Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,
I must throw out a flag and sign of love.--_Othello_.
That day Vinal drove to the Quartier Latin, called upon his friend
Richards, and asked him to dine at the Trois Freres Provencaux. Mr.
Richards was never known to decline such an invitation.
To the Trois Freres accordingly they repaired. Richards, whose social
position at home was much inferior to that of his entertainer, thought
the latter a capital fellow; especially when Vinal flattered him by
deferring to his better taste and experience in the ordering of the
dinner. But when, after nightfall, they issued forth again upon the
open area of the Palais Royal, the delicate Vinal shivered with the
cold. A chill wind and a dreary rain had set in, and Vinal, always
cautious in such matters, said that before proceeding on their
evening's amusements, he would go to Meurice's and get an overcoat.
The overcoat being found, Vinal, buttoned to the chin, came down the
stairway, and rejoined Richards.
Morton had just before sent a servant for a carriage, to drive to the
opera, and was waiting wrapped in his cloak, on the steps outside the
door.
"What shall our first move be?" asked Richards of Vinal, as they
passed out.
"Whatever you like."
"You had better give the word."
"Then suppose we go and see your friend, the professor."
"Who the deuse is Richards's friend, the professor?" thought Morton,
as the others passed without observing him.
"The professor" was a cant term for Mr. Henry Speyer.
Speyer lived in an obscure part of the Latin quarter; and Richards,
who was vain of his intimacy with this scoundrel, as indicating how
deeply he was versed in Paris life, approached his lodging with much
circumspection, by dim and devious routes.
"My name is Wilton, and I hail from New Orleans," said Vinal, as they
reached the patriot's threshold.
As Mr. Wilton, of New Orleans, then, Vinal became known to Mr. Henry
Speyer. The latter's quarters were any thing but commodious or
attractive; and Richards invited him to a _petit souper_ at his own
lodgings, which were not very remote. Leaving Speyer to make his own
way thither, he proceeded to summon two additional guests, in the
persons of two friends of his own, his favorite partners at the
Chaumiere. With the aid of wine and cigars, the party became, in time,
very animated. Vinal, who had a quick and pungent wit, drew upon
himself much applause, and Speyer regarded him with especial
commendation. But while he played his part thus successfully, he was
studying his companions, as a scholar studies a book; studiously
keeping himself cool; sipping a few drops of his wine, and slyly
spilling the rest under the table, while he did his best to stimulate
the others, and especially Speyer, to drink. Speyer drank, indeed, but
the wine seemed to produce no more effect on him than water. He
remained as cool as Vinal himself. The latter, young as he was, was a
close and penetrating judge of men; and when, at two o'clock in the
morning, he returned to his hotel, he carried with him the conviction
that, in his present beggared condition, a few hundred francs would
bribe the patriot to commit any moderately safe villany.
The evening, however, had had one result which Vinal regretted. Mr.
Richards, being obfuscated with champagne, had repeatedly called him
by his true name; so that Speyer was fully aware that his new
acquaintance was not Mr. Wilton, of New Orleans, but Mr. Horace Vinal,
of Boston.