第176章 THE HOBBY-HORSE.(3)

"Well," cried the commissioner, "now that I have taken breath, and have had a good drink, I will tell you why I have run so. I have directed a citizen to you who wants to buy some playthings, and something very fine, I suppose, as he brings a commissioner along with him to carry the things home. Now I want to know what per cent, of the profit you get from him you are willing to give me, for you cannot expect, citizen, that I should give my recommendation gratis."

"I am not the owner of the store," replied the clerk, with a shrug.

"I have been here only a week, and manage the business merely while the owner is absent for a short time on a necessary journey. So I can give no fees. But ask the boy whether in such cases Mr. Duval has paid money. He has been here longer than I."

"Mr. Duval has paid every commissioner, who has brought him such news, two centums on the franc," said the boy, with an important air.

"Well, then, I will give you two centums on the franc, provided that the citizen buys more than a franc's worth."

"Aha! there comes the man," cried the commissioner, pointing at Simon, who just then entered the store with Toulan. "Well, citizen, now make a very handsome purchase, for the more you buy, the better I shall like it."

"Yes, I believe you," replied Simon, laughing; "that is the way in all stores. I want something nice; I want to buy a hobby-horse. But mind you, citizen, show me one of your best ones, a real blood-horse, for I tell you that he who is to ride it is of real blood himself."

"We happen unfortunately to have a limited supply of the article," said the clerk, with a shrug. "They do not come exactly in our line.

But there has been so much demand for hobby-horses of late that we have ordered some, and if you will wait a few days, citizen--"

"A few days!" interrupted Simon, angrily. "Not a few hours, not a few minutes will I wait. If you have no hobby-horses, tell me, and I will go elsewhere to make my purchases."

He turned to go, but the clerk held him back. "Wait only a minute," he said. "I should not like to lose your custom, and I think it possible that I can procure you a fine horse. The cabinet-maker, who makes our horses, lives just opposite, and he has promised to deliver them tomorrow. The boy shall go over and see if they are not ready."

"We would rather go over with him, citizen. If we find what is wanted, we shall need to go no farther."

"It is true, that will be the best course," said Simon. "Come, commissioner."

"I will go along to have the business all rightly done," said the clerk. "Here, John, take my place behind the counter while I am gone."

Simon had already crossed the street by the side of Toulan. The clerk followed with the second commissioner.

"Why have you not got rid of the boy, Count St. Prix?" asked the latter.

"It was impossible, Count Frotte" answered the former in a whisper.

"Duval is a very nervous man, and he supposed that it would excite suspicion if the boy, who is well known in the neighborhood, should disappear at just the time when he should be away. He is right, perhaps, and at any rate the thing is unavoidable. The sly chore-boy has noticed nothing, I hope, and we shall reach our goal without any hindrance. You are going to London tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, count. And you? what is your direction?"

"To Coblentz, to the royal princes," replied Count St. Prix. "Only I suspect that we shall not both of us reach the end of our journeys."

"At any rate not with the children that we shall take with us," whispered the other, as they entered the house of the cabinet-maker.

They found Simon and Toulan in the large workshop busily engaged in bargaining with the cabinet-maker, who had shown them six tolerably large hobby-horses, and was descanting on their beauties.

"It seems tome they all look very much alike," said Simon. "Tell me, commissioner, which of these race-horses pleases you best."

"This with the red flanks," said Toulan, laying his hand upon the largest one.

"It is an immense creature," said Simon, with a laugh. "Still, the red flanks are pretty, and if we can agree about the price I will buy the animal."

They did agree, and after Simon had gravely paid the twenty francs, he and Toulan took the horse on their shoulders and marched down the street.

"Do all those people know about our secret?" asked Simon, as they strode forward.

"No, only the cabinet-maker knows about it, and he will leave Paris to-morrow and carry the prince to a place of safety."

"For God's sake, do not speak so loudly!" whispered Simon, casting an anxious look around. "But why do you yourself not go away with the boy and leave Paris, where you are constantly in danger?"

"I cannot," answered Toulan, solemnly.

"Cannot! what forbids you?"

"The vow that I gave to Marie Antoinette, to rescue her children from the Temple or to die."

"Well, but to-morrow you hope to fulfil your vow, and then you can go."

"I shall fulfil to-morrow but the half of my vow. I shall, if you help me, and my plan succeeds, release the son of the queen, but the daughter will remain behind in prison. You see, therefore, that I cannot leave Paris, for the daughter and sister-in-law of the queen are still prisoners, and I must release them."

"But I should rather that you would go away with the boy, and never come back to Paris," said Simon, thoughtfully.

"How so? Do you not trust me?"

"I trust no one," replied Simon, gloomily. "You might some day, when it might suit your humor, or in order to save yourself, betray me, and report me to the Committee of Safety."

"What, I! And ought I not to fear too? Could not you betray me as well?"

"You know very well that I shall take care not to disclose a word of this whole history, for to disclose it would be to write my own death-warrant. But hush, now; hush! there is the Temple, and it seems to me as if the very walls looked at me maliciously, as if they wanted to say, 'There comes a traitor!' Ah, Toulan, it is a bad thing to have an accusing conscience!"