"But how about the earnest? I must have something down."
"Here is my last b.u.t.ton, and when I have no more,--yet there are others left," said Cardillac, tearing off a b.u.t.ton covered with cloth from his ragged blue coat, and then tearing off the covering with his nails, he showed the Gros-Boiteux that, instead of a b.u.t.ton-mould, it contained a piece of forty francs. "You see I can pay deposit," he added, "when the affair is arranged."
"That"s the ticket, old fellow!" said the Gros-Boiteux. "And as you are soon going out, and have got rhino to work with, I can put you up to another thing,--a real good go,--the cheese,--a regular affair which my woman and myself have been cooking up, and which only wants the finishing stroke. Only imagine a lone street in a deserted quarter, a ground floor, looking on one side into an obscure alley, and on the other a garden, and here two old people, who go to roost with the c.o.c.ks and hens since the riots, and, for fear of being robbed, they have concealed behind a panel, in a pot of preserves, a quant.i.ty of gold; my woman found it out by gossiping with the servant. But I tell you this will be a dearer job than t"other, for it is in hard cash, and all cooked ready to eat and drink."
"We"ll arrange it, be a.s.sured. But you haven"t worked over well since you left the central."
"Yes, I have had a pretty fair chance. I got together some trifles which brought me nearly sixty pounds. One of my best bites was a pull at two women who lodged in the same house with me in the Pa.s.sage de la Bra.s.serie."
"What, at Daddy Micou"s?"
"Yes."
"And your Josephine?"
"Just the same; a real ferret as ever. She cooks with the old couple I have mentioned to you, and so smelt out the pot with the golden honey in it."
"She"s nothing but a trump!"
"I flatter myself she is. But, talking of trumps, you know the Chouette?"
"Yes; Nicholas has told me the Schoolmaster did for her, and he has gone mad."
"Perhaps from losing his sight through some accident. But I say, old fellow, it"s quite understood that you will buy my two bargains, and so I shall not speak to any one else."
"Don"t; and we will talk them over this evening."
"Well, and how are you getting on here?"
"Oh, we laugh and play the fool."
"Who"s _prevot_ of the chamber?"
"The Skeleton."
"He"s not to be joked with. I have seen him at Martial"s, in the Isle du Ravageur. We had a flare-up with Josephine and La Boulotte."
"By the way, Nicholas is here."
"So Micou told me when he made a lament that Nicholas was putting the screw on--an old hunks! Why, what else were receivers made for?"
"Here is the Skeleton," said Cardillac, as the _prevot_ appeared at the door of the room.
"Young "un, come forward," said the Skeleton to the Gros-Boiteux.
"Here I am," he replied, going into the apartment, accompanied by Frank, whose arm he held.
During the conversation between the Gros-Boiteux, Frank, and Cardillac, Barbillon had been, by order of the _prevot_, to select twelve or fifteen of the choicest prisoners, who (in order to avoid the suspicions of the turnkey) had come separately into the day-room. The other _detenus_ had remained in the yard, and some of them, by Barbillon"s advice, had appeared to be disputing, in order to take off the attention of the turnkey from the room in which were now a.s.sembled the Skeleton, Barbillon, Nicholas, Frank, Cardillac, the Gros-Boiteux, and some fifteen other prisoners, all awaiting with impatient curiosity until the _prevot_ should open the business.
Barbillon, charged with the look-out, placed himself near the door. The Skeleton, taking his pipe from his mouth, said to the Gros-Boiteux:
"Do you know a slim young man named Germain, with blue eyes, brown hair, and the look of a noodle?"
"What! Is Germain here?" inquired the Gros-Boiteux, with surprise, hate, and anger in his looks.
"What, then, you know him?" said the Skeleton.
"Know him?" replied the Gros-Boiteux. "Why, my lads, I denounce him as a nose, and he must be punished!"
"Yes, yes!" replied the prisoners.
"Are you sure it was he who informed against you?" asked Frank; "suppose it was a mistake,--we mustn"t ill-use a man who"s innocent."
This remark was displeasing to the Skeleton, who leaned over to the Gros-Boiteux, and said in his ear:
"Who is this man?"
"One with whom I have worked."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes--but he hasn"t gull enough--too much treacle in him."
"Good, I"ll keep an eye on him."
"Tell us how Germain turned nose," said a prisoner.
"Yes, let us know all about it, Gros-Boiteux," continued the Skeleton, who did not take his eyes off Frank.
"Well, then," said Gros-Boiteux, "a man of Nantes, named Velu, a freed convict, brought up the young fellow, whose birth no one is acquainted with. When he had reached the proper age they put him into a banking-house at Nantes, thinking they had put a wolf to watch the money-box, and make use of Germain to do a bold and great stroke which had been meditated for a very long time. There were to be two _coups_, a forgery and a dip into the strong chest at the bank, something like a hundred and fifty thousand francs. All was arranged, and Velu relied on the young fellow as on himself, for the chap slept in the room in which the iron safe was. Velu told him his plans; Germain neither says yes or no, but reveals all to his employer, and the very same evening cuts his stick and mizzles to Paris."
The prisoners burst into various murmurs of indignation and threats.
"He"s a spy--nose--informer!--and we"ll have the bones out of his body!"
"If it"s agreeable, I"ll seek a quarrel with him, and settle his hash!"
"Silence in the stone jug!" exclaimed the Skeleton, in a tone of command.
The prisoners were silent.
"Go on," said the _prevot_ to Gros-Boiteux, and he went on smoking.
"Believing that Germain had consented, and relying on his a.s.sistance, Velu and two of his friends attempted the job that same night. The banker was on the watch; one of Velu"s friends was taken as he was entering a window, he himself escaping with difficulty. He reached Paris enraged at having been sold by Germain, and foiled in a splendid affair.
One fine day he met the young fellow; it was in the open daylight, and he didn"t dare do anything, but he followed him, found out where he lived, and one night we two, Velu and little Ledru, fell on Germain.
Unfortunately he escaped, and then changed his residence in the Rue du Temple, where he lived; we were unable to find him afterwards. But if he is here, I demand--"
"You have nothing to demand," said the Skeleton, in a tone of authority.