Part 15 (1/2)
”You betray the Count of Fieramondi, your friend; why not betray your employers also?”
For a moment there was a look in the Captain's eye which seemed to indicate annoyance, but the next instant he smiled.
”As if there were any parallel!” said he. ”Matters of love are absolutely different, my good friend.” Then he went on very carelessly, ”The candle 's low. Why don't you light your lantern?”
”That rascal Paul threw it away, and I had n't time to get it.” No expression, save a mild concern, appeared on Captain Dieppe's face, although he had discovered a fact of peculiar interest to him. ”The candle will last as long as we shall want it,” pursued Guillaume.
”Very probably,” agreed the Captain, with a languid yawn; again he s.h.i.+fted his straw till the bulk of it was under his right shoulder, and he lay on an incline that sloped down to the left. ”And you 'll kill me and take my papers, eh?” he inquired, turning and looking up at Guillaume. He could barely see his enemy's face now, for the candle guttered and sputtered, while the moon, high in heaven, threw light on the dip of the hill outside, but did little or nothing to relieve the darkness within the hut.
”No, I shall not murder you. You 'll give them to me, I 'm sure.”
”And if I refuse, dear M. Guillaume?”
”I shall invite you to accompany me to the village--or, more strictly, to precede me.”
”What should we do together in the village?” cried Dieppe.
”I shall beg of you to walk a few paces in front of me,--just a few,--to go at just the pace I go, and to remember that I carry a revolver in my hand.”
”My memory would be excellent on such a point,” the Captain a.s.sured him. ”But, again, why to the village?”
”We should go together to the office of the police. I am on good terms with the police.”
”Doubtless. But what have they to do with me? Come, come, my matter is purely political, they would n't mix themselves up in it.”
”I should charge you with the unlawful possession of my portfolio. You would admit it, or you would deny it. In either case your person would be searched, the papers would be found, and I, who am on such friendly terms with the police, should certainly enjoy an excellent opportunity of inspecting them. You perceive, my dear Captain, that I have thought it out.”
”It's neat, certainly,” agreed the Captain, who was not a little dismayed at this plan of Guillaume's. ”But I should not submit to the search.”
”Ah! Now how would you prevent it?”
”I should send for my friend the Count. He has influence; he would answer for me.”
”What, when he hears my account of your interview with his wife?” Old Guillaume played this card with a smile of triumph. ”I told you that the little affair might perhaps be turned to my purposes,” he reminded Dieppe, maliciously.
The Captain reflected, taking as long as he decently could over the task. Indeed he was in trouble. Guillaume's scheme was sagacious, Guillaume's position very strong. And at last Guillaume grew impatient. But still the persistent candle burnt.
”I give you one minute to make up your mind,” said Guillaume, dropping his tone of sarcastic pleasantry, and speaking in a hard, sharp voice.
”After that, either you give me the papers, or you get up and march before me to the village.”
”If I refuse to do either?”
”You can't refuse,” said Guillaume.
”You mean--?”
”I should order you to hold your hands behind your back while I took the papers. If you moved--”
”Thank you. I see,” said the Captain, with a nod of understanding.
”Awkward for you, though, if it came to that.”