The Bath Keepers Volume Ii Part 33

"Really, my gentleman, we are deeply touched by your courtesy!" said Bahuchet, losing no time in emptying his goblet.

"Excellent! it is excellent!" cried Plumard, who would have been glad to salute his generous neighbor without uncovering his head, and who constantly put his hand to his cap, taking pains to reveal only half of his forehead.

"If you like it, you must fill again.--Hola! landlord, two more bottles!"

"Ah! my dear fellow," Plumard whispered in his comrade's ear, "what an agreeable gentleman! he has ordered two more bottles! we evidently have made a very favorable impression on him."

"Oh! there is something behind all this," Bahuchet replied, with a half-smile; "this young n.o.bleman does not look to me like a fool, or a new arrival in Paris. If he treats us so generously, it means that he has need of us! But I snap my fingers at him! Let us accept his treat first, and let us not be bashful. It seems to me that I know this young dandy; and you, Plumard?"

"How do you expect me to recognize him? I can see only the end of his nose."

"Messieurs," said Leodgard, "would you not like to take something besides cheese with your wine?--Look you, I know what young men are; their purses are not always well filled."

"That is true!" said Plumard; "we will not play at pride with you, seigneur; we will admit frankly that we have but eleven sous; to be sure, we are clerks to Maitre Bourdinard, solicitor, but he pays so little."

"In that case, allow me to offer you some breakfast."

"You invite us so graciously, that we cannot refuse."

"Landlord, bring us some ham, an omelet, cutlets--in short, the best of everything that you have!"

The tavern keeper stared in amazement at Leodgard and the two clerks; but the count had tossed a gold piece on the table, and such things were seen so rarely in that poor shop that the host took it up, gazed at it a long while, and rang it on the table to be sure that he was not mistaken.

Rea.s.sured at last with respect to the quality of the metal, he tossed his cap in the air and ran off to his kitchen, overturning all the tables that stood in his path.

The breakfast was soon brought. Leodgard ate something, so that his conduct might seem less extraordinary to his guests, whose gla.s.ses he was careful to fill frequently; and as they never refused, they were speedily in the best of humors. But Plumard did not carry his wine so well as his friend; he began to find difficulty in expressing himself, while Bahuchet was only a little giddy.

Leodgard leaned toward the latter and said to him in an undertone:

"If I should ask a service at your hands, and should offer to pay for it its weight in gold, should you be inclined to render it?"

"Altogether inclined, my gentleman; indeed, I am the one who would be greatly obliged. But move away a little, if you please; it is unnecessary that my comrade should hear you; when there is money to be earned, I prefer not to share it. To be sure, if he should hear now, he wouldn't understand. He is drunk! he doesn't know how to drink!"

The count pushed his seat away, and Bahuchet moved nearer to him.

Plumard, his goblet having been filled once more, emptied it and began to talk to himself.

"Do you know the Marquis de Santoval's young wife?" asked Leodgard, taking pains to speak so that only Bahuchet could hear.

"Yes, seigneur, yes; but----"

"Your master attends to her aunt's business?"

"He does."

"You have a doc.u.ment to carry to Madame de Ravenelle's niece for her signature?"

"I say--you know that?"

"When you carry that doc.u.ment, you can take charge of a letter which I will give you for the marchioness; but you must hand that letter to no one but herself, and without allowing any other person to see you."

"Very good; I understand."

"Will you find a way to perform this commission?"

"Will I find a way! Never fear, I have done more difficult things."

"The husband must not suspect anything."

"He will know nothing about it."

"And you will try to get a reply. If she will not write one, remember exactly what she says to you."

"Word for word."

"Now, can you do all this to-day?"

"To-day? impossible! the doc.u.ment has to be copied; but to-morrow--to-morrow, I can go to the Hotel de Santoval."

"To-morrow, then, at one o'clock in the afternoon, I will await you here, I will give you my letter, and you will return here and report to me the result of your mission.--See, take this money; I will give you as much more if you serve me adroitly and with discretion!"

"You will be content with me, my gentleman, for I am most desirous to serve you often.--Pardon, I think that I cannot be mistaken--you are the Comte de Marvejols?"

"Possibly--but try to forget it; I do not wish to be known here, or by your comrade."

"Never fear, monseigneur; I no longer know you."

"Until to-morrow, then!"

Leodgard left the wine shop. Bahuchet, with the keenest delight, counted the gold pieces which he held in his hand, but carefully concealed them from Plumard, who asked him why their new friend had gone away.

"Because he had business to attend to, had that most excellent gentleman! It seems to me that we too shall do well to leave the table.

It is high time to return to the office."

"To the office? what! do you intend to work to-day?"

"Why not? Come, Plumard, off we go, my boy! The air will do you good."

And Bahuchet led his comrade from the shop; but when they were in the street, as Plumard stumbled at every step instead of going forward, Bahuchet deposited him on a stone bench, and hastened back alone to the solicitor's office.

The next day, Leodgard and the little clerk arrived at the wine shop at almost the same moment. The former handed Bahuchet the note for Valentine which he had prepared; and the clerk, who had had no breakfast, promised to perform his mission adroitly.

Valentine was alone in her bedroom, buried in meditation. Her brow was stern, and the young woman's thoughts were certainly not of a frivolous description. She did not hear her maid, who had just entered the room, until she said to her:

"A young clerk is here, and wishes to know if madame will receive him.

He is sent by Madame de Ravenelle. I recognize him--it is the same young man to whom madame intrusted a white plume, before her marriage; it is Monsieur Bahuchet."

"Bahuchet!" cried Valentine, in whose mind that name evoked a thousand memories. "Is that little fellow here?"