Part 2 (1/2)

”Is the girl mad?” he shouted. ”What is the meaning of this buffoonery?”

”Oh, sir--if you please, sir,” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mary, struggling with terror and laughter together, ”it's the gentleman, sir. He--he says, if you please, sir, that his name is Almond Pudding!”

”Your pardon, Mademoiselle,” said a plaintive voice. ”Armand Proudhine--le Chevalier Armand Proudhine, at your service.”

Mary disappeared with her ap.r.o.n to her mouth, and subsided into distant peals of laughter, leaving the Chevalier standing in the doorway.

He was a very little man, with a pinched and melancholy countenance, and an eye as wistful as a dog's. His threadbare clothes, made in the fas.h.i.+on of a dozen years before, had been decently mended in many places. A paste pin in a faded cravat, and a jaunty cane with a pinchbeck top, betrayed that he was still somewhat of a beau. His scant gray hair was tied behind with a piece of black ribbon, and he carried his hat under his arm, after the fas.h.i.+on of Elliston and the Prince Regent, as one sees them in the colored prints of fifty years ago.

He advanced a step, bowed, and laid his card upon the table.

”I believe,” he said in his plaintive voice, and imperfect English, ”that I have the honor to introduce myself to Monsieur Arbuthnot.”

”If you want me, sir,” said my father, gruffly, ”I am Doctor Arbuthnot.”

”And I, Monsieur,” said the little Frenchman, laying his hand upon his heart, and bowing again--”I am the Wizard of the Caucasus.”

”The what?” exclaimed my father.

”The Wizard of the Caucasus,” replied our visitor, impressively.

There was an awkward pause, during which my father looked at me and touched his forehead significantly with his forefinger; while the Chevalier, embarra.s.sed between his natural timidity and his desire to appear of importance, glanced from one face to the other, and waited for a reply. I hastened to disentangle the situation.

”I think I can explain this gentleman's meaning,” I said. ”Monsieur le Chevalier will perform to-morrow evening in the large room of the Red Lion Hotel. He is a professor of legerdemain.”

”Of the marvellous art of legerdemain, Monsieur Arbuthnot,” interrupted the Chevalier eagerly. ”Prestidigitateur to the Court of Sachsenhausen, and successor to Al Hakim, the wise. It is I, Monsieur, that have invent the famous _tour du pistolet;_ it is I, that have originate the great and surprising deception of the bottle; it is I whom the world does surname the Wizard of the Caucasus. _Me voici!_”

Carried away by the force of his own eloquence, the Chevalier fell into an att.i.tude at the conclusion of his little speech; but remembering where he was, blushed, and bowed again.

”Pshaw,” said my father impatiently, ”the man's a conjuror.”

The little Frenchman did not hear him. He was at that moment untying a packet which he carried in his hat, the contents whereof appeared to consist of a number of very small pink and yellow cards. Selecting a couple of each color, he deposited his hat carefully upon the floor and came a few steps nearer to the table.

”Monsieur will give me the hope to see him, with Monsieur _son fils_, at my Soiree Fantastique, _n'est-ce pas?_” he asked, timidly.

”Sir,” said my father shortly, ”I never encourage peripatetic mendicity.”

The little Frenchman looked puzzled.

”_Comment_?” said he, and glanced to me for an explanation.

”I am very sorry, Monsieur,” I interposed hastily; ”but my father objects to public entertainments.”

”_Ah, mon Dieu!_ but not to this,” cried the Chevalier, raising his hands and eyes in deprecating astonishment. ”Not to my Soiree Fantastique! The art of legerdemain, Monsieur, is not immoral. He is graceful--he is surprising--he is innocent; and, Monsieur, he is patronized by the Church; he is patronized by your amiable _Cure_, Monsieur le Docteur Brand.”

”Oh, father,” I exclaimed, ”Dr. Brand has taken tickets!”

”And pray, sir, what's that to me?” growled my father, without looking up from the book which he had ungraciously resumed. ”Let Dr. Brand make a fool of himself, if he pleases. I'm not bound to do the same.”

The Chevalier blushed crimson--not with humility this time, but with pride. He gathered the cards into his pocket, took up his hat, and saying stiffly--”_Monsieur, je vous demande pardon._”--moved towards the door.