The Maids of Paradise Part 28

"Doubtless you can prove what you say," he observed, and his silver penknife snapped shut like the click of a trap, and he lay back in his padded chair and slipped the knife into his pocket.

I looked at Speed; his sandy hair fairly bristled, but his face was drawn and tense. I looked at Mornac; his heavy, black eyes met mine steadily.

"It seems to me," he said, "that it was high time we abolished the Foreign Division, Imperial Military Police."

"I refuse to be discharged!" I said, hoa.r.s.ely. "It is your word against mine; I demand an investigation!"

"Certainly," he replied, almost wearily, and touched a bell. "Bring that witness," he added to the soldier who appeared in answer to the silvery summons.

"I mean an official inquiry," I said--"a court-martial. It is my right where my honor is questioned."

"It is my right, when you question my honor, to throw you into Mont Valerien, neck and heels," he said, showing his teeth under his silky, black mustache.

Almost stunned by his change of tone, I stood like a stone. Somebody entered the room behind me, pa.s.sed me; there was an odor of violets in the air, a faint rustle of silk, and I saw Mornac rise and bow to his guest and conduct her to a chair.

His guest was the young Countess de Va.s.sart.

She looked up at me brightly, gave me a pretty nod of recognition, then turned expectantly to Mornac, who was still standing at her elbow, saying, "Then it is no longer a question of my exile, monsieur?"

"No, madame; there has been a mistake. The government has no reason to suspect your loyalty." He turned directly on me. "Madame, do you know this officer?"

"Yes," said the Countess, smiling.

"Did you see him receive a small sack of diamonds in Morsbronn?"

The Countess gave me a quick glance of surprise. "Yes," she said, wonderingly.

"Thank you, madame; that is sufficient," he replied; and before I could understand what he was about he had conducted the Countess to the next room and had closed the door behind him.

"Quick!" muttered Speed at my elbow; "let's back out of this trap.

There's no use; he's one of them, and he means to ruin you."

"I won't go!" I said, in a cold fury; "I'll choke the truth out of him, I tell you."

"Man! Man! He's the Emperor's shadow! You're done for; come on while there's time. I tell you there's no hope for you here."

"Hope! What do I care?" I said, harshly. "Why, Speed, that man is a common thief."

"What of it?" whispered Speed. "Doesn't everybody know that the conspiracy runs close to the throne? What do you care? Come on, I tell you; I've had enough of this rotten government. So have you. And we've both seen enough to ruin us. Come on!"

"But he's got those diamonds! Do you think I can stand that?"

"I think you've got to," muttered Speed, savagely. "Do you want to rot in Cayenne? If you do, stay here and bawl for a court-martial!"

"But the government--"

"Let the government go to the devil! It's going fast enough, anyhow.

Come, don't let Mornac find us here when he returns. He may be coming now--quick, Scarlett! We've got to cut for it!"

"Speed," I said, unsteadily, "it's enough to make an honest man strike hands with Buckhurst in earnest."

Speed took my arm with a cautious glance at the door of the next room, and urged me toward the corridor.

"The government has kicked us out into the street," he muttered; "be satisfied that the government didn't kick us into Biribi. And it will yet if you don't come."

"Come? Where? I haven't any money, and now they've got my honor--"

"Rubbish!" he whispered, fairly dragging me into the hallway. "Here!

No--don't go to your rooms. Leave everything--get clear of this rat-pit, I tell you."

He half pushed, half dragged me to the parade; then, dropping my arm, he struck a jaunty pace through the archway, not even glancing at the sentinels. I kept pace with him, scarcely knowing what I did.

In the Rue de Seine I halted suddenly, crying out that I must go back, but he seized me with a growl of "Idiot! come on!" and fairly shoved me through the colonnades of the Inst.i.tute, along the quay, down the river-wall, to a dock where presently a swift river-boat swung in for pa.s.sengers. And when the bateau mouche shot out again into mid-stream, Speed and I stood silently on deck, watching the silver-gray facades of Paris fly past above us under the blue sky.

We sat far forward, quite alone, and separated from the few pa.s.sengers by the pilot-house and jointed funnel. And there, carelessly lounging, with one of his lank legs crossed over the other and a cigar between his teeth, my comrade coolly recounted to me the infamous history of the past week:

"Jarras put his honest, old, square-toed foot in it by accident; I don't know how he managed to do it, but this is certain: he suddenly found himself on a perfectly plain trail which could only end at Mornac's threshold.

"Then he did a stupid thing--he called Mornac in and asked him, in perfect faith, to clear up the affair, never for a moment suspecting that Mornac was the man.

"That occurred the day you started to catch Buckhurst. And on that day, too, I had found out something; and like a fool I told Jarras."

Speed chewed his cigar and laughed.

"In twenty-four hours Jarras was relieved of his command; I was requested not to leave the Luxembourg--in other words, I was under arrest, and Mornac took over the entire department and abolished the Foreign Division 'for the good of the service,' as the _Official_ had it next day.

"Then somebody--Mornac probably--let loose a swarm of those shadowy lies called rumors--you know how that is done!--and people began to mutter, and the cafes began to talk of treason among the foreign police. Of course Rochefort took it up; of course the _Official_ printed a half-hearted denial which was far worse than an avowal. Then the division was abolished, and the ill.u.s.trated papers made filthy caricatures of us, and drew pictures of Mornac, sabre in hand, decapitating a nest full of American rattlesnakes and British cobras, and Rochefort printed a terrible elaboration of the fable of the farmer and the frozen serpent."

"Oh, that's enough," I said, sick with rage and disgust. "Let them look out for their own country now. I pity the Empress; I pity the Emperor. I don't know what Mornac means to do, but I know that the Internationale boa-constrictor is big enough to swallow government, dynasty, and Empire, and it is going to try."

"I am certain of one thing," said Speed, staring out over the sun-lit water with narrowing eyes. "I know that Mornac is using Buckhurst."

"Perhaps it is Buckhurst who is using Mornac," I suggested.

"I think both those gentlemen have the same view in end--to feather their respective nests under cover of a general smash," said Speed.

"It would not do for Mornac to desert the Empire under any circ.u.mstances. But he can employ Buckhurst to squeeze it dry and then strike an att.i.tude as its faithful defender in adversity."

"But why does Buckhurst desire to go to Paradise?" I asked.

The boat swung into a dock near the Point du Jour; a few pa.s.sengers left, a few came aboard; the boat darted on again under the high viaduct of masonry, past bastions on which long siege cannon glistened in the sunshine, past lines of fresh earthworks, past gra.s.sy embankments on which soldiers moved to the rumble of drums.

"I know something about Paradise," said Speed, in a low voice.

I waited; Speed chewed his cigar grimly.

"Look here, Scarlett," he said. "Do you know what has become of the crown jewels of France?"

"No," I said.