I slept so badly that I had a fit of nightmare every time I went off to sleep.
As I did not wish to appear too restless or eager, I waited till 10 o"clock the next day before reporting myself to the police.
The merchant had not reappeared. His shop remained closed.
The commissary said to me:
"I have taken all the necessary steps. The court has been made acquainted with the affair. We shall go together to that shop and have it opened, and you shall point out to me all that belongs to you."
We drove there in a cab. Police agents were stationed round the building; there was a locksmith, too, and the door of the shop was soon opened.
On entering, I could not discover my wardrobes, my chairs, my tables; I saw nothing, nothing of that which had furnished my house, no, nothing, although on the previous evening, I could not take a step without encountering something that belonged to me.
The chief commissary, much astonished, regarded me at first with suspicion.
"My G.o.d, monsieur," said I to him, "the disappearance of these articles of furniture coincides strangely with that of the merchant."
He laughed.
"That is true. You did wrong in buying and paying for the articles which were your own property, yesterday. It was that that gave him the cue."
"What seems to me incomprehensible," I replied, "is, that all the places that were occupied by my furniture are now filled by other furniture."
"Oh!" responded the commissary, "he has had all night, and has no doubt been a.s.sisted by accomplices. This house must communicate with its neighbors. But have no fear, monsieur; I will have the affair promptly and thoroughly investigated. The brigand shall not escape us for long, seeing that we are in charge of the den."
Ah! My heart, my heart, my poor heart, how it beat!
I remained a fortnight at Rouen. The man did not return. Heavens! good heavens! That man, what was it that could have frightened and surprised him!
But, on the sixteenth day, early in the morning, I received from my gardener, now the keeper of my empty and pillaged house, the following strange letter:
Monsieur:
I have the honor to inform monsieur, that there happened something, the evening before last, which n.o.body can understand, and the police no more than the rest of us. The whole of the furniture has been returned, not one piece is missing--everything is in its place, up to the very smallest article. The house is now the same in every respect as it was before the robbery took place. It is enough to make one lose one"s head. The thing took place during the night Friday--Sat.u.r.day. The roads are dug up as though the whole barrier had been dragged from its place up to the door.
The same thing was observed the day after the disappearance of the furniture.
We are anxiously expecting monsieur, whose very humble and obedient servant, I am,
Raudin, Phillipe.
Ah! no, no, ah! never, never, ah! no. I shall never return there!
I took the letter to the commissary of police.
"It is a very dexterous rest.i.tution," said he. "Let us bury the hatchet.
We shall, however, nip the man one of these days."
But he has never been nipped. No. They have not nipped him, and I am afraid of him now, as though he were a ferocious animal that had been let loose behind me.
Inexplicable! It is inexplicable, this monster of a moon-struck skull!
We shall never get to comprehend it. I shall not return to my former residence. What does it matter to me? I am afraid of encountering that man again, and I shall not run the risk.
I shall not risk it! I shall not risk it! I shall not risk it!
And if he returns, if he takes possession of his shop, who is to prove that my furniture was on his premises? There is only my testimony against him; and I feel that that is not above suspicion.
Ah! no! This kind of existence was no longer possible. I was not able to guard the secret of what I had seen. I could not continue to live like the rest of the world, with the fear upon me that those scenes might be re-enacted.
I have come to consult the doctor who directs this lunatic asylum, and I have told him everything.
After he had interrogated me for a long time, he said to me:
"Will you consent, monsieur, to remain here for some time?"
"Most willingly, monsieur."
"You have some means?"
"Yes, monsieur."
"Will you have isolated apartments?"
"Yes, monsieur."
"Would you care to receive any friends?"
"No, monsieur, no, n.o.body. The man from Rouen might take it into his head to pursue me here to be revenged on me."
And I have been alone, alone, all, all alone, for three months. I am growing tranquil by degrees. I have no longer any fears. If the antiquary should become mad ... and if he should be brought into this asylum! Even prisons themselves are not places of security.
SIMON"S PAPA
Noon had just struck. The school-door opened and the youngsters tumbled out rolling over each other in their haste to get out quickly. But instead of promptly dispersing and going home to dinner as was their daily wont, they stopped a few paces off, broke up into knots and set to whispering.
The fact was that that morning Simon, the son of La Blanchotte, had, for the first time, attended school.
They had all of them in their families heard talk of La Blanchotte; and, although in public she was welcome enough, the mothers among themselves treated her with compa.s.sion of a somewhat disdainful kind, which the children had caught without in the least knowing why.
As for Simon himself, they did not know him, for he never went abroad, and did not go galloping about with them through the streets of the village or along the banks of the river. Therefore, they loved him but little; and it was with a certain delight, mingled with considerable astonishment, that they met and that they recited to each other this phrase, set afoot by a lad of fourteen or fifteen who appeared to know all, all about it, so sagaciously did he wink. "You know ... Simon ... well, he has no papa."