FOUR LETTERS.
At night, as he undressed to go to bed, his hand felt in his coat
pocket the parcel which he had picked up in the boulevard and
forgotten. He thought that it would be as well to open it, as the
packet might contain the girls' address, if it belonged to them, or
in any case the necessary information to restore it to the person to
whom it belonged. He opened the envelope, which was not sealed, and
contained four letters, also unsealed. The addresses were on all four,
and they exhaled a frightful perfume of tobacco. The first letter was
addressed,--"To Madame, Madame la Marquise de Grucheray, on the Square
opposite the Chamber of Deputies." Marius said to himself that he
would probably find the information he wanted, and as the letter was
not sealed he could read it without impropriety. It was drawn up as
follows:--
"MADAME LA MARQUISE,--The virtue of clemency and piety is that which
unites sosiety most closely. Move your Christian feelings, and dain a
glance of compasion at this unfortunate Spaniard, and victim to his
loyalty and atachment to the sacred cause of legitimacy, who shed his
blood, devoted the whole of his fortune to defend this cause, and is
now in the greatest missery. He does not doubt that you, honnored lady,
will grant some asistence to preserve an existence entirely painful
for a soldier of honor and edducation, who is covered with wounds, and
he reckons before hand on the humanity which annimates you, and the
interest which your ladyship takes in so unhapy a nacion. Their prayer
will not be in vain, and His gratitude will retain her charming memory.
"With the most respectful feelings, I have the honor to be, madame,
"DON ALVARES,
_Spanish captain of cavvalry, a Royalist refugee in France, who is
travelling for his country, and who wants the means to continue his
jurney."_
No address was attached to the signature, but Marius hoped to find it
in the second letter, of which the superscription was,--"To Madame,
Madame la Comtesse de Montvernet, Rue Cassette, No. 9. This is what
Marius read:--
"MADAME LA COMTESSE,--It is a unhapy mother of a familly of six
children, of which the yungest is only eight months old; I ill since my
last confinement, deserted by my husband, and hawing no ressourse in
the world, living in the most frightful indijance.
"Trusting in your ladyship, she has the honor to be, madame, with
profound respect,
"FEMME BALIZARD."
Marius passed to the third letter, which was, like the preceding, a
petition, and he read in it:--
"MONSIEUR PABOURGEOT, _Elector, wholesale dealer in caps, Rue St.
Denis, at the corner of the Rue Aux-Fers:_
"I venture to adress this letter to you, to ask you to grant me the
pretious favor of your sympathies, and to interest you in a litterary
man, who has just sent a drama to the Théâtre Français. The subject is
historical, and the scene takes place in Auvergne in the time of the
Empire; the style, I believe, is natural, laconic, and may posess some
merit. There are couplets for singing at four places. The comic, the
serious, and the unexpected elements are blended in it with a variety
of characters, and a tinge of romance is lightly spread through the
whole plot, which moves misteriously, and the finale takes place amid
several brilliant tableaux. My principal desire is to satisfy the
desire which progressively animates sosiety, that is to say, fashion,
that capritious and vague whirligig which changes with nearly every
wind.
"In spite of these quallities, I have reason to fear that jealousy and
the selfishness of privileged authors may obtain my exclusion from
the stage, for I am not unaware of the vexation which is caused to
new-comers.
"Monsieur Pabourgeot, your just reputation as the enlightened protector
of litterary men, emboldens me to send to you my daughter, who will
explain to you our indijant situation, wanting for bread and fire
in this winter season. To tell you that I wish you to accept the
homage which I desire to make to you of my drama, and all those that
may succeed it, is to prove to you how much I desire the honor of
sheltering myself under your ægis, and adorning my writings with your
name. If you dain to honor me with the most modest offering, I will at
once set to work writing a coppy of verses, by which to pay you my debt
of grattitude. These verses, which I will try to render as perfect as
possible, will be sent to you before they are insirted in the beginning
of the drama, and produced on the stage.
"My most respectful homage to Monsieur and Madame Pabourgeot,
"GENFLOT, _man of letters._
"P.S. If it was only forty sous. I appologize for sending my daughter,
and not paying my respects personaly, but sad reasons of dress do not
allow me, alas! to go out."
Marius then opened the last letter, which was addressed "To the
Benevolent gentleman of the church of St. Jacques du Haut-pas," and it
contained the following few lines:--
"BENEVOLENT MAN,--If you will dain to accompany my daughter you will
witness a misserable calamity, and I will show you my certificates.
"At the sight of these dokuments your generous soul will be moved
by a feeling of sensitive benevolence, for true philosophers always
experience lively emotions.
"Allow, compasionate man, that a man must experience the most cruel
want, and that it is very painful to obtain any relief, by having it
attested by the authorities, as if a man were not at liberty to suffer
and die of inanicion, while waiting till our missery is releaved. Fate
is too cruel to some and too lavish or protecting for others. I await
your presence or your offering, if you dain to make one, and I beg you
to believe in the grateful feelings with which I have the honor of
being, really magnamious sir,
"Your very humble, and most obedient servant, "P. FABANTOU, _dramatic
artist."_
After reading these four letters Marius did not find himself much
more advanced than before. In the first place not one of the writers
gave his address; and next they appeared to come from four different
individuals,--"Don Alvarez, Madame Balizard, the poet Genflot, and the
dramatic artist Fabantou;" but these letters offered this peculiarity,
that they were all in the same handwriting. What could be concluded
from this, save that they came from the same person? Moreover--and this
rendered the conjecture even more probable--the paper, which was coarse
and yellow, was the same for all four, the tobacco smell was the same,
and though an attempt had evidently been made to vary the handwriting,
the same orthographical mistakes were reproduced with the most profound
tranquillity, and Genflot, the man of letters, was no more exempt from
them than the Spanish captain. To strive and divine this mystery was
time thrown away, and if he had not picked it up it would have looked
like a mystification; Marius was too sad to take kindly even a jest
of accident, and lend himself to a game which the street pavement
appeared desirous to play with him. He felt as if he were playing at
blind-man's-buff among these four letters and they were mocking him.
Nothing, besides, indicated that these letters belonged to the girls
whom Marius had met in the boulevard. After all they were papers
evidently of no value. Marius returned them to the envelope, threw the
lot into a corner, and went to bed.
At about seven in the morning he had got up and breakfasted, and was
trying to set to work, when there came a gentle tap at the door. As he
possessed nothing he never took out his key, except very rarely when he
had a pressing job to finish. As a rule, even when out, he left the key
in the lock. "You will be robbed," said Mame Bougon. "Of what?" Marius
asked. It is a fact, however, that one day a pair of old boots were
stolen, to the great triumph of Mame Bougon. There was a second knock,
quite as gentle as the first.
"Come in," said Marius.
The door opened.
"What is the matter, Mame Bougon?" Marius continued, without taking his
eyes off the books and manuscripts on his table.
A voice which was not Mame Bougon's replied,--"I beg your pardon, sir."
It was a hollow, cracked, choking voice,--the voice of an old man,
rendered hoarse by dram-drinking and exposure to the cold. Marius
turned sharply and noticed a girl.