"I escaped from my dungeon below the ground; I will tell you how when we have more leisure. The first thing I thought of, when I was once out in the free air, was a bath. I wanted to drown out the recollection of a.s.sa.s.sins and dirty straw, vile air and counterfeiters with whom I had been on such intimate terms for so many weeks.
"I was afraid to go to any bath houses lest I should be seen and recognized; besides, I had no money, so I finally concluded to try the river. I therefore skulked in unfrequented byways until nightfall, when I went swimming in the Seine by starlight, and I can a.s.sure you I never before appreciated the kindly properties of water to such an extent. My next desire, after I had slept in the arches of the bridge St. Michel and broken my fast with a crisp roll, was to see you."
"My dear old uncle!" exclaimed Tournay aloud, placing his hand affectionately on Gaillard"s shoulder.
"I knew that I should be safe if I could procure a good disguise, but that it would be folly to attempt it without one," continued Gaillard.
"The want of money was still an obstacle. "Among the costumes in my chest at home," thought I, "is material to disguise a whole race of Gaillards." Ah, but how to reach them? That was the matter that required careful study. Those annoying little red seals that the government places on the doors of all arrested persons are terribly dangerous to meddle with. Yet within were clothing and disguises, and a very little sum of money stowed away for an emergency. Meanwhile, in the evening, I promenaded down the Rue des Mathurins to look the ground over. There, planted in front of the house, staring up at the windows of our apartment, was a great hulking gendarme.
"That night I slept again under the St. Michel bridge,--commodious and airy enough, but a little damp in the morning hours. Before daylight I was up and off to the Rue des Mathurins, drawn like a criminal to the scene of his misdeeds, to inspect the enemy unseen by him.
"There is a certain mouselike gratification in watching from afar the cat, which, with claws extended, is lying in wait, ready to pounce upon you as soon as you show your nose." And Gaillard stopped to take a pinch of snuff and blink at the light with a pair of mild blue eyes. Then, after applying a colored handkerchief to his nose, he resumed his narrative.
"At all hours of the day, late at night, or early in the morning, there was always some officer of police staring persistently at my windows as if he expected me, furnished with a pair of wings, to come flying in or out of a fourth story. "Not yet, my fine fellow," said I, and vanished around the corner.
"One night it rained dismally; a cold mist was rising from the river.
The St. Michel bridge had little attraction as a bedroom for me at that moment, I can a.s.sure you. m.u.f.fling myself in my cloak, I directed my steps toward my old abode, hoping that owing to the inclemency of the weather the officers of the law might be less vigilant. For I had resolved, the opportunity offering, to make an attempt to enter my own domicile that very night. Imagine my disgust when, upon arriving, I saw two gendarmes sheltered in the entrance of the house opposite. Both of them were obtrusively wide-awake and alert.
"I do not know whether one of them noticed me, lurking by the corner, but he immediately started to walk in my direction, and not wishing to run any chances I darted into an alley blacker than a whole calendar of nights, scaled a wall, and found myself in the narrow court which flanks our own building. Here I resolved to wait until I could safely venture out upon the street once more.
"The rain had almost ceased, but I could still hear the gurgle of the water coming down the spout from the roof. You know that water spout, my little colonel? It is made to carry off the water from three houses, is unusually large, and is held firmly in place a few inches from the house wall by iron braces at intervals of five to six feet. I placed my hand on one of these braces, and instantly the thought flashed through my brain, "It can be done.""
"You are not going to tell me that you attempted to climb up by the water pipe?" demanded Tournay incredulously.
"I divested myself of my cloak, coat, and waistcoat, removed my heavy, rain-soaked shoes, and began the ascent as bravely as any seaman ordered to the foretop," replied Gaillard.
"I could reach the brace above while standing on the one beneath, and partly using my knees and partly drawing myself up by the arms, I made quicker progress than I had deemed possible. In fact, I went up so vigorously that on reaching the third story I struck my knee against a piece of loose stucco which was clinging to the wall, waiting for the first strong wind to blow it to the ground.
"Crash! the plaster fell to the courtyard pavement, where it was shivered into a thousand fragments.
"The blow on my kneecap made me shiver with pain, and I rested on the brace just outside the window of the little soubrette, clinging tightly with both hands to the spout.
""Thank heaven that it was the stucco that fell, not I," I whispered devoutly, just as a window opened on the floor above, and our old neighbor Avarie appeared. He is always on the lookout for robbers, and keeps at his bedside a big blunderbuss, with a muzzle like a speaking-trumpet.
""Thieves," I heard him mutter. I kept perfectly quiet, not giving vent even to a breath.
""Who"s there?"
"I clung close to the shelter of my friendly water pipe.
""Speak, or I"ll fire!"
"I knew he could not see me, and if he did fire his old cannon, I felt sure that it would explode and blow him into atoms; but the noise would alarm the neighborhood, and I had a vision of a score of lights flashing; night-capped heads appearing in all the surrounding windows; gendarmes running up with their lanterns, and poor Gaillard, clinging like a frightened cat to the water spout.
"That gave me an idea.
""Miauw!" answered I plaintively.
""It"s a cat!" exclaimed old Avarie in disgust.
""Mew--mew--mew," cried I.
""What is it?" said a woman"s voice, evidently his wife"s.
""Nothing but a cat," growled Avarie. "But I think I will let drive at her just because she disturbed my sleep."
"I stopped my mewing on the instant.
""Don"t," pleaded the woman, "the gun may kick."
""Bah, do you think I can"t handle a gun?" And I heard a click.
""Good-by to thee, old Avarie," I said under my breath.
""Don"t be a fool, husband, and awake the whole neighborhood just for a cat!" exclaimed his wife.
"Almost at my window another window was thrown open and the little soubrette"s head appeared. She is very fond of cats.
""Here puss, puss, puss," she cried.
""Is that your cat, citizeness?" asked old Avarie.
""It must be; he has stayed out all night, the naughty fellow. Kitty, kitty, poor kitty, come in out of the wet."
"My teeth were chattering with cold and fatigue and that was just what I most desired, but I did not dare to risk it.
""You ought to keep the animal at home, and not let him out to disturb everybody"s sleep," called out the testy old man as he closed his window with a bang.
"Luckily for me the little soubrette"s attention was all directed toward the roof of the lower extension on the left where her pet evidently had a habit of straying. She did not see me, crouched behind the pipe so near as to almost be able to touch her by putting out one hand. By the way, she looked very pretty in her little white nightcap edged with lace. I was not very sorry, however, to see her close the window and to be left alone with my water spout. A few minutes later I had pushed open the window of my kitchen and wriggled into the room.
"I dared not strike a light for fear of its reflection on the wall opposite, and groped my way about the room in the dark. My heart leaped with joy when I had a.s.sured myself that no seal had been placed on the windows nor upon any of the inside doors; the one seal on the outer door evidently having been deemed sufficient. The dust was an inch thick over everything, and I moved about in ghostly stillness, struggling to repress a sneeze. Nothing appeared to have been touched since the night of my enforced departure.
"I hugged myself with a childish glee at being alone in my little home in the dead of night. The thought of the gendarmes outside in the rain made my sides ache with suppressed laughter.
"First, I unearthed my little economies of last winter. Thirteen francs, five sous. "Gaillard you"re a prodigal fellow," I said to myself as I dropped them into my pouch, "but it is better than nothing." Then I collected a few necessities. My beautiful wig of silver hair, and a suitable dress to go with it. I handled lovingly a few other costumes, but had the strength of mind to return them to the chest. I should like to have appeared before you as the "Spanish outlaw" but it would have been too dangerous. The character of the English "milord" would have been congenial but equally hazardous. So I sensibly adhered to my sober selection, and tied up all my effects in a neat bundle.
"When all was completed I took one last, longing survey of my rooms, went to the cas.e.m.e.nt, and, dropping the bundle, held my breath. Thud! it reached the bottom and lay there innocently in the court. Not a sound was heard. Old Citizen Avarie, in the adjoining apartment, was snoring in a way that would put his blunderbuss to shame, and the little citizeness below had evidently retired into the recess of her lace-trimmed nightcap to dream of her missing pet.
"Sliding silently from the window I found the iron brace with my toes, and grasped the clammy water pipe with both hands. I could not close the cas.e.m.e.nt. "Never mind, they will think it was the wind that opened it," I said, and I descended to the ground with an agility born of practice.
"In the early morning hours I retired to my bridge, put on my silver wig and old man"s dress, sunk my other clothes to the river bottom, and appeared in the light of day as an old man.
"I now walk the streets in safety under the very noses of my old enemies, the police; I come to you and I ask, "How do you like your old uncle?""
"You deceived me completely, my Gaillard," Tournay confessed; "but tell me this. You said you were still residing at 15 Rue des Mathurins. May I ask in what capacity? As cat?"
"Having little money, I must earn some more in order to live. I went to my dear friend, the theatre director, just as I am, and asked him to employ me about the theatre in any capacity. He did not recognize me, and putting his hand in his pocket, brought out a piece of forty sous."
""Sorry, my poor fellow, but I have no place for you. Take this.""