第74章

WHO MONSIEUR BERNARD WAS

The cause of this change and of the sternness in Godefroid's face was an event which had just taken place in the rue Chanoinesse.When the initiate arrived there he found Madame de la Chanterie and her friends assembled in the salon awaiting dinner; and he instantly took Monsieur Joseph apart to give him the four volumes on "The Spirit of Modern Laws." Monsieur Joseph took the voluminous manuscript to his room and returned for dinner; then, after sharing in the conversation for part of the evening, he went back to his room, intending to begin the reading of the book that night.

Godefroid was much astonished when Manon came to him soon after Monsieur Joseph's retirement and asked if he would at once go up and speak to that gentleman.He went up, conducted by Manon, and was unable to pay any heed to the apartment (which he had never before entered) so amazed was he by the agitated look and manner of a man who was usually calm and placid.

"Do you know," asked Monsieur Joseph, once more a judge, "who the author of this work is?""He is Monsieur Bernard," said Godefroid; "I know him only under that name.I did not open the package.""True," said Monsieur Joseph, as if to himself, "I broke the seals myself.You have not tried to find out anything about his antecedents?""No, I only know that he made a love-match with the daughter of General Tarlowski; that the daughter is named after the mother, Vanda;the grandson is called Auguste; and I have seen a portrait of Monsieur Bernard in the red robes of a president of the Royal Courts.""Here, read that," said Monsieur Joseph, pointing to the titlepage of the manuscript, written probably in Auguste's handwriting:--ON THE

SPIRIT OF MODERN LAWS

By M.Bernard-Jean-Baptiste Macloud, Baron Bourlac.

Formerly attorney-general to the Royal Court of Rouen.

Grand officer of the Legion of honor.

[Aha! Thought so.--JB.]

"Ha! the slayer of Madame's daughter! of the Chevalier du Vissard! the man who condemned her to twenty years' imprisonment!" said Godefroid, in a feeble voice.His legs gave way under him, and he dropped into a chair."What a beginning!" he muttered.

"This matter, my dear Godefroid," resumed Monsieur Joseph, "concerns us all.You have done your part; leave the rest to us.I beg you to have no more to do with it; go and fetch the things you have left behind you.Don't say a word of all this.Practise absolute discretion.Tell the Baron de Bourlac to address himself to me.By that time we shall have decided how to act under the circumstances."Godefroid left him, took a cab, and went back as fast as he could to the boulevard du Mont-Parnasse, filled with horror as he remembered that indictment signed with Bourlac's name, the bloody drama ending on the scaffold, and Madame de la Chanterie's imprisonment at Bicetre.He understood now the abandonment in which this former attorney-general, another Fourquier-Tinville in the public mind, was ending his days, and the true reasons for the concealment of his name.

"May Monsieur Joseph avenge her terribly!" he thought.As he uttered the wish in his own mind, he saw Auguste.

"What do you want of me?" he asked.

"My good friend, such a dreadful misfortune has overtaken us that I am almost mad.Wretches have come here and seized all my mother's property, and they are going to put my grandfather in prison.But it is not on account of those misfortunes that I come to implore you,"said the lad, with Roman pride; "it is to ask you to do me a service such as people do to those who are condemned to die.""Go on, what is it?" said Godefroid.

"They came here to seize my grandfather's manuscript; and as I think he gave you the book itself I want you to take the notes, for Madame Vauthier will not let me carry anything out of the house.Put them with the volumes and--""Yes, yes," said Godefroid, "go and get them at once."While the lad went back to his own rooms, returning immediately, Godefroid reflected that the poor child was guilty of no crime, and that he ought not to put despair into that young heart by speaking of his grandfather and of the punishment for his savage political actions that had overtaken his old age.He therefore took the little package with a good grace.

"What is your mother's name?" he asked.

"My mother is the Baronne de Mergi; my father was the son of the president of the Royal Court at Rouen.""Ah!" said Godefroid; "then your grandfather married his daughter to the son of the famous president Mergi.""Yes, monsieur."

"Now, my little friend, leave me," said Godefroid.He went with young Mergi to the landing, and called to Madame Vauthier.

"Mere Vauthier," he said, "you can let my rooms.I shall not come back any more."He gathered his things together, went downstairs, and got into the cab.

"Have you given anything to that gentleman?" said the Vauthier to Auguste.

"Yes," said the young man.

"You're a pretty fellow! that's the agent of your grandfather's enemies.He managed this whole business, and the proof is that, now that the trick is played, he goes off and isn't coming back any more.

He has just told me I can let his lodgings."Auguste flew to the boulevard and ran after the cab shouting so loudly that he finally stopped it.

"What do you want?" asked Godefroid.

"My grandfather's manuscripts."

"Tell them he can get them from Monsieur Joseph."The youth thought the words were intended as a cruel joke.He sat down in the snow as he saw the cab disappearing rapidly.Presently he sprang up with momentary vigor, returned to his room and went to bed worn out with fatigue and distress.