_They Decide to Kill_
|MELIPHASTE had been reasoning with Théophraste, and using all the
arguments of spiritualists to persuade him to make an effort to rid
himself of the spirit of Cartouche.
“However,” said Théophraste, “I thank you for the interest you
have taken in me, and for your sympathy; but I tell you, you can do
nothing for me. You say I am sick, but I am not. If I were you could
cure me. You also say that I am to drive away this Cartouche; but,
though that is easily said, I can assure you that it is not so easily
done. It is impossible, my dear M. Eli-phaste.”
“And yet,” said M. Eliphaste, “it is necessary. For if we do not
succeed in driving him out, we must kill him. That is an operation the
result of which I cannot vouch. It is a delicate operation, and full of
dangers.”
M. Eliphaste had hoped that this obsession of Cartouche was only
imaginary, and so by reasoning he could drive it away. But, alas, the
reality of it was only too true, and Théophraste, while willing to help
him, could not get himself to believe M. Eliphaste’s arguments.
“You understand,” said M. Eliphaste, “your case is most
extraordinary. Everybody in the world has lived before, and will live
again. This is the Law of Karma. It may be possible to find some one
who was a friend of Cartouche’s. The true object of that wonderful
evolution of souls through the bodies, is to develop and qualify them to
enjoy the perfect happiness which will finally be the inheritance of the
fortunate ones who will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is thought
that at each birth, the personality differs from the preceding one,
but it is only the veritable, divine and spiritual I. These divers
personalities are in some measures only the links of the infinite
chain of life, which constitutes, throughout the ages, our immortal
individuality.”
The admirable wisdom of the teaching appealed to Théophraste immensely.
Eliphaste had shown himself so much the master of his thoughts, that he
could not understand why he had remained ignorant so long, without even
having suspected these wonderful truths. He saw the great difference
between Eliphaste and Adolphe, the difference, as he said, “between
the Man of Reason and the Learned Ape.”
Eliphaste continued: “When one is persuaded of this great truth,
one need not be astonished at the wonderful things that happen in the
present—if they recall events of former times. But to live according
to the Law of Wisdom, one must live in the present, and not look
behind.”
Théophraste had too often looked behind. His mind had occupied itself
with thoughts of the past. If this had continued, in a very short time
Théophraste would have gone quite mad.
And so Théophraste thought: “I must either forget Cartouche, throw
him off completely, or develop all his characteristics.”
M. Eliphaste told them that what men call vocations to-day were only
a latent revelation of the past, and they could only be explained that
way. He told them that what was called facility among men to-day was
nothing else but retrospective sympathy for some objects that they
knew better than others, having studied them better before the real and
actual life. He said that we even assume the gesture of the past
without knowing it. He himself had seen, on the eve of the Battle of
the Bourget, two young men fall near him, handsome as demigods, brave as
Castor and Pollux, and who succumbed with grace that the heroes showed
in dying at Salamis, Marathon, or at Platies. M. Eliphaste then pressed
Théophraste to his heart, breathed on his forehead and his eyes, and
then asked him if he was quite persuaded of the truth. He said that
to be happy we must seek to give an account of ourselves, as to the
perpetual changes of our condition, and that by this we learned to
live in the present, and to comprehend that the future belonged to
us entirely. Are we not the children of the Eternal, in whose eyes a
thousand years are as a day, and a day as a thousand years?
Théophraste said to him that he was not at all astonished at having
been Cartouche—it seemed so natural to his mind—that he would never
more dwell on it, and he declared that at present Cartouche was driven
away.
Thereupon Marceline asked what time it was, and Adolphe told her it was
eleven o’clock, and so they rose to take their leave. However, just
before leaving, an incident occurred which went to prove too clearly
that the spirit of Cartouche had not left Théophraste.
Upon Adolphe’s declaring that it was eleven o’clock, Théophraste
took out his watch and contended that it was half after eleven, and
after a few words, he said, “You can cut off my right hand if I am
wrong.”
Turning to M. Eliphaste, that gentleman confirmed M. Lecamus’
statement, whereupon Théophraste picked up a small knife which was
lying near, and would have severed his right hand but for M. Eliphaste,
who, grasping the situation, seized Théophraste’s uplifted hand with
dexterity and incredible strength. He ordered him to drop the knife, and
told him that he was not keeping to the compact. M. Eliphaste felt
that it was no good arguing with him on the matter of the spirit of
Cartouche, and despaired of ever ridding him of the spirit by reasoning.
He turned to Adolphe and said, “Let us go. It is too late. There is
nothing to do but to kill him.”