At the Café Jourdain
Fifty-four West Houston Street, just three blocks south of Washington
Square, was a narrow, four-storied-and-basement building, of gray
brick with battered brown-stone trimmings--at one time, perhaps, a
fashionable residence, but with its last vestige of glory long since
departed. In the basement was a squalid cobbler's shop, and the
restaurant occupied the first floor. Dirty lace curtains hung at the
windows, screening the interior from the street; but when I mounted
the step to the door and entered, I found the place typical of its
class. I sat down at one of the little square tables, and ordered a
bottle of wine. It was Monsieur Jourdain himself who brought it: a
little, fat man, with trousers very tight, and a waistcoat very
dazzling. The night trade had not yet begun in earnest, so he was for
the moment at leisure, and he consented to drink a glass of wine with
me--I had ordered the "supérieur."
"You have lodgings to let, I suppose, on the floors above?" I
questioned.
He squinted at me through his glass, trying, with French shrewdness,
to read me before answering.
"Why, yes, we have lodgings; still, a man of monsieur's habit would
scarcely wish----"
"The habit does not always gauge the purse," I pointed out.
"That is true," he smiled, sipping his wine. "Monsieur then wishes a
lodging?"
"I should like to look at yours."
"You understand, monsieur," he explained, "that this is a good
quarter, and our rooms are not at all the ordinar' rooms--oh, no, they
are quite supérior to that. They are in great demand--we have only one
vacant at this moment--in fact, I am not certain that it is yet at
liberty. I will call my wife."
She was summoned from behind the counter, where she presided at the
money-drawer, and presented to me as Madame Jourdain. I filled a glass
for her.
"Monsieur, here, is seeking a lodging," he began. "Is the one on the
second floor, back, at our disposal yet, Célie?"
His wife pondered the question a moment, looking at me with sharp
little eyes.
"I do not know," she said at last. "We shall have to ask Monsieur
Bethune. He said he might again have need of it. He has paid for it
until the fifteenth."
My heart leaped at the name. I saw that I must take the bull by the
horns--assume a bold front; for if they waited to consult my pursuer,
I should never gain the information I was seeking.
"It was through Monsieur Bethune that I secured your address," I said
boldly. "He was taken ill this morning; his heart, you know," and I
tapped my chest.
They nodded, looking at me, nevertheless, with eyes narrow with
suspicion.
"Yes, monsieur, we know," said Jourdain. "The authorities at the
hospital at once notified us."
"It is not the first attack," I asserted, with a temerity born of
necessity. "He has had others, but none so serious as this."
They nodded sympathetically. Plainly they had been considerably
impressed by their lodger.
"So," I continued brazenly, "he knows at last that his condition is
very bad, and he wishes to remain at the hospital for some days until
he has quite recovered. In the meantime, I am to have the second floor
back, which was occupied by the ladies."
I spoke the last word with seeming nonchalance, without the quiver of
a lash, though I was inwardly a-quake; for I was risking everything
upon it. Then, in an instant I breathed more freely. I saw that I had
hit the mark, and that their suspicions were gradually growing less.
"They, of course, are not coming back," I added; "at least, not for a
long time; so he has no further use for the room. This is the
fourteenth--I can take possession to-morrow."
They exchanged a glance, and Madame Jourdain arose.
"Very well, monsieur," she said. "Will you have the kindness to come
and look at the room?"
I followed her up the stair, giddy at my good fortune. She opened a
door and lighted a gas-jet against the wall.
"I am sure you will like the apartment, monsieur," she said. "You see,
it is a very large one and most comfortable."
It was, indeed, of good size and well furnished. The bed was in a kind
of alcove, and beyond it was a bath--unlooked-for luxury! One thing,
however, struck me as peculiar. The windows were closed by heavy
shutters, which were barred upon the inside, and the bars were secured
in place by padlocks.
"I shall want to open the windows," I remarked. "Do you always keep
them barred?"
She hesitated a moment, looking a little embarrassed.
"You see, monsieur, it is this way," she explained, at last. "Monsieur
Bethune himself had the locks put on; for he feared that his poor
sister would throw herself down into the court-yard, which is paved
with stone, and where she would certainly have been killed. She was
very bad some days, poor dear. I was most glad when they took her
away: for the thought of her made me nervous. I will in the morning
open the windows, and air the room well for you."
"That will do nicely," I assented, as carelessly as I could. I knew
that I had chanced upon a new development, though I could not in the
least guess its bearing. "What do you ask for the apartment?"
"Ten dollars the week, monsieur," she answered, eying me narrowly.
I knew it was not worth so much, and, remembering my character,
repressed my first inclination to close the bargain.
"That is a good deal," I said hesitatingly. "Haven't you a cheaper
room, Madame Jourdain?"
"This is the only one we have now vacant, monsieur," she assured me.
I turned back toward the door with a little sigh.
"I fear I can't take it," I said.
"Monsieur does not understand," she protested. "That price, of course,
includes breakfast."
"And dinner?"
She hesitated, eying me again.
"For one dollar additional it shall include dinner."
"Done, madame!" I cried. "I pay you for a week in advance," and I
suited the action to the word. "Only," I added, "be sure to air the
room well to-morrow--it seems very close. Still, Bethune was right to
make sure that his sister could not harm herself."
"Yes," she nodded, placing the money carefully in an old purse, with
the true miserly light in her eyes. "Yes--she broke down most
sudden--it was the departure of her mother, you know, monsieur."
I nodded thoughtfully.
"When they first came, six weeks ago, she was quite well. Then her
mother a position of some sort secured and went away; she never left
her room after that, just sat there and cried, or rattled at the doors
and windows. Her brother was heartbroken about her--no one else would
he permit to attend her. But I hope that she is well now, poor child,
for she is again with her mother."
"Her mother came after her?" I asked.
"Oh, yes; ten days ago, and together they drove away. By this time,
they are again in the good France."
I pretended to be inspecting a wardrobe, for I felt sure my face would
betray me. At a flash, I saw the whole story. There was nothing more
Madame Jourdain could tell me.
"Yes," I repeated, steadying my voice, "the good France."
"Monsieur Bethune has himself been absent for a week," she added, "on
affairs of business. He was not certain that he would return, but he
paid us to the fifteenth."
I nodded. "Yes: to-morrow--I will take possession then."
"Very well, monsieur," she assented; "I will have it in readiness."
For an instant, I hesitated. Should I use the photograph? Was it
necessary? How explain my possession of it? Did I not already know
all that Madame Jourdain could tell me? I turned to the stair.
"Then I must be going," I said; "I have some business affairs to
arrange," and we went down together.
The place was filling with a motley crowd of diners, but I paused only
to exchange a nod with Monsieur Jourdain, and then hurried away. The
fugitives had taken the French line, of course, and I hastened on to
the foot of Morton Street, where the French line pier is. A ship was
being loaded for the voyage out, and the pier was still open. A clerk
directed me to the sailing schedule, and a glance at it confirmed my
guess. At ten o'clock on the morning of Thursday, April 3d, _La
Savoie_ had sailed for Havre.
"May I see _La Savoie's_ passenger list?" I asked.
"Certainly, sir," and he produced it.
I did not, of course, expect to find Miss Holladay entered upon it,
yet I felt that a study of it might be repaid; and I was not
mistaken. A Mrs. G. R. Folsom and two daughters had occupied the
_cabine de luxe_, 436, 438, 440; on the company's list, which had been
given me, I saw bracketed after the name of the youngest daughter the
single word "invalide."
"_La Lorraine_ sails day after to-morrow, I believe?" I asked.
"Yes, sir."
"And is she full?"
"No, sir; it is a little early in the season yet," and he got down the
list of staterooms, showing me which were vacant. I selected an
outside double one, and deposited half the fare, in order to reserve
it.
There was nothing more to be done that night, for a glance at my watch
showed me the lateness of the hour. As I emerged from the pier, I
suddenly found myself very weary and very hungry, so I called a cab
and was driven direct to my rooms. A bath and dinner set me up again,
and finally I settled down with my pipe to arrange the events of the
day.
Certainly I had progressed. I had undoubtedly got on the track of the
fugitives; I had found out all that I could reasonably have hoped to
find out. And yet my exultation was short-lived. Admitted that I was
on their track, how much nearer success had I got? I knew that they
had sailed for France, but for what part of France? They would
disembark at Havre--how was I, reaching Havre, two weeks later, to
discover which direction they had taken? Suppose they had gone to
Paris, as seemed most probable, how could I ever hope to find them
there? Even if I did find them, would I be in time to checkmate
Martigny?
For a time, I paused, appalled at the magnitude of the task that lay
before me--in all France, to find three people! But, after all, it
might not be so great. Most probably, these women were from one of the
towns Holladay and his wife had visited during their stay in France.
Which towns they were, I, of course, had no means of knowing; yet I
felt certain that some means of discovering them would present itself.
That must be my work for the morrow.
A half-hour passed, and I sat lost in speculation, watching the blue
smoke curling upward, striving vainly to penetrate the mystery. For I
was as far as ever from a solution of it. Who were these people? What
was their aim? How had they managed to win Miss Holladay over to their
side; to persuade her to accompany them; to flee from her
friends--above all, from our junior partner? How had they caused her
change of attitude toward him? Or had they really abducted her? Was
there really danger of foul play--danger that she would fall a victim,
as well as her father? Who was Martigny? And, above all, what was the
plot? What did he hope to gain? What was he striving for? What was
this great stake, for which he risked so much?
To these questions I could find no reasonable answer; I was still
groping aimlessly in the dark; and at last in sheer confusion, I put
down my pipe, turned out the light, and went to bed.