_The Result of the Operation_
|As soon as Théophraste had pronounced these words, M. Eliphaste made a
sweeping gesture with his right arm. He leaned over the prostrate form,
and blew impatiently on his eye.
He said to him: “Awake thou, Théophraste Longuet!”
This was repeated three times, each time with greater earnestness.
However, Théophraste never moved. His immobility was deathlike, and
his toothless mouth and bloodless lips made the silent onlookers believe
that he had followed Cartouche in the shadow of death. His corpselike
pallor seemed to them to be already turning green, and his hair, having
become suddenly white, gave him the appearance of a very old man. Was he
already dead? Was he decomposing already?
M. Eliphaste repeated the gestures, and in his lids, intense earnestness
appeared like a madman. He blew again on the eyes, and parted the
eyelashes, again crying out: “Théophraste Longuet, awake thou! Awake
thou, Théophraste Longuet!”
Just at the moment when they believed that Théophraste Longuet would
never return to life again, a slight tremble shook his frame, and
drawing a deep breath, he turned his face toward them. At first he
breathed with difficulty, but quickly recovering, he opened his eyes and
said: “Cartouche is dead!”
M. Eliphaste’s face lit up with emotion. “Let us thank God,” he
said, “that the operation has been successful,” and he began his
prayer again: “In the beginning thou wast silent! Eon! Source of all
ages!...”
Mme. Longuet and M. Adolphe threw themselves on Théophraste, while
thanking God from the bottom of their hearts. They felt that the death
of Cartouche had not been too dearly bought. The operation had certainly
been a rough one, but he had only lost his teeth, and his hair had
turned white. Mme. Longuet put her arms around her husband, and helped
him rise from the couch. “Let us go. We have stopped here too long
already,” she said.
“Speak louder,” said Théophraste, with strange enunciation. “I
have something in my ears. I cannot move, either.”
“It is natural that you should be a little benumbed, my dear,” said
Mme. Longuet. “You have been stretched on that bed for a long time.
But make an effort.”
“Speak louder, I tell you. I can move my arms now, but I cannot stir
my legs. They won’t move, and my feet pain me very much.”
He then put his hand to his mouth and said: “Why, what have you done
with my teeth? You put me to sleep to fix my teeth, and you have taken
them from me.”
It was curious that while he was asleep, even after he had lost his
teeth, he spoke distinctly. It was evident that he could not move, and
Mme. Longuet removed the clothing to rub his stiff limbs. To her sorrow
she found his clothes all torn, and on looking closer saw all the flesh
on his limbs lacerated. His legs and feet were boiled. The flesh was
torn away in some places, and burned horribly in others. M. Eliphaste,
with trembling hands, removed the clothing from his chest, and there
they saw, over the heart, two spots of black blood. His biceps bore
fresh marks of frightful torture.
Mme. Longuet sobbed loudly, and sat with lowered head, looking at the
horrible sight. Adolphe ran to get a carriage. It was evident that
Théophraste could not walk or move. On his return, Théophraste was
still complaining of the pain. Adolphe, with the assistance of the
carriage driver, carried him out into the street. They lifted him
carefully on the mattress, and walked slowly out, followed by the
weeping Marceline.
M. Eliphaste prostrated himself on the ground, and with his hands
clasped and elbows on the floor, cried out with a voice full of sorrow:
“My beloved! My well beloved! I believed that I was Your son. Oh, my
well beloved! I have taken Thy shadow for Thy light. Thou hast crushed
my pride. I am in the dark, at the bottom of an abyss—I, the man of
light—and I have hated it. I am only the son of silence. Eon! Source
of Eon! Oh, life! To know life! To possess life!”
And thus, as they went out into the pure air, they left him praying.