And, far the blackest there, the traitor friend.--_Dryden_.
Several days had passed, during which Vinal contrived to have more
than one private interview with his new acquaintance, Speyer. He had
sounded him with much astuteness; found that he could serve him; and
was confirmed in his assurance that he would.
Morton, he knew, was to leave Paris on the next morning. The time to
act was now, or never.
At about three in the afternoon, he discovered his rival sauntering
along an avenue in the garden of the Tuileries; and walking up behind,
he joined him.
"There are some of us," said Vinal, after a few moments' conversation,
"going to Versailles to-morrow. Will you go?"
"I mean to leave Paris to-morrow."
"To-morrow! That's very sudden."
"I shall come back again in a few months."
"Your first move is to Italy, I think you said."
"No, to Austria and the Danube."
"O, I remember; it is West who is going to Italy. I think he has
chosen the better route of the two."
"Yes, as far as history and works of art are concerned. But the
Austrian provinces are the best field for me. I am mounted on a hobby,
you know, and my time is so short that I must make the most of what I
have."
"You wish to see the people--the different races--is that it?"
"Yes."
"You ought to be well booked up before you go, or you'll lose time. By
the way, I made an acquaintance a little while ago in the diligence
from Strasburg--a very agreeable man, a professor at Berlin----"
"O, the professor whom you and Richards were going to see, the other
night."
A thrill shot through Vinal's nerves; but the unsuspecting Morton
almost instantly relieved his terror.
"I was standing on the steps as you went out, and heard you say that
you were going to visit him. From the way in which you spoke, I
imagined him to be some professor of the noble art of self-defence."
"Ha, ha!" laughed Vinal, not quite recovered from his surprise; "no,
not precisely that; Speyer is a philologist--that's his department."
"And Richards knows him, too?"
"Yes, through my introduction."
"From your calling him 'his friend, the professor,' I imagined that
the acquaintance began the other way."
"Yes, his friend, with a vengeance. Confound the fellow, as I was
walking with him the other day, we met Speyer, and I, thinking no
harm, introduced them; but it wasn't twenty-four hours before Richards
was at him to borrow money, which Speyer let him have. I dare say
Richards has bled you as well."
"No."
"No? Then you are luckier than I am. I advise you to keep out of his
way, or he'll pin you before you know it."
"I should judge as much."
"I spoke of Professor Speyer because he was born in some outlandish
corner of the Austrian empire,--Croatia, I think he told me,--and had
his head full of political soap bubbles founded on the distribution of
races in that part of the world. He put me to sleep half a dozen times
with talking about Pansclavism and the manifest destinies of the
Sclavic peoples. He is the very man for you; and I am sorry I didn't
think of it before."
"Well," said Morton, "I must blunder through as I can."
"Are you at leisure? I'll go with you this afternoon, if you like, and
call on him."
"I dare say my visit would bore him."
"Get him upon the races in the Austrian empire, and he will be more
apt to bore you. Are you free at four o'clock?" pursued Vinal, looking
at his watch.
"Yes, quite so."
"Very well. I'm going now to my tailor's. Every genuine American, you
know, must have a new fit-out in Paris. I'll meet you at Meurice's at
four, and we'll go from there to Speyer's."
Vinal had three quarters of an hour to spare. He spent a part of them
in forging the next link of his chain. At four he rejoined Morton, and
they walked out together.
"I think you'll like Professor Speyer," said Vinal. "I have become
quite intimate with him, on the strength of a fortnight's
acquaintance. He urges me to go to Hungary and Transylvania, and
offered me introductions to his friends there. It would not be a bad
plan for you to ask him for letters. They would not make you
acquainted with the Austrian _haut ton_, but they would bring you into
contact with men of his own stamp,--people of knowledge and
intelligence, who could be of great service to you, and with whom you
needn't be on terms of much ceremony.--Here's the place;--he lives
here."
It was a lodging house on the Rue Rivoli. Vinal rang the bell. The
porter appeared.
"Is Professor Speyer at home?"
"_Non, monsieur; il est sorti._"
Vinal had just bribed the man to give this answer.
"That's unlucky," he said. "Well, if you like, we can come again this
evening."
"I am engaged to dine this evening at Madame ----'s."
Vinal had known of this engagement.
"I don't see, then, but that you will lose your chance with Speyer.
Well, _fortune de guerre_. I should like to have had you see him,
though."
And they walked towards the Boulevards, conversing on indifferent
matters.