"Ah! it was Jasmin who told you to say that, was it? Very well; you may go; but henceforth take your orders from me alone."
The concierge bowed and left the room, delighted that he had come off so cheap.
Old Jasmin turned purple; he twisted his mouth, like a child about to cry. Cherubin walked up to him and said in a tone in which there was more reproach than anger:
"And so, Jasmin, it was you who ordered my dear Nicole and Louise to be turned away? It was you who arranged matters so that the people who brought me up must inevitably think me proud and unfeeling and ungrateful!--Ah! that was very ill done of you--and I don"t recognize your kind heart in that business."
Jasmin drew his handkerchief and wept.
"You are right, monsieur!" he cried; "it was a shame, it was downright folly, but it wasn"t my idea; I should never have thought of it. It was your tutor who told me that we must prevent your seeing Nicole and little Louise, because it would be very dangerous for you. As Monsieur Gerondif is a scholar, I thought that he must be right, and I did what he told me."
While the old valet was speaking, Monsieur Gerondif scratched his nose with all his might, as if to prepare for the attack that he was about to undergo; and in fact it was to him that Cherubin turned after listening to Jasmin, and there was the ring of righteous anger in his voice as he cried:
"So all this comes from you, monsieur? I should have suspected as much.--So it was dangerous for me to see the people from the village, who love me like their own child!"
Monsieur Gerondif threw one of his legs back, puffed out his chest, raised his head, and began with abundant a.s.surance:
"Well, yes, my ill.u.s.trious pupil! and I consider that I was right. _Non est discipulus super magistrum._--Listen to my reasons: You left the village and the fields with great regret; you might have been tempted to return thither, and it was necessary to remove that temptation--always in your interest. The _Sadder_, abridged from the _Zend_, which contains all the tenets of the religion founded by Zoroaster, ordains that every man must make a strict examination of his conscience at the end of each day; and mine----"
"Oh! I am not talking about Zoroaster, monsieur! Was it in my interest too, that, at the time of your last visit to the village, you told Nicole that I had become a rake and a seducer in Paris; that I intended to make Louise my mistress; and that it was absolutely necessary to find a place for her in Paris, and to make me believe that she was in Bretagne?"
Monsieur Gerondif was petrified; he could think of no quotations to make; he hung his head and did not know which leg to stand on; while Jasmin, when he heard what the tutor had said of his young master, ran to the fireplace, seized the tongs, and prepared to strike Monsieur Gerondif:
"You dare to tell such infamous lies about my master!" he exclaimed; "to slander him like that! Let me thrash him, monsieur! I believe that I can do that with as much force as I had at twenty years."
But Cherubin stopped Jasmin, and said to the tutor:
"What were your reasons for lying so, monsieur?"
"To tell the truth, my n.o.ble pupil, I do not know;--a temporary aberration, a----"
"Well, I shall find out later. But, first of all, where is Louise?"
"The young and interesting foundling?"
"Come, come, monsieur, answer me, and no more lies; where is Louise?"
"In an honorable family, I venture to flatter myself; I obtained her a situation as lady"s maid with Madame de Noirmont."
"A lady"s maid! my foster-sister! You have made my old playmate a lady"s maid!--Ah! that"s an outrage!"
"The wages are good, and I thought that, as she has no fortune----"
"Hold your peace! Poor Louise! so this is the reward of your sworn attachment to me!--But she shall not remain another day in that position. Jasmin, call a cab at once, and you, monsieur, come with me."
Monsieur Gerondif did not wait for the order to be repeated; he followed Cherubin, who took his hat and hastened downstairs. Jasmin called a cab, the young marquis stepped in, ordered Monsieur Gerondif to take his place beside him and to give the driver Madame de Noirmont"s address.
The tutor obeyed and they drove away.
Cherubin did not open his mouth during the drive, and Gerondif did not dare even to blow his nose. When the cab stopped in front of the Noirmont mansion, Cherubin said to his tutor:
"It was you who brought Louise to this house; go now and find her. Say to the persons in whose service she is that she is not to work any more, that she has found a friend and protector; say whatever you choose, but remember that you must bring me my friend and sister. As for her, simply say to her that I am here, waiting for her, and I am perfectly sure that she will instantly make her preparations to come to me. Go, monsieur; I will stay here and wait."
Monsieur Gerondif jumped out of the cab, blew his nose when he was on the sidewalk, and entered the house at last, saying to himself:
"Let us do it, as there is no way to avoid it! The little one will not be mine--unless, perhaps, later--no one knows. Perhaps he will endow her, and I will imagine that she"s a widow."
Cherubin counted the minutes after the tutor entered the house; he leaned out of the cab door and did not take his eyes from the porte cochere; for he momentarily expected Louise to appear, and that hope was constantly disappointed. At last two persons left the house and came toward him; they were Monsieur Gerondif and Comtois. The professor"s face wore a most woebegone expression; he rolled his eyes wildly about as he approached Cherubin: but the latter did not wait for him to speak.
"Louise!" he cried, "Louise! why hasn"t she come with you? Didn"t you tell her that I was here?"
"No, my n.o.ble pupil," replied Gerondif, with an air of desperation, "I did not tell her, for I could not. If you knew!"
"I don"t want to know; I want Louise--I came here to get her. Why doesn"t she come down? Do they refuse to let her go? In that case I will go up myself----"
"Oh, no! n.o.body refuses anything; but she has gone already, and that is why she doesn"t come down with us."
"What do you say? Louise----"
"Has not been at Monsieur de Noirmont"s for four days; she went off one morning, very early, before anyone in the house was up."
"Ah! you are deceiving me!"
"No, my n.o.ble pupil; but as I thought that perhaps you would not believe me, I requested Comtois, Monsieur de Noirmont"s confidential valet, to come with me and confirm my story.--Speak, incorruptible Comtois; tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Comtois stepped toward Cherubin, and said, saluting him respectfully:
"Since Mademoiselle Louise has been in our family, we had never had anything but praise for her behavior. Her modest manner, her sweetness of disposition, won all our hearts. Mademoiselle Ernestine de Noirmont treated her more as her friend than as her maid; madame was the only one who, for some unknown reason, was a trifle harsh with Mademoiselle Louise.--Well, last Friday, the day after a large dinner-party that we gave here, the girl went away. She took nothing with her but a little bundle containing her clothes--not another thing. Mademoiselle Ernestine was terribly unhappy over her going; but we supposed that Louise had decided to return to her province because she was disappointed that she had not been able to win madame"s favor. That is the exact truth, monsieur. However, if you will take the trouble to go upstairs, you can see Mademoiselle Ernestine, or my master and mistress, who will tell you just what I have told you."
Cherubin did not deem it necessary to question Monsieur or Madame de Noirmont; Comtois had no motive for lying to him, and in his eyes could be read his personal regret for Louise"s departure.
"She must have returned to Gagny, beyond any question," cried Gerondif, scratching his nose.
"To Gagny!" exclaimed Cherubin, in despair; "why, I have just come from there! You forget that I have been there this morning, that I am just from Nicole"s house, and that Louise has not been seen there."
"Perhaps you may have pa.s.sed each other on the road."
"Why, he says that it was four days ago that she left the house!--four days, do you understand? What has become of her during all that time?
Does it take four days to travel four leagues?"
"Not usually--but, if she stopped often on the way."
"Ah! it was you who induced Louise to leave the village, where she was safe from all harm. It was you, monsieur, who brought her to Paris. But remember that you must find Louise, that I must know where she is, what has happened to her in the four days since she left this house; and if she has met with any misfortune--then all my wrath will fall on you!"
Cherubin leaped into the cab, gave the driver Monfreville"s address, and hastened to his friend. He longed to confide his troubles to him, for he knew that his friendship would not fail him when he went to him to claim his aid and support.
Monfreville was at home; when his young friend appeared, deeply moved and intensely excited, he instantly questioned him concerning the cause of his agitation. Cherubin told him all that he had done since morning: his visit to the village, his conversation with Nicole and her disclosures of Monsieur Gerondif"s conduct regarding Louise, and finally the girl"s disappearance from the house in which she had taken service.
When he had finished his narrative, he cried: