Part 4 (1/2)
”Let mamma tell the story,” said Edouard.
”What is it, then? What happened?” said Monsieur de Lamotte.
”I am quite ashamed,” answered Derues; ”but I obey your wishes, madame.”
”Yes,” replied Madame de Lamotte, ”keep your seat, I wish it. Imagine, Pierre, just six days ago, an accident happened to Edouard and me which might have had serious consequences.”
”And you never wrote to me, Marie?”
”I should only have made you anxious, and to no purpose. I had some business in one of the most crowded parts of Paris; I took a chair, and Edouard walked beside me. In the rue Beaubourg we were suddenly surrounded by a mob of low people, who were quarrelling. Carriages stopped the way, and the horses of one of these took fright in the confusion and uproar, and bolted, in spite of the coachman's endeavours to keep them in hand. It was a horrible tumult, and I tried to get out of the chair, but at that moment the chairmen were both knocked down, and I fell. It is a miracle I was not crushed. I was dragged insensible from under the horses' feet and carried into the house before which all this took place. There, sheltered in a shop and safe from the crowd which enc.u.mbered the doorway, I recovered my senses, thanks to the a.s.sistance of Monsieur Derues, who lives there. But that is not all: when I recovered I could not walk, I had been so shaken by the fright, the fall, and the danger I had incurred, and I had to accept his offer of finding me another chair when the crowd should disperse, and meanwhile to take shelter in his rooms with his wife, who showed me the kindest attention.”
”Monsieur--” said Monsieur de Lamotte, rising. But his wife stopped him.
”Wait a moment; I have not finished yet. Monsieur Derues came back in an hour, and I was then feeling better; but before, I left I was stupid enough to say that I had been robbed in the confusion; my diamond earrings, which had belonged to my mother, were gone. You cannot imagine the trouble Monsieur Derues took to discover the thief, and all the appeals he made to the police--I was really ashamed!”
Although Monsieur de Lamotte did not yet understand what motive, other than grat.i.tude, had induced his wife to bring this stranger home with her, he again rose from his seat, and going to Derues, held out his hand.
”I understand now the attachment my son shows for you. You are wrong in trying to lessen your good deed in order to escape from our grat.i.tude, Monsieur Derues.”
”Monsieur Derues?” inquired the monk.
”Do you know the name, my father?” asked Madame de Lamotte eagerly.
”Edouard had already told me,” said the monk, approaching Derues.
”You live in the rue Beaubourg, and you are Monsieur Derues, formerly a retail grocer?”
”The same, my brother.”
”Should you require a reference, I can give it. Chance, madame, has made you acquainted with a man whose reputation for piety and honour is well established; he will permit me to add my praises to yours.”
”Indeed, I do not know how I deserve so much honour.”
”I am, Brother Marchois, of the Camaldulian order. You see that I know you well.”
The monk then proceeded to explain that his community had confided their affairs to Derues' honesty, he undertaking to dispose of the articles manufactured by the monks in their retreat. He then recounted a number of good actions and of marks of piety, which were heard with pleasure and admiration by those present. Derues received this cloud of incense with an appearance of sincere modesty and humility, which would have deceived the most skilful physiognomist.
When the eulogistic warmth of the good brother began to slacken it was already nearly dark, and the two priests had barely time to regain the presbytery without incurring the risk of breaking their necks in the rough road which led to it. They departed at once, and a room was got ready for Derues.
”To-morrow,” said Madame de Lamotte as they separated, ”you can discuss with my husband the business on which you came: to-morrow, or another day, for I beg that you will make yourself at home here, and the longer you will stay the better it will please us.”
The night was a sleepless one for Derues, whose brain was occupied by a confusion of criminal plans. The chance which had caused his acquaintance with Madame de Lamotte, and even more the accident of Brother Marchois appearing in the nick of time, to enlarge upon the praises which gave him so excellent a character, seemed like favourable omens not to be neglected. He began to imagine fresh villanies, to outline an unheard-of crime, which as yet he could not definitely trace out; but anyhow there would be plunder to seize and blood to spill, and the spirit of murder excited and kept him awake, just as remorse might have troubled the repose of another.
Meanwhile Madame de Lamotte, having retired with her husband, was saying to the latter--
”Well, now! what do you think of my protege, or rather, of the protector which Heaven sent me?”
”I think that physiognomy is often very deceptive, for I should have been quite willing to hang him on the strength of his.”
”It is true that his appearance is not attractive, and it led me into a foolish mistake which I quickly regretted. When I recovered consciousness, and saw him attending on me, much worse and more carelessly dressed than he is to-day.”
”You were frightened?”