"You shall not leave this room," cried he, "until you have explained this insulting remark."
"I had no intention of offending you," answered Tantaine humbly.
"I only----" He paused, and then, with an air of sarcasm which sat strangely upon a person of his appearance, went on, "I am aware that the heiress of a n.o.ble family may do many things without having her reputation compromised, when girls in a lower social grade would be forever lost by the commission of any one of them; and I am sure if the family of M. de Breulh knew that the young lady to whom he was engaged had been in the habit of pa.s.sing her afternoons alone with a young man in his studio----"
He paused, and hastily drew a revolver, for it seemed to him as if the Count were about to throw himself upon him. "Softly, softly, if you please," cried he. "Blows and insults are fatal mistakes. I have better information than yourself, that is all. I have more than ten times seen your daughter enter a house in the Rue Tour d"Auvergne, and asking for M. Andre, creep silently up the staircase."
The Count felt that he was choking. He tore off his cravat, and cried wildly, "Proofs! Give me proofs!"
During the last five minutes Tantaine had shifted his ground so skilfully that the heavy library table now stood between himself and the Count, and he was comparatively safe behind this extemporized defence.
"Proofs?" answered he. "Do you think that I carry them about with me? In a week I could give you the lovers" correspondence. That, you will say, is too long to wait; but you can set your doubts at rest at once. If you go to the address I will give you before eight to-morrow morning, and enter the rooms occupied by M. Andre, you will find the portrait of Mademoiselle Sabine carefully concealed from view behind a green curtain, and a very good portrait it is. I presume you will admit that it could not have been executed without a sitting."
"Leave this," cried the Count, "without a moment"s delay."
Tantaine did not wait for a repet.i.tion of these words. He pa.s.sed through the doorway, and as soon as he was outside he called out in cheerful accents. "Do not forget the address, Number 45, Rue Tour d"Auvergne, name of Andre, and mind and be there before eight a.m."
The Count made a rush at him on hearing this last insult, but he was too late, for Tantaine slammed the door, and was in the hall before the infuriated master of the house could open it. Tantaine had resumed all his airs of humility, and took off his hat to the footmen as he descended the steps. "Yes," muttered he, as he walked along, "the idea was a happy one. Andre knows that he is watched, and will be careful; and now that M. de Mussidan is aware that his sweet, pure daughter has had a lover, he will be only too happy to accept the Marquis de Croisenois as his son-in-law." Tantaine believed that Sabine was more culpable than she really had been, for the idea of pure and honorable love had never entered his brain.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE TEMPTER.
By this time Tantaine was in the Champs Elysees, and stared anxiously around. "If my Toto makes no mistake," muttered he, "surely my order was plain enough."
The old man got very cross as he at last perceived the missing lad conversing with the proprietor of a pie-stall, having evidently been doing a little jawing with him.
"Toto," he called, "Toto, come here."
Toto Chupin heard him, for he looked round, but he did not move, for he was certainly much interested in the conversation he was carrying on.
Tantaine shouted again, and this time more angrily than before, and Toto, reluctantly leaving his companion, came slowly up to his patron.
"You have been a nice time getting here," said the lad sulkily. "I was just going to cut it. Ain"t you well that you make such a row? If you ain"t, I"d better go for a doctor.
"I am in a tremendous hurry, Toto."
"Yes, and so is the postman when he is behind time. I"m busy too."
"What, with the man you have just left?"
"Yes; he is a sharper chap than I am. How much do you earn every day, Daddy Tantaine? Well, that chap makes his thirty or forty francs every night, and does precious little for it. I should like a business like that, and I think that I shall secure one soon."
"Have patience. I thought that you were going into business with those two young men you were drinking beer with at the Grand Turk?"
Toto uttered a shrill cry of anger at these words. "Business with them?"
shrieked he; "they are regular clever night thieves."
"Have they done you any harm, my poor lad?"
"Yes; they have utterly ruined me. Luckily, I saw Mascarin yesterday, and he set me up in the hot-chestnut line. He ain"t a bad one, is Mascarin."
Tantaine curled his lip disdainfully. "Not a bad fellow, I dare say, as long as you don"t ask him for anything."
Toto was so surprised at hearing Tantaine abuse Mascarin, that he was unable to utter a word.
"Ah, you may look surprised," continued the old man, "but when a man is rolling in riches, and leaves an old friend to starve, then he is not what I call a real good fellow. Now, Toto, you are a bright lad, and so I don"t mind letting you know that I am only waiting for a good chance to drop Mascarin, and set up on my own account. Work for yourself, my boy."
"I know that; but it is a good deal easier to say than to do."
"You have tried then?"
"Yes, I have; but I came to grief over it. You know all about it as well as I do, for don"t tell me you didn"t hear every word I said that night you were hunting up Caroline Schimmel. However, I"ll tell you. One day when I saw a lady who looked rather nervous get out of a cab, I followed her. I was decently togged out, so I rang at the door. I was so sure that I was going to make a haul that I would not have taken ninety-nine francs for the hundred that I expected to make. Well, I rang, a girl opened the door, and in I went. What an a.s.s I made of myself! I found a great brute of a man there, who thrashed me within an inch of my life, and then kicked me downstairs. See, he made his mark rather more plainly than I liked." And removing his cap, the boy showed several bruises about his forehead.
During this conversation Tantaine and the lad had been walking slowly up the Champs Elysees, and had by this time arrived just opposite M.
Gandelu"s house, where Andre was at work. Tantaine sat down on a bench.
"Let us rest a bit," said he; "I am tired out; and now let me tell you, my lad, that your tale only shows me that it is experience you want.
Now, I have any amount of that, and I was really the prime mover in most of Mascarin"s schemes. If I were to start on my own account, I should be driving in my carriage in twelve months. The only thing against my success is my age, for I am getting to be an old man. Why, even now I have a matter in my hands that is simply splendid. I have had half the money down, but I want a smart young fellow to pull it through."
"Why couldn"t I be the smart young fellow?" asked Toto.
Tantaine shook his head. "You are as much too young as I am too old,"
answered he. "At your age you are too apt to be frightened, and would shrink back at the critical time. Besides, I have a conscience."
"And so have I," exclaimed Toto; "and it"s grown like your own, old man; it can be stretched for miles and folded up into nothing."
"Well, we may be able to do something," returned Tantaine, as, drawing out a ragged check pocket-handkerchief, he wiped his gla.s.ses.
"Listen to me, my lad; I"ll put what we call a supposit.i.tious case to you. You hate those two fellows who have robbed you, for I suppose that is what you meant; well, suppose you knew that they were at work all day on a high scaffold like that one opposite to us, what would you do?"
Toto scratched his head, and remarked after a pause,--
"If that crack-jawed idea you talk of was true," answered he, "those gay lads might as well make their wills, for I"d step up the scaffolding at night and just saw the planks that they are in the habit of clapping their toes on, half through, and when one of the mates stepped on it, why, there would be a bit of a smash, eh, Daddy Tantaine?"
"Not so bad, not so bad for a lad of your years," said the old man with an approving smile.
Toto"s bosom swelled with pride.
"Besides," he continued, "I would arrange matters so well that not a soul would think that I had done the trick."
"The more I hear you speak, Chupin," answered Tantaine, "the more I believe you are the lad I want, and I am sure that we shall make heaps of money together."
"I am c.o.c.k sure of that too."
"You can use carpenters" tools, I think you once told me?"
"Yes."