Monsieur Cherami Part 37

"No, monsieur--but----"

"Then you insult me, and I will not brook an insult!--When we leave this cafe, we will go and cut each other's throats, like a couple of young dandies!"

"Never, monsieur; not by any means! I am mistaken, monsieur; I am wrong.

No, no, it isn't my cane--let it be as if I had said nothing; I beg your pardon."

The little bald man, trembling like a leaf, seemed inclined to disappear under the table at which he was seated. Cherami, having reflected two or three minutes, looked at him with an affable expression, and said:

"Didn't you lose something else at the party you mentioned just now."

"Something else? yes, I did, monsieur; I was in bad luck that night!

When I arrived at the ball, I had lost one of my gloves--a yellow glove.

To be sure, it was returned to me later--but in such a state!"

"Ah! now I understand! I recognize you now!"

"You recognize me?"

"To be sure--you are Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon."

"That's my name, sure enough! But how----?"

"Pardieu! we met at our friend Blanquette's little party. Dear Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon! I have been looking for you a long while!"

"You have been looking for me, monsieur? For what, pray?"

"For what? Why, to return your cane."

"But, monsieur, I don't know whether----"

"And your hat too, if you insist upon it; but, as the one you have now is newer, you would lose again by the change. But the cane is certainly yours; do you consider me capable of keeping something that doesn't belong to me,--that is in my possession only as the result of a mistake?"

"Ah! monsieur, I am sensible----"

"You understand, of course, that before returning this cane, which I carried away by mistake from my friend Blanquette's party, I wished to be sure of returning it to its owner and no one else. Have you my switch?"

"No, monsieur; I haven't it--I don't even know what has become of it."

"Bigre! I am very sorry for that. You thought, I suppose, that it was just a common switch; you didn't see that it was a _nerf de boeuf_, which came from China, where they make a great many canes of that material, because it bends and never breaks. You value it at six sous, but it was worth forty francs."

"Oh! if I had known that----"

"You'd have taken more care of it. However, that's a trifling mishap.

You pay for what I have eaten, and we will dine together; then we shall be quits."

"What, monsieur, you propose----"

"Pray take your cane; it's a fascinating thing! Everybody stared at it.

Dear Courb.i.+.c.hon! I am delighted to have returned it to you; but I greatly regret my Chinese switch! Such is very rare in Paris. Very few like it come here from China.--I say, waiter, how much do I owe?"

"Seven francs fifty, monsieur."

"Very good. Monsieur here will attend to it."

Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon did not seem overjoyed to pay for his neighbor's breakfast; however, he did it. They left the cafe together, and, when they were on the boulevard, Cherami pa.s.sed his arm through that of the owner of the cane, saying:

"Where shall we go now?"

"Faith! monsieur, I had intended to go for a stroll on the Champs-elysees. It's a fine day, and near the end of September; we must make the most of these last good days. And then, I am very fond of watching them play bowls."

"Very good! that suits me--that suits me to the very tick: let us go to the Champs-elysees, and see them play bowls. Walking helps the digestion; it gives one an appet.i.te. We will dine there; I know all the good restaurants on the Champs-elysees. Oh! never fear, Papa Courb.i.+.c.hon, you are with a buck who knows what good living is!"

"I don't doubt it, monsieur, but----"

"Sapristi! what a pretty cane! everybody admires it as they pa.s.s. It must have cost a lot?"

"I cannot tell you, monsieur; it's a present from my nephew."

"Ah, indeed! I was just saying to myself, that it's a surprising thing that Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon should have bought a cane like that. Your nephew's a man of taste. What does he do?"

"He's in business. He has gone to America. This was his cane; he gave it to me, because, as he said, he was going to a country where there are plenty of canes, and it was useless for him to carry this one."

"Do you mean that he carries a piece of sugar-cane in his hand when he goes out to walk?"

"I can't tell you, I don't know. The cane suited me, because at need I could use it to defend myself."

"My Chinese switch was a famous weapon of defence, too."

"What! a switch?"

"Remember that it was a _nerf de boeuf._ I could have killed a calf with it."

"What a curious idea of those Chinese to make canes with _nerfs de boeuf!_"

"An additional proof, my dear Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon, that the Chinese are much more advanced than we are--much more progressive! They build houses of india-rubber."

"Hard rubber, of course?"

"I don't know whether it's hard or not--it makes no difference. Pardieu!

Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon, you must agree that there are lucky chances, and that we were both happily inspired when we went to that cafe to-day!"

"It is certain, monsieur, that otherwise----"

"You would never have seen your charming cane again. Are you married, Monsieur Courb.i.+.c.hon?"

"I have been married, monsieur, but I am a widower."

"A superb position for a man still young and made to please the ladies."