"Ah, Master Rodolph, here"s a curious meeting, which I am sure neither you nor I expected." Then he added, in a serious tone, "Listen, master.
People may say what they like, but there is something in the air,--there, up there, above our heads, very wonderful; which seems to say to a man, "Go where I send you." See how you two have been sent here. It is devilish wonderful!"
"What are you doing there?" said Rodolph, greatly surprised.
"I was on the lookout in a matter of yours, master; but, thunder and lightning! what a high joke that you should come at this particular moment into this very neighbourhood of my country-house! There"s something in all this,--decidedly there is something."
"But again I ask you, what are you doing there?"
"All in good time, I"ll tell you; only let me first look about me for a moment."
The Chourineur then ran towards the coach, which was some distance off, looked this way and that way over the plain with a keen and rapid glance, and then rejoined Rodolph, running quickly.
"Will you explain to me the meaning of all this?"
"Patience, patience, good master; one word more. What"s o"clock?"
"Half past twelve," said Rodolph, looking at his watch.
"All right; we have time, then. The Chouette will not be here for the next half-hour."
"The Chouette!" cried Rodolph and the girl both at once.
"Yes, the Chouette; in two words, master, I"ll tell you all. Yesterday, after you had left the _tapis-franc_, there came--"
"A tall man with a woman in man"s attire, who asked for me; I know all about that, but then--"
"Then they paid for my liquor, and wanted to "draw" me about you. I had nothing to tell them, because you had communicated nothing to me, except those fisticuffs which settled me. All I know is, that I learned something then which I shall not easily forget. But we are friends for life and death, Master Rodolph, though the devil burn me if I know why.
I feel for you the regard which the bulldog feels for his master. It was after you told me that I had "heart and honour;" but that"s nothing, so there"s an end of it. It is no use trying to account for it; so it is, and so let it be, if it"s any good to you."
"Many thanks, my man; but go on."
"The tall man and the little lady in men"s clothes, finding that they could get nothing out of me, left the ogress"s, and so did I; they going towards the Palais de Justice, and I to Notre Dame. On reaching the end of the street I found it was raining pitchforks, points downward,--a complete deluge. There was an old house in ruins close at hand, and I said to myself, "If this shower is to last all night, I shall sleep as well here as in my own "crib."" So I rolled myself into a sort of cave, where I was high and dry; my bed was an old beam, and my pillow a heap of lath and plaster, and there I slept like a king."
"Well, well, go on."
"We had drank together, Master Rodolph; I had drank, too, with the tall man and the little woman dressed in man"s clothes, so you may believe my head was rather heavy, and, besides, nothing sends me off to sleep like a good fall of rain. I began then to snooze, but I had not been long asleep, I think, when, aroused by a noise, I sat up and listened. I heard the Schoolmaster, who was talking in a friendly tone with somebody. I soon made out that he was parleying with the tall man who came into the _tapis-franc_ with the little woman dressed in man"s clothes."
"They in conference with the Schoolmaster and the Chouette?" said Rodolph, with amazement.
"With the Schoolmaster and the Chouette; and they agreed to meet again on the morrow."
"That"s to-day!" said Rodolph.
"At one o"clock."
"This very moment!"
"Where the road branches off to St. Denis and La Revolte."
"This very spot!"
"Just as you say, Master Rodolph, on this very spot."
"The Schoolmaster! Oh, pray be on your guard, M. Rodolph," exclaimed Fleur-de-Marie.
"Don"t be alarmed, my child, he won"t come; it"s only the Chouette."
"How could the man who, with the female in disguise, sought me at the _tapis-franc_, come into contact with these two wretches?" said Rodolph.
"I"faith I don"t know, and I think I only awoke at the end of the affair, for the tall man was talking of getting back his pocketbook, which the Chouette was to bring here in exchange for five hundred francs. I should say that the Schoolmaster had begun by robbing him, and that it was after that that they began to parley, and to come to friendly terms."
"It is very strange."
"_Mon Dieu!_ it makes me quite frightened on your account, M. Rodolph,"
said Fleur-de-Marie.
"Master Rodolph is no chicken, girl; but as you say, there may be something working against him, and so I am here."
"Go on, my good fellow."
"The tall man and the little woman have promised two thousand francs to the Schoolmaster to do to you--I don"t know what. The Chouette is to be here directly to return the pocketbook, and to know what is required from them, which she is to tell the Schoolmaster, who will undertake it."
Fleur-de-Marie started. Rodolph smiled disdainfully.
"Two thousand francs to do something to you, Master Rodolph; that makes me think that when I see a notice of a dog that has been lost (I don"t mean to make a comparison), and the offer of a hundred francs reward for his discovery, I say to myself, "Animal, if you were lost, no one would give a hundred farthings to find you." Two thousand francs to do something to you! Who are you, then?"
"I"ll tell you by and by."
"That"s enough, master. When I heard this proposal, I said to myself, I must find out where these two dons live who want to set the Schoolmaster on the haunches of M. Rodolph; it may be serviceable. So when they had gone away, I got out of my hiding-place, and followed them quietly. I saw the tall man and little woman get into a coach near Notre Dame, and I got up behind, and we went on until we reached the Boulevard de l"Observatoire. It was as dark as the mouth of an oven, and I could not distinguish anything, so I cut a notch in a tree, that I might find out the place in the morning."
"Well thought of, my good fellow."
"This morning I went there, and about ten yards from the tree I saw a narrow entrance, closed by a gate. In the mud there were little and large footsteps, and at the end of the entrance a small garden-gate, where the traces ended; so the roosting-place of the tall man and the little woman must be there."
"Thanks, my worthy friend, you have done me a most essential piece of service, without knowing it."
"I beg your pardon, Master Rodolph, but I believed I was serving you, and that was the reason I did as I did."
"I know it, my fine fellow, and I wish I could recompense your service more properly than by thanks; but, unfortunately, I am only a poor devil of a workman, although you say they offer two thousand francs for something to be done against me. I will explain that to you."
"Yes, if you like, but not unless. Somebody threatens you with something, and I will come across them if I can; the rest is your affair."
"I know what they want. Listen to me. I have a secret for cutting fans in ivory by a mechanical process, but this secret does not belong to me alone. I am awaiting my comrade to go to work, and, no doubt, it is the model of the machine which I have at home that they are desirous of getting from me at any price, for there is a great deal of money to be made by this discovery."
"The tall man and the little woman then are--"
"Work-people with whom I have been a.s.sociated, and to whom I have refused my secret."
This explanation appeared satisfactory to the Chourineur, whose apprehension was not the clearest in the world, and he replied: