The White House Part 70

Meanwhile, Alfred, carrying a torch in one hand and in the other a pistol which he had taken from Robineau, went with Cunette down the stairs which led to the door of the tower.

"Come, open this door," he said to the concierge.

"Open this door? Does monsieur really mean to go in there?"

"To be sure I do."

"You see there's only two of us, monsieur; those other cowards didn't come with us."

"We two are enough to arrest a thief, if there really is one in this building."

"But suppose there's more than one, monsieur?"

"Then we could call for help."

"Yes, but before anyone could come to our help----"

"Open the door, Monsieur Cunette, I say!"

"I can't find the key, monsieur; I must have left it in my room."

Alfred, losing his patience, dealt the old door a violent kick; it gave way and flew open, to the great surprise of the concierge. While the latter made his reflections thereupon, Alfred ascended the winding staircase; and when Cunette saw that the young man had gone up without him, he, instead of following him, went back to his comrades.

Alfred entered the old apartments on the first floor; he found no one there, and everything was in the same order as when he had visited the tower with Robineau. On leaving the first floor, he found that the concierge had left him; he pursued his investigations none the less, and went up to the floor above; finding no one there either, he went still higher up, and was about to enter the room called the a.r.s.enal, when he distinctly heard someone therein. He stopped, c.o.c.ked his pistol, and listened; the noise had ceased. He abruptly opened the door of that room, which was as dark as night; but he fancied that he could see some one, absolutely still, in one corner. He walked toward that object, holding his light before him, and soon recognized the vagabond, seated tranquilly in an old armchair.

Alfred started back in surprise, and the stranger smiled, saying:

"You hardly expected to find me here, did you?"

"That is true," said Alfred, setting his candle down near him. "But what are you doing in this tower? How did you get into this chateau at night?

Why have you come here? Answer me, and do not try to deceive me."

"What am I doing in this tower? Why, you see: I am resting. How did I get in? Oh! quite simply, through the door; for I have not the faculty of pa.s.sing through keyholes, as the imbeciles in this chateau think.

What I have come here for to-day is to see you, to whom I wished to speak secretly; and as I never meet you now in the mountains, because you never leave the chateau, I had no choice but to come here to see you; and it was my intention to tap lightly at the door of your room to-night."

The placidity, the perfect coolness with which the stranger answered Alfred, added to the latter's surprise; he could not imagine that a malefactor, a man who had come there with the purpose of committing theft, would speak to him so calmly; moreover, there was nothing in the tower to tempt the cupidity of a thief; and he remembered that the man before him had not long before refused a purse which he had offered him.

The stranger, apparently divining the young man's thoughts, said:

"You cannot imagine that I have come into this chateau for the purpose of committing theft. Since you have been living here with the new owner there have been very few nights that I have not come into this tower to rest; but I have never wished or attempted to go into any other part of the chateau, which, however, it would have been very easy for me to do.

No, this place alone attracts me; it recalls memories of my childhood. I used to live in this chateau, in the time of the old dowager of whom you have heard. I noticed that no one lived in this tower, that it was altogether deserted, and I saw no great harm in coming sometimes at night to seek shelter within these walls, where I used to sleep so soundly long ago."

The stranger's speech had become slow and melancholy as he said these last words; and, apparently engrossed by the memories which that old room in which he sat aroused in his mind, he glanced about at the walls, blackened by time, at the armor eaten by rust, which could still be seen in some of the corners. A sigh escaped from his breast, his eyes were moist; all his features expressed misery in the present and regret for the past.

Alfred could not avoid a secret thrill of emotion at the demeanor of that strange man.

"But," he said after a moment, "how do you get into the chateau?"

"Oh! that is very simple; near the little summerhouse in the garden, behind the statue of Mars, there is a little gate which has all the appearance of being condemned, because no one uses it; it happens that I still have the key to this gate, which opens into the fields. That is the way that I get into the garden; and from the garden it is not difficult to come here by following the main path, then the terrace; and without entering by the door you opened, one can go through the cellars and up to the ground floor."

"I see that you know the chateau perfectly, better, I am inclined to think, than the man who has bought it."

"In my childhood I have so often run through these corridors, these secret pa.s.sages! In those days I was romantic, too. This Gothic chateau seemed to me well suited to the marvelous adventures of the days of chivalry; and I should have been overjoyed to meet a phantom in the vaults of this tower; but I never had that pleasure."

"But you must have expected to be seen, walking about with a light through these rooms?"

"There have been only two nights that I have lighted this little lantern with my flint and steel; I supposed that everybody in the chateau was asleep, and that they would not see the light in this tower. I could not resist the desire to see, to examine once more various things which I formerly--which were used long ago by the persons who lived in this chateau; and as there is not always a moon, you will agree that it would have been rather difficult to have gratified my curiosity without a light."

"Do you know that if anyone but myself had fallen in with you by night, you would have been arrested, imprisoned perhaps?"

"When one has reached the point where I am, what more has one to fear?

Besides, I knew very well that no one in this chateau, except you and your friend, would be tempted to come to this tower at night; and indeed, if I had chosen to drive them all from the chateau, I should only have had to walk in the direction of the inhabited apartments at night with a sheet over my head; I will answer for it that the present owner would have been the first to take flight; but, I say again, I have never intended to frighten anybody, or to take anything from anybody; if I did frighten the old gardener once, I did it unintentionally; I did not expect to meet him in the garden so late."

"I believe you," said Alfred. "But let us come to what concerns me; you say that it is I whom you came here to see to-night. What have you to say to me? Speak."

The stranger's features lost the expression which his memories of the past had seemed to inspire, and resumed that which they ordinarily wore.

"Yes," he replied, smiling sarcastically, "let us come to that subject; the present should be more important than all that has gone by, and can never return. It seems that, when you gave up to your friend the woman who had fascinated you, you altogether renounced the conquest of the little goatherd, as you no longer go to see her."

"What does it matter to you? Do I owe you an account of my sentiments?

If you desire to speak to me with the purpose of renewing your hateful proposals, you are wasting your time; and I forbid you----"

"La! la! calm yourself, monsieur le baron! Oh! I have no desire to argue with you; but I should be very glad to convince you that I was not mistaken in the judgment I expressed concerning the girl whose innocence you feared to sully. A poor Agnes! who desires to induce your friend to marry her! I knew that there was something underneath it all."

"What more do you know about Isaure? Explain yourself."

"Her friend has arrived."

"Her friend?"

"Yes; or, at all events, the man who takes care of her, call him what you please. I was very certain, for my own part, that these dull-witted peasants could not have taught the girl the pretty manners which fascinated you. And then, the education which she has received, her marked ease of manner,--all that could come only from a man who loves her, and who, doubtless from jealousy, keeps her concealed among these mountains, where he hopes his treasure will not be discovered. Well, I tell you again, that man arrived this evening."

"Did you see him at Isaure's house?"

"At her house? Oh, no! He is prudent; he does not go to the girl's house; he is doubtless afraid of compromising her or of meeting people there; and from the precautions which this mysterious personage takes, it is easy to judge that he is terribly afraid of being seen."

"Go on."

"Well, the White House is the place where they meet."

"The White House?"

"Yes; I do not know whether this stranger is the owner; but what is certain is that he has the keys. He evidently arrived there this evening, and soon a little light shone at one of the windows of the house. Instantly the girl, who had been on the watch for some time, hurriedly left her cottage, and ran at full speed to the White House; a man, whom I saw very plainly, for I was hidden near by, opened the door, and the girl went in. What they did then, I cannot tell you precisely; but, not for a full hour did the door open again, and the young girl came out and returned to her own house, after an affectionate parting from the man she left behind. So all the mystery is cleared up! Now we know the perfectly natural cause of that which frightens the mountaineers in the neighborhood! We know, in short, why the girl was the only one who had no fear of the White House! It is almost always so; a lot of noise for nothing; marvelous happenings, which are nothing out of the common when examined at close quarters."

Alfred had listened attentively to the vagabond. He had much difficulty in believing that Isaure, who had seemed so artless and frank, could have deceived them to that extent.

"Are you perfectly certain of all you have told me?" he said at last, gazing fixedly at the man before him.