Richard F. Burton - "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8"

Richard F. Burton - "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 8"

Ferdinand Raimund - "Das Maedchen aus der Feenwelt"

Henry Blake Fuller - "Bertram Cope's Year"

A  /  B  /  C  /  D  /  E  /   F  /  G  /  H  /  I  /  J  /   K  /  L  /  M  /  N  /  O   P  /  R  /  S  /  T  /  U  /  V  /  W  /  X  /  Y  /  Z

Mysteries of Paris, V3 by Eugene Sue

E >> Eugene Sue >> Mysteries of Paris, V3




"The keeper has told me all," replied Germain, interrupting him; "but you
have none the less saved my life."

"I have done but my duty and pleasure, for I know who you are, M. Germain."

"You know me?"

"A little, my boy; I talk to you like a father," said the Slasher, resuming
his tone of habitual carelessness; "and you would be very wrong to place my
arrival at La Force on the back of chance. If I had not known you, I should
not have been here."

Germain looked at the Slasher with the utmost surprise.

"How, because you knew me---"

"I am here a prisoner in La Force."

"I wish to believe you, but---"

"But you do not believe me."

"I wish to say that it is impossible for me to comprehend how it can be
that I have anything to do with your imprisonment."

"Have anything to do? You have everything."

"I have this misfortune!"

"A misfortune! On the contrary, it is I who am indebted to you; and very
much, that is more."

"To me--you indebted to me!"

"Yes, for having procured me the advantage of making a call at La Force."

"Truly," said Germain, passing his hand over his face, "I do not know
whether the terrible shock I received has impaired my reason, but it is
impossible for me to understand you. The keeper has just told me that you
were accused of--of--" And Germain hesitated.

"Of robbery, I dare say? Yes, burglary, and at night, into the bargain!
Everything under full sail," cried the Slasher, shouting with laughter.
"Nothing was wanting--my robbery had all the modern improvements to make it
a bang-up work."

Germain, painfully affected by the audacious boldness of the Slasher, could
not help saying, "How, you, so brave, so generous, talk thus? Do you not
know the terrible punishment that awaits you?"

"Twenty years in the galleys, and the pillory! I am a headstrong scoundrel,
to take it so coolly? But what would you have when one is in for it? And
yet to think that it is you, M. Germain," added the Slasher, uttering a
heavy sigh, in a manner jokingly contrite, "who are the cause of my
misfortune!"

"When you explain yourself more clearly, I shall understand you. Joke as
much as you please, my gratitude for the service you have rendered me will
be none the less," said Germain, sadly.

"I ask your pardon, M. Germain," answered the Slasher, becoming more
serious; "you do not like to see me laugh at this; let us speak no more
about it. I must have a little explanation with you, and force you,
perhaps, once more to offer me your hand."

"I do not doubt it; for, notwithstanding the crime of which you are
accused, and of which you accuse yourself, everything in you announces
courage and frankness. I am sure you are unjustly suspected; appearances,
perhaps, compromise you."

"Oh! as to that, you are wrong, M. Germain," said the Slasher, so seriously
this time, and with such an accent of sincerity, that Germain was forced to
believe him. "As true as that I have a protector" (the Slasher took off his
cap), "who is for me what the Judge above is for the good priests, I robbed
at night, by breaking in at a window; I was caught in the fact, and
secured, with the stolen goods in my possession."

"But want, hunger, drove you, then, to this extremity?"

"Hunger? I had a hundred and twenty francs when they arrested me--the
change of a thousand-franc note, without counting that the protector of
whom I have spoken, who does not know that I am here, will never let me
want anything. But since I have spoken to you of my protector, you ought to
believe that I am speaking the truth, because before him it is like going
down on your knees. The torrent of blows I rained down on Bones is a
fashion of his, which I copied after nature. The idea of the robbery, on
account of him, came into my head. In fine, if you are here, instead of
being strangled by Skeleton, thanks to him."

"But this protector?"

"Is yours also."

"Mine?"

"Yes! M. Rudolph protects you; when I say Monsieur, it is his highness that
I ought to say, for he is a prince; but I am accustomed to call him M.
Rudolph, and he allows it."

"You mistake," said Germain, more and more surprise; "I do not know any
prince."

"Yes, but he knows you; you do not doubt it? It is possible--it is his way.
He hears there is a good man in trouble--slap! the good man is relieved,
and he is neither seen nor known. I perplex you; for him happiness falls
from the clouds like a tile on the head. Thus, patience! some day or other
you will receive your tile."

"Truly, what you say confounds me."

"You will have a great deal more of the same! To return to my protector:
some time since, after a service which he pretended I had rendered him, he
procured me a slap-up situation. I have no need to tell you what--it would
be too long; in a word, he sent me to Marseilles, to embark for my place. I
left Paris contented as a beggar! Good! But soon that changed. A
supposition: let us say that I left on a fine sunny day. Well! the next day
is cloudy; the day after very cloudy, and every succeeding day more and
more so, until, at length, it became as black as the devil. Do you
comprehend?"

"Not exactly."

"Well, let us see. Did you ever keep a pup?"

"What a singular question!"

"Have you had a dog that loved you well, and that was lost?"

"No."

"Then I will tell you at once, that when at a distance from M. Rudolph, I
was restless, uneasy, alarmed, like a dog that had lost his master. It was
brutish, but the dogs also are brutes, and this does not prevent them from
being attached to their masters, and remembering quite as much the good
mouthfuls as the kickings they are accustomed to receive; and M. Rudolph
had given me better than good mouthfuls, for, do you see, for me M. Rudolph
is all in all. From a wicked, brutal, savage, and riotous rascal, he made
me a kind of honest man, by saying only two words to me; but those words
were like magic."

"And those words, what are they? What did he say to you?"

"He told me that I had still a 'heart' and 'honor,' although I had been to
the hulks--not for having robbed, it is true. Oh! that, never, but for what
is worse, perhaps--for having killed. Yes," said the Slasher, in a sad
tone, "yes, killed in a moment of anger, because from my childhood, brought
up like a brute, without father or mother, abandoned in the streets of
Paris, I knew neither God nor the devil, nor good nor evil, nor strong nor
weak. Sometimes the blood rushed to my eyes, I saw red, and if I had a
knife in my hand, I stabbed--I stabbed! I was like a wolf; I could not
frequent any other places than those where I met beggars and ruffians; I
did not put crape on my hat for that. I was obliged to live in the mire; I
did not even know I was there. But, when M. Rudolph told me that since in
spite of the contempt of the world and misery, instead of stealing, as
others did, I had preferred to work as much as I could, and at what I
could, that showed I had a heart and honor. Thunder! those two words had
the same effect upon me as if some one had caught me by the hair, and
raised me a thousand feet in the air above the beggars with whom I lived,
and showed me in what mire I wallowed. Then, of course, I said, 'Thank you,
I have enough.' Then my heart beat with something besides anger, and I
swore to myself always to preserve this honor of which M. Rudolph had
spoken. You see, M. Germain, by telling me with kindness that I was not as
bad as I thought, M. Rudolph encouraged me, and, thanks to him, I have
become better than I was."

On hearing this language, Germain comprehended still less how the Slasher
could have committed the robbery of which he accused himself.

"No," thought Germain, "it is impossible; this man, who suffers himself to
be thus carried away by the simple words honor and heart, cannot have
committed this robbery of which he speaks with such ease."

The Slasher continued, without remarking the astonishment of Germain:
"Finally, the reason why I am to M. Rudolph like a dog to his master, is
that he has raised me in my own estimation. Before I knew him, I was only
sensible to the touch; but he made me feel within, and deep down, I bet
you. Once separated from him and the place where he dwelt, I found myself
like a body without a soul. As I traveled on, I said to myself, 'He leads
such a queer life! he mingles with such great scoundrels (I know something
about it), that he will risk his bones twenty times a day,' and it is under
these circumstances that I could play the dog for him, and defend my
master; for I have good teeth. But, on the other hand, he had told me, 'You
must, my friend, make yourself useful to others; go, then, where you may be
of some good.' I had a great desire to answer him, 'For me, there is no one
to serve, but you, M. Rudolph.' But I did not dare. He had told me to 'Go.'
I went; and I have obeyed him as well as I was able. But, thunder! when the
time came to get into the tub, leave France, and place the sea between M.
Rudolph and me, without the hope of ever seeing him again, in truth, I had
not the courage. He told his correspondent to give me a heap of money as
heavy as I am when I should embark. I went to see the gentleman. I told
him, 'It is impossible just now; I prefer the solid ground. Give me enough
to get back to Paris on foot. I have good legs. I cannot embark. M. Rudolph
may say what he pleases; he will be angry, he will not see me any more.
Possibly I shall see him; I shall be where he is; and if he continues the
life he leads, sooner or later, I shall arrive in time, perhaps, to put
myself between a knife and him.' And, besides, I cannot live so far away
from him. At length they gave me enough for my journey. I arrived at Paris.
I do not fear trifles: but once back fear seized me. What could I say to M.
Rudolph to excuse myself for having returned without his permission? Bah!
after all, he will not eat me. What is to be will be. I will go to find his
friend a bald man--another trump, this one. Thunder! when M. Murphy came
in, I said, 'My fate will be decided.' I felt my throat dry--my heart beat
a tattoo. I expected to be scolded soundly. The worthy man received me as
as if he had left me the evening previous. He told me that M. Rudolph, far
from being angry, wished to see me at once. In short, he took me to my
protector. Thunder! when I found myself again face to face with him, who
has such an open hand and so good a heart, terrible as a lion, and gentle
as a child, a prince, who has worn a blouse like me--to have the
opportunity (which I bless) of punching my eye. Faith, M. Germain, on
thinking of all these fascinations which he possesses, I felt myself done
up. I wept like a doe. Well! instead of laughing--for imagine my mug when I
weep--M. Rudolph said to me, seriously:

"'So you are back again, my good fellow?'

"'Yes, M. Rudolph, pardon me if I am wrong, but I could not go. Make me a
little nest in the corner of your court, give me my food, or let me earn it
here; that is all I ask from you; and, above all, do not be angry because I
have returned.'

"'I am so far from that, my good friend, that you have returned just in
time to render me a service.'

"'I, M. Rudolph! Can it be possible! Well, do you see, it must be, as you
told me, that there is Something upstairs; otherwise, how explain that I
arrive here just at the moment when you have need of me? What is it, then,
I can, do for you, M. Rudolph--jump from the top of the towers of
Notre-Dame?'

"'Less than that, my man. An honest, excellent young man, in whom I am as
much interested as if he were my son, is unjustly accused of robbery, and
confined in La Force; he is called Germain, and is of a mild and gentle
disposition; the scoundrels with whom he is imprisoned have taken an
aversion to him; he may be in great danger; you, who have unfortunately the
experience of a prison life, and know a great number of prisoners, could
you not, in case some of your old comrades should be at La Force, could you
not go and see them, and, by promises of money which shall be faithfully
kept, engage them to protect this unhappy young man?'"

"But who, then, is this generous and unknown man, who takes so much
interest in my fate?" said Germain, more and more surprised.

"You will know, perhaps; as for me, I am ignorant. To return to my
conversation with M. Rudolph: while he was talking an idea struck me, but
an idea so laughable, that I could not keep from laughing before him. 'What
is the matter?' said he.

"'M. Rudolph, I laugh, because I am content, and I am content because I
have the means of placing your M. Germain out of all dangers, by giving him
a protector who will defend him bravely; for, once the young man is under
the wing of the fellow of whom I speak, there is not one of them will dare
to come and look under his nose.'

"' Very well, my friend; it is doubtless one of your old companions?'

"' Exactly, M. Rudolph; he entered La Force some days ago; I learned this
on my arrival; but we must have some money.'

"'How much?'

"'A thousand francs.'

"'Here they are.'

"'Thank you, M. Rudolph; in two days you shall hear from me; your servant,
sirs.' Thunder! the king was not my master: I could render a service to M.
Rudolph by joining you; it was that which was famous."

"I begin to understand, or rather, I tremble to understand," cried Germain;
"such fidelity cannot be possible! to come to protect me, defend me in this
prison, you have, perhaps, committed a robbery? oh! this would be the
sorrow of my whole life."

"Stop a bit! M. Rudolph had told me that I had a heart and honor; these
words are my law, do you see; and he can tell me so yet; for if I am no
better than formerly, at least I am no worse."

"But this robbery? this robbery? If you have not committed it, how are you
here?"

"Stop a moment. Here is the plant; with my thousand francs I went and
bought a black wig; I shaved off my whiskers; I put on blue spectacles; I
stuck a pillow on my back, and made up a hump. I began at once to look for
one or two rooms on a ground floor in a retired street. I found my affair
in the Rue du Provence; I paid my rent in advance under the name of
Gregoire. The next day I went to the Temple to buy furniture for my two
rooms, always wearing my black wig, hump, and blue barnacles, so that I
might be well known. I sent the things to the Rue du Provence, and six
silver spoons and forks which I bought on the Boulevard Saint Denis, still
in my disguise as a hunchback. I returned to put all these in order in my
domicile, I said to the porter that I should not sleep there for two days,
and I carried away my key. The windows of the two rooms were fastened by
strong shutters. Before I went away, I left one unfastened on the inside.
At night I took off my wig, goggles, and hump, with which I had been to
make my purchases and hired my rooms. I put this disguise in a trunk, which
I sent to the address of M. Murphy, the friend of M. Rudolph, begging him
to take care of it. I bought this blouse and blue cap, and a jimmy, and at
one o'clock in the morning I came to the Rue du Provence to hang about my
lodgings waiting until the patrol should pass, to commence my robbery, my
burglary, in order to be copped!"

The Slasher was unable to suppress a hearty fit of laughter. "Oh! I
comprehend," cried Germain.

"But you will see if I had not ill-luck: no police passed. I could have
robbed myself twenty times at my ease. At length, about two o'clock, I
heard the snails at the end of the street; I opened my window, and broke
two or three panes of glass to make a devil of a noise; I dashed in the
window, jumped into the room, and seized the money box and some clothes.
Happily, the patrol had heard the jingling of the glass just as I got out
of the window. I was nabbed by the guard, who, at the noise of breaking
glass, had come to see what was the matter. They knocked at the door; the
porter opened it; they sent for the commissary; he came; the porter said
that the rooms had been taken the evening previous by a gentleman with a
hunchback, with black hair and blue spectacles, and who was named Gregoire.
I had the flaxen wool which you see; I had my eyes open like a hare in her
form; I was as straight as a Russian at the command, 'Carry arms!' They
could never take me for the hunchback, with blue spectacles and black
locks. I confessed every, thing; I was arrested; they took me to the
station--from there, here; and I arrived at a good moment, just in time to
snatch from the claws of the Skeleton the young man of whom M. Rudolph had
said, 'I am as much interested for him as for my own son.'"

"Oh! what do I not owe you for such services!" cried Germain.

"It is not me--it is to M. Rudolph you owe it.'

"But the cause of his interest for me."

"He will tell you, unless he does not choose to do so; for often he is
pleased to do good, and if you take it into your head to ask him why, he
will not mind answering, 'Mind your own business!'"

"And does M. Rudolph know that you are here?"

"Not so stupid as to tell him my idea; he would not, perhaps, have allowed
me the fun, and without bragging, it is rich."

"But the risks you have run and still run?"

"What did I risk? not to be conducted to La Force, where you were, that is
true. But I counted on the protection of M. Rudolph, to have my prison
changed and join you; a lord like him can do everything. And when I was
once shut up, he would have wished me to be of service to you."

"But when your trial comes on?"

"Well! I will beg M. Murphy to send me my trunk; I will put on before the
big wig, _my_ big wig, the blue spectacles, and the hump, and I will
become M. Gregoire again, send for the porter who let me the chamber, and
for the shopkeepers who sold me the furniture; so much for the robbed. If
they wish to see the robber again, I will throw off my disguise, and it
will be as clear as day that the robbed and the robber make the sum total
of the Slasher, neither more nor less. Then, what the devil would you have
them do to me, when it shall be proved that I have robbed myself?"

"That's true!" said Germain, more assured; "but since you felt so much
interest for me, why did you not speak to me on entering the prison?"

"I knew at once the plot which was formed against you; I could have exposed
it before Pique-Vinaigre had commenced his story: but to denounce even such
ruffians does not go down with me. I preferred to depend upon my fists to
drag you from the paws of Skeleton. And, besides, when I saw this brigand,
I said to myself, 'Here is a fine occasion to practice the boxing of M.
Rudolph, to which I am indebted for the honor of his acquaintance."

"But if all the prisoners had taken part against you, what could you have
done?"

"Then I should have screamed like an eagle, and called for help! But it
suited me to do my own cooking myself; to be able to say to M. Rudolph, 'No
one but I meddled in the affair. I have defended, and will defend, your
young man; be tranquil!'"

At this moment the keeper entered quickly.

"M. Germain, come, make haste, to the governor's room. He wishes to speak
to you at once. And you, Slasher, my boy, descend to the hall. You shall be
provost if it suits you, for you have every requisite to fill the office,
and the prisoners will not joke with a big un of your caliber."

"All the same to me-as well be captain as soldier while one is here."

"Will you still refuse my hand?" said Germain, cordially, to the Slasher.

"No, M. Germain, no; I believe that now I can allow myself this pleasure,
and I do it with all my heart."

"We shall see each other again, for I am now under your protection. I shall
have nothing more to fear, and from my cell I shall descend each day to the
court."

"Be assured, if I wish it, they shall not speak to you except on all fours.
But, now I think of it, you know how to write; put down on paper what I
have just related to you, and send it to M. Rudolph; he will know that he
need have no more uneasiness about you, and that I am here for a good
motive; for if he should learn elsewhere that the Slasher had stolen, and
he did not know the game--thunder! that would not suit me."

"Rest satisfied: this very night I will write to my unknown protector;
to-morrow you will give me his address, and the letter shall be sent.
Adieu, once more, thank you, my good fellow."

"Adieu, M. Germain; I go to return among this band of rascals, of whom I am
provost; they will have to march pretty straight, or stand from under!"

"When I think that on my account you go to live for some time among these
wretches--"

"What is that to me, now that there is no risk of their contaminating me.
M. Rudolph has washed me too well. I am insured against fire."

And the Slasher followed the keeper. Germain entered the apartment of the
governor. What was his surprise--he found Rigolette there.

Rigolette, pale, with deep emotion, her eyes bathed in tears, and yet
smiling through these tears, her face expressed a sentiment of joy, of
happiness indescribable.

"I have good news to tell you, sir," said the governor. "The judges have
just declared that no action lies against you, and I have the order to set
you immediately at liberty."

"What do you say, sir? Can it be possible?"

Rigolette wished to speak; her too lively emotion prevented her; she could
only make to Germain an affirmative sign with her head.

"This young lady arrived here a few moments after I had received the order
to set you at liberty," added the governor. "A letter of all-powerful
recommendation which she brought me has informed me of the touching
devotion she has shown you during your stay in prison, sir. It is, then,
with great pleasure that I have sent for you, certain that you would be
very happy to give your arm to the lady on leaving the place."

"A dream! surely it is a dream!" said Germain. "Oh, sir, what kindness!
Pardon me if surprise--joy--prevents me from thanking you as I ought."

"And I, too, M. Germain, cannot find a word to say," added Rigolette.
"Judge of my happiness: on leaving you, I found the friend of M. Rudolph
waiting for me."

"M. Rudolph again!" said the astonished Germain.

"Yes; now I can tell you all. M. Murphy said to me then, 'Germain is free;
here is a letter for the governor of the prison; before you arrive, he will
have received the order to set Germain at liberty, and you can bring him
away.' I could not believe what I heard, and yet it was true.
Quick--quick--I took a cab--I arrived--and it is now below waiting for us."

We renounce the attempt to describe the delight of the two lovers when they
left La Force; of the evening they passed in the little chamber of
Rigolette, which Germain left at eleven o'clock for a modest furnished
apartment. Let us sum up in a few words the practical or theoretical ideas
we have endeavored to place in relief in this episode of a prison life. We
shall esteem ourselves very happy if we have shown the insufficiency, the
impotency, and the danger of imprisonment in common. The disproportion
which exists between the appreciation and punishment of certain crimes, and
those of certain other offenses. And, finally, the material impossibility
for the poorer classes to enjoy the benefits of the civil laws.




CHAPTER XII.

PUNISHMENT.


We will conduct the reader again to the office of the notary, Jacques
Ferrand. Thanks to the habitual loquacity of the clerks, almost constantly
occupied with the increasing caprices of their patron, we can learn the
events that occurred since the disappearance of Cecily.

"A hundred to ten, if the present state of his health continues, before a
month the governor will be as dead as a doornail."

"The fact is, that since the servant who had the air of an Alsatian has
left the house, he has had nothing but skin on his bones."

"And what skin!"

"I'll wager he was in love with this Alsatian, for it is since her
departure that he has shriveled up so!"

"He in love? what nonsense! on the contrary, he sees the priests more than
ever; and the parish cure, a very respectable man (one must be just), went
away yesterday, saying (I overheard him) to another priest who accompanied
him,' This is admirable! M. Ferrand is the personification of Charity and
Generosity.'"

"The cure said that? of himself? without prompting?"

"Yes! I heard him."

"Then, I can't understand it at all. The cure has the reputation, and
deserves it, of being what is called a right good pastor."

"It is true; and of him we must speak seriously and with respect; he is as
good and charitable as 'Little Blue Mantle,' [Footnote: We must be allowed
to mention here, with veneration, the name of that excellent man, M.
Champion, with whom we have not the honor of a personal acquaintance, but
of whom all the poor of Paris speak with as much respect as gratitude.] and
when one says that of a man he is judged."

"Ay, that is not a little to say."

"No. For 'Little Blue Mantle,' as well as for the good priest, the poor
have only one word, and a good word it is, from the heart."

"Then I return to my idea; when the cure affirms a thing, he must be
believed, as he is incapable of telling a falsehood; and yet to think as he
does, that our master is charitable and generous--that sticks in my
throat."

Alex Ross: Winner of the Guardian first book award
Stuart Evers: They made a real difference to Britain's literary culture, and it would be a terrible shame if they got forgotten in the age of Amazon

Congratulations to Alex Ross, winner of the Guardian first book award
One of only seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard handwritten by JK Rowling is unveiled at the New York Public Library as the mass market edition goes on sale around the world

The arcane first book that's also a bestseller

Congratulations to Alex Ross, the deserving winner of the 2008 Guardian first book award. There's been a massed chorus of appreciation for this work already, so I shan't add much, except to say that what I particular enjoy about it is the connections it makes between musics and musicians. I'm the sort of person who goes to a lot of concerts, plays the violin, has some kind of grasp of how the history of music works – but frankly, it's all a bit fragmented and vague, since I have never studied the history of music properly and I can't really do the textbook musicological stuff. As I was reading Ross's book, it dawned on me that most of my knowledge of 20th-century music was based on reading the occasional Grove essay – and mostly, reading programme notes. What Ross's book does brilliantly is knit all these odd and isolated bits of knowledge together, so that everything starts to synthesise rather wonderfully, and you get to know what Sibelius thought of Stravinsky, say (not much – "stillborn affectations" was the phrase employed); or that Alban Berg was lionised by George Gershwin; or that David Bowie referenced Philip Glass and vice versa. That, and then the material is set against its historical and political background, such that this is a book for history-lovers as much as music-lovers.

By the way, there's a pungent criticism of the new-music scene by Hans Eisler in 1928, as quoted by Ross. How much have things changed, I wonder?

"The big music festivals have become downright stock exchanges, where the value of the works is assessed and contracts for the coming season are settled. Yet all this noise is carried out in the vacuum of a bell glass, so to speak, so that not a sound can be heard outside. An empty officiousness celebrates orgies of inbreeding, while there is a complete lack of interest or participation of a public of any kind."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds