CHAPTER XLIV
THE PASHA
As we have stated, Gontram had given a note to Coucou to deliver toCarmen. When the Jackal reached the palace in the Rue Rivoli he stoppedin amazement. The doors were wide open and the whole front of the houseswam in light.
The Zouave entered a restaurant opposite, ordered a bottle of wine, andbegan a conversation with the waiter.
"What is going on to-day in the Larsagny palace?" he asked.
"Oh, the banker is giving a great ball," said the waiter.
"He is very rich, I suppose."
"Enormously so."
At this moment a soldier entered the restaurant and, approaching thewaiter, asked:
"Can you not tell me, good friend, where Monsieur de Larsagny lives?"
"About a hundred feet away in that brilliantly illuminated house--youcannot miss it."
"Thanks," said the soldier. As he was about to turn away, a well-knownvoice cried to him:
"Well, Galoret, what do the dear Bedouins do now?"
"Hello, Coucou--where do you hail from?" cried the soldier, joyously.
"Rather tell me where you come from?"
"Ah, I have been only three days in Paris."
"What business have you in the Larsagny palace?" he asked.
"Oh, I must deliver a letter."
"So must I; from whom, if I may ask?"
"Oh, it is no secret. I have a Bedouin prince for a friend whoaccompanied me to Paris. About two hours ago my pasha fell down thestairs of his hotel and broke his right leg. The doctor says that itwill take six weeks for the leg to be cured. As he was invited to a ballat the Larsagny palace to-night--"
"Does he know the banker?" interrupted Coucou.
"No--Mohammed Ben Omar is in Paris for the first time. As the pasha isunable to attend the ball, I have to bring his letter of excuse, and nowI must really go on my way."
Coucou pretended not to hear these last words. He gazed at a group ofmen who sat at a side table, and whispered to Galoret:
"Look at those fools. How they stare at you. One would think they hadnever seen a Chasseur d'Afrique."
"Impertinent scoundrels," growled Galoret, and, turning to thegentlemen, he cried in an angry tone of voice:
"You boobies, have you looked at my uniform long enough?"
The gentlemen answered in not very polite tones. Galoret couldn't standthis. One word led to another, and finally chairs were taken up tosettle the discussion.
Policemen now interfered. Galoret and two others with bloody heads werelocked up, and then only did the chasseur remember his errand.
Coucou was waiting for this moment. He introduced himself to thepolicemen and offered to carry the letter himself. The policemen offeredno opposition, Galoret thanked him, and Coucou satisfied his consciencewith the maxim of Loyola, that "the end justifies the means."
"Now I can enter the Larsagny palace," he said to himself; "as the pashathey will admit me."
Coucou jumped into a carriage and told the coachman to drive to the Ruede Pelletier.
A quarter of an hour later a Bedouin clad all in white, whose browncomplexion and coal-black eyes betrayed his Oriental origin, left thestore of an elegant place in the Rue de Pelletier and, stepping into thecoach which stood at the door, he cried to the coachman:
"Rue de Rivoli, Palais Larsagny!"
The horses started off, the carriage rolled along, and the Bedouin, inwhose turban a ruby glittered, muttered to himself:
"One can get through the world with cheek!"
The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume II Page 45