I Meet Monsieur Martigny
Our regular work at the office just at that time happened to be
unusually heavy and trying. The Brown injunction suit, while not
greatly attracting public attention, involved points of such nicety
and affected interests so widespread, that the whole bar of New York
was watching it. The Hurd substitution case was more spectacular, and
appealed to the press with peculiar force, since one of the principal
victims had been the eldest son of Preston McLandberg, the veteran
managing editor of the _Record_, and the bringing of the suit impugned
the honor of his family--but it is still too fresh in the public mind
to need recapitulation here, even were it connected with this story.
The incessant strain told upon both our partners and even upon me, so
that I returned to my rooms after dinner one evening determined to go
early to bed. But I had scarcely donned my house-coat, settled in my
chair, and got my pipe to going, when there came a tap at the door.
"Come in," I called, thinking it was Mrs. Fitch, my landlady, and too
weary to get up.
But it was not Mrs. Fitch's pale countenance, with its crown of gray
hair, which appeared in the doorway; it was a rotund and exceedingly
florid visage.
"You will pardon me, sir," began a resonant voice, which I instantly
remembered, even before the short, square figure stepped over the
threshold into the full light, "but I have just discovered that I have
no match with which to ignite my gas. If I might from you borrow
one----"
"Help yourself," I said, and held out to him my case, which was lying
on the table at my elbow.
"You are very good," he said, and then, as he stepped forward and saw
me more distinctly, he uttered a little exclamation of surprise. "Ah,
it is Mistair----"
"Lester," I added, seeing that he hesitated.
"It is a great pleasure," he was saying, as he took the matches; "a
great good fortune which brought me to this house. So lonely one grows
at times--and then, I greatly desire some advice. If you would have
the leisure----"
"Certainly," and I waved toward a chair. "Sit down."
"In one moment," he said. "You will pardon me," and he disappeared
through the doorway.
He was back almost at once with a handful of cigarettes, which he
placed on the table. Then he drew up a chair. With a little
deprecatory gesture, he used one of my matches to light a cigarette.
"It was truly for the gas," he said, catching my smile; "and the gas
for the cigarette!"
There was something fascinating about the man; an air of good-humor,
of comradeship, of strength, of purpose. My eyes were caught by his
stodgy, nervous hands, as he held the match to his cigarette; then
they wandered to his face--to the black hair flecked here and there
with gray; to the bright, deep-set eyes, ambushed under heavy brows;
to the full lips, which the carefully arranged mustache did not at all
conceal; to the projecting chin, with its little plume of an imperial.
A strong face and a not unhandsome one, with a certain look of mastery
about it----
"It is true that I need advice," he was saying, as he slowly exhaled a
great puff of smoke which he had drawn deep into his lungs. "My name
is Martigny--Jasper Martigny"--I nodded by way of salutation--"and I
am from France, as you have doubtless long since suspected. It is my
desire to become a citizen of Amer-ric'."
"How long have you been living in America?" I asked.
"Since two months only. It is my intention to establish here a
business in wines."
"Well," I explained, "you can take no steps toward naturalization for
three years. Then you go before a court and make a declaration of your
intentions. Two years later, you will get your papers."
"You mean," he hesitated, "that it takes so many years----"
"Five years' actual residence--yes."
"But," and he hesitated again, "I had understood that--that----"
"That it was easier? There are illegal ways, of course; but you can
scarcely expect me to advise you concerning them, Mr. Martigny."
"No; of course, no!" he cried hastily, waving his hand in disclaimer.
"I did not know--it makes nothing to me--I will wait--I wish to obey
the laws."
He picked up a fresh cigarette, lit it from the other, and tossed away
the end.
"Will you not try one?" he asked, seeing that my pipe was finished,
and I presently found myself enjoying the best cigarette I had ever
smoked. "You comprehend French--no?"
"Not well enough to enjoy it," I said.
"I am sorry--I believe you would like this book which I am reading,"
and he pulled a somewhat tattered volume from his pocket. "I have read
it, oh, ver' many times, as well as all the others--though this, of
course, is the masterpiece."
He held it so that I could see the title. It was "Monsieur Lecoq."
"I have read it in English," I said.
"And did you not like it--yes? I am ver' fond of stories of detection.
That is why I was so absorbed in that affair of Mees--Mees--ah, I have
forgotten! Your names are so difficult for me."
"Miss Holladay," I said.
"Ah, yes; and has that mystery ever arrived at a solution?"
"No," I said. "Unfortunately, we haven't any Monsieur Lecoqs on our
detective force."
"Ah, no," he smiled. "And the young lady--in her I conceived a great
interest, even though I did not see her--how is she?"
"The shock was a little too much for her," I said. "She's gone out to
her country-place to rest. She'll soon be all right again, I hope."
He had taken a third cigarette, and was lighting it carelessly, with
his face half-turned away from me. I noticed how flushed his neck was.
"Oh, undoubtedly," he agreed, after a moment; "at least, I should be
most sad to think otherwise. But it is late; I perceive that you are
weary; I thank you for your kindness."
"Not at all," I protested. "I hope you'll come in whenever you feel
lonely."
"A thousand thanks! I shall avail myself of your invitation. My
apartment is just across the hall," he added, as I opened the door. "I
trust to see you there."
"You shall," I said heartily, and bade him good-night.
In the week that followed, I saw a good deal of Martigny. I would meet
him on the stairs or in the hall; he came again to see me, and I
returned his visit two nights later, upon which occasion he produced
two bottles of Château Yquem of a delicacy beyond all praise. And I
grew more and more to like him--he told me many stories of Paris,
which, it seemed, had always been his home, with a wit to which his
slight accent and formal utterance gave new point; he displayed a
kindly interest in my plans which was very pleasing; he was always
tactful, courteous, good-humored. He was plainly a boulevardier, a man
of the world, with an outlook upon life a little startling in its
materiality, but interesting in its freshness, and often amusing in
its frankness. And he seemed to return my liking--certainly it was he
who sought me, not I who sought him. He was being delayed, he
explained, in establishing his business; he could not get just the
quarters he desired, but in another week there would be a place
vacant. He would ask me to draw up the lease. Meanwhile, time hung
rather heavily on his hands.
"Though I do not quarrel with that," he added, sitting in my room one
evening. "It is necessary for me that I take life easily. I have a
weakness of the heart, which has already given me much trouble.
Besides, I have your companionship, which is most welcome, and for
which I thank you. I trust Mees--Mees--what you call--Holladay is
again well."
"We haven't heard from her," I said. "She is still at her place in the
country."
"Oh, she is doubtless well--in her I take such an interest--you will
pardon me if I weary you."
"Weary me? But you don't!"
"Then I will make bold to ask you--have you made any--what you
call--theory of the crime?"
"No," I answered; "that is, none beyond what was in the
newspapers--the illegitimate daughter theory. I suppose you saw it.
That seems to fit the case."
He nodded meditatively. "Yet I like to imagine how Monsieur Lecoq
would approach it. Would he believe it was a murder simply because it
so appeared? Has it occurred to you that Mees Holladay truly might
have visited her father, and that his death was not a murder at all,
but an accident?"
"An accident?" I repeated. "How could it be an accident? How could a
man be stabbed accidentally in the neck? Besides, even if it were an
accident, how would that explain his daughter's rushing from the
building without trying to save him, without giving the alarm? If it
wasn't a murder, why should the woman, whoever she was, be frightened?
How else can you explain her flight?"
He was looking at me thoughtfully. "All that you say is ver' true," he
said. "It shows that you have given to the case much thought. I
believe that you also have a fondness for crimes of mystery," and he
smiled at me. "Is it not so, Mistair Lester?"
"I had never suspected it," I laughed, "until this case came up, but
the microbe seems to have bitten me."
"Ah, yes," he said doubtfully, not quite understanding.
"And I've rather fancied at times," I admitted, "that I should like to
take a hand at solving it--though, of course, I never shall. Our
connection with the case is ended."
He shot me a quick glance, then lighted another cigarette.
"Suppose it were assigned to you to solve it," he asked, "how would
you set about it?"
"I'd try to find the mysterious woman."
"But the police, so I understand, attempted that and failed," he
objected. "How could you succeed?"
"Oh, I dare say I shouldn't succeed," I laughed, his air striking me
as a little more earnest than the occasion demanded. "I should
probably fail, just as the police did."
"In France," he remarked, "it is not in the least expected that men of
the law should----"
"Nor is it here," I explained. "Only, of course, a lawyer can't help
it, sometimes; some cases demand more or less detective work, and are
yet too delicate to be intrusted to the police."
"It is also the fault of our police that it is too fond of the
newspapers, of posing before the public--it is a fault of human
nature, is it not?"
"You speak English so well, Mr. Martigny," I said, "that I have
wondered where you learned it."
"I was some years in England--the business of wine--and devoted myself
seriously to the study of the language. But I still find it sometimes
very difficult to understand you Americans--you speak so much more
rapidly than the English, and so much less distinctly. You have a way
of running your words together, of dropping whole syllables----"
"Yes," I smiled, "and that is the very thing we complain of in the
French."
"Oh, our elisions are governed by well-defined laws which each one
comprehends, while here----"
"Every man is a law unto himself. Remember, it is the land of the
free----"
"And the home of the license, is it not?" he added, unconscious of
irony.
Yes, I decided, I was very fortunate in gaining Martigny's
acquaintance. Of course, after he opened his business, he would have
less time to devote to me; but, nevertheless, we should have many
pleasant evenings together, and I looked forward to them with considerable
anticipation. He was interesting in himself--entertaining, with that
large tolerance and good humor which I have already mentioned, and
which was one of the most striking characteristics of the man. And
then--shall I admit it?--I was lonely, too, sometimes, as I suppose
every bachelor must be; and I welcomed a companion.
* * * * *
It was Monday, the fourteenth day of April, and we had just opened the
office, when a clerk hurried in with a message for Mr. Royce.
"There's a man out here who wants to see you at once, sir," he said.
"He says his name's Thompson, and that he's Miss Frances Holladay's
butler."
Our junior half-started from his chair in his excitement; then he
controlled himself, and sank back into it again.
"Show him in," he said, and sat with his eyes on the door, haggard in
appearance, pitiful in his eagerness. Not until that moment had I
noticed how the past week had aged him and worn him down--his work, of
course, might account for part of it, but not for all. He seemed
almost ill.
The door opened in a moment, and a gray-haired man of about sixty
entered. He was fairly gasping for breath, and plainly laboring under
strong emotion.
"Well, Thompson," demanded Mr. Royce, "what's the trouble now?"
"Trouble enough, sir!" cried the other. "My mistress has been made
away with, sir! She left town just ten days ago for Belair, where we
were all waiting for her, and nobody has set eyes on her since, sir!"