"Who"s calling me?" as if he thought that the voice he had heard came from a balloon.
"Pardi! it"s me calling you; it ain"t a bird, it"s me, Ledrux--this way."
"Ah! it"s you, is it, Pere Ledrux? What are you doing here?"
"As you see, I"m calling you and waiting to ask you if your servant Claudine gave you my message. You wasn"t at home this morning when I went to your house to tell you to go to Gournay to see the wine-dealer"s child; she"s got the scarlet fever, they say."
"Scarlatina--yes, yes. Claudine told me and I am coming from Gournay, as you see."
"Good! then you"ve cured the child?"
"Not yet; but it isn"t anything serious."
"Have you been to Gournay on foot?"
"Yes, the weather was fine, and it does one good to walk; I"m getting too fat."
"But your nag"ll get too fat too, if you don"t use him! Ha! ha! You"d better lend him to me, I"ll give him plenty of work!"
"What are you doing here?"
"I"m showing Monsieur Courtivaux"s house to some ladies from Paris; they"re very nice, and they act as if they meant to buy it. Look, there they are, both of "em, at the window in the little summer-house. That"s where I saw you from."
Honorine and Agathe were, in fact, still standing at the window. They were looking across the fields, but their eyes turned most frequently toward the house with the turret. The few words that the gardener had said concerning its proprietors had aroused their curiosity to the highest pitch; indeed, as they proposed to take up their abode at Ch.e.l.les, in the somewhat isolated house in which they then were, it was quite natural that they should desire to know their neighbors.
Doctor Antoine raised his head to look at the ladies; he removed his broad-brimmed hat, disclosing his almost bald head and his cheerful, ruddy face, and made them a low bow, which they instantly acknowledged.
"Look you," said the doctor to the gardener, "as the garden gate is open, I can shorten my walk home materially by going through the garden."
"I should say so; it will shorten it by half."
"That being so, I will go that way; and suppose I should pay my respects to these ladies at the same time? What do you say, Ledrux?"
"It seems to me that it can"t do "em any harm, even if it don"t do "em any good!"
"That"s so; and then--we shall know each other; and when they come here to live, if they happen to be sick, why, they"ll send for me."
"Sure enough! especially as you"re the only doctor in the neighborhood."
"Yes; but you see that they sent for me from Gournay; that proves that everybody doesn"t take the one who is nearest."
"Ah! you"re a shrewd one, you are! you always have an eye to the main chance!"
"There"s no law against looking after one"s business."
"_Nenni!_ all the more as it ain"t safe to depend on other folks for that. Ha! ha! ha! tutu--turlututu."
During their conversation the two men had entered the garden. Pere Ledrux closed the little gate, and the two friends, who had left the summer-house, soon found themselves face to face with Doctor Antoine, who bowed again, saying:
"Mesdames, as an inhabitant--and physician--of this district, I shall consider myself very happy if we are to have the good fortune to claim you as neighbors, as Ledrux has led me to hope; for he tells me that you propose to buy this estate."
"Yes, monsieur, we both like the house very much. It is well arranged and pleasantly located; the garden is large enough for us. But just as the gardener caught sight of you, I was talking with him of the isolation of this house. We have no man in our family. I expect to employ a servant, but it will be some young peasant girl! So you will understand, monsieur, that we must not incur any risks."
"I have lived at Ch.e.l.les many years, mesdames, and I feel justified in a.s.suring you that it is not a region of thieves."
"I believe it, monsieur, but is the neighborhood as safe as the place itself? Naturally, when one lives in the country, one goes out to walk----"
"And very wisely; it is good for the health."
"But it would be very unpleasant if one had to dread disagreeable accidents on such walks."
"The whole neighborhood is quite thickly settled; and on my word, except----"
"Except? go on, monsieur."
"Still, I can"t say anything definite. When one doesn"t really know--But one thing is certain,--that the fellow is neither good-humored nor sociable. So far as that goes, he"s a wretched neighbor. I say "neighbor," but he"s quite a distance from here. Besides, he won"t annoy you; you"ll very seldom meet him, for as soon as he sees anybody coming he goes another way; he"s a wolf, a bear, a veritable bear-cub, and an ill-licked one!"
While the doctor was speaking, the gardener pulled him gently by the coat-tail, whispering:
"What in the devil"s the need of saying all that? you"ll scare the ladies, and take away their desire to live in this house! What you"re doing ain"t very clever for a doctor!"
"Well, monsieur, where does this wolf, this bear live? you must tell us so that we may at least avoid walking in the direction of his den."
"The person to whom I refer by that designation, mesdames, lives on the estate yonder at the right, toward Noisy-le-Grand; quite a handsome house, with a tower."
"Then it"s the man with the dog," said Agathe.
"Exactly, mademoiselle, it"s the man with the dog. Do you know him already?"
"The gardener was just telling us about him when he left us to call you, monsieur, and the little that he had told us had aroused our curiosity keenly. It would be very kind of you, therefore, monsieur le docteur, to tell us everything that is known about this man; for, frankly, if he is really an ogre, we shall not be at all pleased to have him for a neighbor."
"Oho! an ogre!" cried Pere Ledrux with a laugh; "that"s a good one, and no mistake. An ogre! they eat children, ogres do! I never heard tell that Monsieur Paul or his dog had eaten a child, no matter how small."
"I never intended to imply that he was an ogre," rejoined the doctor.
"G.o.d forbid that I should attribute such depraved tastes to the man! I simply form conjectures based on what I have heard. And what I have seen is not calculated to give me a very pleasant opinion of him."
Talking thus, the party had returned to the house.
"I"ll just take a look at the rabbits," said the gardener, "if you"ll rest a bit in the salon."
"Very gladly," said Honorine; "and if monsieur le docteur has the time, perhaps he will tell us what he knows about the proprietor of the house with the turret, whom you call Paul, I believe?"
"Yes, mesdames, Paul; no one knows him by any other name; and as he is always accompanied by his dog, a Newfoundland almost as big as a donkey, they are commonly referred to in the neighborhood as "Paul and his dog.""
The two young women entered the blue salon, accompanied by Doctor Antoine Beaubichon, who seated himself respectfully at some little distance from them, and began his story:
"Almost nine years ago the estate called the Tower was offered for sale; but no purchaser appeared. Why was it that no purchaser appeared? People attributed it to a certain circ.u.mstance, and that circ.u.mstance, mesdames, is too interesting to be pa.s.sed over in silence. It was like this. Not far from the small park of the Tower, at the beginning of a ravine close to the road leading to Noisy-le-Grand, in a very lonely spot, a cross has been erected in memory of a person who, not very long ago--I forget just when it was, but no matter--in memory of a person who was a.s.sa.s.sinated at that spot. Indeed, it is said that the victim is buried at the foot of the cross; and as country folk are always superst.i.tious and love to frighten one another, the people of Noisy-le-Grand, Gournay, and even those of Ch.e.l.les to some extent, declare that it isn"t safe to pa.s.s the cross in the ravine at night, because strange noises, groans, are heard there, and you are likely to meet the ghost of the person who was killed there after the Tower was offered for sale."