Part 36 (1/2)
”I am Lieut. Champcey, sir,” he said. ”What do you desire?”
But, instead of replying, the ”gentleman” raised his hands to heaven in a perfect ecstasy of joy, and said in an undertone,- ”We triumph at last!”
Then, turning to Daniel and the captain, he said,- ”But come, gentlemen, come! I must explain my conduct; and we must be alone for what I have to tell you.”
Pale, and with every sign of seasickness in his face, when he had first appeared on deck, the man now seemed to have recovered, and, in spite of the rolling of the vessel, followed the captain and Daniel with a firm step to the quarter-deck. As soon as they were alone, he said,- ”Could I be here, if I had not used a stratagem? Evidently not. And yet I had the most powerful interest in boarding 'The Saint Louis' before she should enter port; therefore I did not hesitate.”
He drew from his pocket a sheet of paper, simply folded twice, and said,- ”Here is my apology, Lieut. Champcey; see if it is sufficient.”
Utterly amazed, the young officer read,- ”I am saved, Daniel; and I owe my life to the man who will hand you this. I shall owe to him the pleasure of seeing you again. Confide in him as you would in your best and most devoted friend; and, I beseech you, do not hesitate to follow his advice literally.
”Henrietta.”
Daniel turned deadly pale, and tottered. This unexpected, intense happiness overcame him.
”Then-it is true-she is alive?” he stammered.
”She is at my sister's house, safe from all danger.”
”And you, sir, you have rescued her?”
”I did!”
Prompt like thought, Daniel seized the man's hands, and, pressing them vehemently, exclaimed with a penetrating voice,- ”Never, sir, never, whatever may happen, can I thank you enough. But remember, I pray you, under all circ.u.mstances, and for all times, you can count upon Lieut. Champcey.”
A strange smile played on the man's lips; and, shaking his head, he said, ”I shall before long remind you of your promise, lieutenant.”
Standing between the two men, the captain of ”The Saint Louis” was looking alternately at the one and the other with an astonished air, listening without comprehending, and imagining marvellous things. The only point he understood was this, that his presence was, to say the least, not useful.
”If that is so,” he said to Daniel, ”we cannot blame this gentleman for the ugly trick he has played us.”
”Blame him? Oh, certainly not!”
”Then I'll leave you. I believe I have treated the sailor who brought him on board a little roughly; but I am going to order him a gla.s.s of brandy, which will set him right again.”
Thereupon the captain discreetly withdrew; while Papa Ravinet continued,- ”You will tell me, M. Champcey, that it would have been simpler to wait for you in port, and hand you my letter of introduction there. That would have been grievous imprudence. If I heard at the navy department of your arrival, others may have learned it as well. As soon, therefore, as 'The Saint Louis' was telegraphed in town, you may be sure a spy was sent to the wharf, who is going to follow you, never losing sight of you, and who will report all your goings and your doings.”
”What does it matter?”
”Ah! do not say so, sir! If our enemies hear of our meeting, you see, if they only find out that we have conversed together, all is lost. They would see the danger that threatens them, and they would escape.”
Daniel could hardly trust his ears.
”Our enemies?” he asked, emphasizing the word ”our.”
”Yes: I mean our enemies,-Sarah Brandon, Countess Ville-Handry, Maxime de Brevan, Thomas Elgin, and Mrs. Brian.”
”You hate them?”
”If I hate them! I tell you for five years I have lived only on the hope of being able to avenge myself on them. Yes, it is five years now, that, lost in the crowd, I have followed them with the perseverance of an Indian,-five years that I have patiently, incessantly, inch by inch, undermined the ground beneath their steps. And they suspect nothing. I doubt whether they are aware of my existence. No, not even-What would it be to them, besides? They have pushed me so far down into the mud, that they cannot imagine my ever rising again up to their level. They triumph with impunity; they boast of their unpunished wickedness, and think they are strong, and safe from all attacks, because they have the prestige and the power of gold. And yet their hour is coming. I, the wretched man, who have been compelled to hide, and to live on my daily labor,-I have attained my end. Every thing is ready; and I have only to touch the proud fabric of their crimes to make it come down upon them, and crush them all under the ruins. Ah! if I could see them only suffer one-fourth of what they have made me suffer, I should die content.”
Papa Ravinet seemed to have grown a foot; his hatred convulsed his placid face; his voice trembled with rage; and his yellow eyes shone with ill-subdued pa.s.sion.
Daniel wondered, and asked himself what the people who had sworn to ruin him and Henrietta could have done to this man, who looked so inoffensive with his bright-flowered waistcoat and his coat with the high collar.
”But who are you, sir?” he asked.
”Who am I?” exclaimed the man,-”who am I?”
But he paused; and, after waiting a little while, he sunk his head, and said,- ”I am Anthony Ravinet, dealer in curiosities.”
The clipper was in the meantime making way rapidly. Already the white country houses appeared on the high bluffs amid the pine-groves; and the outlines of the Castle of If were clearly penned on the deep blue of the sky.
”But we are getting near,” exclaimed Papa Ravinet; ”and I must get back into my boat. I did not come out so far, that they might see me enter on board 'The Saint Louis.'”
And when Daniel offered him his state-room, where he might remain in concealment, he replied,- ”No, no! We shall have time enough to come to an understanding about what is to be done in Paris; and I must go back by rail to-night; I came down for the sole purpose of telling you this. Miss Henrietta is at my sister's house; but you must take care not to come there. Neither Sarah nor Brevan know what has become of her; they think she has thrown herself into the river; and this conviction is our safety and our strength. As they will most a.s.suredly have you watched, the slightest imprudence might betray us.”
”But I must see Henrietta, sir.”
”Certainly; and I have found the means for it. Instead of going to your former lodgings, go to the Hotel du Louvre. I will see to it that my sister and Miss Ville-Handry shall have taken rooms there before you reach Paris; and you may be sure, that, in less than a quarter of an hour after your arrival, you will hear news. But, heavens, how near we are! I must make haste.”
Upon Daniel's request, the s.h.i.+p lay by long enough to allow Papa Ravinet and his sailor to get back again into their boat without danger. When they were safely stowed away in it, and at the moment when they cast off the man-rope, Papa Ravinet called to Daniel,- ”We shall soon see you! Rely upon me! Tonight Miss Henrietta shall have a telegram from us.”
XXVIII.
At the same hour when Papa Ravinet, on the deck of ”The Saint Louis,” was pressing Daniel's hand, and bidding him farewell, there were in Paris two poor women, who prayed and watched with breathless anxiety,-the sister of the old dealer, Mrs. Bertolle, the widow; and Henrietta, the daughter of Count Ville-Handry. When Papa Ravinet had appeared the evening before, with his carpet-bag in his hand, his hurry had been so extraordinary, and his excitement so great, that one might have doubted his sanity. He had peremptorily asked his sister for two thousand francs; had made Henrietta write in all haste a letter of introduction to Daniel; and had rushed out again like a tempest, as he had come in, without saying more than this,- ”M. Champcey will arrive, or perhaps has already arrived, in Ma.r.s.eilles, on board a merchant vessel, 'The Saint Louis.' I have been told so at the navy department. It is all important that I should see him before anybody else. I take the express train of quarter past seven. To-morrow, I'll send you a telegram.”
The two ladies asked for something more, a hope, a word; but no, nothing more! The old dealer had jumped into the carriage that had brought him, before they had recovered from their surprise; and they remained there, sitting before the fire, silent, their heads in their hands, each lost in conjectures. When the clock struck seven, the good widow was aroused from her grave thoughts, which seemed so different from her usual cheerful temper.
”Come, come, Miss Henrietta,” she said with somewhat forced gayety, ”my brother's departure does not condemn us, as far as I know, to starve ourselves to death.”
She had gotten up as she said this. She set the table, and then sat down opposite to Henrietta, to their modest dinner. Modest it was, indeed, and still too abundant. They were both too much overcome to be able to eat; and yet both handled knife and fork, trying to deceive one another. Their thoughts were far away, in spite of all their efforts to keep them at home, and followed the traveller.
”Now he has left,” whispered Henrietta as it struck eight.
”He is on his way already,” replied the old lady.
But neither of them knew anything of the journey from Paris to Ma.r.s.eilles. They were ignorant of the distances, the names of the stations, and even of the large cities through which the railroad pa.s.ses.
”We must try and get a railway guide,” said the good widow. And, quite proud of her happy thought, she went out instantly, hurried to the nearest bookstore, and soon reappeared, flouris.h.i.+ng triumphantly a yellow pamphlet, and saying,- ”Now we shall see it all, my dear child.”
Then, placing the guide on the tablecloth between them, they looked for the page containing the railway from Paris to Lyons and Ma.r.s.eilles, then the train which Papa Ravinet was to have taken; and they delighted in counting up how swiftly the ”express” went, and all the stations where it stopped.
Then, when the table was cleared, instead of going industriously to work, as usually, they kept constantly looking at the clock, and, after consulting the book, said to each other,- ”He is at Montereau now; he must be beyond Sens; he will soon be at Tonnerre.”