THE ARREST.
The man who had gone out for a moment, after having requested the ogress
to look after his jug and plate, soon returned, accompanied by a tall,
brawny man, to whom he said, "It was a chance to meet in this way, old
fellow! Come in, and let us have a glass together."
The Chourineur said, in a low voice, to Rodolph and the Goualeuse,
pointing to the newcomer, "We shall have a row. He's a 'trap.' Look out
for squalls."
The two ruffians, one of whom, with the Greek skull-cap pulled over his
brows, had inquired several times for the Schoolmaster and the
Gros-Boiteux, exchanged rapid glances of the eye, and, rising suddenly
from the table, went towards the door; but the two police officers,
uttering a peculiar note, seized them. A fierce struggle ensued. The
door of the tavern opened, and all of the policemen dashed into the
room, whilst, outside, were seen the muskets of the _gens-d'armes_.
Taking advantage of the tumult, the charcoal-seller, of whom we have
spoken, advanced to the threshold of the _tapis-franc_, and, meeting the
eye of Rodolph, he put to his lips the forefinger of his right hand.
Rodolph, with a gesture as rapid as it was imperious, desired him to go,
and then turned his attention to the scene before him. The man with the
Greek skull-cap shrieked with rage, and, half extended on a table,
struggled so desperately, that three men could scarcely hold him. His
companion, enfeebled, dejected, with livid aspect and pale lips, his
lower jaw fallen, and shaking convulsively, made no resistance, but
held out his hands to be enclasped by the handcuffs. The ogress, seated
at her bar, and used to such scenes, remained motionless, with her hands
in the pockets of her apron.
"What have these fellows done, my dear M. Narcisse Borel?" inquired she
of one of the policemen whom she knew.
"Killed an old woman yesterday in the Rue St. Christophe, and robbed her
chamber. Before she died, the poor old thing said that she had bitten
one of her murderers in the hand. We had our eyes on these two
scoundrels; and my comrade, having come to make sure of his men, why, we
have made free to take them."
"How lucky they paid me beforehand for their pint!" said the ogress.
"Won't you take a dram o' nothin' 'short,' M. Narcisse? Just a 'go' of
'Ratifi' of the Column.'"
"Thanks, Mother Ponisse, but I must make sure of my game; one fellow
shows fight still."
The assassin in the Greek cap was furious with rage, and when they tried
to get him into a hackney-coach which was waiting in the street, he
resisted so stoutly that they were obliged to carry him. His accomplice,
seized with a nervous tremor, could hardly support himself, and his blue
lips trembled as though he were speaking. They threw him, helpless and
unresisting, into the vehicle. Before he left the _tapis-franc_, the
head officer looked attentively at the other guests assembled, and said
to the Chourineur, in a tone almost kind:
"What, you here, you bad lot? Why, it is a long time since we heard
anything of you. What, no more rows? Are you growing steady?"
"Steady as a stone figure. Why, you know that now I never break a head,
even if I am begged to do so!"
"Oh, I don't think that would cost you much trouble, strong as you
are."
"Yet here is my master," said the Chourineur, laying his hand on
Rodolph's shoulder.
"Stay, I do not know him," said the _agent de police_, looking
steadfastly at Rodolph.
"And I do not think we shall form an acquaintance now," replied he.
"I hope not, for your sake, my fine fellow," said the agent; then,
turning to the ogress, "Good night, Mother Ponisse; your _tapis-franc_
is a regular mouse-trap; this is the third assassin I have taken here."
"I hope it won't be the last, M. Narcisse; it is quite at your service,"
said the ogress, making a very insinuating nod with her head.
After the departure of the police, the young vagabond with the haggard
visage, who was smoking and drinking brandy, refilled his pipe, and said
in a hoarse voice to the Chourineur:
"Didn't you 'twig' the 'cove' in the Greek cap? He's Boulotte's man.
When I saw the traps walk in, I says to myself, says I, there's
something up; and then, too, I saw him keep his hand always under the
table."
"It's lucky for the Schoolmaster and Gros-Boiteux that they were not
here," said the ogress; "Greek cap asked twice for him, and said they
had business together; but I never turn 'nose' (informer) on any
customer. If they take them, very well,--every one to his trade; but I
never sell my friends. Oh, talk of the old gentleman, and you see his
horns," added the hag, as at the moment a man and woman entered the
cabaret; "here they are,--the Schoolmaster and his companion. Well, he
was right not to show her, for I never see such an ugly creetur in my
born days. She ought to be very much obliged to him for having taken up
with such a face."
At the name of the Schoolmaster, a sort of shudder seemed to circulate
amongst the guests of the _tapis-franc_. Rodolph, himself, in spite of
his natural intrepidity, could not wholly subdue a slight emotion at the
sight of this redoubtable ruffian, whom he contemplated for some
seconds with a mixed feeling of curiosity and horror. The Chourineur had
spoken truth when he said that the Schoolmaster was frightfully
mutilated. Nothing can be imagined more horrible than the countenance of
this man. His face was furrowed in all directions with deep, livid
cicatrices; the corrosive action of the vitriol had puffed out his lips;
the cartilages of his nose were divided, and two misshapen holes
supplied the loss of nostrils. His gray eyes were bright, small,
circular, and sparkled savagely; his forehead, as flat as a tiger's, was
half hidden beneath a fur cap, with long yellow hair, looking like the
crest of a monster.
The Schoolmaster was not more than five feet four or five; his head,
which was disproportionately large, was buried between two shoulders,
broad, powerful, and fleshy, displaying themselves even under the loose
folds of his coarse cotton blouse; he had long, muscular arms, hands
short, thick, and hairy to the very fingers' end, with legs somewhat
bowed, whose enormous calves betokened his vast strength. This man
presented, in fact, the exaggeration of what there is of short,
thickset, and condensed, in the type of the Hercules Farnese. As to the
expression of ferocity which suffused this hideous mask, and the
restless, wild, and glaring look, more like a wild beast than a human
being, it is impossible to describe them.
The woman who accompanied the Schoolmaster was old, and rather neatly
dressed in a brown gown, with a plaid shawl, of red and black check, and
a white bonnet. Rodolph saw her profile, and her green eye, hooked nose,
skinny lips, peaked chin, and countenance at once wicked and cunning,
reminded him involuntarily of La Chouette, that horrible old wretch who
had made poor Fleur-de-Marie her victim. He was just on the point of
saying this to the girl, when he saw her suddenly turn pale with fright,
whilst looking at the hideous companion of the Schoolmaster, and
seizing the arm of Rodolph with a trembling hand, the Goualeuse said, in
a low voice:
"Oh, the Chouette! the Chouette!--the one-eyed woman!"
At this moment the Schoolmaster, after having exchanged a few words in
an undertone with Barbillon, came slowly towards the table where
Rodolph, the Goualeuse, and the Chourineur were sitting, and addressing
himself to Fleur-de-Marie, in a hoarse voice, said:
"Ah, my pretty, fair miss, you must quit these two 'muffs,' and come
with me."
The Goualeuse made no reply, but clung to Rodolph, her teeth chattering
with fright.
"And I shall not be jealous of my man, my little _fourline_" (a pet word
for assassin), added the Chouette, laughing loudly. She had not yet
recognised in Goualeuse "Pegriotte," her old victim.
"Well, my little white face, dost hear me?" said the monster, advancing.
"If thou dost not come, I'll poke your eye out, and make you a match for
the Chouette. And thou with the moustache," he said to Rodolph, "if thou
dost not stand from between me and the wench, I'll crack thy crown."
"Defend me! oh, defend me!" cried Fleur-de-Marie to Rodolph, clasping
her hands. Then, reflecting that she was about to expose him to great
danger, she added, in a low voice, "No, no, do not move, Mister Rodolph;
if he comes nearer, I will cry out for help, and for fear of the
disturbance, which may call in the police, the ogress will take my
part."
"Don't be alarmed, my child," said Rodolph, looking calmly at the
Schoolmaster; "you are beside me,--don't stir; and as this ill-looking
scoundrel makes you as well as myself feel uncomfortable, I will kick
him out."
"Thou?" said the Schoolmaster.
"I!" said Rodolph. And, in spite of the efforts of the Goualeuse, he
rose from the table. Despite his hardihood, the Schoolmaster retreated a
step, so threatening were the looks, so commanding the deportment, of
Rodolph. There are peculiar glances of the eye which are irresistible,
and certain celebrated duellists are said to owe their bloody triumphs
to this fascinating glance, which unmans, paralyses, and destroys their
adversaries. The Schoolmaster trembled, retreated a step, and, for once,
distrustful of his giant strength, felt under his blouse for his long
cut-and-thrust knife. A murder would have stained the _tapis-franc_, no
doubt, if the Chouette, taking the Schoolmaster by the arm, had not
screamed out:
"A minute, a minute, _fourline_,--let me say a word! You shall walk into
these two 'muffs' all the same, presently."
The Schoolmaster looked at her with astonishment. For some minutes she
had been looking at Fleur-de-Marie with fixed and increasing attention,
as if trying to refresh her memory. At length no doubt remained, and she
recognised the Goualeuse.
"Is it possible?" she cried, clasping her hands in astonishment. "It is
Pegriotte, who stole my barley-sugar. But where do you come from? Is it
the devil who sends you back?" and she shook her clenched hand at the
young girl. "You won't come into my clutch again, eh? But be easy; if I
do not pull out your teeth, I will have out of your eyes every tear in
your body. Come, no airs and graces. You don't know what I mean. Why, I
have found out the people who had the care of you before you were handed
over to me. The Schoolmaster saw at the _Pré_ (the galleys) the man who
brought you to my 'crib' when you were a brat, and he has proofs that
the people who had you first were 'gentry coves'" (rich people).
"My parents! Do you know them?" cried Fleur-de-Marie.
"Never mind whether I know them or not, you shall know nothing about it.
The secret is mine and my _fourline's_, and I will tear out his tongue
rather than he shall blab it. What! it makes you snivel, does it,
Pegriotte?"
"Oh, no," said Goualeuse, with a bitterness of accent; "_now_ I do not
care ever to know my parents."
Whilst La Chouette was speaking, the Schoolmaster had resumed his
assurance, for, looking at Rodolph, he could not believe that a young
man of slight and graceful make could for a moment cope with him, and,
confident in his brutal force, he approached the defender of Goualeuse,
and said to the Chouette, in an imperious voice:
"Hold your jaw! I'll tackle with this swell, and then the fair lady may
think me more to her fancy than he is."
With one bound Rodolph leaped on the table.
"Take care of my plates!" shouted the ogress.
The Schoolmaster stood on his guard, his two hands in front, his chest
advanced, firmly planted on his legs, and arched, as it were, on his
brawny legs, which were like balusters of stone. At the moment when
Rodolph was springing at him, the door of the _tapis-franc_ opened with
violence, and the charcoal-man, of whom we have before spoken, and who
was upwards of six feet high, dashed into the apartment, pushed the
Schoolmaster on one side rudely, and coming up to Rodolph, said, in
German, in his ear:
"Monseigneur, the countess and her brother--they are at the end of the
street."
At these words Rodolph made an impatient and angry gesture, threw a
louis d'or on the bar of the ogress, and made for the door in haste. The
Schoolmaster attempted to arrest Rodolph's progress, but he, turning to
him, gave him two or three rapid blows with his fists over the nose and
eyes, and with such potent effect, that the beast staggered with very
giddiness, and fell heavily against a table, which alone prevented his
prostration on the floor.
"_Vive la Charte!_ those are _my_ blows,--I know them," cried the
Chourineur; "two or three more lessons like that, and I shall know all
about it."
Restored to himself after a few moments, the Schoolmaster darted off in
pursuit of Rodolph, but he had disappeared with the charcoal-man in the
dark labyrinth of the streets of the Cité, and the brigand found it
useless to follow.
At the moment when the Schoolmaster had returned, foaming with rage, two
persons, approaching from the opposite side to that by which Rodolph had
disappeared, entered into the _tapis-franc_, hastily, and out of breath,
as if they had been running far and fast. Their first impulse was to
look around the room.
"How unfortunate!" said one of them; "he has gone,--another opportunity
lost."
The two newcomers spoke in English. The Goualeuse, horror-struck at
meeting with the Chouette, and dreading the threats of the Schoolmaster,
took advantage of the tumult and confusion caused by the arrival of the
two fresh guests in the _tapis-franc_, and, quietly gliding out by the
half-opened door, left the cabaret.