"I MASTER RABODIN,--I send you the four thousand livres
damages and costs due upon the judgment in favor of Master
Biscarros, whom I strongly suspect of a purpose to make an
improper use of it.'"
"An improper use!" Cauvignac repeated. "You see that your client's
unsavory reputation has reached as far as this."
"Monsieur, I am overwhelmed," said the attorney.
"I cannot conceal from you, monsieur," said Cauvignac, "that my orders
are strict."
"Monsieur, I swear that I am innocent."
"_Pardieu!_ Biscarros said the same until he was put to the question;
but at the fifth wedge he changed his tone."
"I tell you, monsieur, that I am ready to hand you the money. Here it
is; take it, for it burns my hands."
"Let us do things regularly," said Cauvignac. "I have already told you
that it's no part of my business to handle the king's money."
He walked to the door leading to the office.
"Come in, Monsieur le Receveur," said he; "each to his own duty."
Barrabas came forward.
"Monsieur admits everything," said Cauvignac.
"What's that?--I admit everything?" cried the attorney.
"Yes, you admit that you were in correspondence with Biscarros."
"Monsieur, I have never received more than two letters from him, and I
have written him only one."
"Monsieur admits that he was in possession of funds belonging to the
accused."
"Here they are, monsieur. I have never received any money for him
except these four thousand livres, and I am ready to hand them to you."
"Monsieur le Receveur," said Cauvignac, "as your commission authorizes
you to do, take this money and give a receipt in his Majesty's name."
Barrabas handed his commission to the attorney, who pushed it away with
his hand, not choosing to insult him by reading it.
"Now," said Cauvignac, while Barrabas, for fear of an error, was
counting the money, "now you must come with me."
"I must go with you?"
"Certainly; didn't I tell you that you are under suspicion?"
"But, monsieur, I swear to you that his Majesty has no more faithful
servitor than myself."
"It's not enough to swear to it, you must furnish proofs."
"Very well, monsieur, I will furnish proofs."
"Let's see them."
"My whole past life."
"That's not enough; we require a guaranty for the future."
"Point out to me what I can do, and I will do it."
"There is one infallible way of proving your devotion."
"What is that?"
"There is one of my friends, a captain, in Orléans at this moment,
raising a company for the king."
"Well?"
"It would be well done of you to enlist in his company."
"I, monsieur!--an attorney?"
"The king is sorely in need of attorneys, monsieur, for his affairs are
terribly involved."
"I would do it willingly, monsieur; but what about my office?"
"You can leave it to be run by your clerks."
"Impossible! How could they arrange to procure my signature?"
"Pardon, messieurs, if I venture to say a word," said Barrabas.
"Most assuredly!" said the attorney; "say on, monsieur, say on."
"It seems to me that if monsieur, who would make but a sorry soldier--"
"Yes, monsieur, you are right; sorry, indeed," interposed the attorney.
"If monsieur would offer your friend, or the king, in his stead--"
"What, monsieur? what can I offer the king?"
"His two clerks."
"Why, certainly!" cried the attorney; "certainly, and with great
pleasure. Let your friend take them both. I give them to him; they are
two delightful fellows."
"One of them seemed a mere child."
"Fifteen, monsieur; he's fifteen; and a first-class performer on the
drum.--Fricotin, step this way," he shouted.
Cauvignac made a gesture with his hand, indicating that he desired
Monsieur Fricotin to be left where he was.
"What of the other?" he asked.
"Eighteen, monsieur; five feet six inches tall, aspiring to become a
porter at Saint-Sauveur, and, consequently, already familiar with the
mode of handling a halberd.--This way, Chalumeau."
"But he squints horribly, unless I am much mistaken," said Cauvignac,
making a second gesture similar to the first.
"So much the better, monsieur; so much the better! You can make him do
sentry duty; and as he squints out, he can see both to right and left,
while an ordinary man can only see straight ahead."
"That's an advantage, I agree; but you understand that the king is
in sore straits financially; pleading with cannon-balls is much more
costly than pleading with words. The king cannot burden himself with
the equipment of these two youngsters; it's quite all he can do to
undertake to train and pay them."
"Monsieur," said Rabodin, "if that is all that is necessary to prove my
devotion to the king--why, I will make the sacrifice."
Cauvignac and Barrabas looked at each other.
"What do you think, Monsieur le Receveur?" said Cauvignac.
"I think that monsieur seems to be acting in good faith," Barrabas
replied.
"And that we must be considerate with him, eh? Give monsieur a receipt
for five hundred livres."
"Five hundred livres!"
"A receipt for that sum to pay for the equipment of two young soldiers,
whom Master Rabodin in his zeal offers his Majesty."
"May I expect to be left at peace in consideration of this sacrifice,
monsieur?"
"I think so."
"Shall I not be molested?"
"I hope not."
"And suppose that I am prosecuted, without regard to justice?"
"You are at liberty to make use of my testimony. But will your two
clerks consent?"
"They will be overjoyed."
"You are sure of it?"
"Yes. But it would be best not to tell them--"
"Of the honor in store for them, eh?"
"It would be more prudent."
"What are we to do, then?"
"Oh! it's a simple matter enough. I will send them to your friend. What
is his name?"
"Captain Cauvignac."
"I will send them to your friend Captain Cauvignac, upon some pretext
or other; it had better be somewhere outside of Orléans, to avoid a
possible scandal."
"Yes, and so that the Orléanais may not be seized with the desire to
scourge you with rods, as Camillus did the schoolmaster in ancient
times."
"I will send them to him, then, outside the city."
"On the high-road from Orléans to Tours, for example."
"At the first public-house."
"Yes; they will find Captain Cauvignac at table. He will offer them a
glass of wine and they will accept. He will propose the king's health,
which they will drink with enthusiasm, and there they are soldiers! Now
you may call them."
The attorney called the young men. Fricotin was a little fellow, hardly
four feet tall, thick-set, quick and active; Chalumeau was a great
booby of five feet six, thin as an asparagus-stalk, and red as a carrot.
"Messieurs," said Cauvignac, "Master Rabodin here proposes to show
his confidence in you by sending you upon an errand of importance.
To-morrow morning you will go to the first inn outside the city on
the Tours road, to fetch a package of papers relating to the suit of
Captain Cauvignac against Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld. Master Rabodin
will give you twenty-five livres each for the service."
Fricotin, who was a credulous youth, leaped three feet into the air.
But Chalumeau, who was by nature suspicious, looked at Cauvignac and
the attorney at the same moment, with an expression of doubt which made
him squint three times as badly as usual.
"Stay, stay!" exclaimed Master Rabodin; "one moment. I didn't agree to
pay the fifty livres."
"Which sum," continued the false exempt, "Master Rabodin will recoup in
his fees in the suit between Captain Cauvignac and Monsieur le Duc de
La Rochefoucauld."
Master Rabodin hung his head; he was fairly caught. He must go through
the door that was pointed out to him, or else through the door of a
prison.
"Very good," said he. "I consent; but I hope you will give me a receipt
for all this."
"Look at this," said Barrabas, "and see if I haven't anticipated your
desire;" and he handed him a paper on which these words were written:--
"Received from Master Rabodin, his Majesty's faithful subject,
the sum of five hundred livres, as a voluntary offering, to
assist him in his war against the princes."
"If you insist," said Barrabas, "I will put the two clerks in the
receipt."
"No, no," said the attorney, hastily; "it's quite right as it is."
"By the way," said Cauvignac, "tell Fricotin to bring his drum, and
Chalumeau his halberd; it will be so much less to buy."
"But on what pretext shall I tell them to do that?"
"_Pardieu!_ as a means of amusing themselves on the road."
With that the pretended exempt and pretended collector took their
departure, leaving Master Rabodin bewildered at the thought of the
danger he had escaped, and only too happy to have come so well out of
it.