VENGEANCE
The old man walked mechanically along the rue Notre-Dame des Champs, and entered the house by the little door, which he noticed was open.
There he came suddenly upon Nepomucene.
"Oh, monsieur, come quick! they are taking Monsieur Auguste to prison!
They arrested him on the boulevard; it was he they were looking for;they have examined him."
The old man bounded like a tiger, rushed through the house with the speed of an arrow, and reached the door on the boulevard in time to see his grandson getting into a hackney-coach with three men.
"Auguste," he said, "what does all this mean?"The poor boy burst into tears and fainted away.
"Monsieur, I am the Baron Bourlac, formerly attorney-general," he said to the commissary of police, whose scarf now attracted his eye."Ientreat you to explain all this."
"Monsieur, if you are Baron Bourlac, two words will be enough.I have just examined this young man, and he admits--""What?"
"The robbery of four thousand francs from Doctor Halpersohn!""Is that true, Auguste?"
"Grandpapa, I sent him as security your diamond snuff-box.I did it to save you from going to prison.""Unhappy boy! what have you done? The diamonds are false!" cried the baron; "I sold the real ones three years ago!"The commissary of police and his agents looked at each other.That look, full of many things, was intercepted by Baron Bourlac, and seemed to blast him.
"Monsieur," he said to the commissary, "you need not feel uneasy; Ishall go myself to the prefect; but you are witness to the fact that Ikept my grandson ignorant of the loss of the diamonds.Do your duty;but I implore you, in the name of humanity, put that lad in a cell by himself; I will go to the prison.To which one are you taking him?""Are you really Baron Bourlac?" asked the commissary.
"Oh, monsieur!"
"The fact is that the municipal judge and I doubted if it were possible that you and your grandson could be guilty.We thought, and the doctor, too, that some scoundrels had taken your name."He took the baron aside, and added:--
"Did you go to see Doctor Halpersohn this morning?""Yes, monsieur."
"Your grandson went there half an hour after you.""Did he? I knew nothing of that.I have just returned home, and have not seen my grandson for two days.""The writs he has shown me and the examination explain everything,"said the commissary of police."I see the cause of the crime.
Monsieur, I ought by rights to arrest you as accomplice to your grandson; for your answers confirm the allegations in Doctor Halpersohn's complaint.But these papers, which I here return to you,"holding out to the old man a bundle of papers, "do prove you to be Baron Bourlac.Nevertheless, you must hold yourself ready to appear before Monsieur Marest, the judge of the Municipal Court who has cognizance of the case.As for your grandson, I will speak to the /procureur du roi/, and we will take all the care of him that is due to the grandson of a former judge,--the victim, no doubt, of youthful error.But the complaint has been made, the delinquent admits his guilt, I have drawn up the proces-verbal, and served the warrant of arrest; I cannot go back on that.As for the incarceration, I will put him in the Conciergerie.""Thank you, monsieur," said the unhappy Bourlac.
With the words he fell rigid on the snow, and rolled into one of the hollows round the trees of the boulevard.
The commissary of police called for help, and Nepomucene ran up, together with Madame Vauthier.The old man was carried to his room, and Madame Vauthier begged the commissary to call on his way in the rue d'Enfer, and send Doctor Berton as soon as possible.
"What is the matter with my grandfather?" asked poor Auguste.
"He is out of his head.You see what it is to steal," said the Vauthier.
Auguste made a movement as though he would dash out his brains.The two agents caught him.
"Come, young man, be calm," said the commissary of police; "you have done wrong, but it may not be irreparable--""Monsieur, will you tell that woman my grandfather hasn't had anything to ear for twenty-four hours?""Oh! the poor things!" exclaimed the commissary under his breath.
He stopped the coach, which had started, and said a word in the ear of one of his agents, who got out and ran to Madame Vauthier, and then returned.
When Dr.Berton arrived he declared that Monsieur Bernard (he knew him only under that name) had a high fever of great intensity.After hearing from Madame Vauthier all the events which had brought on this crisis (related after the manner of such women) he informed Monsieur Alain the next morning, at Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas, of the present state of affairs; on which Monsieur Alain despatched a note in pencil by a street messenger to Monsieur Joseph.
Godefroid had given Monsieur Joseph, on his return from the boulevard du Mont-Parnasse the night before, the notes confided to him by Auguste, and Monsieur Joseph had spent part of the night in reading the first volume of Baron Bourlac's work.
The next morning after breakfast Madame de la Chanterie told her neophyte that he should, if his resolution still held good, be put to work at once.Godefroid, initiated by her into the financial secrets of the society, worked steadily seven or eight hours a day for several months, under the inspection of Frederic Mongenod, who came every Sunday to examine the work, and from whom he received much praise and encouragement.
"You are," he said, when the books were all in order and the accounts audited, "a precious acquisition to the saints among whom you live.