"Now, Master Barrabas," said Cauvignac, "have you in your valise a coat
something less elegant than the one you are wearing,--one in which you
might pass for an employee of the custom-house?"
"I have the tax-collector's coat, you know, that we--"
"Very good! and you have his commission, too, no doubt?"
"Lieutenant Ferguzon bade me not lose it, and I have taken great care
of it."
"Lieutenant Ferguzon is the most farseeing man of my acquaintance.
Array yourself as a tax-collector and take the commission with you."
Barrabas went out, and returned ten minutes later, completely
transformed.
He found Cauvignac dressed wholly in black, and looking enough like a
court officer to deceive anybody.
They went together to the attorney's quarters. Master Rabodin lived in
a third-floor apartment, consisting of a reception-room, an office, and
a closet. There were other rooms, no doubt, but as they were not open
to clients we will say nothing about them.
Cauvignac passed through the reception-room, left Barrabas in the
study, cast a sympathetic glance in passing at the two clerks who were
pretending to write busily while playing at _marelle_, and entered the
_sanctum sanctorum._
Master Rabodin was sitting in front of a desk so laden with papers that
the respectable attorney seemed to be literally buried up in writs
and records and judgments. He was a tall, gaunt, sallow man, clad in
a black coat which fitted as closely to his body as an eel's skin.
When he heard Cauvignac's footsteps, he straightened up his long, bent
backbone, and raised his head, which then appeared above the breastwork
by which he was surrounded.
For an instant Cauvignac thought that he had discovered the basilisk,
an animal regarded as fabulous by modern scientists, so brightly did
the attorney's little eyes shine with the ominous glitter of avarice
and cupidity.
"Monsieur," said Cauvignac, "I ask your pardon for calling upon you
without previous appointment; but," he added with his most charming
smile, "it is a privilege of my office."
"A privilege of your office!" exclaimed Master Rabodin. "What is your
office, pray?"
"I am an exempt in his Majesty's service, monsieur."
"An exempt in his Majesty's service?"
"I have that honor."
"I do not understand, monsieur."
"You will understand in a moment. You know Monsieur Biscarros, do you
not?"
"Certainly I know him; he is my client."
"What do you think of him?"
"What do I think of him?"
"Yes."
"Why, I think--I think--I think that he's a very worthy man."
"Well, monsieur, you are mistaken."
"What's that?--mistaken?"
"Your worthy man is a rebel."
"A rebel?"
"Yes, monsieur, a rebel, who takes advantage of the isolated situation
of his inn to make it a hotbed of conspiracy."
"God bless my soul!"
"Who has bound himself to poison the king, the queen, and Monsieur de
Mazarin, if they happen to put up at his inn."
"You don't mean it!"
"And whom I have arrested and taken to the prison at Libourne, on a
charge of _lèse-majesté._"
"Monsieur, you horrify me," said Master Rabodin, falling back in his
chair.
"That is not all, monsieur," continued the false exempt; "you, also,
are involved in the affair."
"I, monsieur!" cried the attorney, turning from orange-yellow to
apple-green; "I involved in it! how, in God's name?"
"You have in your possession a sum of money which the villain Biscarros
destined for the payment of an army of rebels."
"It is true, monsieur, that I have received for him--"
"Four thousand livres! he was subjected to the torture of the
_brodequins_, and at the eighth wedge he admitted that you had that
sum."
"I have it, monsieur, but I have had it only an instant."
"So much the worse, monsieur, so much the worse!"
"Why so much the worse?"
"Because I shall be obliged to make sure of your person."
"Of my person?"
"Certainly; the complaint names you as accomplice."
The attorney turned from apple-green to bottle-green.
"Ah! if you hadn't received that sum," continued Cauvignac, "it would
be a different matter; but you admit having received it, and that is
against you, you see."
"Monsieur, suppose I agree to give it up; suppose I hand it to you
instantly; suppose I make oath that I have no connection with this
villain Biscarros?"
"You would lie under grave suspicion none the less. However, I think I
may say that immediate surrender of the money--"
"Monsieur, I will give it to you this very moment!" cried Master
Rabodin. "It is still there, in the bag in which it was handed to me. I
have verified the amount, and that's all."
"Is it exact?"
"Count it yourself, monsieur, count it yourself."
"Nay, monsieur, by your leave, nay; for I am not empowered to touch his
Majesty's money; but I have with me the tax-collector of Libourne, who
was assigned to accompany me in order to take charge of the different
sums which Biscarros scattered broadcast to be collected again at need."
"It is a fact that he was very urgent that I should send the four
thousand livres to him the moment that I received them."
"You see! Doubtless he is already informed that Madame la Princesse
has left Chantilly, and is on her way to Bordeaux, and is getting
together all his resources in order to make himself prominent among her
adherents."
"The wretch!"
"And you suspected nothing?"
"Nothing, monsieur, nothing."
"Had nobody warned you?"
"Nobody."
"What's that you say?" said Cauvignac, pointing to the tradesman's
letter which lay open on Master Rabodin's desk, with a number of other
papers. "How dare you say that when you yourself furnish me with proof
to the contrary?"
"Proof?"
"Damnation! read."