CARMEN KEEPS HER WORD.
"I will watch the enemy," Carmen had said to Goutran, when they parted.
The enemy was the man who had taken advantage of her inexperience, and
induced her to call him father. Why had she not realized what she was
doing sooner? She had, however, shown her womanly courage by the
confession she had made to Goutran, and now she found herself without
shield or buckler in opposition to the man under whose roof she lived.
She resolved to defend Goutran and all those he loved. Woe to whomsoever
should attack them.
That same morning, Laisangy asked to be received by her. She was quite
ready for another quarrel, but Laisangy was amiable and smiling, for he
had at that moment heard from Benedetto that his vengeance was near
being accomplished.
Strangely enough this man Laisangy was in deadly terror of Monte-Cristo,
and fully estimated the almost superhuman power of this wonderful man.
But when Benedetto appeared before him and he found that there was one
villain greater than himself, he was encouraged and comforted. What joy
it would be to torture, without danger to himself, the soul of him whom
he had so feared.
Danglars had given himself, soul and body, to Benedetto, as in legends a
man abandons himself to a demon. He smiled as he entered Carmen's room.
"What do you want of me?" she said, coldly.
"You have not forgotten that we give a grand reception this evening."
"This evening! Surely you mistake--"
"No. This is your own list of invitations that I hold in my hand."
Carmen had forgotten entirely that these invitations had been sent out a
week before.
Laisangy looked at her closely.
"I fancied," he said, "that this entertainment had escaped your memory."
"I certainly shall not appear!" answered Carmen.
The banker bit his lips, this was precisely what he feared. He began to
argue the matter gently. And she, in her turn, began to reflect. She saw
on the list the name of Goutran, which she had written with a breaking
heart. After all, had she the right to desert her post?
"Very well," she said, "I will be present."
Laisangy was astonished at his prompt success.
"Yes," she repeated, "on condition that you do not once call me your
daughter."
"What shall I call you?" stammered Laisangy.
"Whatever you choose, only take care that you do not disobey me!"
In fact, the banker cared little upon this point. He had obtained what
he wanted. His fete would be made brilliant by Carmen's presence. He did
not retire, however, and the girl saw that he had something else to
say.
"What more do you want?" she asked, impatiently.
"My dear child," began Laisangy, with some pomposity, "you have,
doubtless, ere this discovered that matters of finance are composed of a
thousand details more important than those of diplomacy."
"I have certainly learned that swindling is a troublesome business," she
said through her teeth, and with intense disdain.
Laisangy pretended not to hear this.
"To-night," he said, with perfect _sang froid_, "we leave the
Tuileries."
He had counted on the effect of these words. Carmen shrugged her
shoulders, which certainly was not respectful to the Emperor.
"And I am greatly disturbed," continued the banker. "It may be necessary
for me to leave for an hour. I shall pretend indisposition, which may be
attributed to the heat, and while I am supposed to be recovering in my
own room, I can go out and attend to my affairs."
"You may be obliged to go out, then?"
"Certainly; did you not understand?"
"Why do you not tell me that you wish to go to the Bourse?"
Laisangy was annoyed. He saw that Carmen was on the _qui vive_, and
Carmen said to herself: "What does this mean? He is lying, and some
infernal machination is on foot. I must learn what it is."
She replied more gently:
"But I care little about these matters; the Bourse does not interest
me. At what hour did you say you might be called away?"
"About midnight."
"Very good. Then you would like me, I suppose, to be very anxious about
you, and urge you to withdraw?"
"Precisely!" answered the banker, much pleased. "Ah, Carmen, how well
you understand me. Had you chosen, we two would have governed France!"
"Not I!" answered Carmen, abruptly. "We are companions, not accomplices.
I do not understand you, and I do not propose to aid you in your
infamy."
At this word Laisangy started, and thus confirmed the suspicions of
Carmen, who was watching him.
He took her hand, and she withdrew it quickly. He had obtained what he
desired, and was now ready to depart.
"What is he planning?" said Carmen to herself. "Is it really some
financial operation, which, of course, I care nothing about, or is
it----?"
Goutran's name rose to her lips. All day she watched him, but saw
nothing to justify her in her belief, and yet she knew that her woman's
instinct had not played her false. Over and over again she was tempted
to retract her promise, for the idea of this fete was intolerable to
her. She thought of Goutran, and remembered that she might save him.
The evening came, and Carmen's maid could hardly believe it was she who
replied:
"What dress, did you say? I don't care in the least!"
Nevertheless, when Carmen appeared in the salons there was an audible
murmur of admiration. In her white dress, with a few flowers in her
beautiful hair, Carmen had never been more beautiful. She moved slowly
through the rooms, looking for Goutran, who was not there, as we know.
Little did Carmen care for these men and women, who were the tools and
slaves of the man of December. Laisangy was radiant, however. Carmen
shivered whenever she looked at him. It seemed to her that he was in a
state of unusual excitement.
The orchestra was playing delightfully, and lacqueys were announcing the
first names of the empire--counts, and barons, and princes. Suddenly a
new name was heard:
"Mohammed-Ben-Omar!"
And a magnificent personage, wearing the Legion of Honor on his white
bournous, entered the room. Every one turned to look at him. He was a
magnificent looking Arab. With a gravity that was truly oriental, and
with his face half concealed in the folds of his mantle, his brown hands
folded on his breast, Mohammed-Ben-Omar advanced.
Laisangy went forward to meet him. In fact, he could hardly believe in
his good fortune. Mohammed-Ben-Omar belonged to that class of Algerians
who, listening to the counsel of French financiers, always cherished the
project of making Algeria into a veritable El Dorado, and had now come
to France to lend the support of his name and authority to some one of
the speculations built on the sands of the desert, of which the
Tuileries people were so fond.
Laisangy, learning of his arrival in Paris, had hastened to send him an
invitation, but had hardly hoped to see him. He was, therefore, more
than usually civil.
Ben-Omar replied to his courtesies only by carrying his hand to his
heart and then to his forehead, in the recognized Mussulman manner. He
did not speak one word of French, and yet, when Carmen passed, he said
"Beautiful!" with a guttural intonation.
"My daughter, sir!" answered the banker, with pride.
"Beautiful! beautiful!" repeated the Mohammedan.
Laisangy signed to Omar to accompany him to the group where Carmen was
talking. There he went through the ceremony of introduction. Then,
leaning toward her, Omar said, under his breath:
"I come from Goutran. Allah il Allah!" he added, aloud.
Carmen started. Never was she so astonished. The name of Goutran from
these lips was like lightning from a clear sky. She looked at the Arab's
bronze face and his huge moustache.
"Take His Excellency's arm," said Laisangy, "and show him the gallery
and statuary."
Carmen hesitated, but Omar at once threw his bournous aside and offered
the young lady his arm.
Laisangy whispered in Carmen's ear:
"Do not delay too long. I have received the signal and must do what was
agreed upon between us."
Carmen paid little heed to these words, but moved through the crowd on
Omar's arm, slowly and thoughtfully. Omar was very solemn, but under his
moustache he whispered:
"I come from Monsieur Goutran."
"Who are you?" she asked, raising her fan to hide her lips as she spoke.
Whenever the crowd came too near he raised his arm, and with a grand
sweep of bournous, hand and arm, he said:
"Allah il Allah! Rassoul il Allah!"
Everybody drew back much impressed, for the incomprehensible has always
great power.
At last, Omar and Carmen were alone in a small salon.
"Will you tell me who you are?" asked Carmen once again.
"I am Coucon--devoted to Monsieur Goutran and to Esperance, the son of
Monte-Cristo."
"And you disguised yourself to see me?"
"Yes, for I had a note to bring from Monsieur Goutran."
"Give it to me!" Carmen cried.
When at last Coucon succeeded in finding it among the folds of his
bournous, she snatched it from him.
This is what she read:
"Carmen, my friend and my ally, you have promised your assistance.
Gladly do I claim it. My friends are in great peril. Jane Zeld has
vanished in the most mysterious manner, as has Esperance. There must
be in the Hotel de Monte-Cristo some secret issue which our enemies do
not know. The infamous L---- must possess this secret. Do your best to
discover it. You see that I place my reliance on you, for I love you.
"GOUTRAN."
Carmen uttered a joyous exclamation. Goutran loved her! Coucon turned
toward her.
"Well," he asked, "what am I to tell him?"
"Return to Monsieur Goutran and tell him that if it costs me my life I
will discover what he wishes to know. And remember that you must open
the door of the hotel to me at whatever time I may come. Of course, you
and Monsieur Goutran will be there all night. Now, go!"
At this moment a terrified looking servant entered the room.
"Mademoiselle," he said, "your father has just been taken ill."
Omar respectfully saluted the young girl, and was lost in the crowd. No
one noticed him, for there was much excitement over the illness of the
great financier. Carmen followed the lacquey with rather too slow a step
for the occasion. She was intensely irritated at this new comedy, and
she was tempted to cry out to the crowd:
"He lies! He has always lied!"
Laisangy was lying back in his chair. There was no physician in the
room, and yet the people about him talked knowingly of bleeding him.
Fortunately for him, Carmen arrived.
"I know what it is," she said; "he has had similar attacks before. He
will be better after a little rest."
And Carmen gave orders that the banker should be carried to his chamber.
Then excusing herself to her guests, she followed.
Laisangy, who was becoming greatly bored by the part he was playing,
supposed that Carmen would dismiss the servants and remain with him
herself; but she had quite other plans. She bade the men undress their
master and put him in his bed. Laisangy was ready to swear at her, but,
of course, he was too ill to dispute. If he suddenly revived and made a
row, then the story would get about of the ridiculous comedy he had
played. His patience was not long tried, however. Carmen only wanted to
gain a little time, in which she might hope to discover the contents of
a letter which she saw the banker receive and put in his pocket early in
the evening. She found the letter and retired into the next room to read
it.
"Vengeance is assured. Fanfar and Goutran are prisoners in the house of
Monte-Cristo. As to the girl, she is at the house at Courberrie, where
Esperance will arrive too late."
Hardly had Carmen grasped the sense of these words than she ran to her
room, and wrapping herself in her long black cloak, left the hotel by
the private door.