RESTEZ ICI, MES ENFANTS.
We all landed in Liverpool in the highest spirits, and at once took the
train for London, enjoying the novelty of everything.
It was settled that George should pursue the venture alone in France,
while I should go with Mac to Germany to act as his second there. To
keep entirely clear myself, but at the same time to watch everything, to
exchange the German notes he obtained and to be ready to help if any one
should attempt to detain him.
Therefore, after completing certain preparations which required skill
and considerable business knowledge, we departed to execute this new
and, of course, last shuffle for fortune.
We had selected Berlin, Munich, Leipsic and Frankfort as the scenes of
our operations in Germany. In France we sought to operate in Bordeaux,
Marseilles and Lyons. At 8 p.m. Saturday we all crossed to Calais
together, where George said good-bye, and, leaving us to take the train
eastward to Berlin, he started west to Bordeaux. We were not to meet
again until after our hurried rush through the Continent and our return
to London with the proceeds. Before I give an account of Mac's adventure
and my own for the next three days I will here give George's narrative
in his own language, as related to us when we all met again in London:
After saying good-bye to you I arrived in Paris in due time, and
sauntered about for two hours until the train left for Bordeaux, where I
arrived at 8 o'clock Monday morning, and went at once to the Hotel
d'Orient, and after a bath and breakfast repaired to the bankers. As
soon as I presented my letters of introduction they received me with the
greatest consideration, lavishing every attention upon me, inviting me
to dinner and to a drive through the city afterward. I thanked them, and
explained that I was obliged to decline, as my agent was waiting for me
at Bayonne, where I had purchased some real estate, and, having been
recommended to their firm, I should feel obliged if they would cash my
draft for L2,000 and indorse it on my letter of credit. The manager
replied that it was the custom of the French bankers to require
twenty-four hours' notice before drawing a check, and asked me if the
next day would not answer. "We shall be happy to assist you," said he,
"in passing the time pleasantly." This was a new custom to me, but I
answered instantly, expressing regret that the nature of my business
precluded delay, it being necessary that I should reach Bayonne that
night. "I suppose," continued I, "that your bankers will not mind your
checking out a small sum without the usual notice. However, if it
occasions any embarrassment or inconvenience, I can easily procure the
money elsewhere." One of the partners replied that their bank would
without doubt honor their check, and the matter should be attended to at
once. I sat down for a half hour, conversing on a variety of topics. Of
course, this was a most trying period to me; the least show of haste or
anxiety might have betrayed me to those lynx-eyed, experienced men of
business. In the midst of our conversation an undercurrent of thought
kept running through my mind thus: "Who knows but they have sent a
dispatch to the Union Bank of London, merely as a matter of business
precaution, and that they are delaying me to get a reply? In that case I
shall have a good opportunity to learn the pure French accent while
passing my days in the Bagnio at Toulon." At last, however, the amount
was paid over to me in French bank notes. I deliberately counted them
and took leave, lighter in mind and heavier in purse by 50,000 francs.
[Illustration: THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR SIDNEY WATERLOW, Lord Mayor of
London in 1873, in official costume.]
I had arranged that I would send all the money I obtained to the Queen's
Hotel, London, by post at the earliest possible moment after receiving
it, that in the event of any accident to myself the money should be
safe.
After receiving the money I inclosed it in a large envelope, addressing
it to the hotel in London. I also wrote on the envelope: "Echantillons
de papier" (i. e., samples of paper), after which I threw it into the
postoffice.
As I wished to reduce the risk as much as possible (the train for
Marseilles not leaving for three hours), I took a carriage and told the
driver to take me toward the next station on the way to that city. After
we were fairly out in the country I got outside and sat with the driver,
chatting with him about the country we were driving through, arriving in
the village about half an hour before the train from Bordeaux was due. I
dismissed my driver at a small village cabaret (tavern), walked to the
station, got aboard the train, and early the next morning was in
Marseilles. I breakfasted at the Hotel d'Europe, and looked over the
papers to see if the Bordeaux fraud had been discovered. As I could see
no indication of it, about 10 a.m. I took a carriage and went to call on
Messrs. Brune & Co.
On making myself known I was, as usual, received with the utmost
courtesy, began to talk business, and one of the firm got into my
carriage and rode with me to his bank to effect the sale of my draft on
London for the sum of L2,500. Arriving at the bank I took a seat in the
front office, while Mr. Brune went into the manager's room to introduce
the transaction; the clerks eyed me, as I thought, suspiciously, but
doubtless only curiously, because they perceived I was a foreigner.
Another thing which I noticed sent a shiver through me. After Mr. Brune
had been a few minutes in the manager's room, the bank porter stepped to
the outer door, closed and locked it. It being but 12 o'clock, I
imagined the precautionary measure must be due to my presence. "The
Bordeaux affair is discovered and has been telegraphed all over France,"
was my first thought; "all is over with me. I am a candidate for a
French prison, sure."
These and a thousand other thoughts flashed through my mind during the
quarter of an hour preceding Mr. Brune's reappearance with his hands
full of bank notes. I could hardly believe my eyes. I had suppressed all
signs of the internal hurricane which raged during those prolonged
moments of suspense.
Now the revulsion of feeling was so great that I nearly fainted.
However, by a mental effort, I recovered my self-possession and
effectually masked all inward convulsions.
Mr. Brune placed in my hands 62,000 francs, in notes of the Bank of
France, and we then descended to the carriage and drove to my hotel,
where we parted. I paid my bill, and at once made preparations to start
for Lyons, which was to be the next and last scene of my operations in
France.
As my train did not leave for three hours, I got into a carriage at some
distance from the hotel and was driven toward the next station, located
on the beautiful bay a few miles from Marseilles.
After driving along the shore of the bay for some miles I remember we
met two women, dressed in the quaint costume common to that part of the
country, each carrying a basket of eggs. I stopped the carriage and
endeavored to enter into conversation with the pair, but could not
understand a word of their patois. I then took a couple of eggs, handed
out a silver franc piece, and drove on, leaving two astonished women
standing in the road, gazing alternately at the piece of money and at
the back of my carriage. Arriving at the station I found it would be an
hour and a half to train time, and driving to a hotel on the shore I
ordered dinner to be served in the upper room of a two-story tower
overlooking the bay, with Marseilles in the distance. After dining I
strolled along the beach, looking at some queer fish not found north of
the Mediterranean, their colors vying in brilliancy with the plumage of
tropical birds. Returning to the station I took a ticket for Lyons,
stopping off at Arles about sunset, as I wished to see the amphitheatre
and other relics of the Roman occupation.
I remained in Arles till midnight, then took the train, arriving in
Lyons at 9 the next morning. Repairing to the Hotel de Lyons I had
breakfast, and on looking over the papers became satisfied that as yet
no discovery had been made. Therefore, I resolved to carry out my third
and last financial enterprise and then return to London with all speed.
I called a carriage and drove at once to the establishment of Messrs.
Coudert & Co. I sat near the desk, conversing with the head of the firm,
and opened a dispatch I sent from Arles, and, after reading, handed it
to him, saying: "I see that I shall have use for 60,000 francs, and must
ask you to cash a draft on my letter of credit for that amount." He
immediately stepped to the safe, took out a bundle of 1,000 franc notes,
and counting out sixty, gave them to me.
As it was almost certain that the Bordeaux fraud would soon be
discovered, I determined, now that my risky work was completed, to
attempt an immediate escape from France by way of Paris and Calais. I
did not, therefore, take the train direct from Lyons to Paris, but
engaged a carriage and drove back to a junction toward Marseilles. Here
I took a train which intersects further to the northward with another
road leading through Lyons to Paris. After going the roundabout route
above described, I was back at the Lyons station at 9 p.m. in a train
bound for Paris, where I arrived without further incident.
The next morning (Sunday) as I left the railway station I thought
detectives were watching me, but, in all probability, it was only the
imagination of a guilty conscience. I was then wearing a full beard, and
as a precautionary measure I, that morning, had all shaved off save the
mustache. Not daring to leave Paris on the through express, which
started at 3 o'clock p.m., nor to purchase a ticket to either Calais or
London direct, I went to the station and took the noon accommodation
train, which went no further toward Calais than Arras, a town some
thirty miles from Paris. I arrived there about 1 p.m.
As it would be a couple of hours before the express train was due, I
went to a small hotel and ordered dinner. To while away the time I took
a stroll through the main street, where were many mothers and nurses
with children, nice black-eyed French babies. As I was always a devoted
lover of children and other small creatures, I stepped into a shop and
bought a package of confectionery, which I distributed among the little
ones and their smiling nurses, receiving therefor, almost invariably,
the grateful exclamation, "Merci, Monsieur!" I gave some to children 8
and 10 years old, a crowd of whom soon gathered about me. Perceiving
that I was attracting too much attention, it was clear that I must get
rid of my young friends as soon as possible, or the police might also be
attracted, and their presence would lead to unpleasant results in case
the frauds had been discovered and inquiry was being made for an
Englishman. Purchasing a second supply of candies I hastily gave them
out, and with a "Restez ici, mes enfants," I passed through them and
continued my walk up the street. Quite a number followed at a
respectable distance, and I was cogitating how to double on them when I
came to the gateway of the town cemetery, through which I hastily
entered. The children remained outside and watched me as I walked up the
slope and disappeared. At the rear of the cemetery I observed an old
man at work in the adjoining field. I climbed upon the stone wall, which
instantly crumbled away, and I was landed on the old Frenchman's domain
without leave, amidst a pile of stones. Startled by the racket, he
looked up from his digging, and, seeing a stranger uprising from the
ruins of the fence, began consigning him to "le diable," with a volley
of vigorous French expletives delivered in peasant patois. I listened to
him, much amused for a moment, and then held up a five-franc piece. As
soon as he beheld it a wondrous change came over him. He eagerly seized
the silver and straightway showed me to a lane which led almost directly
to the railway station. I purchased a ticket for Calais and took the
Sunday afternoon express, and here I am.
[Illustration: OLD EDINBURGH STREET.]