by Emile Calvet
“Four hundred meters?”
“Yes—I’ll inform him of your arrival.”
“But haven’t you just informed him electrically?”
“No, Monsieur; I’ve only switched on the current to hear the words that Monsieur Herber spoke into the phonograph—an hour ago, as the dial indicates.”
“The words we’ve just heard spoken were pronounced an hour ago!” exclaimed Gédéon.
“One hour and eight minutes, Monsieur. The words are conserved indefinitely in the phonograph.”
The former master had taken hold of a mobile cornet attached to the wall by a thick silk cord, which had a metallic membrane at its orifice. He put his lips to it and sounded a long whistle.
A few seconds later, a voice whose timbre, accent and intensity were an exact replica of the one that had already spoken through the copper funnel said: “What is it, Monsieur Ravan?”
The latter said, in a loud voice: “Three Oceanian visitors would like to speak to you.”
“Offer them my excuses and ask them to be so kind as to wait in my study,” the voice replied. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
The venerable curator opened a large lateral door, asked the foreigners to go n, and took his leave of them, saying: “Please forgive me, Messieurs, if I don’t remain with you. I have to return to the galleries, for the visitors will soon be flooding in, and even though my presence is not indispensable, the public is accustomed to my explanations, ordinarily capped by a little lecture that is always followed with an interest that I find very flattering.”
And he set off back to the school museum.
The doctor was the first to enter the schoolmaster’s study.
Scarcely had he crossed the threshold than, swiftly putting his hand to his cap, he bowed profoundly. Terrier and Gédéon were behind him. They shivered. They suddenly found themselves in the presence of the young woman who had given them directions to this hospitable abode. They bowed deeply.
Madame Herber remained motionless and smiling in front of a door made of a single sheet of polished glass, lightly tinted with pale blue and encased in a vast artfully-sculpted gold frame. The threshold was raised about a meter above the floor—a particularity that struck the travelers.
“Madame,” said the doctor, “We shall retain an eternal gratitude for the generosity with which you took us under your protection. In a few minutes, we shall be joined here by Monsieur Herber.”
“In that sincere expression of our sentiments,” added the physicist, “we do not forget the charming little fairy who was the original cause of that fortunate encounter.”
Madame Herber, without saying a single word, retained her gracious smile.
“Your presence,” Antius continued, “is the most fortunate augury for the conversation that we are about to have with your husband.”
The young woman’s face still maintained an absolute immobility.
The amazement of the visitors was at its peak when Gédéon laughed and said: “Can’t you see that it’s a portrait of our benefactress to which you’re speaking at present.”
Terrier approached the frame and, after a few seconds’ hesitation, turned round and said: “I’ve never seen such perfect work. I’ll even add that I don’t believe that it was produced by an artist’s hand.”
“It’s a photopainting, Messieurs,” said a man, still young, who had just come into the room, lifting up a velvet curtain, and was standing beside them.
VII. The Schoolmaster
Offering them chairs, he added, in a frank and cordial voice: “Welcome, Messieurs. I’m the schoolmaster.”
Generosity, intelligence and energy and engraved their triple seal on the newcomer’s face. His attitude presented the double character of simplicity and grandeur—appearances that have always seemed mutually exclusive in the sublunar world.
When the foreigners were seated, he went to his armchair.
“This morning, Monsieur le Directeur,” sais Antius, who took the floor in his quality as the doyen of the party, “the three of us were sitting—or, rather, had collapsed—on a bench in a nearby avenue, and we were envisaging with terror the miserable future that was reserved for us in this admirable city, into which we had been thrown without resources. Despair had already invaded our souls when a pretty little girl, attracted by the singularity of our costumes, ran toward us.
“Her mother, a charming young woman, came to extract her gently from her naïve contemplation, and, seeing our distress, said to us: ‘Go to the School, Strangers; you will find aid and protection there. The director is my husband. It will be sufficient to say that I have sent you to him.’
“We came straight here. A venerable man whom we met as we came into the establishment accompanied to the vestibule of your lodgings and withdrew after having introduced us into this room.”
“I’m glad, Messieurs,” said Herber, “that chance has procured me the satisfaction of being the first to come to your aid. Human beings form one vast family, and it’s a sacred duty, in which no one fails, to aid one another mutually. My old friend, the respectable Monsieur Ravan, told me that you had arrived from the islands of Oceania, and although science and civilization reign almost everywhere in the world, it’s certain that each people still has its particular mores and genius, and that some of our customs might seem strange to you. One the other hand, Messieurs, it is important that you tell me whether you have come to this country as simple travelers, or whether you have the intention of settling here permanently, in order that I can act accordingly.”
“We have come,” Terrier relied, after a moment’s reflection, “to make a careful study of the civilization, mores and, most important of all, the industrial and scientific condition of your countries. Our sojourn does not, therefore, appear to be limited for the time being. In these conditions, we would be glad to find work appropriate to our faculties, which would permit us to make ourselves sufficiently useful to society not to be a burden to anyone.”
“It is in that direction that all my efforts will be expended,” said Herber, “but for the moment, it is important above all to ensure your material needs. Until the educational conference opens, you shall stay here. By the time I place the establishment at the disposal of its members, we shall probably have found resources. The conference will only last a fortnight, and in the worst possible case, I shall then have the means to furnish you with a convenient apartment. When the delegates leave, if we have been obliged to separate temporarily, you can come back here to stay indefinitely. As for the nature of the work that is appropriate to you, we shall investigate. For now, the first operation we shall undertake together will offer no difficulty; it is simply a matter of going to table.”
The master pressed an ivory button.
Ten seconds later, a middle-aged woman appeared on the threshold of the entrance door.
“Madame Cassan,” said Herber, “set three extra places for every meal until further orders. It’s ten-seventeen; you still have thirteen minutes in hand.”
At that moment, joyful cries resounded in the corridor. The door opened and the little girl who had run toward the strangers an hour earlier hurled herself into her father’s arms. A slight noise became audible in the vestibule, and Madame Herber appeared on the threshold, in all the brightness of her grace and beauty. She came to sit down next to the schoolmaster.
Putting her hand on her husband’s arm, she said: “Herber, these Messieurs must have explained the circumstances in which my daughter and I met them this morning. I asked them to come to the school, assuring them that they would find help and support here.
“You did well, Jeanne,” the schoolmaster replied, simply.
“I ought to add that Monsieur,” the young woman continued, indicating Antius, is a renowned physician, and this Monsieur”—she turned to Terrier—“is a professor of physical sciences of the highest merit.”
Herber bowed. “Messieurs,” he said, “I am glad that chance has brought you under my roof. You
r arrival is not only a favor, it is now an honor for me.”
The two scientists bowed.
“Jeanne,” said the schoolmaster, “it’s ten twenty-eight.”
“I understand—but nothing is compromised,” replied Madame Herber, hurrying out of the room.
As the hand of the clock reached the thirtieth division, a golden bell fixed to the wall emitted a long trill.
“The meal is ready, Messieurs,” said Herber. “Permit me to show you the way.”
Followed by his three guests, he went out and went to the far end of the vestibule. He then took a lateral corridor lit by high windows, hidden for the moment by screens that interrupted the rays of sunlight. When he reached a glazed door the schoolmaster stopped. The two battens opened of their own accord, and the travelers went into the dining room.
The smiling Madame Herber, standing beside an oval table set with sparkling pure gold cutlery, was waiting for her guests. The abundance and delicacy of the dishes that were covering a tablecloth that shone like silk were worthy of the splendor of the cutlery. The young woman noticed the astonishment and admiration that was suddenly reflected on the strangers’ faces. With a gracious gesture, she set the two scientists down to either side of her while Herber amicably placed Gédéon to his right and the child to his left.
The service was carried out dexterously by two young women whose costume, attitude and distinction of manners hardly seemed in keeping with the humility of their functions.
The travelers, put to the proof by the fatigue and emotions of the morning, at with a hearty appetite. A monstrous tuna from the Sahara Sea had the honor of being subjected to two successive assaults.
After that, Antius, who ordinarily analyzed with attention and certainty what was put on his late, found his sagacity in default for the first time before a gilded and perfumed disk that had just been served to him.
“This fillet is certainly delicious,” he said, in a voice whose authority in such matters was dogma in the world of gourmets, “but I can’t tell to what quadruped it belongs.”
“It’s bison, doctor,” replied Madame Herber.
“I approve,” said Gédéon, wiping his lips, “the flattering epithets with which the ancient romancers of the wilderness have gratified the flesh of that monstrous herbivore, although they only ever mentioned its hump, cooked in the Indian manner.”
“Today,” said the schoolmaster, “the enormous ruminants in question are reared in vast herds, and their highly-esteemed flesh aliments a substantial fraction of Europe.”
“Are antiseptic agents or the artificial production of cold employed for the conservation of the meat during the crossing?” asked Terrier.
“No means are employed,” said Herber. “Transport is carried out in particular conditions of altitude and speed. The altitude adopted is between three and four thousand meters, and in those regions the temperature is very low. On the other hand, the distance that separates of Far West, the center of exploitation, from the markets of Paris, London, Liverpool, Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseilles is traversed in thirty-six hours, on average.”
“A speed of sixty leagues an hour!” exclaimed Antius.
“Yes, Monsieur—and that speed, which seems to surprise you, is nevertheless inferior to that of certain express transports constructed in special conditions and designed for long hauls. It must be added that they are only laden with cargoes considerably inferior to those that the apparatus reserve for industry and provisions carry.”
“I imagine,” said Gédéon, “that the shepherds of the prairie, to ward off Indian scalpers, must have exchanged the crook for the carbine.”
“It has been eight centuries, Monsieur,” Herber replied, “since the Indian races disappeared. Rifles and firewater, in turn, prepared and completed their ruination. The last tribes eventually melted into the vast current of civilization. Nevertheless, the type has not completely disappeared, at least for science. In a greatly esteemed work, Researches on the American Races, Mr. Fuller of the Baltimore Anthropological Society assures us that it is not difficult to recognize, especially among the members of the most elegant American circle, the Atlantic Club, the authentic descendants of the ancient scalp-hunters.
“The wilderness, of course, no longer exists, and on the soil of virgin forests, town halls academies and theaters now stand. In those relatively new regions the most colossal farms in the entire world are found. Agriculture and the raising of livestock are conducted on the largest scale by the most advanced methods. It is from there that the most remarkable agricultural innovations come. The greater part of the savage inhabitants of the prairie have been reduced to domesticity and subjected to the most expert methods of fattening and growth. In that fashion, a healthy, agreeable and varied alimentary mass has entered in torrents into general circulation. I ought to add that, although one encounters fewer opulent cities in the immense territory of the South Amrican pampas, one finds an equally advanced agriculture there.
“We have come a long way from the epoch when those vast countries only exported a few thousand emaciated bulls, whose flesh was cut into strips and then dried under the ardent tropical sun. Today thanks to regular, continuous and sagely progressive husbandry, the cattle of South America carry off a veritable harvest of laurels at agricultural exhibitions all over the world, and those detestable Chilean sheep that once made the most intrepid stomach recoil now contribute their fleeces to our finest textile manufactures, and aliment the most distinguished tables with their flesh.”
The guests had already attacked several pyramids of enormous fruits with an exquisite taste.
“If I were the owner of the fortunate orchard that produced these marvels,” said Gédéon, while respectfully slicing a peach as big as a melon, “I would guard it with as much care as the Garden of the Hesperides.”
“All of this dessert,” said Herber, “was picked in the properties of my friend Guillaume Dryon. That celebrated agronomist, who is both a first-rate scholar and one of the most knowledgeable of bibliophiles, possesses an immense estate on the plateaux of north-west Tanganyika. By means of the most intelligent large-scale cultural methods, he obtains crops sufficient to aliment an entire State. He maintains veritable forests of fruit trees, whose products have won him eulogies from agricultural juries the world over. His fortune is immense, and he makes the most praiseworthy use of it. He is also numbered among the most influential members of the Congress. As he does me the honor of counting me among his friends, he sends me frequent consignments of fruits of every sort. I’ll introduce you to him.”
“Are we going to set out for Central Africa?” asked the physicist tranquilly.
“No,” Herber replied. “The opulent proprietor, who is in the Orient at present, will soon be spending a few days in Paris, where he has an admirable palace. You can count on the most benevolent welcome.”
“Master,” Gédéon observed, “we owe you all our gratitude for your generosity, but we greatly fear not being sufficiently correctly dressed to be introduced into society, and if our friend is rigorous in matters of etiquette...”
“In his eyes, that will be of no importance,” said Herber. “However, it would be appropriate if you were dressed like everyone else. When we leave the table we’ll board the atmospheric railway that passes behind the school buildings, and I’ll take you to the General Stores, which don’t close until five o’clock. As for the insignificant expense that your equipment will necessitate, you have no need to worry about it.”
“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, dear colleague,” said Terrier, emotionally, “but we still have some resources. He displayed ten louis, which he had taken from his depths of his fob-pocket.
“Does that money still have value in your country?” asked the schoolmaster.
“Very great value. At home, gold is worth about fifteen times as much as silver. We also have a third kind of money, whose value is much inferior to that of silver. It’s an alloy of copper and tin. It serves as paym
ent for the least costly items.”
“Here,” said Herber, “there is little difference between the value of gold and silver. Nevertheless, by virtue of certain properties unique to it, the price of the former metal sometimes undergoes temporary increases in its value. Thus, by reason of its malleability, and, most of all, it unalterability, gold is particularly employed in our cutlery and for vessels designed to keep liquids hot, for its emissive power is very limited. It’s also sought after for the manufacture of objects that need to retain an unalterable gleam.
“The new monetary system that is exclusively employed here, however, differs in every respect from the old one, the usage of which you appear not to have abandoned entirely. It’s essentially fiduciary and universal, and thus used throughout the entire world. I beg you to observe how, by virtue of that last character, it is superior to the ancient conventions, applicable respectively and exclusively to limited regions. In order to cross those fictitious boundaries called frontiers, the very different values of disks of gold, silver and bronze that composed it were obliged to submit to the onerous exploitation of the bizarre form of parasitism known as exchange.
“Today, the same banknote, subject to the same subdivisions and applied to all transactions, not only has the same value everywhere, but also sets aside the illogical dualism of two variable currencies, metal and merchandise, which, according to their respective abundance, are subject to incessant and contrary variations capable of upsetting all calculations.”
Herber took a sheet of paper out of his pocket, the texture of which seemed very resistant, and handed it to the doctor. “This is our current money,” he added.
The physicist and the young man leaned toward their companion and were able to read, framed in very elegant vignette, the value of a hundred francs, in embossed print. At the head was the inscription: Universal Bank.
“I see with pride,” said Antius, “that the French monetary unit has survived, at least nominally.”