Part 43 (1/2)
”You shall not leave this room,” cried he, ”until you have explained this insulting remark.”
”I had no intention of offending you,” answered Tantaine humbly.
”I only----” He paused, and then, with an air of sarcasm which sat strangely upon a person of his appearance, went on, ”I am aware that the heiress of a n.o.ble family may do many things without having her reputation compromised, when girls in a lower social grade would be forever lost by the commission of any one of them; and I am sure if the family of M. de Breulh knew that the young lady to whom he was engaged had been in the habit of pa.s.sing her afternoons alone with a young man in his studio----”
He paused, and hastily drew a revolver, for it seemed to him as if the Count were about to throw himself upon him. ”Softly, softly, if you please,” cried he. ”Blows and insults are fatal mistakes. I have better information than yourself, that is all. I have more than ten times seen your daughter enter a house in the Rue Tour d'Auvergne, and asking for M. Andre, creep silently up the staircase.”
The Count felt that he was choking. He tore off his cravat, and cried wildly, ”Proofs! Give me proofs!”
During the last five minutes Tantaine had s.h.i.+fted his ground so skilfully that the heavy library table now stood between himself and the Count, and he was comparatively safe behind this extemporized defence.
”Proofs?” answered he. ”Do you think that I carry them about with me? In a week I could give you the lovers' correspondence. That, you will say, is too long to wait; but you can set your doubts at rest at once. If you go to the address I will give you before eight to-morrow morning, and enter the rooms occupied by M. Andre, you will find the portrait of Mademoiselle Sabine carefully concealed from view behind a green curtain, and a very good portrait it is. I presume you will admit that it could not have been executed without a sitting.”
”Leave this,” cried the Count, ”without a moment's delay.”
Tantaine did not wait for a repet.i.tion of these words. He pa.s.sed through the doorway, and as soon as he was outside he called out in cheerful accents. ”Do not forget the address, Number 45, Rue Tour d'Auvergne, name of Andre, and mind and be there before eight a.m.”
The Count made a rush at him on hearing this last insult, but he was too late, for Tantaine slammed the door, and was in the hall before the infuriated master of the house could open it. Tantaine had resumed all his airs of humility, and took off his hat to the footmen as he descended the steps. ”Yes,” muttered he, as he walked along, ”the idea was a happy one. Andre knows that he is watched, and will be careful; and now that M. de Mussidan is aware that his sweet, pure daughter has had a lover, he will be only too happy to accept the Marquis de Croisenois as his son-in-law.” Tantaine believed that Sabine was more culpable than she really had been, for the idea of pure and honorable love had never entered his brain.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE TEMPTER.
By this time Tantaine was in the Champs Elysees, and stared anxiously around. ”If my Toto makes no mistake,” muttered he, ”surely my order was plain enough.”
The old man got very cross as he at last perceived the missing lad conversing with the proprietor of a pie-stall, having evidently been doing a little jawing with him.
”Toto,” he called, ”Toto, come here.”
Toto Chupin heard him, for he looked round, but he did not move, for he was certainly much interested in the conversation he was carrying on.
Tantaine shouted again, and this time more angrily than before, and Toto, reluctantly leaving his companion, came slowly up to his patron.
”You have been a nice time getting here,” said the lad sulkily. ”I was just going to cut it. Ain't you well that you make such a row? If you ain't, I'd better go for a doctor.
”I am in a tremendous hurry, Toto.”
”Yes, and so is the postman when he is behind time. I'm busy too.”
”What, with the man you have just left?”
”Yes; he is a sharper chap than I am. How much do you earn every day, Daddy Tantaine? Well, that chap makes his thirty or forty francs every night, and does precious little for it. I should like a business like that, and I think that I shall secure one soon.”
”Have patience. I thought that you were going into business with those two young men you were drinking beer with at the Grand Turk?”
Toto uttered a shrill cry of anger at these words. ”Business with them?”
shrieked he; ”they are regular clever night thieves.”
”Have they done you any harm, my poor lad?”
”Yes; they have utterly ruined me. Luckily, I saw Mascarin yesterday, and he set me up in the hot-chestnut line. He ain't a bad one, is Mascarin.”