THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW.
The absence of his sister did not at first alarm Cæsar, because he
took it for granted she had awakened earlier than the rest, and had
gone outside to get the fresh air. So he rose from his seat, stretched
himself, yawned once more mightily, and went out quietly, thinking that
he would look for Lydia before arousing Nadine.
To his surprise he found the square almost deserted, and no sign of
Lydia. This made him uneasy, and, re-entering the van, he shook Nadine
gently, calling out:
"Nadine! Nadine! Wake up, it's after nine o'clock!"
Nadine opened her eyes slowly and painfully.
"Nine o'clock," she repeated after him in a dreamy fashion.
"Yes, nine o'clock!" reiterated Cæsar, "and how was it that none of us
went to bed?"
At this Nadine sprang to her feet, thoroughly awake.
"Why, neither we did! How extraordinary! We were so tired out that we
just fell asleep in our chairs. You wake up Abel while I go and see
where Lydia is."
"Do you hear Nalla calling?" Cæsar asked. "The poor fellow must think
we're all dead. We never left him so late without attention before."
"Indeed, I do hear him," responded Nadine, a bewildered look on her
face. "It is certainly very strange. I cannot understand it at all."
She had been moving about while she was speaking, putting things to
rights with deft feminine skill, when suddenly she stopped, the color
left her face, her eyes started from their sockets, she staggered as
though she would fall, but steadied herself against the table as she
shrieked:
"Cæsar! Cæsar! We have been robbed!"
"Robbed!" Cæsar echoed, darting forward to her side. "What do you mean?"
"Why, our money, it is all gone!" wailed Nadine. "You know I put it all
back into the bag after we had counted it, and was going to hide it
in my bed when Lydia fell asleep beside me, and a few minutes after I
went to sleep too. I must have left it upon the table, and some wicked
thief has crept in and stolen it. Oh dear! oh dear! what shall we do?
All our money stolen!" and throwing herself down upon the table she
sobbed as though her heart would break.
Cæsar, although he was appalled himself at this cruel misfortune, did
his best to comfort her, and he and Abel almost turned the interior of
the van upside down in a vain endeavor to find the missing bag.
"I'm afraid it has been stolen," he confessed at last. "There's not
a trace of it. Come, Nadine, let us be brave. We may get it all back
again. Do you hunt up Lydia, while I go and find one of the gendarmes
and tell him what has happened to us."
In the extremity of her grief at the loss of the money, Nadine had for
the time forgotten her little sister, but the moment Cæsar reminded her
of Lydia she sprang to her feet, dashed away her tears with her hands,
and choking back her sobs, ran out into the square, crying:
"Lydia! Lydia! where are you?"
But no response came in Lydia's sweet voice, for at that moment the
poor child was far away, hidden in a thick wood, and watched over by a
wretch who threatened to kill her if she made the least outcry, so that
she dared not utter a sound, although there was no stopping the tears
that poured down her cheeks. The scoundrels had stolen both the money
and the child, the beauty and grace of the latter being so marked that
they coveted her for their own business, knowing well how strong an
attraction she would be.
At this moment M. Sito, manager of the circus with whose animals Nalla
and Steady had been stabled, happened along, and seeing that the
children were in some grievous trouble, kindly inquired what was the
matter, and if he could be of any assistance.
When Nadine apprised him of Lydia's mysterious disappearance he knitted
his brows, and thought deeply for a moment. He had noted the pretty
child, and had himself entertained the thought that she might easily be
trained to be a great success in the circus, and knowing only too well
how many evil characters there had been in the town during the fair,
his quick intelligence carried him to the right conclusion.
But he would not let his suspicions be known to Nadine until they were
confirmed. Adopting, therefore, an air of cheerful confidence, he said,
patting Nadine encouragingly:
"Don't worry. Lydia is not far off. She has perhaps gone for a stroll
through the streets and has lost her way. We will go and look for her,
eh?"
Just then Cæsar returned accompanied by two gendarmes to whom Nadine at
once addressed herself, explaining her great trouble as best she could
in spite of the sobs that choked her utterance.
The brigadier, a tall handsome man, who had not, however, a good
expression, twirled his superb mustache with a grand air as he said in
a patronizing tone:
"Is it all true what you have been telling me? I give you warning that
we gendarmes are not to be trifled with. It will go hard with you if
you are making a great deal out of nothing. You assert that some one
has taken away your little sister, and robbed you of all your money?"
"It is unhappily only too true," responded Nadine with a fresh burst of
tears. "Won't you help us recover them? Oh! It is dreadful!"
"Wait now, my girl," said the brigadier, looking very important.
"Don't be so impatient. You must first answer me some questions. And,
mind you, answer them correctly. You need not try to deceive the
authorities."
Nadine dried her tears, checked her sobs, and faced the man with a
frank, fearless countenance. There was no reason why she should
conceal anything. She was ready to answer any proper question.
"First of all," began the brigadier. "Where are your parents?"
"Alas! we are orphans," was the reply given in a low tone.
"That is not what I asked you," retorted the officer sharply. "Where
are your parents?"
"We have no parents," responded Nadine, the tears returning to her
eyes. "We are orphans, as I told you."
"Durien," said the brigadier to the other gendarme, who had produced a
note-book, "write that down--orphans."
"It is put down, brigadier."
"And how do you support yourselves?" was the next question.
"We are mountebanks," answered Nadine, "and we give performances with
the assistance of our animals."
"With the assistance of your animals, you say! Then you have animals
also. What are they, and where are they?"
Just then Cæsar came from the stables leading Nalla and Steady, and
followed by Vigilant, who had as usual slept beside Nalla.
"There they are," replied Nadine, pointing to the approaching trio.
The brigadier regarded them with surprise.
"Why, that is a costly animal for orphans to own!" he exclaimed. "How
do you manage to provide for his keep?"
"With what we earn, sir," answered Nadine. "He is our best breadwinner
too."
"Hum! hum! with what you earn," sneered the brigadier, "and with what
you steal also, of course."
Nadine paled at the cruel words, and shrunk back from the speaker as
though he had struck her. She was so hurt that she could not find words
in which to reply.
But Cæsar, thrilled with indignation at the unmerited slur upon their
character, spoke up bravely:
"Mr. Gendarme," he said, "we are honest folk, I would have you know,
and you have no right to insult us like that, and to add to my sister's
trouble when she has so much to bear already."
The brigadier grew angry at once because a mere boy had the audacity to
speak so to one of such importance as himself.
"Hold your tongue, you brat!" he shouted. "How dare you speak to me.
You are showing disrespect to the law."
"Mr. Gendarme," responded Cæsar in a submissive tone, and bowing humbly
before the great man. "I beg your pardon. I had no intention of being
insolent, I assure you. I do beg your pardon, sir."
The brigadier became more gracious. Cæsar's politic apology appeased
his wrath.
"'Tis well, youngster," he growled, as he gave his big mustache a
ferocious twist. "In view of your age, and of the humble apology you
have made, I pardon you, but don't presume to speak until you are
asked. Now, Durien," he called to the other gendarme, "we will make a
search of the vans there," pointing out those belonging to the other
mountebanks which still remained.
But their search had no result, and the brigadier then announced that
Nadine, Cæsar, and Abel must accompany him to the town-hall, where the
sous-préfet would examine them before giving orders for a more thorough
search about the neighborhood.
This announcement distressed Nadine greatly.
"Oh, sir!" she pleaded, "don't do that! Leave us free to look for Lydia
without losing another minute, or it will soon be too late. If she
has been carried off by evil men they are getting farther away all the
time, and we shan't be able to overtake them. Oh, please let us alone,
so that we may do our best to find her!"
But the brigadier was obdurate. Having once made known what in his
great wisdom he thought the proper course to pursue, he was not to be
turned aside from it by a mere chit of a girl.
So, drawing himself up to his full height, and twirling his mustache in
what he no doubt considered a very stylish fashion, he said:
"I have no power to continue the search any further at present. I must
receive instructions from the sous-préfet, and before these can be
given it is necessary that you should make a deposition."
Poor Nadine got bewildered. She was not familiar with the words used by
the gendarme, and did not understand what that implied. If he had said,
"You must deposit some money," she would have understood it at once,
but "you must make a deposition"--what could that be?
Just then she remembered the envelope that kind Madame Pradère had
given her with the injunction that she was not to open it until some
time when she was in great difficulties. Surely that time had come.
She could hardly be in a more trying situation than she was with
her darling sister vanished, her money stolen, and this heartless
gendarme insisting that she must go before the authorities, and make a
deposition:
Slipping her hand into her bosom she drew out the precious envelope. It
had not been stolen because she never parted with it.
"See, Cæsar," she said softly to her brother. "This is what good Madame
Pradère gave me when I bade her 'Good-bye.' She said I wasn't to open
it until I was in great trouble. Hadn't I better open it now?"
"Certainly," responded Cæsar. "This is indeed the time. I wonder what
it can contain?"
His curiosity was soon changed to amazement, and then to joy, for
when Nadine broke the seal, and opened the envelope, there were two
bank-notes of a hundred francs each!
"Whew!" he exclaimed. "Isn't that fine? Why, that's a lot of money.
Nearly one-half of what we have lost."
Nadine's sad face brightened at the sight of the bank-notes. They might
get them out of all their difficulties, and help them to find Lydia.
Holding them in her hands she said to the gendarme:
"Now, sir, what will there be to pay?"
But the rude fellow gave a significant wink at his companion as he said:
"Ah! ha! young lady, a moment ago you were pretending that you had been
robbed of all your money, and now you bring out bank-notes for a large
amount with which to try and bribe the gendarmes! You have been trying
to deceive us. Very well--we shall see. You must at once tell us where
you got that money."
"This money," faltered Nadine, not yet recovered from her surprise and
joy at its discovery, "was given me by a very kind-hearted lady who
told me I was not to use it until I was in great trouble."
"Oh! yes, of course," sneered the insolent creature. "We know lots of
kind-hearted ladies who are in the way of giving one hundred franc
notes to strolling performers, don't we? We shall have to clear all
this up. I shall take charge of that money in order to restore it to
the proper owner. And now, without wasting any more words, do you put
your things in order right away, and come with me to the sous-préfet
right away, where, without being impertinent, you shall explain to the
authorities the meaning of all this. Get to work now. No more excuses.
I have taken too much time with you already."