Part 1 (1/2)
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol
by William J Locke
I
THE ADVENTURE OF THE FAIR PATRONNE
In narrating these few episodes in the undulatory, not to say switchback, career of ical sequence Some occurred before he (almost literally) crossed my path for the first time, some afterwards They have been related to ether with a hundred other incidents, just as a chance tag of association recalled them to his swift and picturesquedates by reference to his tees of fortune in their number and rapidity that I could never keep count of them or their order Nor does it matter The man's life was as disconnected as a pack of cards
My firstwith hi in a listless, solitary fashi+on about Languedoc A friend who had stolen a few days frone through Touraine and Guienne had left ed to pick up at Avignon on his way from Monte Carlo was unexpectedly delayed I was therefore conderegarious temperament At first, for coh But McKeogh, an atheistical Scotchas communicative as his own differential, I soon relapsed into the equal loneliness and greater comfort of the back
In this fashi+on I left Montpellier oneto break off froues-Mortes on the way
Aigues-Mortes was once a flourishi+ng Mediterranean town St Louis and his Crusaders sailed thence twice for Palestine; Charles V and Francis Istate But now its glory has departed The sea has receded three or four h and dry in the middle of bleak saltht white ribbon of road which stretched for h the plain, between dreary vineyards--so like sye above the surface--was at last sed up by the gri tower On each side spread the brown machicolated battlements that vainly defended the death-stricken place A soft northern atmosphere would have invested it in a certain mystery of romance, but in the clear southern air, the towers and walls standing sharply defined against the blue, wind-swept sky, it looked naked and pitiful, like a poor ghost caught in the daylight
At soate appeared the usual notice as to speed-lih, most scrupulous of drivers, obeyed As there was a knot of idlers underneath and beyond the gate he slowed down to a crawl, sounding a patient and monotonous horn We advanced; the peasant folk cleared the way sullenly and suspiciously Then, deliberately, an elderly man started to cross the road, and on the sound of the horn stood stock still, with resentful defiance on his weather-beaten face
McKeogh jammed on the brakes The car halted But the infinitesimal fraction of a second before it ca over the near front wheel touched the elderly person and down he went on the ground I leaped from the car, to be instantly surrounded by an infuriated crohich see square The elderly man, helped to his feet by sympathetic hands, shook his knotted fists in ly peasant, of splendid physique, as hard and discoloured as the walls of Aigues-Mortes; his cunning eyes were as clear as a boy's, his lined, clean-shaven face as rigid as a gargoyle; and the back of his neck, above the low collar of his jersey, showed itself seaes, like the hide of a crocodile He cursed me and my kind healthily in very bad French and apostrophized his friends in Provencal, who in Provencal and bad French made responsive clamour I had knocked hio tearing through peaceful toithinnocent people? I tried to explain that the fault was his, and that, after all, to judge by the strength of his lungs, no great dao like that
There were the gendar portentously towards the scene--they would see justice done The laas there to protect poor folk For a certainty I would not get off easily
[Illustration: I HAD KNOCKED HIM DOWN ON PURPOSE HE WAS CRIPPLED FOR LIFE]
I kneould happen The gendarh and myself to a _proces-verbal_ They would io to the Mairie and make endless depositions I should have to wait, Heaven kno long, before I could appear before the _juge de paix_
I should have to find a solicitor to represent --at the rate, when the accident happened, of a mile an hour--and probably have to pay a heavy coh's i for injustice to take its course, I should be the guest of a hostile population I grew angry The crowd grew angrier The gendarmes approached with an air of majesty and fate But just before they could be acquainted with the brutal facts of the disaster a singularly bright-eyed e suit, flashed like aswiftness at endarmes and the victim, ran his hands up and down the person of the last ure in a bad cine, subjected the inhabitants to an infuriated philippic in Provencal, of which I could not understand one word The croith here and there a murmur of remonstrance, listened to hi their heads, the gendararettes, and the gargoyle-visaged ancient with the neck of crocodile hide turned gruical as the effect produced by this electric personage Even McKeogh, who during the previous cla expressionless eyes fixed on the cap of the radiator, turned his head two degrees of a circle and glanced at his surroundings
The instant peace was established our rescuer darted up to on-fly and shook me warmly by the hand As he had done rateful suessed him to be about five-and-thirty He had a clear olive complexion, black moustache and short silky vandyke beard, and the , the ht eyes I have ever seen in my life I ed the handshake with the fervour of a long-lost friend
”It's all right, lish, but with a French accent curiously tinged with cockney ”The old gentleman's as sound as a bell--not a bruise on his body” He pushed uide you to the only place where you can eat in this accursed town”
Before I could recover fro directions to McKeogh
”Ah! These people!” he cried, shaking his hands with outspread fingers in front of him ”They have no ular trade They go and get knocked down by automobiles on purpose, so that they can clais especially and train theet compensation There's one now--_ah, sacree bete!_” He leaned over the side of the car and exchanged violent objurgation with the dog ”But neveryou like with ied to you,” said I ”You've saved me from a deal of foolish unpleasantness Frouess you to be a doctor”
”That's one of the few things I've never been,” he replied ”No; I'm not a doctor One of these days I'll tell you all about myself” He spoke as if our sudden acquaintance would ripen into life-long friendshi+p
”There's the hotel--the Hotel Saint-Louis,” he pointed to the sign a little way up the narrow, old-world, cobble-paved street ere entering ”Leave it to me; I'll see that they treat you properly”
The car drew up at the doorway My electric friend leaped out andlandlady
”_Bonjour, lish gentleh importance He will have _dejeuner--tout ce qu'il y a de e-soup and eels and _andouilles_, but a good omelette, some fresh fish, and a bit of very tenderto”And since you've ordereda _dejeuner_, perhaps you'll do reatest pleasure,” said he, without a second's hesitation