The person who had come to see him was, as we have said, Pierre Bourdin, one of the _gardes de commerce_ (bailiffs) employed to arrest poor Morel, the lapidary. This bailiff was usually employed by Maitre Boulard, the _huissier_ of M. Pet.i.t-Jean, the man of straw of Jacques Ferrand.
Bourdin, shorter and quite as stout as the _huissier_, formed himself on the model of his employer, whose magnificence he greatly admired. Very fond as he was of jewelry, he wore on this occasion a superb topaz pin, and a long gilt chain was visible through the b.u.t.tonholes of his waistcoat.
"Good day, my faithful friend, Bourdin, I was sure you would not fail to come at my summons!" said Maitre Boulard, in a joyful tone, and in a small, shrill voice, which contrasted singularly with his large carca.s.s and full-moon face.
"Fail at your summons!" replied the bailiff; "I am incapable of such behaviour, _mon general_."
This was the appellation by which Bourdin, with a joke at once familiar and respectful, called the _huissier_, under whose orders he acted; this military appellation being very frequently used amongst certain cla.s.ses of clerks and civil pract.i.tioners.
"I observe with pleasure that friendship remains faithful to misfortune!" said Maitre Boulard, with gay cordiality. "However, I was getting a little uneasy, as three days had elapsed, and no Bourdin."
"Only imagine, _mon general_!--it is really quite a history. You remember that dashing vicomte in the Rue de Chaillot?"
"Saint-Remy?"
"Yes; you know how he laughed at all our attempts to "nab" him?"
"Yes; he behaved very ill in that way."
"Well, this vicomte has got another t.i.tle."
"What, is he a comte?"
"No, but from swindler he has become thief!"
"Ah, bah!"
"They are after him for some diamonds he has stolen; and, by the way, they belonged to the jeweller who used to employ that vermin of a Morel, the lapidary we were going to arrest in the Rue du Temple, when a tall, thin chap, with black moustaches, paid for this half-starved devil, and very nearly pitched me and Malicorne headlong down-stairs."
"Ah, yes, yes, I remember; you told me all about it, Bourdin,--it was really very droll! But as to this dashing vicomte?"
"Why, as I tell you, Saint-Remy was charged with robbery, after having made his worthy old father believe that he wished to blow out his brains. A police agent of my acquaintance, knowing that I had been long on the traces of the vicomte, asked me if I could not give him information so that he could "grab" the dandy. I had learned (too late for myself) that he had "run to earth" in a farm at Arnouville, five leagues from Paris; but when we got there the bird had flown!"
"But next day he paid that acceptance,--thanks, as I have heard say, to some rich woman!"
"Yes, general; but still I knew the nest, and he might have gone there again, and so I told my friend in the police. He proposed to me to give him a friendly cast of my office and show him the farm, and as I had nothing to do and it was a rural trip, I agreed."
"Well, and the vicomte?"
"Not to be found. After having lurked about the farm for some time, we gained admittance, and returned as wise as we went; and this is why I could not come to your orders sooner, general."
"I was sure it was something of this sort, my good fellow."
"But, if I may be allowed to ask, how the devil did you get here?"
"Wretches, my dear fellow, a set of wretches who, for a miserable sixty thousand francs of which they declare I have wronged them, have charged me with a breach of trust and compelled me to resign my office."
"Really, general! Well, that"s unfortunate! And shall I then work for you no longer?"
"I am on half pay now, Bourdin,--on the retired list."
"But who are these vindictive persons?"
"Why, only imagine, one of the most savage of all is a liberated convict, who employed me to recover the amount of a bill of seven hundred miserable francs, for which it was requisite to bring an action.
Well, I brought the action, and got the money and used it; and because, in consequence of some unsuccessful speculations, I swamped that money and several other sums, all these blackguards have a.s.sailed me with warrants; and so you find me here, my dear fellow, neither more nor less than a malefactor."
"And does it not alarm you, general?"
"Yes; but the oddest thing of all is that this convict wrote me word some days ago that this money being his sole resource for bad times, and these bad times having arrived (I don"t know what he means by that), I was responsible for the crimes he might commit in order to escape from starvation."
"Amusing, "pon my soul!"
"Very; and the fellow is capable of saying this, but fortunately the law does not recognise any such accompliceships."
"After all, you are only charged with breach of trust?"
"That is all. Do you take me for a thief, Maitre Bourdin?"
"Oh, dear general! I meant to say there was nothing very serious in this."
"Why, I don"t look very down, do I, my boy?"
"By no means; never saw you looking better. Indeed, if you are found guilty, you will only have two or three months, imprisonment and twenty-five francs fine. I know the law, you see!"
"And these two or three months I shall contrive, I know, to pa.s.s quietly in some infirmary. I have a deputy at my elbow."
"Oh, then, you"re all right."
"Yes, Bourdin; and I can scarcely help laughing to think what little good the fools who put me here have done themselves,--they will not recover a sou of the money they claim. They compel me to sell my post,--what do I care?"
"True, general; it is only so much the worse for them."
"Yes, my boy. And now for the subject on which I was anxious to see you, Bourdin; it is a very delicate affair,--there is a lady in the case!"
said Maitre Boulard, with mysterious self-complacency.
"Oh, you gay deceiver! But, be it what it may, you may rely on me."
"I am greatly interested in the welfare of a young actress at the theatre of the Folies-Dramatiques. I pay her rent; but, you know, the absent are always in the wrong! Alexandrine has applied to me for money.
Now I have never been a very gay fellow, but yet I do not like to be made a fool of; so, before I comply, I should like to know if the lady is faithful. I know there is nothing more absurd and uncommon than fidelity, and so you will do me a friendly service if you could just watch her for a few days and let me know your opinion, either by a talk with the porter at her abode or--"
"I understand, general," said Bourdin; "this is no worse than watching a debtor. Rely on me; I will have an eye to Mlle. Alexandrine,--although, I should say, you are too generous and too good-looking not to be adored!"
"My good looks are no use, my friend, so long as I am absent; and so I rely on you to discover the truth."
"Rely on me."
"How can I, my dear fellow, prove my grat.i.tude?"