Part 1 (1/2)
Castles in the Air
by Baroness Eing rogue to y, at least an explanation for this atte sympathy in favour of a man who has little to recoood friend Ratichon is an unblushi+ng liar, thief, a forger--anything you will; his vanity is past belief, his scruples are non-existent How he escaped a convict settleine, and hard to realize that he died--presumably some years after the event recorded in the last chapter of his autobiography--a respected member of the community, honoured by that saainst him Yet this I believe to be the case At any rate, in spite of close research in the police records of the period, I can find no mention of Hector Ratichon ”Heureux le peuple qui n'a pas d'histoire” applies, therefore, to him, and we must take it that Fate and his own sorely troubled country dealt lightly with his me back to my attempt at an explanation If Fate dealt kindly, why not we? Since ti than Hector Ratichon, and he has the saving grace-- which few possess--of unruffled geniality Buffeted by Fate, so, always thirsty, he never coraphy e ht call an ”Ah, well!” attitude about his outlook on life Because of this, and because his very fatuity iveness and even a certain ahtly modified, came intoin Paris, when rain, sleet and the north wind drove me for shelter under the arcades of the Odeon, and a kindly vendor of miscellaneous printed st a load of old papers which he was about to consign to the rubbish heap I iine that the notes were set down by the actual person to whoenial Hector Ratichon recounted the most conspicuous events of his chequered career, and as I turned over the torn and ether by scraps ofthe humour--aye! and the pathos--of that drabby side of old Paris which was being revealed to ue's adventures And even as, holding the fragh the rain so of that same quaint personality seemed onceVille Lureen coat, the nankeen pantaloons, the down-at-heel shoes of this ”confidant of Kings”; I could hear his unctuous, self-satisfied laugh, and sensed his furtive footstep whene'er a gendar at h the sleet and the rain as, like a veritable squire of dames, he ler, affronted the grave dangers of lad to think that a life so full of unconscious huht kindly of hi fine about hile thrill to the nerves of the ize in that I have not held hience for his turpitudes because of the laughter which they provoke
EMMUSKA ORCZY _Paris, 1921_
CASTLES IN THE AIR
CHAPTER I
A ROLAND FOR HIS OLIVER
1
My name is Ratichon--Hector Ratichon, at your service, and I make so bold as to say that not eventhe value of my services to the State For twenty years now have I placed my powers at the disposal of my country: I have served the Republic, and was confidential agent to Citizen Robespierre; I have served the Ereat Napoleon; I have served King Louis--with a brief interval of one hundred days-- for the past two years, and I can only repeat that no one, in the whole of France, has been so useful or so zealous in tracking cri traitors as I have been
And yet you see nant Fate which has worked against me all these years, and would--but for a happy circumstance of which I hope anon to tell you--have left me just as I was, in the matter of fortune, when I first caent at No, 96 Rue Daunou
My apartment in those days consisted of an antechaht sit, waiting their turn to place their troubles, difficulties, anxieties before the acutest brain in France, and an inner room wherein that same acute brain--mine, my dear Sir--ont to ponder and scheme That apart very dear in those days--but there were a couple of chairs and a table in the outer office, and a cupboard wherein I kept the frugal repast which servedand laborious day In the inner office there were more chairs and another table, littered with papers: letters and packets all tied up with pink tape (which cost three sous the metre), and bundles of letters frohest and the lowest in the land, you understand, people rote to s and emperors had done in the past In the antechamber there was a chair-bedstead for Theodore to sleep on when I required him to remain in town, and a chair on which he could sit
And, of course, there was Theodore!
Ah!choked with the nation makes me dumb
Theodore, sir, has ever been the cruel thorn that times out of number hath wounded my over-sensitive heart Think of it! I had picked hiuratively! I mean that, actually and in the flesh, I took hied hi for trifles out of the slime and mud He was frozen, Sir, and starved--yes, starved! In the intervals of picking filth up out of the mud he held out a hand blue with cold to the passers-by and occasionally picked up a sou When I found him in that pitiable condition he had exactly twenty centimes between him and absolute starvation
And I, Sir Hector Ratichon, the confidant of two kings, three autocrats and an emperor, took that ave him the post of secretary in my intricate, delicate, immensely important business--and I did this, Sir, at a salary which, in comparison with his twenty centimes, must have seeht He was under no obligation to serve , and all that he had to do then was to sweep out the three rooht the fire in the iron stove which stood in my inner office, shell the haricots for his ownthe day his duties were lighter still He had to run errands for me, open the door to prospective clients, show them into the outer office, explain to thedoenerally prove himself efficient, useful and loyal--all of which qualities he assured ree And I believed him, Sir; I nurtured the scorpion in my over-sensitive bosom!
I promised him ten per cent on all the profits of my business, and all the remnants froes, the bones froravy froht that his gratitude would become boundless, that he would almost worshi+p the benefactor who had poured at his feet the full cornucopia of comfort and luxury
Not so! That rass--a serpent--a crocodile! Even now that I have entirely severed rate, I seeer-thrusts, which he dealt me with so callous a hand But I have done with him--done, I tell you! How could I do otherwise than to send hied hiratitude so black that you, Sir, when you hear the full story of his treachery, will exclaie! His perfidy coiven hiet his hair cut, thusa man of him And yet, you would scarcely believe it, in the matter of the secret documents he behaved toward me like a veritable Judas!
Listen, my dear Sir
I told you, I believe, that I had my office in the Rue Daunou You understand that I had to receive my clients--many of ere of exalted rank---in a fashi+onable quarter of Paris But I actually lodged in Passy--being fond of country pursuits and addicted to fresh air--in a hun of the ”Grey Cat”; and here, too, Theodore had a bed He would walk to the office a couple of hours before I myself started on the way, and I ont to arrive as soon after ten o'clock of aas I could do conveniently
On this memorable occasion of which I a the autumn of 1815--I had co my hat and coat in the outer room, and taken my seat at hts in preparation for the grave events which the dayforth, when, suddenly, an ill-dressed, dour-looking individual entered the roo pushed Theodore--who stood by like a lout--most unceremoniously to one side Before I had time to recover from my surprise at this unseehly out of the roo satisfied himself that he was alone with, me and that the door was too solid to allow of successful eavesdropping, he dragged the best chair forward--the one, sir, which I reserve for lady visitors
He threw his leg across it, and, sitting astride, he leaned his elbows over the back and glowered at hten me
”My name is Charles Saurez,” he said abruptly, ”and I want your assistance in a enuity and alertness Can I have it?”