ll grow mouldy," said Tortillard.
The chains were heard rattling anew.
"Oh, oh! he jumps like a ladybird, tied by the paw," cried the old woman. "I think I can see him."
"Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home! your house is on fire, and the Schoolmaster is burning!" chanted Tortillard.
This variation augmented the hilarity of La Chouette. Having placed her basket in a hole under one of the steps, she said, "Look here, my man."
"He does not see," answered Tortillard.
"The boy is right. Ah, well! Do you hear? You should not have hindered me, when we returned from the farm, from washing Pegriotte"s face with vitriol. You should not have played the good dog, simpleton. And then, to talk of your conscience, which was becoming prudish. I saw that your cake was all dough; that some day or other you might peach, Mister Eyeless, and then--"
"Old No-eyes will nip you, Screech-Owl, for he is hungry," cried Tortillard, suddenly, pushing, with all his strength, the old woman by the back.
La Chouette fell forward, uttering a dreadful imprecation, and rolled to the foot of the steps.
"Lick "em, Towser! La Chouette is yours! Jump on her, old man," added Tortillard.
Then, seizing hold of the basket, which he had seen the old woman hide, he ran up the stairs precipitately, crying with savage joy, "There is a push worth double what I gave you a while ago, La Chouette! This time you can"t bite me. Oh! you thought I didn"t care; thank you, I bleed still."
"I have her, oh, I have her!" cried the Schoolmaster from the depths of the cellar.
"If you have her, old man, fair play," said the boy, chuckling, as he stopped on the top step of the staircase.
"Help!" cried La Chouette, in a strangled voice.
"Thank you, Tortillard," answered the Schoolmaster; "thank you," and he uttered an aspiration of fearful joy.
"Oh! I pardon you the harm you have done me, and to reward you, you shall hear La Chouette sing! Listen to the bird of death--"
"Bravo, bravo! here am I in the dress circle, private box," said Tortillard, seating himself at the top of the stairs. He raised the light to endeavor to see what was going on in the cellar, but the darkness was too great; so faint a light could not dissipate it.
Bras-Rouge"s hopeful could distinguish nothing. The struggle between the Schoolmaster and La Chouette was silent and furious, without a word, without a cry. Only, from time to time, could be heard a hard breathing or suffocating respiration, which always accompanies violent and continued struggles.
Tortillard, seated on the stone step, began to stamp his feet in the manner peculiar to spectators anxious for the commencement of a play; then he uttered the familiar cry of the "G.o.ds" in the penny-gaffs.
"Hoist that rag! trot "em out! Begin, begin! Music, music!"
"Oh, I have you as I wish," murmured the Schoolmaster from the bottom of the cellar, "and you shall--"
A desperate movement of La Chouette interrupted him. She struggled with that energy which is caused by the fear of death.
"Speak up, we can"t hear," cried Tortillard.
"You have a fine chance in my hand. I have you as I wish to have you,"
continued the Schoolmaster. Then, having doubtless succeeded in holding La Chouette, he added, "That"s it. Now listen--"
"Tortillard, call your father!" cried La Chouette, in a breathless, exhausted tone. "Help, help!"
"Turn out that old woman! turn her out! We can"t hear," said the little cripple, screaming with laughter. "Silence! out with her!"
The cries of La Chouette could not reach the upper apartments. The wretch, seeing she had no aid to expect from the son of Bras-Rouge, tried a last effort.
"Tortillard, go for help; and I will give you my basket, it is full of jewels. It is there under a stone."
"How generous you are! Thank you, ma"am! Don"t you know that I have your swag? Hold, don"t you hear it jingle?" said Tortillard shaking it. "But give me two sous to buy some hot cake and I"ll go seek papa."
"Have pity on me, and I--" La Chouette could not proceed. Again there was a pause.
The little cripple recommenced the stamping of his feet, and cried, "Why don"t you begin? Up with the curtain! Go ahead, will you, now?
Music, music!"
"La Chouette, you can no longer deafen me with your cries," said the Schoolmaster, after some minutes, during which he had succeeded in gagging the old woman. "You know well," resumed he, in a slow and hollow tone, "that I do not wish to finish you at once. Torture for torture. You have made me suffer enough. I must talk to you a long time before I kill you--yes, a long time. It will be frightful for you! What agony!"
"Come, none of your nonsense, old man," cried Tortillard, half rising.
"Correct her; but do not hurt her. You speak of killing her; it"s only a joke, is it not! I like my Chouette. I have lent her to you, but you must return her to me. Don"t damage her. I will not have any one harm my Chouette, or I will go and call papa."
"Be not alarmed; she shall only have what she deserves--a profitable lesson," said the robber, to rea.s.sure Tortillard, fearing that the cripple would go for help.
"Very good! bravo! Now the play begins," said the boy, who did not believe that the Schoolmaster seriously meditated to destroy La Chouette.
"Let us talk a little," resumed the Schoolmaster, in a calm voice, to the old woman. "In the first place, since a dream I had at the farm of Bouqueval, which brought before my eyes all our crimes, which almost made me mad, which will make me mad--for in the solitude and profound state of isolation in which I live, all my thoughts, in spite of myself, tend toward this dream--a strange change has taken place within me. Yes, I have thought with horror of my past wickedness. In the first place, I did not allow you to disfigure the Goualeuse. That was nothing. By chaining me here in this cave, by making me suffer cold and hunger, but by delivering me from your provocation, you have left me alone to all the horrors of my thoughts. Oh! you do not know what it is to be alone, always alone, with a black veil over the eyes, as the implacable man said who punished me." (This was Rudolph who had had him blinded.) "It is fearful! See now! In this cellar I wished to kill him, but this cellar is the place of my punishment. It will be perhaps my grave!
"I repeat to you, this is frightful. All that man predicted is realized. He told me: "You have abused your strength: you shall be the plaything of the weakest." This has been. He told me: "Henceforth, separated from the exterior world, face to face with the eternal remembrance of your crimes, one day you will repent them." That day has arrived; solitude has confirmed it. I could not have thought it possible. Another proof that I am, perhaps, less wicked than formerly, is, that I experience an indescribable joy in holding you there, monster, not to avenge myself, but to avenge our victims. Yes, I shall have accomplished a duty, when, with my own hand, I shall have punished my accomplice. A voice tells me, that if you had fallen sooner into my power, much blood might have been spared. I feel now a horror of my past murders, and yet, strange! it is without fear, it is with security that I intend to execute on you a frightful murder, with horrible refinement of cruelty. Speak, speak! can you realize this?"
"Bravo, bravo! well played, first old man. You warm up," cried Tortillard, applauding. "This is only a joke, though?"
"Only a joke?" answered the Schoolmaster, in a hollow voice. "Be still, La Chouette; I must finish explaining to you how, little by little, I came to repent. This revelation will be odious to you, heart of iron, and it will also prove to you how merciless I ought to be in the vengeance I wish to exercise on you in the name of our victims. I must hurry on. The joy of having you thus makes my blood run wild, my head throb with violence, as when I think of my dream. My mind wanders; perhaps one of my attacks is coming on; but I shall have time to render the approaches of death more frightful, in forcing you to hear me."
"Bold, La Chouette!" cried Tortillard; "be bold with your answer.
Don"t you know your part? Come, tell the devil to prompt you, my old dear."
"Oh! you do well to struggle and bite," said the Schoolmaster, after a pause; "you shall not escape; you have cut my ringers to the bone, but I will tear your tongue out if you stir. Let us continue to converse.