"Alfred, answer me; do not remain dumb--you alarm me," said Mrs.
Pipelet; "let us get you up. Why will you think on that beggarly fellow? You know that, when you think of him, it has the same effect on you as when you eat cabbage--it fills up your gizzard, and stifles you!"
"Cabrion!" repeated Pipelet, lifting with difficulty his hat from his eyes, which he rolled about with a frightened air.
Miss Dimpleton entered, carrying a small bottle of absinthe.
"Thank you, mademoiselle; you are very kind," said the old woman. Then she added: "Here, darling, pop it down; it will bring you to yourself."
And Anastasia, presenting the vial quickly to Pipelet"s lips, insisted on his swallowing the contents. Alfred in vain struggled courageously: his wife, profiting by the weakness of her victim, held his head with a firm grasp in one hand, and with the other introduced the neck of the vial between his teeth, and forced him to drink the absinthe; after which she cried triumphantly: "Well done! you are again on your pins, my cherished one!"
Alfred, having wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, opened his eyes, stood up, and asked in a trembling voice: "Have you seen him?"
"Who?"
"Is he gone?"
"Alfred, whom do you mean?"
"Cabrion!"
"Has he dared--" cried the portress.
Pipelet, as dumb as the statue of the Commander in _Don Giovanni,_ bowed his head twice in the affirmative.
"M. Cabrion, has he been here?" asked Miss Dimpleton, restraining with difficulty an inclination to laugh.
"That monster! has he been let loose upon Alfred?" cried Mrs. Pipelet.
"Oh, if I had been here with my broom, he should have eaten it up, to the very handle! But speak, Alfred; relate to us this horrible affair."
Pipelet made a sign with his hand that he was about to speak, and they listened to the man of the immense hat in religious silence. Pie expressed himself in these terms, with a voice deeply agitated: "My wife had just left me to complete the orders given by you, sir (bowing to Rudolph), to call at the mayor"s and the cook-shop."
"The dear old man had the nightmare all night, and I wished him to rest," said Anastasia.
"This nightmare was sent me as a warning from above," said the porter, solemnly. "I had dreamed of Cabrion--I was to suffer by Cabrion. Here was I sitting quietly before the table, thinking of an alteration that I wished to make in this boot confided to me, when I heard a noise, a rustling at the window of my lodge--was it a presentiment--a warning from above? My heart beat; I raised my head, and through the window I saw--saw--"
"Cabrion!" cried Anastasia, clasping her hands.
"Cabrion!" replied Pipelet, in a hollow tone. "His hideous face was there, close to the window, looking at me with his cat"s eyes--what do I say? tiger"s eyes! just as in my dream. I tried to speak, but my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth: I would have risen--I was glued to my seat; the boot fell from my hands, and, as in every critical and important event of my life, I remained completely motionless. Then the key turned in the lock; the door opened, and Cabrion entered!"
"He entered? what effrontery!" said Mrs. Pipelet, as much astonished as her husband at such audacity.
"Cabrion advanced slowly, his looks fixed on me, as a serpent glares on the bird, like a phantom--on, on, chilling, lowering!"
"I"m goose-flesh all over!" groaned Anastasia.
"He came quite close to me; I could no longer endure his revolting aspect; it was too much, I could hold out no longer. I shut my eyes, and I then felt that he dared to put his hands on my hat, took it slowly off my head, and left it naked! I was seized with giddiness--my breathing was suspended--a ringing came in my ears--I was more than ever glued to my seat--I shut my eyes more firmly. Then Cabrion stooped, took my bald head between his hands, cold as death, and upon my forehead, bathed in sweat, imprinted a lascivious kiss!"
Anastasia lifted her arms toward heaven.
"My most inveterate enemy kissed my forehead! A monstrosity so unparalleled overcame and paralyzed me. Cabrion profited by my stupor to replace my hat on my head: then, with a blow on the crown, bonneted me as you saw. The last outrage quite overpowered me--the measure was full; everything about me turned round, and I fainted at the moment when I saw him, from under the rim of my hat, leave the room as quietly and slowly as he had entered."
Then, as though this recital had exhausted his strength, Pipelet fell back on his chair, raising his hands to heaven in the att.i.tude of mute imprecation. Miss Dimpleton left the room suddenly; her desire to laugh almost stifled her, and she could no longer restrain herself.
Rudolph himself had with difficulty preserved his gravity.
Suddenly a confused murmur, such as announces the a.s.sembling of a mult.i.tude, was heard in the street; a tumult arose at the end of the pa.s.sage, and then musket-b.u.t.ts sounded on the door-step.
"Good heaven, M. Rudolph!" cried Miss Dimpleton, running back, pale and trembling; "here are a commissary of police and the guard!"
"Divine justice watches over me!" said Pipelet, in a burst of religious grat.i.tude; "they come to arrest Cabrion! Unhappily, it is too late!"
A commissary of police, known by a scarf worn under his black coat, entered the lodge. His countenance was grave, dignified, and severe.
"M. le Commissaire, you are too late; the malefactor has fled!" said Pipelet, sadly; "but I can give you his description. Villainous smile, impudent manners--"
"Of whom do you speak?" asked the officer.
"Of Cabrion, M. le Commissaire, and if you make all haste, there may be yet time to get hold of him," answered Pipelet.
"I do not know who this Cabrion is," said the officer, impatiently.
"Does Jerome Morel, working lapidary, live in this house?"
"Yes, sir," said Mrs. Pipelet, standing at the salute.
"Conduct me to his apartment.""
"Morel, the lapidary!" resumed the portress, quite surprised; "he is as gentle as a lamb, and incapable of--"
"Does Jerome Morel live here or not?"
"He does live here, sir, with his family, in the attic."
"Show me, then, to this garret."
Then, addressing a man who accompanied him, the magistrate said: "Let the two munic.i.p.al guards wait below, and not leave the alley. Send Justin for a coach." The man left to execute these orders.
"Now," said the magistrate, addressing Pipelet, "conduct me to Morel."
"If it be all the same to you, sir, I will go instead of Alfred, who is indisposed from the persecution of Cabrion; who, just as cabbage does, troubles his gizzard."
"You, or your husband, it matters little which--go on." Preceded by Mrs. Pipelet, he began to ascend the stairs; but he soon stopped, perceiving that he was followed by Rudolph and Miss Dimpleton.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" demanded he.
"They are the two fourth-floors," said Mrs. Pipelet.
"Pardon me, sir, I did not know that you belonged to the house," said he, to Rudolph; who, auguring well from the politeness of the magistrate, said, "You will find a family in great distress, sir. I do not know what new misfortune menaces the unhappy artisan, but he has been cruelly tried last night; one of his children, worn out by illness, is dead beneath his eyes--dead from cold and misery."
"Is it possible?"