Within an Inch of His Life by Emile Gaboriau (latest novels to read txt) 📕

“The count—God be merciful to his soul!—was a very good man, certainly; but he was a terrible man also, and when he got angry, and talked in a certain way, everybody in the house began to tremble, even mistress.

“I obeyed, therefore, and did what he wanted. Poor man! He was so weak he could hardly stand up, and had to hold on to a chair while I helped him just to hang his dressing-gown over his shoulders.

“Then I asked him if he would not let me help him down. But looking at me with awful eyes, he said, ‘You will do me the favor to stay here, and, whatever may happen, if you dare so much as open the door while I am away, you shall not stay another hour in my service.’

“Then he went out, holding on to the wall; and I remained alone in the chamber, all trembling, and feeling as sick as if I had known that a great misfortune was coming upon us.

“However, I heard nothing more for a time; and as the minutes passed away, I was just beginning to reproach myself for having been so foolishly alarmed, when I heard two cries; but, O sir! two such fearful, sharp cries, that I felt cold shivers running all over me.

“As I did not dare leave the room, I put my ear to the door, and I heard distinctly the count’s voice, as he was quarrelling with another gentleman. But I could not catch a single word, and only made out that they were angry about a very serious matter.

“All of a sudden, a great but dull noise, like that of the fall of a heavy body, then another awful cry, I had not a drop of blood left in my veins at that moment.

“Fortunately, the other servants, who had gone to bed, had heard something. They had gotten up, and were now coming down the passage.

“I left the room at all hazards, and went down stairs with the others, and there we found my mistress fainting in an armchair, and my master stretched out at full-length, lying on the floor like a dead man.”

“What did I say?” cried Trumence.

But the commonwealth attorney made him a sign to keep quiet; and, turning again to the girl, he asked,—

“And the visitor?”

“He was gone, sir. He had vanished.”

“What did you do then?”

“We raised up the count: we carried him up stairs and laid him on his bed. Then we brought mistress round again; and the valet went in haste to fetch Dr. Seignebos.”

“What said the countess when she recovered her consciousness?”

“Nothing. Mistress looked like a person who has been knocked in the head.”

“Was there any thing else?”

“Oh, yes, sir!”

“What?”

“The oldest of the young ladies, Miss Martha, was seized with terrible convulsions.”

“How was that?”

“Why, I only know what miss told us herself.”

“Let us hear what she said.”

“Ah! It is a very singular story. When this gentleman whom I have just seen here rang the bell at our gate, Miss Martha, who had already gone to bed, got up again, and went to the window to see who it was. She saw me go and open, with a candle in my hand, and come back again with the gentleman behind me. She was just going to bed again, when she thought she saw one of the statues in the garden move, and walk right off. We told her it could not be so; but she did not mind us. She told us over and over again that she was quite sure that she saw that statue come up the avenue, and take a place behind the tree which is nearest to the parlor-window.”

Trumence looked triumphant.

“That was I!” he cried.

The girl looked at him, and said, only moderately surprised,—

“That may very well be.”

“What do you know about it?” asked M. Daubigeon.

“I know it must have been a man who had stolen into the garden, and who had frightened Miss Martha so terribly, because Dr. Seignebos dropped, in going out, a five-franc piece just at the foot of that tree, where miss said she had seen the man standing. The valet who showed the doctor out helped him look for his money; and, as they sought with the candle, they saw the footprints of a man who wore iron-shod shoes.”

“The marks of my shoes!” broke in Trumence again; and sitting down, and raising his legs, he said to the magistrate,—

“Just look at my shoes, and you will see there is no lack of iron nails!”

But there was no need for such evidence; and he was told,—

“Never mind that! We believe you.”

“And you, my good girl,” said M. Daubigeon again, “can you tell us, if, after these occurrences, Count Claudieuse had any explanation with your mistress?”

“No, I do not know. Only I saw that the count and the countess were no longer as they used to be with each other.”

That was all she knew. She was asked to sign her deposition; and then M. Daubigeon told her she might go.

Then, turning to Trumence, he said,—

“You will be taken to jail now. But you are an honest man, and you need not give yourself any trouble. Go now.”

The magistrate and the commonwealth attorney remained alone now, since, of course, a clerk counts for nothing.

“Well,” said M. Daubigeon, “what do you think of that?”

M. Galpin was dumfounded.

“It is enough to make one mad,” he murmured.

“Do you begin to see how that M. Folgat was right when he said the case was far from being so clear as you pretended?”

“Ah! who would not have been deceived as I was? You yourself, at one time at least, were of my opinion. And yet, if the Countess Claudieuse and M. de Boiscoran are both innocent, who is the guilty one?”

“That is what we shall know very soon; for I am determined I will not allow myself a moment’s rest till I have found out the truth of the whole matter. How fortunate it was that this fatal error in form should have made the sentence null and void!”

He was so much excited, that he forgot his never-failing quotations. Turning to the clerk, he said,—

“But we must not lose a minute. Put your legs into active motion, my dear