Three months later, on a warm June night, Jacques was driving the Havre
express that had left Paris at 6.30. His engine, No. 608, was quite
new, and he began to know it thoroughly. It was not easy to handle,
being restive and capricious, after the manner of those young nags
which require to be broken in by hard work before they take kindly to
harness. He often swore at it, and regretted La Lison. Moreover, he
had to watch this new locomotive very closely, and to constantly keep
his hand on the reversing-wheel. But on this particular night the sky
was so delightfully serene, that he felt inclined to be indulgent,
and allowed the engine to travel along as it would, while he found
enjoyment in inhaling great draughts of fresh air. Never had he been
blessed with such splendid health. He was untroubled with remorse, and
presented the appearance of a man relieved of anxiety, and who was
perfectly tranquil and happy.
He who, as a rule, never spoke on the journey, began to joke with
Pecqueux, whom the management had left with him as fireman.
"What has come to you?" he inquired. "You've got your eyes about you
like a man who has been drinking nothing but water."
Pecqueux, in fact, contrary to his habit, seemed to have taken nothing
and to be very gloomy.
"It is necessary to have your eyes about you," he answered in a harsh
voice, "when you want to see what is going on."
Jacques looked at him in distrust, like a man who has not a clear
conscience. The week before he had been making love to the sweetheart
of his comrade, that terrible Philomène, who for some time past had
been purring round him like a lean, amorous cat. He had no affection
for her, but wanted to ascertain whether he was cured, now that he had
satisfied his frightful craving. Could he make love to this one without
plunging a knife into her throat? On two occasions when he had been out
with her, he had felt nothing, no uncomfortable feeling, no shiver. His
great joy, his appeased and smiling manner must be due, without his
being aware of it, to the happiness he experienced at being like any
other man.
Pecqueux having opened the fire-box of the engine to throw in coal,
Jacques stopped him.
"No, no," said he, "do not make up too much fire. It is going along
very well."
The fireman in a grumbling tone uttered some abusive remarks about
the locomotive in reply, and Jacques, so as not to get angry, avoided
answering him. But he felt that the former cordial understanding of
three, no longer existed; for the good friendship between him, his
comrade, and the engine had vanished with the destruction of La Lison.
They now quarrelled about trifles, about a nut screwed up too tight,
about a shovel of coal carelessly laid on the bars. And he determined
to be more prudent in regard to Philomène, not wishing to come to open
warfare on the narrow foot-plate, which afforded him and his fireman
standing room as they were borne onward.
So long as Pecqueux played the part of an obedient dog, devoted to
such a point that he was ready to strangle an enemy in gratitude for
the kind treatment he received, for being permitted to take his little
naps, and to polish off the remains in the provision basket, the pair
lived like brothers, silent in the daily danger, and, indeed, having
no need of words to understand one another. But it would become a
pandemonium if they ceased to agree, pent-up side by side, and swayed
to and fro in the oscillation of the engine while struggling together.
It so happened that the preceding week, the company had been compelled
to separate the driver and fireman on the Cherbourg express, because
having been set at variance by a woman, the driver had taken to
bullying his fireman, who no longer obeyed him. From words they went to
blows, until regular stand-up fights occurred on the journey, without a
thought for the long tail of passengers rolling along behind them full
speed.
Pecqueux opened the fire-box twice more and threw on coal in
disobedience to orders, thereby seeking, no doubt, a quarrel; but
Jacques, with an air of having all his attention centred on his
driving, feigned not to notice him, merely taking the precaution
to turn the wheel of the injector on each occasion, to reduce the
pressure. It was so mild, the gentle fresh breeze as they cut through
space was so pleasant on this warm July night. At 11.05, when the
express reached Havre, the two men polished up the engine with an
appearance of being on the same good terms as formerly.
As they left the depôt to go to bed, in Rue François-Mazeline, they
heard a voice calling them.
"Why are you in such a hurry to be off? Step in for a minute."
It was Philomène, who, from the doorstep of the cottage of her brother,
must have been looking out for Jacques. She had made a movement of
lively annoyance on perceiving Pecqueux; and if she determined to hail
them together, it was for the pleasure of enjoying a chat with her new
friend, in spite of having to support the presence of the other.
"Just leave us alone, will you?" growled Pecqueux. "Go to blazes! We're
sleepy."
"How amiable he is!" gaily resumed Philomène. "But Monsieur Jacques is
not like you. He'll take a dram. Will you not, Monsieur Jacques?"
The driver was going to refuse, out of prudence, when the fireman
abruptly accepted, influenced by the idea of watching them, and so
making quite sure of their feelings towards one another. Entering the
kitchen they seated themselves at the table, on which Philomène placed
glasses and a bottle of brandy, saying in a low tone:
"Try not to make too much noise, because my brother is asleep upstairs,
and he is not very pleased when I receive friends."
Then, as she filled their glasses, she immediately added:
"By the way, you know that Mother Lebleu pegged out this morning? Oh!
as to that I said so: it will kill her, I said, if they put her in that
lodging on the back--a regular prison! Still she lasted four months,
chewing the cud of bitterness, because she could see nothing but zinc.
And what gave her the finishing stroke, when she found it impossible
to move from her armchair, was assuredly the knowledge that she would
never more be able to keep watch on Mademoiselle Guichon and Monsieur
Dabadie. It was a habit she had got. Yes, she was enraged at never
having been able to catch them, and she died of it."
Philomène paused to toss off a thimbleful of brandy, and resumed with a
laugh:
"Of course there is something going on between them. Only they are too
sharp! It is quite a puzzle! All the same, I think little Madame Moulin
saw them one night. But there is no fear of her talking, she is too
stupid; and, besides, her husband, the assistant station-master----"
Again she broke off to exclaim:
"I say, it is next week that the Roubaud case comes on for trial at
Rouen!"
Until then, Jacques and Pecqueux had listened to her without putting
in a word. The latter simply thought her very talkative. Never had she
exerted her conversational powers to such an extent with him; and he
kept his eyes on her, becoming little by little heated by jealousy at
seeing her so excited in the presence of his chief.
"Yes," answered the driver, in a perfectly tranquil manner, "I received
the summons."
Philomène drew nearer to him, delighted at being able to graze his
elbow.
"So have I," she, said. "I am a witness. Ah! Monsieur Jacques, when I
was questioned about you, for you know the examining-magistrate wished
to ascertain the real truth in regard to your acquaintance with this
poor lady; yes, when he questioned me, I said to him: But, monsieur, he
adored her, it is impossible that he can have done her any harm! Is not
that right? I had seen you together and was in a fit position to speak."
"Oh!" said the young man, with a gesture of indifference; "I was not
anxious. I could say hour for hour how I passed my time. If the company
have kept me, it is because there is not the slightest thing they can
reproach me with."
A pause followed, and all three slowly drank their brandy.
"It makes one shudder," continued Philomène. "Just fancy, that
ferocious brute Cabuche whom they arrested still covered with the blood
of that poor lady! What an idiot a man must be to kill a woman because
he is in love with her, as if that would help him, when the woman no
longer existed! And what I shall never forget so long as I live, was
when Monsieur Cauche, over there on the platform, came and arrested
Monsieur Roubaud as well. I was there. You know this did not happen
until a week afterwards, when Monsieur Roubaud, the day following
the burial of his wife, resumed his duty with an air of perfect
tranquillity. So then, Monsieur Cauche tapped him on the shoulder,
saying he had orders to take him to prison. What do you think of that?
Those two who never left one another, who gambled together night after
night till daybreak! But when you are a commissary of police you must
take even your father and mother to the guillotine if it is your duty
to do so. Monsieur Cauche does not care a fig! I caught sight of him at
the Café du Commerce a little while ago shuffling the cards, without
troubling any more about his friend than the great Mogul!"
Pecqueux, clenching his teeth, struck his fist on the table, and
exclaimed with a violent oath:
"If I were in the place of that Roubaud I'd----"
Then, breaking off and turning to Jacques, he added: "What! you make
love to his wife, another man kills her, and they take him off to the
assizes. No; it's enough to make one burst with rage!"
"But, you great donkey," said Philomène, "it is because they accuse him
of having urged the other to rid him of his wife. Yes, in connection
with money matters, or something else! It appears that the watch
belonging to President Grandmorin, was found in the hut of Cabuche. You
remember, the gentleman who was murdered in a railway carriage eighteen
months ago. Then they hooked that nasty job on to the one of the other
day, and made a long story of it, as black as ink. I cannot explain it
all to you, but it was in the newspaper where it filled at least two
columns."
Jacques, who was absent-minded, did not even seem to be listening.
"What is the use of puzzling our brains about it?" he murmured. "What
does it matter to us? If the judicial authorities do not know what they
are doing, how can we expect to know?"
Then, with eyes lost in space, and pallid cheeks, he murmured:
"In all this there is only that poor girl who excites pity! Ah! the
poor, poor girl!"
"As for me," concluded Pecqueux, "if anyone took it into his head to
interfere with my wench, I should begin by strangling them both. After
that, they might cut off my head. I should not care a straw."
Another silence ensued. Philomène, who was filling up the glasses a
second time, affected to shrug her shoulders and chuckle; but, in
reality, she felt quite upset, and gave Pecqueux a searching look
sideways. He had neglected his personal appearance considerably, and
looked very dirty and ragged since Mother Victoire, as a result of her
accident, had become impotent, and had been obliged to relinquish her
post at the station to enter an almshouse. She was no longer there,
tolerant and maternal, to slip pieces of silver into his pocket, to
mend his clothes, so that the other one at Havre might not accuse her
of keeping their man untidy. And Philomène, bewitched by the smart,
clean look of Jacques, put on an expression of disgust.
"Do you mean that you would strangle your Paris wench?" she inquired in
bravado. "There is no fear of anybody carrying her off!"
"That one or another!" he growled.
But she was already touching glasses in a joking vein.
"Look here! to your health!" she exclaimed. "And bring your linen to
me, so that I may have it washed and mended, for really you no longer
do honour, to either of us. To your health, Monsieur Jacques!"
The latter started, as if disturbed in a dream. Notwithstanding the
complete absence of remorse and the feeling of relief and physical
comfort, in which he had been living since the murder, Séverine
sometimes passed before his eyes as now, moving his gentle inner self
to tears. And he touched glasses, remarking precipitately to hide his
trouble:
"You know that we are going to war?"
"Can it be possible?" exclaimed Philomène. "Who with?"
"Why, with the Prussians," answered Jacques. "Yes, on account of one
of their princes, who wishes to be King of Spain. Yesterday in the
Chamber they were occupied with nothing else."
Then she was in despair.
"Ah! well! That's a nice thing," said she. "They bothered us enough
with their elections, their plebiscite, and their riots at Paris! I
say, if they do fight, will they take away all the men?"
"Oh! as to us, we are shunted! They cannot disorganise the railways.
Only we shall have a warm time, on account of the transport of troops
and provisions! Anyhow, if it happens, everyone will have to do his
duty."
Thereupon, he rose, noticing that she was becoming too familiar, and
that Pecqueux perceived it. Indeed, the face of the latter had become
crimson, and he was already clenching his fists.
"It is time for bed," said Jacques. "Let us be off."
"Yes, that will be the better thing to do," stammered the fireman.
He had grasped the arm of Philomène, and squeezed it fit to break it.
Restraining a cry of agony, she contented herself with whispering in
the ear of the driver, while the other finished his glass in a fury:
"Be on your guard. He is a regular brute when he has been drinking."
But heavy footsteps could now be heard coming downstairs, and Philomène
looked scared.
"It is my brother," said she. "Slip out quick! slip out quick!"
The two men were not twenty paces from the house when they heard slaps
followed by yells. Philomène was being abominably chastised, like a
little girl caught in the act, with her nose in the jam-pot. The driver
stopped, ready to run to her assistance, but the fireman held him back.
"What are you going to do?" he inquired; "it is no business of yours.
Ah! the slut! if he could only beat her to death!"
On reaching the Rue François-Mazeline, Jacques and Pecqueux went to
bed without exchanging a word. The two bedsteads almost touched in the
small room, and for a long time the men remained awake with their eyes
open, listening to the breathing of one another.
It was on the Monday that the Roubaud trial was to commence at Rouen.
This case proved a triumph for the examining-magistrate, Denizet,
for there was no lack of praise in the judicial world as to the way
in which he had brought the complicated and obscure business to a
satisfactory issue. It was a masterpiece of clever analysis, said they;
a logical substitution for the truth; in a word, a genuine creation.
First of all, M. Denizet had caused Cabuche to be arrested as soon as
he had visited the house at La Croix-de-Maufras a few hours after the
murder of Séverine. Everything pointed openly to this man as author of
the crime: the blood trickling down him, the overwhelming evidence of
Roubaud and Misard, who related how they had surprised him, alone with
the corpse, and in a state of bewilderment. Questioned, pressed, to say
in what manner and for what purpose he found himself in this room, the
quarryman stammered out a story, which appeared so silly, and so like
the usual run of such stories, that the examining-magistrate received
it with a shrug of the shoulders.
He had been expecting this story, which was always the same, the tale
of an imaginary murderer, the invented culprit, whom the real culprit
pretended he had heard fleeing across the dark country. This bugbear
must be a long way off, must he not, if he should still happen to be
running? Besides, on Cabuche being asked what he was doing in front
of the house at such a time, he became troubled, refused to answer,
and ended by saying he was walking about. This was childish. How could
anyone believe in the existence of this mysterious unknown, who came
and committed a murder, and then ran off, leaving all the doors wide
open without having searched a single article of furniture, or carried
even a pocket-handkerchief away with him? Where did he come from? Why
had he killed?
Nevertheless, the examining-magistrate having heard at the commencement
of the inquiry, of the intimacy between the victim and Jacques, took
measures to ascertain how the latter had passed his time on the day
of the murder; but, apart from the accused acknowledging that he
had accompanied Jacques to Barentin, to catch the 4.14 train in the
afternoon; the innkeeper at Rouen took her solemn oath that the young
man, who had gone to bed immediately after his dinner, did not leave
his room until the next morning at about seven o'clock. And, moreover,
a lover does not slaughter without any reason, a sweetheart whom he
adores, and with whom he has never had the slightest quarrel. It would
be absurd. No, no; only one murderer was possible, a murderer who
was evident, the liberated convict found there red-handed, with the
knife at his feet, that brute beast who had related a rigmarole to the
representative of justice, fit to send him off to sleep.
But when M. Denizet reached this point he for a moment felt
embarrassed, notwithstanding his conviction and his scent, which, said
he, gave him better information than proofs. In a first search made at
the hovel of the accused, on the outskirts of the forest of Bécourt,
absolutely nothing had been found. It having been impossible to prove
robbery, it became necessary to discover another motive for the crime.
All at once, in the hazard of an examination, Misard put him on the
track, by relating that he had one night seen Cabuche scale the wall of
the property to look through the window of the room occupied by Madame
Roubaud who was going to bed.
Jacques, on being questioned in his turn, quietly related what
he knew: the mute adoration of the quarryman for the wife of the
assistant station-master, his ardent desire to be of service to her,
ever running after her as if fastened to her apron strings. No room,
therefore, remained for doubt: bestial passion alone had urged him to
the crime. Everything became quite clear: the man returning by the door
to which he might have a key, leaving it open in his excitement, then
the struggle which had brought about the murder.
Nevertheless, one final objection to this theory occurred to the
examining-magistrate. It appeared singular that the man, aware of the
imminent arrival of the husband, should have chosen the very hour
when Roubaud might surprise him. But on careful consideration this
circumstance turned against the accused, and completely overwhelmed
him by establishing that he must have acted under the influence of a
supreme crisis, driven crazy by the thought that if he failed to take
advantage of the time when Séverine was still alone, he would lose her
for ever, as she would be leaving on the morrow. From that moment, the
conviction of the examining-magistrate was complete and unalterable.
Harassed by interrogations, taken and retaken through the skein
of clever questions, careless of the traps laid for him, Cabuche
obstinately abided by his first version. He was passing along the road,
breathing the fresh night air, when an individual brushed against him
as he tore headlong away. The fugitive dashed by him so rapidly in the
obscurity, that he could not even say which way he fled.
Then, seized with anxiety and having cast a glance at the house, he
perceived that the door stood wide open, and he ended by making up his
mind to enter and go upstairs. There he found the dead woman, who was
still warm, and who looked at him with her great eyes. In lifting her
on the bed, thinking her still alive, he covered himself with blood.
That was all he knew, and he repeated the same tale, never varying in
a single detail, with an air of confining himself to a story arranged
beforehand. When an effort was made to make him say something more, he
looked wild, and remained silent, after the fashion of a man of limited
intelligence who did not understand.
The first time M. Denizet addressed questions to him on the subject of
his intense passion for the deceased, he became very red, like some
lad reproached with his first love affair; and he denied, he resisted
the accusation of having thought of becoming intimate with this lady,
as if it was something very wicked and unavowable, a delicate and also
a mysterious matter, buried in the innermost recess of his heart, and
which he was not called upon to unbosom to anyone. No, no! He did not
love her. He never desired any intimacy with her. They would never make
him speak of what seemed to him a profanation, now that she was dead.
But this obstinacy in denying a fact that several of the witnesses
affirmed, turned against him. Naturally, according to the theory of the
prosecution, it was to his interest to conceal his furious passion. And
when the examining-magistrate, assembling all the proofs, sought to
tear the truth from him by striking a decisive blow, accusing him point
blank of murder and rape, he flew into a mad rage of protestation. He
do that! he who respected as a saint! The gendarmes who were called
in, had to put restraint on him; while he, with great oaths, talked of
strangling the whole show. The examining-magistrate put him down as
a most dangerous, cunning scoundrel, but whose violence broke out in
spite of all, and proved a sufficient avowal of the crimes he denied.
Each time the murder was brought up, Cabuche flew into a fury, shouting
that it was the other one, the mysterious fugitive, who had committed
the crime. The inquiry had gone so far when M. Denizet, by chance, made
a discovery which suddenly transformed the case, and gave it ten times
more importance. He scented out the truth, as he remarked. Influenced
by a sort of presentiment, he searched the hovel occupied by Cabuche, a
second time, himself; and behind a beam, came upon a hiding-place where
he found ladies' gloves and pocket-handkerchiefs, while beneath them
lay a gold watch, which he recognised with great delight. This was the
watch belonging to President Grandmorin which the examining-magistrate
had so ardently endeavoured to trace formerly. It was a strong watch
with two initials entwined, and inside the case it bore the number of
the maker, 2516. The whole business stood out illuminated, as in a
flash of lightning, the past became connected with the present, and
when he had joined the chain of facts together again, their logic
enchanted him.
But the consequences would stretch so far that, without alluding
to the watch, he at first questioned Cabuche about the gloves and
pocket-handkerchiefs. The accused for an instant had the avowal ready
on the lips; yes, he adored her to such an extent as to kiss the gowns
she had worn, to pick up, to steal behind her, anything she happened
to let fall: bits of laces, hooks, pins. Then a feeling of shame and
invincible modesty made him silent. When the judge, making up his
mind, thrust the watch before his eyes, he looked at it bewildered. He
remembered perfectly; he had been surprised to find the watch tied up
in the corner of a pocket-handkerchief that he had taken from under a
bolster and carried away with him as a prize. Then it had remained in
his hut, while he racked his brain thinking how he could return it.
Only what would be the use of relating all this? He would have to own
to the other thefts--those odds and ends, the linen that smelt so
nice, and of which he felt so ashamed. Already, everything he said was
disbelieved. Besides, his power of understanding began to fail him,
his simple mind became confused, and what went on around him commenced
to take the aspect of a horrible dream. He no longer flew into a
rage when accused of murder, but looked as if he had lost his senses,
repeating in answer to every question put to him that he did not know.
In regard to the gloves and handkerchiefs, he did not know. In regard
to the watch, he did not know. The examining-magistrate plagued him to
death. He had only to leave him in peace and guillotine him at once.
The following day, M. Denizet had Roubaud arrested. Strong in his
almighty power, he had issued the warrant in one of those moments of
inspiration, when he put faith in the genius of his perspicacity,
and even before he had a sufficiently serious charge against the
assistant station-master. In spite of the many obscure points that
still remained, he guessed this man to be the pivot, the source of the
double crime; and he triumphed at once when he seized a document making
everything over to the survivor of the two, which Roubaud and Séverine
had executed before Maître Colin, notary at Havre, a week after coming
into possession of La Croix-de-Maufras.
From that time the whole business became clear to his mind, with a
certainty of reasoning, a strength of evidence which conveyed to the
framework of the prosecution such indestructible solidity that the
truth itself would have seemed less true, less logical, and tainted
with more imagination. Roubaud was a coward, who, on two occasions, not
daring to kill with his own hand, had made use of this violent brute
Cabuche. The first time, being impatient to inherit from President
Grandmorin, the terms of whose will he knew, and aware, moreover, of
the rancour of the quarryman for this gentleman, he had pushed him
into the coupé at Rouen, after arming him with a knife. Then, when the
10,000 frcs. had been shared, the two accomplices would perhaps never
have met again, had not murder engendered murder.
And it was here the examining-magistrate displayed that deep knowledge
of criminal psychology which was so much admired, for he now declared
that he had never ceased to keep an eye on Cabuche, his conviction
being that the first murder would mathematically bring about another.
Eighteen months had sufficed for this: the Roubauds were at sixes
and sevens. The husband had lost the 5,000 frcs. at cards, while the
wife had come to the point of taking a sweetheart to amuse herself.
Doubtless she refused to sell La Croix-de-Maufras, in fear lest he
should squander the money; perhaps in their continual quarrels she
threatened to give him up to justice. In any case, the evidence of
numerous persons established the absolute disunion of the couple, and
here at last appeared the distant consequence of the first crime.
Cabuche now comes forward again with his brutish instincts, and the
husband, in the background, arms this man with the knife, to definitely
ensure possession of this accursed house, which had already cost one
human life, for himself.
That was the truth, the appalling truth, everything led up to it: the
watch discovered in the hut of the quarryman, and particularly the two
corpses, both struck with the same identical blow in the throat, by
the same hand, with the same weapon--that knife picked up in the room.
Nevertheless, the prosecution had a doubt on this point. The wound of
the President appeared to have been inflicted by a sharper and smaller
blade.
Roubaud, in the drowsy, heavy manner now peculiar to him, at first
answered Yes or No to the questions of M. Denizet. He did not seem
surprised at his arrest, for in the slow disorganisation of his being,
everything had become indifferent to him. To get him to talk, the
examining-magistrate gave him a warder who never left him. With this
man he played cards from morning to night, and was perfectly happy.
Besides, he was convinced of the guilt of Cabuche, who alone could be
the murderer. Interrogated as to Jacques, he shrugged his shoulders
with a laugh, thereby showing that he was aware of the intimacy that
had existed between the driver and Séverine. But when M. Denizet,
after sounding him, ended by developing his system, inciting him,
confounding him with his complicity, endeavouring to wrench an avowal
from him, he, in his confusion at finding himself discovered, became
remarkably circumspect.
What was this that was being related to him? It was no longer he, it
was the quarryman who had killed the President just as he had killed
Séverine; yet in both instances he, Roubaud, was the guilty one,
because the other had struck on his account and in his place. This
complicated legend stupefied and filled him with distrust. Assuredly
this must be a trap. The lie was advanced, to force him to confess
his part in the first crime. From the moment of his arrest he felt
convinced that the old business was coming to the surface again.
Confronted with Cabuche, he declared he did not know him. Only, when
he repeated he had found him red with blood before the corpse, the
quarryman flew into a rage, and a violent scene, full of extreme
confusion ensued, embroiling matters more than ever. Three days passed,
and the examining-magistrate plied the prisoners with question upon
question, convinced that they had arrived at an understanding to play
the farce of being hostile to one another. Roubaud, who felt very
weary, had made up his mind to refrain from answering, but all at once,
in a moment of impatience, eager to end the business, he gave way to a
secret impulse that had been troubling him for months, and burst out
with the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
It so happened that on this particular day, M. Denizet was exerting his
cunning to the utmost. Seated at his writing-table, veiling his eyes
with their heavy lids, while his mobile lips grew thin in an effort of
sagacity, he had been exhausting himself for an hour in endeavouring,
by clever artifices, to ensnare this incrassated prisoner, covered
with unhealthy yellow fat, whom he considered remarkably crafty,
notwithstanding his ponderous frame. And he thought he had tracked
him step by step, enlaced him on all sides, caught him in the trap at
last, when Roubaud, with the gesture of a man driven to extremities,
exclaimed that he had had enough of the business, and that he preferred
to confess so that he might be tormented no further. As there appeared
to be a desire to make him out guilty in spite of all, let it at least
be for something he had really done.
But, as he unfolded his story, his wife led astray by Grandmorin,
his jealous rage on hearing of this abomination, and how he had
killed, and why he had taken the 10,000 frcs., the eyelids of the
examining-magistrate rose to the accompaniment of a frown of doubt,
while irresistible incredulity, professional incredulity, caused his
lips to distend in a jeering pout. He smiled outright when Roubaud
came to the end. The rascal was cleverer than he had thought: to take
the first crime for himself, make it a purely passionate crime, free
himself from all premeditation of theft, particularly of any complicity
in the murder of Séverine was certainly a hardy manœuvre which gave
proof of unusual intelligence and determination. Only, the thing did
not hold together.
"Come, Roubaud," said M. Denizet, "you must not take us for children.
So you pretend that you were jealous, and that it was in a transport of
jealousy that you committed the murder?"
"Certainly," answered the other.
"And, if we admit what you relate," resumed the examining-magistrate,
"you knew nothing about the intimacy of your wife with the President
at the time you married her. Does that appear likely? In your case
everything tends to prove, on the contrary, that the speculation was
suggested to you, discussed, and accepted. You are given a young
girl, brought up like a young lady, she receives a marriage portion,
her protector becomes your protector, you know that he leaves you
a country house in his will, and you pretend you had no suspicion,
absolutely none at all! Get along with you. You knew everything,
otherwise your marriage would be incomprehensible. Besides, the
verification of one simple fact will suffice to confound you. You are
not jealous. Dare to say again that you are jealous!"
"I say the truth," answered Roubaud. "I killed him in a fit of jealous
rage."
"Then," said the examining-magistrate, "after killing the President,
on account of an intimacy that dated back some time, which was of a
vague nature and which for that matter you invent, explain to me how
it was that you allowed your wife to have a sweetheart. Yes; that
strapping fellow Jacques Lantier! Everybody has spoken to me about this
acquaintance. You, yourself, have not attempted to conceal from me that
you were aware of it. You freely allowed them to do what they pleased.
Why?"
Roubaud, overcome and with troubled eyes, looked fixedly into space
without finding an explanation, and ended by stammering:
"I do not know. I killed the other; I did not kill this one."
"Then," concluded the examining-magistrate, "do not tell me, again,
that you are a jealous man who avenges himself. And I do not advise you
to repeat this romance to the gentlemen of the jury, for they would
only shrug their shoulders. Believe me, change your system. Truth alone
can save you."
Henceforth, the more Roubaud stubbornly told this truth, the greater
liar he was proved to be. Besides, everything went against him, and
to such a point that his previous examination, on the occasion of the
first inquiry in connection with the Grandmorin murder, which should
have served to support his new version of the crime, because he had
denounced Cabuche, became, on the contrary, the proof of a remarkably
clever understanding between them.
The examining-magistrate refined the psychology of the affair with a
veritable passion for his calling. Never, said he, had he penetrated
so thoroughly to the bottom of human nature; and it was by divination
rather than observation, for he flattered himself he belonged to the
school of far-seeing and fascinating judges, those who have the power
of upsetting a man by a glance. Besides, proofs were no longer wanting,
and conjointly formed a crushing charge. Henceforth, the prosecution
were in possession of a solid basis to work upon, and the certainty of
the guilt of the prisoners burst forth in dazzling brightness like the
light of the sun.
And what added to the glory of M. Denizet was the way in which he
brought out the double crime in one lump, after having patiently
pieced it all together in the most profound secrecy. Since the noisy
success of the plebiscite, the country continued in a state of feverish
agitation, similar to that vertigo which precedes and ushers in great
catastrophes. Among the society of this expiring Empire, in political
circles, and particularly in the Press, a feeling of unceasing
anxiety was manifest, coupled with an exaltation in which joy even
took the form of sickly violence. So when it was ascertained, after
the murder of a woman in the solitude of that isolated house at La
Croix-de-Maufras, with what a stroke of genius the examining-magistrate
at Rouen had just disinterred the old case of Grandmorin and connected
it with the new crime, the news was hailed by an explosion of triumph
among the newspapers intimately connected with the Government.
From time to time there still appeared all sorts of jokes in the
opposition news-sheets about that legendary assassin, who remained
undiscovered--an invention of the police put forward to conceal the
turpitude of certain high and mighty personages who found themselves
involved. The response was about to be decisive. The murderer and his
accomplice had been arrested, the memory of President Grandmorin would
stand out intact. Then the bickering began again, and the excitement
at Paris and Rouen increased from day to day. Apart from this hideous
romance which haunted the imagination of everyone, people became
impassioned with the idea that, as the irrefutable truth had at length
been discovered, the State would be consolidated thereby.
M. Denizet, summoned to Paris, presented himself at the private
residence of M. Camy-Lamotte in the Rue du Rocher. He found the chief
secretary to the Minister of Justice on his feet in the centre of his
severe-looking study, with a face more emaciated and fatigued than on
the former occasion; for he was on the decline, and a prey to sadness,
notwithstanding his scepticism. It seemed as if he felt a presentiment
that the downfall of the régime he served was about to happen in
the full splendour of its apotheosis. For the two previous days, he
had been the victim of an inner struggle. He had not yet been able
to decide what use he would make of the letter from Séverine to the
President which he still had by him. This letter would upset all the
system of the prosecution, by bringing irrefutable proof to bear upon
the version put forward by Roubaud.
But on the previous evening, the Emperor had told him that this
time he insisted on justice being done, apart from any influence
whatsoever, even if his Government suffered thereby. This was simply
a straightforward utterance, or maybe the result of a superstitious
idea that a single act of injustice after the acclamation of the
country, might change its destiny. And if the chief secretary had no
conscientious scruples, having reduced the things of this world to a
mere matter of mechanism, he nevertheless felt troubled at the command
he had received, and was asking himself whether he ought to love his
master to the point of disobeying him?
M. Denizet at once burst into an exclamation of triumph.
"Well," said he, "my scent did not deceive me! It was Cabuche who
murdered the President. Only there was some truth, I acknowledge, in
the other clue, and I felt myself that the case against Roubaud looked
suspicious. Anyhow, we have them both now."
M. Camy-Lamotte fixed his pale eyes on him.
"So all the facts in the bundle of papers sent me," he said, "are
proved, and you are absolutely convinced?"
"Oh! absolutely!" answered M. Denizet, without the slightest
hesitation. "The evidence forms a perfect chain. I do not remember a
single case in which the crime followed a more logical course, and one
more easy to determine in advance."
"But Roubaud protests," observed M. Camy-Lamotte; "he takes the first
murder on his own shoulders; he relates a tale about his wife having
been led astray, and how he, mad with jealousy, killed his victim in a
fit of blind rage. The opposition newspapers relate all this."
"Oh! yes, they relate it as gossip, without daring to put faith in it.
Jealous! this Roubaud who facilitates the meetings of his wife and her
sweetheart! Ah! he may repeat this story at the assize court, but he
will not succeed in raising the scandal he desires. Why not give some
proof? But he produces nothing. It is true that he speaks of a letter
he made his wife write, and which should have been found among the
papers of the President. You, sir, sorted those papers, I believe, and
you would have come across it, would you not?"
M. Camy-Lamotte did not reply. It was a fact that the scandal would
finally be buried, by allowing the examining-magistrate to proceed
with his system, the memory of the President would be freed from
an abominable taint, and the Empire would benefit by this noisy
rehabilitation of one of its creatures. Besides, as this Roubaud
acknowledged himself guilty, what mattered it for the purpose of
justice whether he was condemned for one version or the other? It was
true that there remained Cabuche; but, if this man had nothing to do
with the first murder, he appeared to be really the author of the
second. Then justice itself was but a final illusion! Is not the idea
of wishing to be just a snare, when truth is clouded in such dense
obscurity? It would be much better to be wise, and prop up this society
on the wane, that threatened ruin.
"That is so, is it not?" inquired M. Denizet. "You did not find this
letter?"
Again M. Camy-Lamotte raised his eyes to him; and, being himself master
of the position, he took on his own conscience the remorse that had
disturbed the Emperor, and quietly answered:
"I found absolutely nothing."
Then, all smiles and with great affability, he showered congratulations
on the examining-magistrate. Barely a slight pleat at the corners of
his mouth indicated an expression of invincible irony. Never had an
inquiry been conducted with so much penetration; and it was decided in
the proper quarter that he should be summoned to Paris as counsellor
after the vacation. And in this manner M. Camy-Lamotte conducted his
visitor to the landing.
"You alone have seen clearly through the whole business," said he, in
conclusion; "and your perspicacity is really admirable. From the moment
truth speaks, nothing can stop it, neither personal interest, nor even
State-policy. Proceed. Let the case take its course, whatever the
consequences may be."
"That is absolutely the duty of the magistracy," added M. Denizet, who
bowed and took his departure beaming with delight.
When M. Camy-Lamotte was alone, he first of all lighted a candle; then
he went and took the note, written by Séverine, from the drawer where
he had placed it. The candle was burning very high. He unfolded the
letter, wishing to read the two lines; and the remembrance came back to
him of this delicate criminal with blue eyes, who had formerly stirred
him with such tender sympathy. Now she was dead, and he saw her again
in tragedy. Who knew the secret she must have carried away with her?
Certainly truth and justice were illusions! And as he approached the
letter to the flame and it caught alight, he felt very sad, as if he
had the presentiment of misfortune. What was the good of destroying
this proof, of loading his conscience with this action if the Empire
was destined to be swept away, like the pinch of black ash fallen from
his fingers?
M. Denizet concluded the inquiry in less than a week. He found the
Western Railway Company extremely willing to give him assistance. All
the papers he desired, as well as all the evidence likely to be useful,
were placed at his disposal; for the company, also, had the keenest
desire to see the end of this deplorable scandal connected with one of
its staff which, ascending through the complicated machinery of its
organisation, had threatened to disturb even its board of directors.
It became necessary to remove the mortified limb with all speed. And
so, M. Dabadie, Moulin, and others from Havre again filed through the
room of the examining-magistrate, giving the most disastrous details
in regard to the bad conduct of Roubaud; next came M. Bessière, the
station-master at Barentin, as well as several of the servants of the
company at Rouen, whose evidence proved of decisive importance, in
respect to the first murder; then, M. Vandorpe, the station-master at
Paris, Misard, the signalman, and the headguard, Henri Dauvergne--the
two last being particularly affirmative concerning the complacent
conjugal easiness of the accused. Henri, whom Séverine had looked after
at La Croix-de-Maufras, even ventured to relate that one night while
still weak he believed he heard Roubaud and Cabuche concerting together
under the window. This went a long way towards explaining matters, and
upset the system of the two accused, who pretended they were unknown
to one another. The entire staff of the company raised a cry of
reprobation. Everyone pitied the unfortunate victims, that poor young
woman for whose shortcomings there was so much excuse; that upright old
gentleman, whose memory was now cleared of the ugly stories which had
been circulated respecting him.
But it was in the Grandmorin family, particularly, that this new trial
had aroused the passions again, and if M. Denizet still met with
powerful support from this quarter, he had to struggle to maintain
the integrity of his system. The Lachesnayes chaunted victory, for,
exasperated at the legacy of La Croix-de-Maufras, bleeding with
avarice, they had never ceased insisting on the guilt of Roubaud. So
when the case came to the surface again, the only thing they saw in
it was an opportunity to attack the will; and as there existed but
one way of obtaining the revocation of the legacy, that of depriving
Séverine under a judgment of forfeiture by reason of ingratitude, they
accepted, in part, the version of Roubaud; namely, that his wife was an
accomplice who had assisted him to kill the President, although not out
of vengeance for an imaginary infamy, but for the purpose of robbing
him. The examining-magistrate therefore entered into a conflict with
them, particularly with Berthe, who showed herself very bitter against
her old friend, the murdered woman, whom she charged abominably; while
he defended her with heat, flying into a temper when anyone touched his
masterpiece--that edifice of logic, so well erected, as he proudly said
himself, that if one piece were removed it would all tumble down.
In this connection a very lively scene occurred in his private room,
between the Lachesnayes and Madame Bonnehon. The latter, who, on
the former occasion, had supported the Roubauds, had found herself
compelled to abandon the husband; but she continued to stand up for his
wife, by reason of a sort of tender complicity, being very tolerant in
regard to beauty and matters of the heart, and she was quite agitated
with this tragic romance bespattered with blood.
She spoke out very plainly, and was full of disdain for money. Was
her niece not ashamed to return to this question of the legacy? To
pronounce Séverine guilty would be to accept the pretended confession
of Roubaud in its entirety, and taint the memory of the President
afresh. Had not the inquiry so ingeniously established the truth, it
would have been necessary to invent it, for the honour of the family.
And she spoke rather bitterly about Rouennais society, which made such
a fuss anent the matter; that society she no longer reigned over now
that age had come, and she was losing even her opulent blonde beauty
of a goddess of ripe years. Yes; again on the previous evening, at the
house of Madame Leboucq, the wife of the counsellor, that tall, elegant
brunette who had dethroned her, the guests whispered broad anecdotes
together: the adventure of Louisette, and everything public malignity
could invent.
At this moment, M. Denizet intervened to inform her that M. Leboucq
would sit as assessor at the coming assizes, and the Lachesnayes, who
felt uneasy, held their tongues with an air of giving in. But Madame
Bonnehon allayed their alarm, remarking that she was certain justice
would be done; the assizes would be presided over by her old friend M.
Desbazeilles, whose rheumatism only permitted him the recollection of
the past, in the matter of gallantry; and the second assessor would
be M. Chaumette, the father of the young substitute who was under her
protection. She therefore had no anxiety, although a melancholy smile
played on her lips when she mentioned this gentleman, whose son had
latterly been noticed as a visitor at the house of Madame Leboucq,
where she herself had sent him, so that there might be no impediment to
his future.
When the famous trial at last began, the rumour of approaching war and
the agitation that spread all over France, prevented a good deal of the
reverberation that the proceedings would otherwise have occasioned.
Rouen, nevertheless, was for three days in a high state of fever. A
regular crush occurred at the entrance to the court, and the reserved
seats were invaded by ladies of the town.
Never had the ancient palace of the Dukes of Normandy accommodated
such an affluence of people since it had been fitted up as a Palace of
Justice. The trial took place in the last days of June. The afternoons
were warm and sunny, and the bright light lit up the ten stained-glass
windows, bathing in luminosity the oak woodwork, the white stone
crucifix, which stood out at the end of the room against the red
hangings sprinkled with bees, as well as the celebrated ceiling of
the time of Louis XII. with its carved squares gilded in very old and
softly toned gold.
The public were already stifling before the proceedings commenced.
Women stood on tiptoe to see the various incriminating articles lying
spread out on the table: the watch belonging to Grandmorin, the
blood-stained night-dress of Séverine, and the knife that had served
for the two murders. The gentleman defending Cabuche, an advocate from
Paris, was also a centre of interest. In the jury-box sat twelve stout
and grave Rouennais buttoned up in their frock-coats. And when the
judges entered, there was so much pushing among the public who were
standing, that the President at once had to threaten that he would have
the court cleared.
At last the case was called on, and the jury sworn. Reading over
the names of the witnesses caused another stir among the crowd who
were burning with curiosity. At those of Madame Bonnehon and M. de
Lachesnaye the heads swayed from side to side; but Jacques particularly
impassioned the ladies, who followed him with their eyes. As soon as
the accused were brought in, each between two gendarmes, the public
never ceased looking at them; and, criticising their appearance, found
that they both looked low and ferocious, like a couple of bandits.
Roubaud, in his dark jacket, with a necktie arranged after the manner
of a person neglectful of his appearance, caused surprise by his
prematurely old manner, and his stupid-looking face bursting with fat.
As to Cabuche, he was as everyone expected to find him. Wearing a long
blue blouse he seemed the very type of an assassin, with enormous
fists, and a carnivorous jaw. Just one of those fellows whom you would
not care to knock up against at the corner of a wood on a dark night.
The examination of the prisoner confirmed this bad impression, and some
of his replies aroused violent murmurs. To all the questions addressed
to him by the President, Cabuche answered that he did not know. He did
not know how it was that the watch had got to his hut, he did not know
why he had allowed the real assassin to run away. He persevered in his
story of this mysterious unknown, whose flight he had heard in the
impenetrable darkness.
Questioned as to his bestial passion for his unfortunate victim, he
began stammering in such a sudden, violent fit of anger, that the two
gendarmes seized him by the arms. No, no; he did not love her, he
did not want her; all these tales were falsehoods. The mere thought
would have been an infamy--she who was a lady, whereas he had been in
prison and lived like a savage! Then, when he became calm, he fell into
doleful silence, confining himself to monosyllables, indifferent to the
verdict and sentence that might ensue.
Roubaud, in the same way, kept to what the accusation called his
system. He related how and why he had killed Grandmorin, and denied all
participation in the murder of his wife; but he did so in broken and
almost incoherent phrases, with sudden failures of memory, and with
eyes so troubled, and a voice so thick, that at times he seemed to
search for and invent the details. But as the President urged him on,
pointing out the absurdities in his narrative, he ended by shrugging
his shoulders and refused to answer. What was the use of speaking the
truth, since lies were logic?
This attitude of aggressive disdain for the bench did him the utmost
injury. Everyone also observed the profound unconcern of the two
accused for one another, which seemed to be a proof that they had come
to an understanding beforehand, and carried it out with extraordinary
strength of will. They pretended they were strangers, and even accused
each other, solely for the purpose of embarrassing the bench. When the
examination of the two prisoners came to an end the case was already
tried, so cleverly had the President put his questions. Roubaud and
Cabuche had fallen head over ears into the traps set for them, whilst
appearing to deliver themselves up. A few witnesses of no importance
were also heard on that day. Towards five o'clock the heat had become
so unbearable that two ladies fainted.
Great sensation was caused on the morrow by the examination of certain
other witnesses. Madame Bonnehon had a genuine success of superiority
and tact. The members of the staff of the railway company, M. Vandorpe,
M. Bessière, M. Dabadie, and particularly M. Cauche were listened
to with interest. The commissary of police proved extremely prolix,
relating how he knew Roubaud very well from having frequently played
a game with him at the Café du Commerce. Henri Dauvergne repeated his
overwhelming testimony respecting his conviction of having, in his
feverish drowsiness, overheard the two prisoners concerting together in
low voices. Questioned as to Séverine, he displayed great discretion
giving it to be understood that he had been in love with her, but
finding she had a sweetheart, he had loyally effaced himself.
So when this same sweetheart, Jacques Lantier, at length came forward,
a buzz ascended from the crowd. Some people stood up to get a better
view of him, and even the jury bestirred themselves in a movement of
deep attention. Jacques, who was very calm, leant with both hands on
the iron bar in front of him in the attitude he usually took when
driving his engine. His appearance in court, which should have troubled
him profoundly, left him absolute lucidity of mind. It seemed as if
the case did not concern him in any way. He was about to give his
testimony as a stranger and an innocent man. Since the crime he had not
felt a single shiver, nor did he even think of these matters, which
were banished from his recollection. His organs were in a state of
equilibrium, and his health was perfect. Here again, at this bar, he
experienced neither remorse nor scruple, being absolutely unconscious.
He immediately cast a clear glance at Roubaud and Cabuche. He knew the
first to be guilty, but he gave him a slight nod, without reflecting
that everybody was aware at present that he had been the sweetheart of
his wife. Then, he smiled at the other, the innocent man, whose place
in the dock he should have occupied: a good brute at the bottom, in
spite of his look of a bandit, a strapping fellow whom he had seen at
work, and whose hand he had grasped.
Jacques gave his evidence with perfect ease, answering in short,
clear sentences the questions that were put to him by the President,
who, after interrogating him at length about his intimacy with the
victim, made him relate his departure from La Croix-de-Maufras a few
hours before the murder: how he had gone to take the train at Barentin
and how he had slept at Rouen. Cabuche and Roubaud listened to him,
confirming his answers by their attitude.
At this moment, an unspeakable feeling of sadness took possession of
these three men. Deathlike silence reigned in the room, and the jury
experienced an emotion occasioned they knew not by what, which caused a
lump to rise in their throats. It was truth that was passing mute.
In reply to a question of the President, who desired to know what
Jacques thought of the unknown figure, who, according to the story of
the quarryman, had vanished in the obscurity, he contented himself by
shaking his head, as if he did not wish to overload a prisoner.
An incident then occurred which completely upset the public. Tears
welled in the eyes of Jacques, and overflowing, trickled down his
cheeks. Séverine, as he had already seen her once before, had just
risen up before him--that wretched, murdered woman, whose image he had
carried away with him, with her blue eyes, immoderately wide open, and
her black hair standing on end on her forehead like a helmet of terror.
He still adored her, and seized with immense pity, he wept abundant
tears, unconscious of his crime, forgetful of being amidst this crowd.
Some of the ladies, affected by this display of tenderness, began to
sob. The grief of the sweetheart, while the husband remained unmoved,
was considered extremely touching. The President, having inquired of
the defence whether they desired to ask the witness any questions,
the advocates thanked him and answered No; while the prisoners, whose
countenances bore a doltish expression, followed Jacques with their
eyes, as he returned to his seat amidst the general sympathy of the
public.
The third day of the trial was entirely taken up by the address of
the Imperial Procurator, and the pleadings of the advocates on behalf
of the accused. First of all the President delivered his summing-up
of the case, in the course of which, under an appearance of absolute
impartiality, the charge of the prosecution was aggravated. The
Imperial Procurator, who followed, did not seem to be in the enjoyment
of all his powers. He usually displayed more conviction, a deeper
eloquence. This was attributed to the heat, which was really most
oppressive. The advocate from Paris, who pleaded for Cabuche, on the
contrary, afforded great pleasure without convincing his hearers; while
the eminent member of the Rouen bar, who defended Roubaud, also made
the most he could of a bad case. The Imperial Procurator, who felt
fatigued, did not even reply.
When the jury retired to their room it was only six o'clock. Broad
daylight still entered the court by the six windows, and a final ray
lit up the arms of the towns of Normandy, decorating the imposts. A
loud sound of voices rose to the old gilded ceiling, and the swaying of
an impatient crowd shook the iron grating that separated the reserved
seats from the public standing up. But silence was restored as soon as
the jury returned. The verdict, which was guilty, admitted extenuating
circumstances; and the two men were sentenced to hard labour for life.
The result caused great surprise. The public streamed out of court in a
tumult, and a few shrill whistles were heard as at the theatre.
That same evening throughout Rouen the sentence gave rise to endless
comments. According to general opinion, it was a blow for Madame
Bonnehon and the Lachesnayes. Nothing short of a death sentence, it
appeared, would have satisfied the family; and adverse interests
must certainly have made themselves felt. People already spoke in an
undertone of Madame Leboucq, three or four of whose faithful slaves
were on the jury. No doubt there had been nothing incorrect in the
attitude of her husband as assessor; and yet an impression seemed to
prevail, that neither M. Chaumette, the other assessor, nor even M.
Desbazeilles, the President, felt themselves such absolute masters of
the proceedings as they would have wished.
Perhaps it was simply that the jury full of scruples, in according
extenuating circumstances, had ceded to that uneasy feeling of doubt
that had for a moment swept through the room--the silent flight of
melancholy truth. After all, the case remained a triumph for M.
Denizet, the examining-magistrate, whose masterpiece nothing could
impair. The family lost a good deal of sympathy when a rumour got
abroad that M. de Lachesnayes, contrary to all idea of jurisprudence,
spoke of bringing an action in revocation, in spite of the death of
the donee, to regain possession of La Croix-de-Maufras, which caused
astonishment considering he was a judge.
On leaving the law courts, Jacques was joined by Philomène, who had
remained as witness, and who now took possession of him. He would only
resume duty on the morrow, and he invited her to dinner at the inn near
the station, where he pretended he had passed the night of the crime.
He did not intend to sleep there, being absolutely obliged to return to
Paris by the 12.50 train in the morning.
"What do you think," said she, as she proceeded on his arm towards the
inn, "I could swear that I met one of our acquaintances just now! Yes,
Pecqueux, who told me, again and again the other day, that he would not
put his foot in Rouen for the case. At one time I turned round, and a
man, whose back only I could see, slipped into the middle of the crowd."
The driver, with a shrug of the shoulders, interrupted her:
"Pecqueux is in Paris, on the spree," said he; "only too delighted at
the holiday that my absence from duty procures him."
"That may be possible," she answered. "But, nevertheless, let us be on
our guard, for he is a most abominable brute when he is in a rage."
She pressed against him, adding with a glance behind her:
"And do you know the man who is following us?"
"Yes," he replied. "Do not bother about him. Perhaps he wants to ask me
something."
It was Misard, who had in fact been following them at a distance from
the Rue des Juifs. He had given his evidence in his usual drowsy
manner; and had remained hovering around Jacques, unable to make up his
mind to put a question to him, which was visibly on his lips. When the
couple disappeared in the inn, he entered in his turn, and called for a
glass of wine.
"Hullo! Is that you, Misard?" exclaimed the driver. "And how are you
getting on with your new wife? All right?"
"Yes, yes," grumbled the signalman. "Ah! the wretch, she took me in.
Eh? I told you about that when I was here on the last occasion."
This story amused Jacques immensely. The woman Ducloux, the former
servant of dubious antecedents whom Misard had taken as gatekeeper, had
soon perceived, on noticing him rummaging in the corners, that he must
be searching for a hoard, hidden by the defunct; and to make him marry
her, she had conceived the ingenious idea of giving him to understand
by sudden reticences and little laughs that she had found it herself.
First of all he was on the point of strangling her; then, reflecting
that the 1,000 frcs. would again escape him, if he were to suppress
her like the other, before he had them, he became very flattering and
amiable. But she repelled him. She would not allow him to touch her.
No, no; when she became his wife he should have both her and the money.
And when he had married her, she simply laughed at him, remarking that
he was a great stupid to believe everything that was told him. The
beauty of the whole business, was that when she heard all about it, she
caught the fever from him, and henceforth sought for the money in his
company, being quite as much enraged as himself to find it. Ah! those
undiscoverable 1,000 frcs., they would certainly ferret them out one of
these days, now that they were two! And they sought, sought.
"So you have no news?" inquired Jacques, in a bantering tone. "But does
not Ducloux assist you?"
Misard fixed his eyes on him, and at last said what he had been wanting
to say.
"If you know where they are," he exclaimed, "tell me."
But the driver became angry.
"I know nothing at all," he replied. "Aunt Phasie did not give me
anything. You do not mean to accuse me of stealing, I suppose?"
"Oh! She gave you nothing that is certain," he answered. "You see I am
ill, and if you know where they are, tell me."
"Go to blazes!" retorted Jacques; "and mind I do not say too much. Just
take a look in the salt-box to see if they are there."
Misard continued looking at him with pallid face and burning eyes. Then
came a sudden flash of enlightenment.
"In the salt-box?" he remarked. "By Jove that is an idea! Underneath
the drawer there is a place where I have not looked."
Hastily settling for his glass of wine, he ran off to the railway
station, to see if he could catch the 7.10 train. And yonder in the
little low habitation he sought eternally.
In the evening after dinner, while waiting for the 12.50 train,
Philomène insisted on taking Jacques for a walk down the dark alleys,
and out into the adjoining country. The atmosphere was extremely
heavy--a hot, moonless July night, that filled her bosom with heavy
sighs. On two occasions she fancied she heard footsteps behind them,
but on turning round could perceive no one, owing to the dense
obscurity.
Jacques suffered considerably from this oppressive heat.
Notwithstanding his tranquil equilibrium of mind and the perfect
health that he enjoyed since the murder, he had just experienced
at table a return of that distant uneasiness, each time that this
woman grazed him with her wandering hands. This was no doubt due to
fatigue, to enervation caused by the heavy atmosphere. The anguish now
returned more keenly and was full of secret terror. And yet was he
not thoroughly cured? Nevertheless, his excitement became such that
in dread of an attack, he would have disengaged his arm had not the
darkness surrounding him removed his fears; for never, even on days
when he felt the effects of his complaint the most sharply, would he
have struck without seeing. All at once, as they came to a grassy slope
beside a solitary pathway and sat down, the monstrous craving began
again. He flew into a fit of madness, and at first searched in the
grass for a weapon, for a stone, to smash her head. Then he sprang to
his feet, and was already fleeing in distraction, when he heard a male
voice uttering oaths, and making a great disturbance.
"Ah! you strumpet!" shouted Pecqueux. "I have waited to the end; I
wanted to make sure!"
"It is false," answered Philomène. "Let me go!"
"Ah! It is false!" said Pecqueux. "He may run, the other one. I know
who he is, and shall be able to come up with him. Look there, dare to
say again that it is not true!"
Jacques tore along in the darkness, not fleeing from Pecqueux whom he
had just recognised, but running away from himself, mad with grief.
Eh! what! one murder had not sufficed! He was not satiated with the
blood of Séverine as he had thought, even in the morning. He was now
beginning again. Another, and then another, and then still another! A
few weeks of torpor after being thoroughly gorged, and his frightful
craving returned. He required the flesh of women then, without end,
to satisfy him. It was now no longer necessary to set eyes on this
element of seduction, the mere sensation of feeling the glow of a
woman sufficed. This put a stop to all enjoyment in life. Before him
was nothing but the dark night, through which he fled, and boundless
despair.
A few days passed, Jacques had resumed his duty, avoiding his comrades,
relapsing into his former anxious unsociableness. War had just been
declared after some stormy scenes in the Chamber; and there had already
been a little fight at the outposts, attended by a satisfactory result
it was said. For a week past, the departure of troops had overwhelmed
the servants of the railway companies with fatigue. The regular
service had become upset through the long delays occasioned by the
frequent extra trains; without counting that the best drivers had been
requisitioned to hasten the concentration of troops. And it was thus
that Jacques, one night at Havre, had to drive an enormously long train
of eighteen trucks absolutely crammed with soldiers, instead of his
usual express.
On that night, Pecqueux arrived at the depôt very drunk. The day after
he had surprised Philomène and Jacques, he had accompanied the latter
on the engine 608 as fireman; and since then, although he made no
allusion to the matter, he was gloomy and seemed as if he dared not
look his chief in the face. But the latter found him more and more
rebellious, refusing to obey, and greeting every order he received with
a surly growl. As a result, they had entirely ceased speaking to one
another.
This moving plate, this little bridge which formerly bore them along
in unity, was naught at this hour but the narrow, dangerous platform
on which their rivalry clashed. The hatred was increasing, they were
on the verge of devouring one another on these few square feet as
they flew onward full speed, and from which the slightest shock would
precipitate them. On this particular night, Jacques, seeing Pecqueux
drunk, felt distrustful; for he knew him to be too artful to get angry
when sober; wine alone released the inner brute.
The train which should have left at six o'clock was delayed. It was
already dark when they entrained the soldiers into cattle-trucks like
sheep. Planks had simply been nailed across the vehicles in form of
benches, and the men were packed there by squads, cramming the trucks
beyond measure; so that while some were seated one upon another a
few stood up, so jammed together that they could not move a limb.
On reaching Paris another train was in readiness to take them to the
Rhine. They were already weighed down with fatigue in the confusion
of departure. But as brandy had been distributed among them, and many
had visited drinking-places in the vicinity of the station, they were
full of heated and brutal gaiety, very red in the face, and with eyes
starting from their heads. As soon as the train moved out of the
station, they began to sing.
Jacques immediately gazed at the sky, where storm-clouds hid the
stars. The night would be very dark, not a breath of wind stirred the
burning air, and the wind of the advance, generally so fresh, proved
tepid. In the sombre outlook ahead, appeared no other lights than the
bright sparks of the signals. He increased the pressure to ascend the
long slope from Harfleur to Saint Romain. In spite of the study he
had made of the engine No. 608 for some weeks, he had not yet got it
perfectly in hand. It was too new, and its caprice, its errors of youth
astonished him.
On that night the locomotive proved particularly restive, whimsical,
ready to fly away if only a few more pieces of coal than necessary,
were placed on the bars. And so, with his hand on the reversing-wheel,
he watched the fire, becoming more and more anxious at the behaviour
of his fireman. The small lamp, lighting the water-level in the
gauge-glass, left the foot-plate in a penumbra, which the red-hot
door of the fire-box rendered violescent. He distinguished Pecqueux
indistinctly, but on two occasions he had felt a sensation in the legs
like the graze of fingers being exercised to grip him there. Doubtless
this was nothing more than the clumsiness of a drunkard, for above the
riot of the train he could hear Pecqueux sneering very loudly, breaking
his coal with exaggerated blows of the hammer, and knocking with his
shovel. Each minute he opened the door of the fire-box, flinging fuel
on the bars in unreasonable quantities.
"Enough!" shouted Jacques.
The other, pretending not to understand, continued throwing in shovel
upon shovel of coal; and as the driver grasped him by the arm, he
turned round threateningly, having at last brought on the quarrel he
had been seeking, in the increasing fury of his drunkenness.
"If you touch me I shall strike!" yelled Pecqueux. "It amuses me to go
quick!"
The train was now rolling along full speed across the plain from Bolbec
to Motteville, and was to go at one stretch to Paris without stopping,
save at the places indicated to take in water. The enormous mass, the
eighteen trucks loaded, crammed with human cattle, crossed the dark
country in a ceaseless roar; and these men who were being carted along
to be massacred sang, sang at the pitch of their voices, making such a
clamour that it could be heard above the riot of the wheels.
Jacques closed the door of the fire-box with his foot. Then, manœuvring
the injector, he still restrained himself.
"There is too big a fire," said he. "Go to sleep if you are drunk!"
Pecqueux immediately opened the door again, and obstinately threw on
more coal, as if he wanted to blow up the engine. This was rebellion,
orders disregarded, exasperated passion that took no further heed of
all these human lives. And Jacques, having leant over to lower the
rod of the ash-pan himself, so as to at least lessen the draught, the
fireman abruptly caught him round the body, and tried to push him, to
throw him on the line with a violent jerk.
"You blackguard!" exclaimed Jacques. "So that is your game, is it? And
then you would say that I tumbled over! You artful brute!"
He clung to the side of the tender, and both slid down. The struggle
continued on the little iron-bridge, which danced violently. They
ceased speaking, and with set teeth each did his utmost to precipitate
the other through the narrow opening at the side which was only closed
by an iron bar. But this did not prove easy. The devouring engine
rolled on, and still rolled on. Barentin was passed, the train plunged
into the tunnel of Malaunay, and they continued to hold each other
tightly, grovelling in the coal, striking their heads against the side
of the water-tank, but avoiding the red-hot door of the fire-box, which
scorched their legs each time they extended them.
At one moment, Jacques reflected that if he could raise himself he
would close the regulator, and call for assistance, so that he might be
freed of this furious madman, raging with drink and jealousy. Smaller
in build than Pecqueux, he was becoming weak, and now despaired of
finding sufficient strength to fling his aggressor from the locomotive.
Indeed, he was already vanquished, and felt the terror of the fall pass
through his hair. As in a supreme effort, he groped about with his
hand, the other understood, and, stiffening his loins, raised him like
a child.
"Ah! You want to stop! Ah! you took my girl! Hah! hah! You will have to
go over the side!"
The engine rolled onward, onward. The train issued from the tunnel
with a great crash, and continued its course through the barren,
sombre country. Malaunay station was passed in such a tempestuous
blast that the assistant station-master, standing on the platform, did
not even see the two men endeavouring to slaughter one another as the
thunderbolt bore them away.
At last, Pecqueux with a final spurt, precipitated Jacques from the
engine; but the latter, feeling himself in space, clung so tightly
in his bewilderment to the neck of his antagonist, that he dragged
Pecqueux along with him. There were a couple of terrible shrieks, which
mingled one with the other and were lost. The two men falling together,
cast under the wheels by the counter shock, were cut to pieces clasping
one another in that frightful embrace--they, who so long had lived as
brothers. They were found without heads, and without feet, two bleeding
trunks, still hugging as if to choke each other.
And the engine, free from all guidance rolled on and on. At last the
restive, whimsical thing could give way to the transports of youth, and
gallop across the even country like some unbroken filly escaped from
the hands of its groom. The boiler was full of water, the coal which
had just been renewed in the fire-box, was aglow; and during the first
half-hour the pressure went up tremendously, while the speed became
frightful. Probably the headguard, overcome with fatigue, had fallen
asleep. The soldiers, whose intoxication increased through being packed
so closely together, suddenly became amused at this rapid flight of the
train, and sang the louder. Maromme was passed in a flash. The whistle
no longer sounded as the signals were approached, and the stations
reached. This was the straight gallop of an animal charging, head down
and silent, amidst the obstacles. And it rolled on and on without end,
as if maddened more and more by the strident sound of its breath.
At Rouen the engine should have taken in water; and the people at the
station were struck with terror when they saw this mad train dart by in
a whirl of smoke and flame; the locomotive without driver or fireman,
the cattle-trucks full of soldiers yelling patriotic songs. They were
going to the war, and if the train did not stop it was in order that
they might arrive more rapidly yonder, on the banks of the Rhine.
The railway servants stood gaping, agitating their arms. Immediately
there was one general cry, this train let loose, abandoned to itself,
would never pass without impediment through Sotteville station, which
was always blocked by shunting manœuvres and obstructed by carriages
and engines like all great depôts. And there was a rush to the
telegraph-office to give warning.
At Sotteville a goods train, occupying the line, was shunted just
in time. Already the rumble of the escaped monster could be heard in
the distance. It had dashed into the two tunnels in the vicinity of
Rouen, and was arriving at its furious gallop like a prodigious and
irresistible force that naught could now stay; and Sotteville station
was left behind. It passed among the obstacles without touching
anything, and again plunged into the obscurity where its roar gradually
died away.
But now, all the telegraphic apparatus on the line was tinkling, all
hearts were beating at the news of the phantom train which had just
been seen passing through Rouen and Sotteville. Everyone trembled with
fear, an express on ahead would certainly be caught up. The runaway,
like a wild boar in the underwood, continued its course without giving
any attention either to red lights or crackers. It almost ran into a
pilot-engine at Oissel and terrified Pont-de-l'Arche, for its speed
showed no signs of slackening. Again it had disappeared, and it rolled
on and on in the obscure night, going none knew where--yonder.
What mattered the victims the engine crushed on the road! Was it not
advancing towards the future in spite of all, heedless of the blood
that might be spilt? Without a guide, amidst the darkness, like an
animal blind and dumb let loose amidst death, it rolled on and on,
loaded with this food for cannon, with these soldiers already besotted
with fatigue and drink, who were singing.
THE END.