Castles in the Air
Page 19
3.
I woke with the consciousness of violent wordy warfare carried onaround me. I was lying on the ground, and the first things I saw werethree or four pairs of feet standing close together. Gradually out ofthe confused hubbub a few sentences struck my reawakened senses.
"The man is drunk."
"I won't have him inside the house."
"I tell you this is a respectable house." This from a shrill femininevoice. "We've never had the law inside our doors before."
By this time I had succeeded in raising myself on my elbow, and, bythe dim light of a hanging lamp somewhere down the passage, I waspretty well able to take stock of my surroundings.
The half-dozen bedroom candlesticks on a table up against the wall,the row of keys hanging on hooks fixed to a board above, the glasspartition with the words "Concierge" and "Reception" painted acrossit, all told me that this was one of those small, mostly squalid anddisreputable lodging houses or hotels in which this quarter of Parisstill abounds.
The two gendarmes who had been running after me were arguing thematter of my presence here with the proprietor of the place and withthe concierge.
I struggled to my feet. Whereupon for the space of a solid two minutesI had to bear as calmly as I could the abuse and vituperation whichthe feminine proprietor of this "respectable house" chose to hurl atmy unfortunate head. After which I obtained a hearing from thebewildered minions of the law. To them I gave as brief and succinct anarrative as I could of the events of the past three days. The theftof Carissimo--the disappearance of Theodore--my meeting him a whileago, with the dog under his arm--his second disappearance, this timewithin the doorway of this "respectable abode," and finally the blowwhich alone had prevented me from running the abominable thief toearth.
The gendarmes at first were incredulous. I could see that they werestill under the belief that my excitement was due to over-indulgencein alcoholic liquor, whilst Madame the proprietress called me anabominable liar for daring to suggest that she harboured thieveswithin her doors. Then suddenly, as if in vindication of my character,there came from a floor above the sound of a loud, shrill bark.
"Carissimo!" I cried triumphantly. Then I added in a rapid whisper,"Mme. la Comtesse de Nole is rich. She spoke of a big reward for therecovery of her pet."
These happy words had the effect of stimulating the zeal of thegendarmes. Madame the proprietress grew somewhat confused andincoherent, and finally blurted it out that one of her lodgers--ahighly respectable gentleman--did keep a dog, but that there was nocrime in that surely.
"One of your lodgers?" queried the representative of the law. "Whendid he come?"
"About three days ago," she replied sullenly.
"What room does he occupy?"
"Number twenty-five on the third floor."
"He came with his dog?" I interposed quickly, "a spaniel?"
"Yes."
"And your lodger, is he an ugly, slouchy creature--with hooked nose,bleary eyes and shaggy yellow hair?"
But to this she vouchsafed no reply.
Already the matter had passed out of my hands. One of the gendarmesprepared to go upstairs and bade me follow him, whilst he ordered hiscomrade to remain below and on no account to allow anyone to enter orleave the house. The proprietress and concierge were warned that ifthey interfered with the due execution of the law they would beseverely dealt with; after which we went upstairs.
For a while, as we ascended, we could hear the dog barking furiously,then, presently, just as we reached the upper landing, we heard a loudcurse, a scramble, and then a piteous whine quickly smothered.
My very heart stood still. The next moment, however, the gendarme hadkicked open the door of No. 25, and I followed him into the room. Theplace looked dirty and squalid in the extreme--just the sort of placeI should have expected Theodore to haunt. It was almost bare save fora table in the centre, a couple of rickety chairs, a broken-downbedstead and an iron stove in the corner. On the table a tallow candlewas spluttering and throwing a very feeble circle of light around.
At first glance I thought that the room was empty, then suddenly Iheard another violent expletive and became aware of a man sittingclose beside the iron stove. He turned to stare at us as we entered,but to my surprise it was not Theodore's ugly face which confrontedus. The man sitting there alone in the room where I had expected tosee Theodore and Carissimo had a shaggy beard of an undoubted gingerhue. He had on a blue blouse and a peaked cap; beneath his cap hislank hair protruded more decided in colour even than his beard. Hishead was sunk between his shoulders, and right across his face, fromthe left eyebrow over the cheek and as far as his ear, he had ahideous crimson scar, which told up vividly against the ghastly pallorof his face.
But there was no sign of Theodore!
At first my friend the gendarme was quite urbane. He asked verypolitely to see Monsieur's pet dog. Monsieur denied all knowledge of adog, which denial only tended to establish his own guilt and theveracity of mine own narrative. The gendarme thereupon became moreperemptory and the man promptly lost his temper.
I, in the meanwhile, was glancing round the room and soon spied a wallcupboard which had obviously been deliberately screened by thebedstead. While my companion was bringing the whole majesty of the lawto bear upon the miscreant's denegations I calmly dragged the bedsteadaside and opened the cupboard door.
An ejaculation from my quivering throat brought the gendarme to myside. Crouching in the dark recess of the wall cupboard wasCarissimo--not dead, thank goodness! but literally shaking withterror. I pulled him out as gently as I could, for he was sofrightened that he growled and snapped viciously at me. I handed himto the gendarme, for by the side of Carissimo I had seen somethingwhich literally froze my blood within my veins. It was Theodore's hatand coat, which he had been wearing when I chased him to this house ofmystery and of ill-fame, and wrapped together with it was a rag allsmeared with blood, whilst the same hideous stains were now distinctlyvisible on the door of the cupboard itself.
I turned to the gendarme, who at once confronted the abominablemalefactor with the obvious proofs of a horrible crime. But thedepraved wretch stood by, Sir, perfectly calm and with a cynicism inhis whole bearing which I had never before seen equalled!
"I know nothing about that coat," he asserted with a shrug of theshoulders, "nor about the dog."
The gendarme by this time was purple with fury.
"Not know anything about the dog?" he exclaimed in a voice choked withrighteous indignation. "Why, he . . . he barked!"
But this indisputable fact in no way disconcerted the miscreant.
"I heard a dog yapping," he said with consummate impudence, "but Ithought he was in the next room. No wonder," he added coolly, "sincehe was in a wall cupboard."
"A wall cupboard," the gendarme rejoined triumphantly, "situated inthe very room which you occupy at this moment."
"That is a mistake, my friend," the cynical wretch retorted,undaunted. "I do not occupy this room. I do not lodge in this hotel atall."
"Then how came you to be here?"
"I came on a visit to a friend who happened to be out when I arrived.I found a pleasant fire here, and I sat down to warm myself. Yournoisy and unwarranted irruption into this room has so bewildered methat I no longer know whether I am standing on my head or on myheels."
"We'll show you soon enough what you are standing on, my fine fellow,"the gendarme riposted with breezy, cheerfulness. "Allons!"
I must say that the pampered minion of the law arose splendidly to theoccasion. He seized the miscreant by the arm and took him downstairs,there to confront him with the proprietress of the establishment,while I--with marvellous presence of mind--took possession ofCarissimo and hid him as best I could beneath my coat.
In the hall below a surprise and a disappointment were in store forme. I had reached the bottom of the stairs when the shrill feminineaccents of Mme. the proprietress struck unpleasantly on my ear.
"No! no! I tell you!" she was sayi
ng. "This man is not my lodger. Henever came here with a dog. There," she added volubly, and pointing anunwashed finger at Carissimo who was struggling and growling in myarms, "there is the dog. A gentleman brought him with him lastWednesday, when he inquired if he could have a room here for a fewnights. Number twenty-five happened to be vacant, and I have noobjection to dogs. I let the gentleman have the room, and he paid metwenty sous in advance when he took possession and told me he wouldkeep the room three nights."
"The gentleman? What gentleman?" the gendarme queried, rather inanelyI thought.
"My lodger," the woman replied. "He is out for the moment, but hewill be back presently I make no doubt. The dog is his. . . ."
"What is he like?" the minion of the law queried abruptly.
"Who? the dog?" she retorted impudently.
"No, no! Your lodger."
Once more the unwashed finger went up and pointed straight at me.
"He described him well enough just now; thin and slouchy in his ways.He has lank, yellow hair, a nose perpetually crimson--with the cold nodoubt--and pale, watery eyes. . . ."
"Theodore," I exclaimed mentally.
Bewildered, the gendarme pointed to his prisoner.
"But this man . . . ?" he queried.
"Why," the proprietress replied. "I have seen Monsieur twice, or wasit three times? He would visit number twenty-five now and then."
I will not weary you with further accounts of the close examination towhich the representative of the law subjected the personnel of thesqualid hotel. The concierge and the man of all work did indeedconfirm what the proprietress said, and whilst my friend the gendarme--puzzled and floundering--was scratching his head in completebewilderment, I thought that the opportunity had come for me to slipquietly out by the still open door and make my way as fast as I couldto the sumptuous abode in the Faubourg St. Germain, where thegratitude of Mme. de Nole, together with five thousand francs, wereeven now awaiting me.
After Madame the proprietress had identified Carissimo, I had oncemore carefully concealed him under my coat. I was ready to seize myopportunity, after which I would be free to deal with the matter ofTheodore's amazing disappearance. Unfortunately just at this momentthe little brute gave a yap, and the minion of the law at onceinterposed and took possession of him.
"The dog belongs to the police now, Sir," he said sternly.
The fatuous jobbernowl wanted his share of the reward, you see.