LOUISE
Louison's crazy mother had passed a miserable night. Accustomed to see
Louison before going to sleep and hear her gentle voice, and not having
her cries answered on this particular evening, the poor woman, who had
not been able to move a step for years, dragged herself on her hands and
feet into the next room and shoved the white curtains aside.
The painful cry of the invalid as she saw the bed empty, drowned a loud
knock at the door, and only when the knocking was repeated and a voice
imploringly cried: "Open, for God's sake, open quick!" did the burned
woman listen. Where had she heard the voice?
"Quick, open--it is on account of Louison," came again from the outside.
It was Fanfaro who demanded entrance.
A cry which was no longer human came from the breast of the burned
woman, and, collecting all her strength, she crawled to the door and
tore so long at the curtains which covered the pane of glass that they
came down and Fanfaro could see into the room. As soon as he saw the
position of the poor woman, he understood at once that she could not
open the door, and making up his mind quickly, he pressed in the
window, and the next minute he was in the room.
"Where is Louison, madame?" he exclaimed.
The woman did not answer; she looked steadily at him and plunged her
fingers in her gray hair.
"Madame, listen to me. Louison has been abducted. Don't you know
anything?"
The poor thing still remained silent, even though her lips trembled
convulsively, and the deep-set eyes gazed steadily at the young man.
"Madame," began Fanfaro, desperately, "listen to my words. Can you not
remember where Louison told you she was going? You know who Louison is;
she nurses and cares for you. Can you not tell me anything?"
At length a word came from the burned woman's breast.
"Jacques, Jacques!" she stammered, clutching the young man's knees and
looking at him.
Fanfaro trembled. Who was this horrible woman who called him by the name
of his childhood?
"Louison! Jacques!" uttered the toothless lips, and hot, scalding tears
rolled over the scarred cheeks.
A flood of never-before-felt emotions rushed over Fanfaro; he tenderly
bent over the poor woman, and gently said:
"You called me Jacques. I was called that once. What do you know of me?"
The burned woman looked hopelessly at him; she tried hard to understand
him, but her clouded mind could not at first grasp what he meant.
"I will tell you what I know of the past," continued Fanfaro, slowly. "I
formerly lived at Leigoutte in the Vosges. My father's name was Jules,
my mother's Louise, and my little sister Louison--where is Louison?"
At last a ray of reason broke from the disfigured eyes, and she
whispered:
"Jacques, my dear Jacques! I am Louise, your mother, and the wife of
Jules Fougeres!"
"My mother!" stammered Fanfaro with emotion, and taking the broken woman
in his arms, he fervently kissed her disfigured face. The poor woman
clung to him. The veil of madness was torn aside and stroking the
handsome face of the young man with her broken fingers, she softly
murmured:
"I have you again. God be thanked!"
"But where is Louison?" broke in Fanfaro, anxiously.
Still the brain of the sick woman could not grasp all the new
impressions she had received, and although she looked again and again at
Fanfaro, she left the question unanswered.
At any other time Fanfaro would have left the sick woman alone, but his
anxiety about Louison gave him no peace. He did not doubt a minute but
that his mother had recognized Louison long ago as her daughter, and so
he asked more urgently:
"Mother, where is Louison? Your little Louison, my sister?"
"Louison?" repeated the sick woman, with flaming eyes. "Oh, she is good;
she brings me fruit and flowers."
"But where is she now?"
"Gone," moaned the invalid.
"Gone? Where to?"
"I do not know. Her bed is empty."
"Then I was not deceived. She has been abducted by that scoundrel,
Talizac!"
"Talizac?" repeated the maniac, with a foolish laugh. "Oh, I know him,
do not let him in; he brings unhappiness--unhappiness!"
"Then he has been here?" cried Fanfaro, terror-stricken.
"No, not here--in--Sachemont--I--oh! my poor head."
With a heart-rending cry the poor woman sank to the ground unconscious.
The excitement of the last hour had been too much for her. Fanfaro
looked at the fainting woman, not knowing what to do. He took her in his
arms and was about to place her on the bed when the door was softly
opened and three forms glided in.
"Girdel, thank Heaven!" cried Fanfaro, recognizing the athlete, "have
you found Robeckal?"
"No, the wretches moved out of their former residence in the Rue
Vinaigrier, yesterday, and no one could tell us where they went."
"I thought so," groaned Fanfaro, and then he hastily added: "Girdel, the
unhappy woman I hold in my arms is my mother. No, do not think I am
crazy, it is the truth; and the girl who was abducted is my sister
Louison."
"Impossible!" stammered Girdel.
"His mother!" came a whisper behind Fanfaro, and turning hastily round
he saw Caillette--who stood at the door with tears in her eyes--with
Bobichel, who said:
"Caillette will take care of the invalid until we have found Louison; I
say that we move heaven and earth so that we find her."
"You are right, Bobichel," said Fanfaro, and, pressing a kiss upon his
mother's forehead, he ran off with Girdel and the clown.