Seized with the intoxication of sudden wealth, they lose all measure and all prudence. Whether they believe their luck inexhaustible, or fear a sudden turn of fortune, they make haste to enjoy themselves, and they fill the noted restaurants, the leading Cafes, the theatres, the clubs, the race-courses, with their impudent personality, the clash of their voice, the extravagance of their mistresses, the noise of their expenses, and the absurdity of their vanity. And they go on and on, lavishing other people"s money, until the fatal hour of one of those disastrous liquidations which terrify the courts and the exchange, and cause pallid faces and a gnashing of teeth in the "street," until the moment when they have the choice between a pistol-shot, which they never choose, the criminal court, which they do their best to avoid, and a trip abroad.
What becomes of them afterwards? To what gutters do they tumble from fall to fall? Does any one know what becomes of the women who disappear suddenly after two or three years of follies and of splendors?
But it happens sometimes, as you step out of a carriage in front of some theatre, that you wonder where you have already seen the face of the wretched beggar who opens the door for you, and in a husky voice claims his two sous. You saw him at the Cafe Riche, during the six months that he was a big financier.
Some other time you may catch, in the crowd, s.n.a.t.c.hes of a strange conversation between two c.r.a.pulous rascals.
"It was at the time," says one, "when I drove that bright chestnut team that I had bought for twenty thousand francs of the eldest son of the Duke de Sermeuse."
"I remember," replies the other; "for at that moment I gave six thousand francs a month to little Cabriole of the Varieties."
And, improbable as this may seem, it is the exact truth; for one was manager of a manufacturing enterprise that sank ten millions; and the other was at the head of a financial operation that ruined five hundred families. They had houses like the one in the Rue du Cirque, mistresses more expensive than Mme. Zelie Cadelle, and servants like those who were now talking within a step of Maxence and Marius de Tregars. The latter had resumed their conversation; and the oldest one, the coachman with the red nose, was saying to his younger comrade, "This Vincent affair must be a lesson to you. If ever you find yourself again in a house where so much money is spent, remember that it hasn"t cost much trouble to make it, and manage somehow to get as big a share of it as you can."
"That"s what I"ve always done wherever I have been."
"And, above all, make haste to fill your bag, because, you see, in houses like that, one is never sure, one day, whether, the next, the gentleman will not be at Mazas, and the lady at St. Lazares."
They had done their second bowl of punch, and finished their conversation. They paid, and left.
And Maxence and M. de Tregars were able, at last, to throw down their cards.
Maxence was very pale; and big tears were rolling down his cheeks.
"What disgrace!" he murmured: "This, then, is the other side of my father"s existence! This is the way in which he spent the millions which he stole; whilst, in the Rue St. Gilles, he deprived his family of the necessaries of life!"
And, in a tone of utter discouragement, "Now it is indeed all over, and it is useless to continue our search. My father is certainly guilty."
But M. de Tregars was not the man thus to give up the game.
"Guilty? Yes," he said, "but dupe also."
"Whose dupe?"
"That"s what we"ll find out, you may depend upon it."
"What! after what we have just heard?"
"I have more hope than ever."
"Did you learn any thing from Mme. Zelie Cadelle, then?"
"Nothing more than you know by those two rascals" conversation."
A dozen questions were pressing upon Maxence"s lips; but M. de Tregars interrupted him.
"In this case, my friend, less than ever must we trust appearances. Let me speak. Was your father a simpleton? No! His ability to dissimulate, for years, his double existence, proves, on the contrary, a wonderful amount of duplicity. How is it, then, that latterly his conduct has been so extraordinary and so absurd? But you will doubtless say it was always such. In that case, I answer you, No; for then his secret could not have been kept for a year. We hear that other women lived in that house before Mme. Zelie Cadelle. But who were they? What has become of them? Is there any certainty that they have ever existed? Nothing proves it.
"The servants having been all changed, Amanda, the chambermaid, is the only one who knows the truth; and she will be very careful to say nothing about it. Therefore, all our positive information goes back no farther than five months. And what do we hear? That your father seemed to try and make his extravagant expenditures as conspicuous as possible. That he did not even take the trouble to conceal the source of the money he spent so profusely; for he told Mme. Zelie that he was at the end of his tether, and that, after having spent his own fortune, he was spending other people"s money. He had announced his intended departure; he had sold the house, and received its price. Finally, at the last moment, what does he do?
"Instead of going off quietly and secretly, like a man who is running away, and who knows that he is pursued, he tells every one where he intends to go; he writes it on all his trunks, in letters half a foot high; and then rides in great display to the railway station, with a woman, several carriages, servants, etc. What is the object of all this? To get caught? No, but to start a false scent. Therefore, in his mind, every thing must have been arranged in advance, and the catastrophe was far from taking him by surprise; therefore the scene with M. de Thaller must have been prepared; therefore, it must have been on purpose that he left his pocketbook behind, with the bill in it that was to lead us straight here; therefore all we have seen is but a transparent comedy, got up for our special benefit, and intended to cover up the truth, and mislead the law."
But Maxence was not entirely convinced.
"Still," he remarked, "those enormous expenses."
M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders.
"Have you any idea," he said, "what display can be made with a million? Let us admit that your father spent two, four millions even. The loss of the Mutual Credit is twelve millions. What has become of the other eight?"
And, as Maxence made no answer, "It is those eight millions," he added, "that I want, and that I shall have. It is in Paris that your father is hid, I feel certain. We must find him; and we must make him tell the truth, which I already more than suspect."
Whereupon, throwing on the table the pint of beer which he had not drunk, he walked out of the Cafe with Maxence.
"Here you are at last!" exclaimed the coachman, who had been waiting at the corner for over three hours, a prey to the utmost anxiety.
But M. de Tregars had no time for explanations; and, pushing Maxence into the cab, he jumped in after him, crying to the coachman, "24 Rue Joquelet. Five francs extra for yourself." A driver who expects an extra five francs, always has, for five minutes at least, a horse as fast as Gladiateur.
Whilst the cab was speeding on to its destination, "What is most important for us now," said M. de Tregars to Maxence, "is to ascertain how far the Mutual Credit crisis has progressed; and M. Latterman of the Rue Joquelet is the man in all Paris who can best inform us."
Whoever has made or lost five hundred francs at the bourse knows M. Latterman, who, since the war, calls himself an Alsatian and curses with a fearful accent those "parparous Broossians." This worthy speculator modestly calls himself a money-changer; but he would be a simpleton who should ask him for change: and it is certainly not that sort of business which gives him the three hundred thousand francs" profits which he pockets every year.
When a company has failed, when it has been wound up, and the defrauded stockholders have received two or three per cent in all on their original investment, there is a prevailing idea that the certificates of its stocks are no longer good for any thing, except to light the fire. That"s a mistake. Long after the company has foundered, its shares float, like the shattered debris which the sea casts upon the beach months after the ship has been wrecked. These shares M. Latterman collects, and carefully stores away; and upon the shelves of his office you may see numberless shares and bonds of those numerous companies which have absorbed, in the past twenty years, according to some statistics, twelve hundred millions, and, according to others, two thousand millions, of the public fortune.
Say but a word, and his clerks will offer you some "Franco-American Company," some "Steam Navigation Company of Ma.r.s.eilles," some "Coal and Metal Company of the Asturias," some "Transcontinental Memphis and El Paso" (of the United States), some "Caumart Slate Works," and hundreds of others, which, for the general public, have no value, save that of old paper, that is from three to five cents a pound. And yet speculators are found who buy and sell these rags.
In an obscure corner of the bourse may be seen a miscellaneous population of old men with pointed beards, and overdressed young men, who deal in every thing salable, and other things besides. There are found foreign merchants, who will offer you stocks of merchandise, goods from auction, good claims to recover, and who at last will take out of their pockets an opera-gla.s.s, a Geneva watch (smuggled in), a revolver, or a bottle of patent hair-restorer.
Such is the market to which drift those shares which were once issued to represent millions, and which now represent nothing but a palpable proof of the audacity of swindlers, and the credulity of their dupes. And there are actually buyers for these shares, and they go up or down, according to the ordinary laws of supply and demand; for there is a demand for them, and here comes in the usefulness of M. Latterman"s business.
Does a tradesman, on the eve of declaring himself bankrupt, wish to defraud his creditors of a part of his a.s.sets, to conceal excessive expenses, or cover up some embezzlement, at once he goes to the Rue Joquelet, procures a select a.s.sortment of "Cantonal Credit," "Rossdorif Mines," or "Maumusson Salt Works," and puts them carefully away in his safe.
And, when the receiver arrives, "There are my a.s.sets," he says. "I have there some twenty, fifty, or a hundred thousand francs of stocks, the whole of which is not worth five francs to-day; but it isn"t my fault. I thought it a good investment; and I didn"t sell, because I always thought the price would come up again."
And he gets his discharge, because it would really be too cruel to punish a man because he has made unfortunate investments.
Better than any one, M. Latterman knows for what purpose are purchased the valueless securities which he sells; and he actually advises his customers which to take in preference, in order that their purchase at the time of their issue may appear more natural, and more likely. Nevertheless, he claims to be a perfectly honest man, and declares that he is no more responsible for the swindles that are committed by means of his stocks than a gunsmith for a murder committed with a gun that he has sold.
"But he will surely be able to tell us all about the Mutual Credit," repeated Maxence to M. de Tregars.
Four o"clock struck when the carriage stopped in the Rue Joquelet. The bourse had just closed; and a few groups were still standing in the square, or along the railings.
"I hope we shall find this Latterman at home," said Maxence.
They started up the stairs (for it is up on the second floor that this worthy operator has his offices); and, having inquired, "M. Latterman is engaged with a customer," answered a clerk. "Please sit down and wait."
M. Latterman"s office was like all other caverns of the same kind. A very narrow s.p.a.ce was reserved to the public; and all around, behind a heavy wire screen, the clerks could be seen busy with figures, or handling coupons. On the right, over a small window, appeared the word, "CASHIER." A small door on the left led to the private office.
M. de Tregars and Maxence had patiently taken a seat on a hard leather bench, once red; and they were listening and looking on.
There was considerable animation about the place. Every few minutes, well-dressed young men came in with a hurried and important look, and, taking out of their pocket a memorandum-book, they would speak a few sentences of that peculiar dialect, bristling with figures, which is the language of the bourse. At the end of fifteen or twenty minutes, "Will M. Latterman be engaged much longer?" inquired M. de Tregars.
"I do not know," replied a clerk.
At that very moment, the little door on the left opened, and the customer came out who had detained M. Latterman so long. This customer was no other than M. Costeclar. Noticing M. de Tregars and Maxence, who had risen at the noise of the door, he appeared most disagreeably surprised. He even turned slightly pale, and took a step backwards, as if intending to return precipitately into the room that he was leaving; for M. Latterman"s office, like that of all other large operators, had several doors, without counting the one that leads to the police-court. But M. de Tregars gave him no time to effect this retreat. Stepping suddenly forward, "Well?" he asked him in a tone that was almost threatening.
The brilliant financier had condescended to take off his hat, usually riveted upon his head, and, with the smile of a knave caught in the act, "I did not expect to meet you here, my lord-marquis," he said.
At the t.i.tle of "marquis," everybody looked up. "I believe you, indeed," said M. de Tregars. "But what I want to know is, how is the matter progressing?"
"The plot is thickening. Justice is acting."
"Indeed!"
"It is a fact. Jules Jottras, of the house of Jottras and Brother, was arrested this morning, just as he arrived at the bourse."
"Why?"
"Because, it seems, he was an accomplice of Favoral; and it was he who sold the bonds stolen from the Mutual Credit."
Maxence had started at the mention of his father"s name but, with a significant glance, M. de Tregars bid him remain silent, and, in a sarcastic tone, "Famous capture!" he murmured. "And which proves the clear-sightedness of justice."
"But this is not all," resumed M. Costeclar. "Saint Pavin, the editor of "The Financial Pilot," you know, is thought to be seriously compromised. There was a rumor, at the close of the market, that a warrant either had been, or was about to be, issued against him."
"And the Baron de Thaller?"
The employes of the office could not help admiring M. Costeclar"s extraordinary amount of patience.
"The baron," he replied, "made his appearance at the bourse this afternoon, and was the object of a veritable ovation."
"That is admirable! And what did he say?"
"That the damage was already repaired."
"Then the shares of the Mutual Credit must have advanced."
"Unfortunately, not. They did not go above one hundred and ten francs."
"Were you not astonished at that?"
"Not much, because, you see, I am a business-man, I am; and I know pretty well how things work. When they left M. de Thaller this morning, the stockholders of the Mutual Credit had a meeting; and they pledged themselves, upon honor, not to sell, so as not to break the market. As soon as they had separated, each one said to himself, "Since the others are going to keep their stock, like fools, I am going to sell mine." Now, as there were three or four hundred of them who argued the same way, the market was flooded with shares."
Looking the brilliant financier straight in the eyes, "And yourself?" interrupted M. de Tregars.
"I!" stammered M. Costeclar, so visibly agitated, that the clerks could not help laughing.
"Yes. I wish to know if you have been more faithful to your word than the stockholders of whom you are speaking, and whether you have done as we had agreed."
"Certainly; and, if you find me here-"
But M. de Tregars, placing his own hand over his shoulder, stopped him short.
"I think I know what brought you here," he uttered; "and in a few moments I shall have ascertained."
"I swear to you."
"Don"t swear. If I am mistaken, so much the better for you. If I am not mistaken, I"ll prove to you that it is dangerous to try any sharp game on me, though I am not a business-man."
Meantime M. Latterman, seeing no customer coming to take the place of the one who had left, became impatient at last, and appeared upon the threshold of his private office.
He was a man still young, small, thick-set, and vulgar. At the first glance, nothing of him could be seen but his abdomen,-a big, great, and ponderous abdomen, seat of his thoughts, and tabernacle of his aspirations, over which dangled a double gold chain, loaded with trinkets. Above an apoplectic neck, red as that of a turkey-c.o.c.k, stood his little head, covered with coa.r.s.e red hair, cut very short. He wore a heavy beard, trimmed in the form of a fan. His large, full-moon face was divided in two by a nose as flat as a Kalmuck"s, and illuminated by two small eyes, in which could be read the most thorough duplicity.
Seeing M. de Tregars and M. Costeclar engaged in conversation, "Why! you know each other?" he said.
M. de Tregars advanced a step, "We are even intimate friends," he replied. "And it is very lucky that we should have met. I am brought here by the same matter as our dear Costeclar; and I was just explaining to him that he has been too hasty, and that it would be best to wait three or four days longer."
"That"s just what I told him," echoed the honorable financier.
Maxence understood only one thing,-that M. de Tregars had penetrated M. Costeclar"s designs; and he could not sufficiently admire his presence of mind, and his skill in grasping an unexpected opportunity.
"Fortunately there is nothing done yet," added M. Latterman.
"And it is yet time to alter what has been agreed on," said M. de Tregars. And, addressing himself to Costeclar, "Come," he added, "we"ll fix things with M. Latterman."
But the other, who remembered the scene in the Rue St. Gilles, and who had his own reasons to be alarmed, would sooner have jumped out of the window.
"I am expected," he stammered. "Arrange matters without me."
"Then you give me carte blanche?"
Ah, if the brilliant financier had dared! But he felt upon him such threatening eyes, that he dared not even make a gesture of denial.
"Whatever you do will be satisfactory," he said in the tone of a man who sees himself lost.
And, as he was going out of the door, M. de Tregars stepped into M. Latterman"s private office. He remained only five minutes; and when he joined Maxence, whom he had begged to wait for him, "I think that we have got them," he said as they walked off.
Their next visit was to M. Saint Pavin, at the office of "The Financial Pilot." Every one must have seen at least one copy of that paper with its ingenious vignette, representing a bold mariner steering a boat, filled with timid pa.s.sengers, towards the harbor of Million, over a stormy sea, bristling with the rocks of failure and the shoals of ruin. The office of "The Pilot" is, in fact, less a newspaper office than a sort of general business agency.
As at M. Latterman"s, there are clerks scribbling behind wire screens, small windows, a cashier, and an immense blackboard, on which the latest quotations of the Rente, and other French and foreign securities, are written in chalk.
As "The Pilot" spends some hundred thousand francs a year in advertising, in order to obtain subscribers; as, on the other hand, it only costs three francs a year,-it is clear that it is not on its subscriptions that it realizes any profits. It has other sources of income: its brokerages first; for it buys, sells, and executes, as the prospectus says, all orders for stocks, bonds, or other securities, for the best interests of the client. And it has plenty of business.
To the opulent brokerages, must be added advertising and puffing, -another mine. Six times out of ten, when a new enterprise is set on foot, the organizers send for Saint Pavin. Honest men, or knaves, they must all pa.s.s through his hands. They know it, and are resigned in advance.
"We rely upon you," they say to him.
"What advantages have you to offer?" he replies.
Then they discuss the operation, the expected profits of the new company, and M. Saint Pavin"s demands. For a hundred thousand francs he promises bursts of lyrism; for fifty thousand he will be enthusiastic only. Twenty thousand francs will secure a moderate praise of the affair; ten thousand, a friendly neutrality. And, if the said company refuses any advantages to "The Pilot"- "Ah, you must beware!" says Saint Pavin.