Other People's Money by Emile Gaboriau (ebook smartphone txt) 📕

“The peace-officer shook his head.

“‘Indeed, my poor child, I hardly know what to advise.  The police is not omnipotent.  It can do nothing to anticipate a crime conceived in the brain of an unknown scoundrel.’

“I was terrified.  He saw it, and took pity on me.

“‘In your place,’ he added, ‘I would change my domicile.  You might, perhaps, thus make them lose your track.  And, above all, do not fail to give me your new address.  Whatever I can do to protect you, and insure your safety, I shall do.’

“That excellent man has kept his word; and once again I owed my safety to him.  ‘Tis he who is now commissary of police in this district, and who protected me against Mme. Fortin.  I hastened to follow his advice, and two days later I had hired the room in this house in which I am still living.  In order to avoid every chance of discovery, I left my employer, and requested her to say, if any one came to inquire after me, that I had gone to America.

“I soon found work again in a very fashionable dress-making establishment, the name of which you must have heard,—Van Klopen’s.  Unfortunately, war had just been declared.  Every day announced a new defeat.  The Prussians were coming; then the siege began.  Van Klopen had closed his shop, and left Paris.  I had a few savings, thank heaven; and I husbanded them as carefully as shipwrecked mariners do their last ration of food, when I unexpectedly found some work.

“It was one Sunday, and I had gone out to see some battalions of National Guards passing along the Boulevard, when suddenly I saw one of the vivandieres, who was marching behind the band, stop, and run towards me with open arms.  It was my old friend from the Batignolles, who had recognized me.  She threw her arms around my neck, and, as we had at once become the centre of a group of at least five hundred idlers,

“‘I must speak to you,’ she said.  ‘If you live in the neighborhood, let’s go to your room.  The service can wait.’

“I brought her here, and at once she commenced to excuse herself for her past conduct, begging me to restore her my friendship.  As I expected, she had long since forgotten the young man, cause of our rupture.  But she was now in love, and seriously this time, she declared, with a furniture-maker, who was a captain in the National Guards.  It was through him that she had become a vivandiere; and she offered me a similar position, if I wished it.  But I did not wish it; and, as I was complaining that I could find no work, she swore that she would get me some through her captain, who was a very influential man.

“Through him, I did in fact obtain a few dozen jackets to make.  This work was very poorly paid; but the little I earned was that much less to take from my humble resources.  In that way I managed to get through the siege without suffering too much.

“After the armistice, unfortunately, M. Van Klopen had not yet returned.  I was unable to procure any work; my resources were exhausted; and I would have starved during the Commune, but for my old friend, who several times brought me a little money, and some provisions.  Her captain was now a colonel, and was about to become a member of the government; at least, so she assured me.  The entrance of the troops into Paris put an end to her dream.  One night she came to me livid with fright.  She supposed herself gravely compromised, and begged me to hide her.  For four days she remained with me.  On the fifth, just as we were sitting down to dinner, my room was invaded by a number of police-agents, who showed us an order of arrest, and commanded us to follow them.

“My friend sank down upon a chair, stupid with fright.  But I retained my presence of mind, and persuaded one of the agents to go and notify my friend the justice.  He happened luckily to be at home, and at once hastened to my assistance.  He could do nothing, however, for the moment; the agents having positive orders to take us straight to Versailles.

“‘Well,’ said he, ‘I shall accompany you.’

“From the very first steps he took the next morning, he discovered that my position was indeed grave.  But he also and very clearly recognized a new device of the enemy to bring about my destruction.  The information filed against me stated that I had remained in the service of the Commune to the last moment; that I had been seen behind the barricades with a gun in my hand; and that I had formed one of a band of vile incendiaries.  This infamous scheme had evidently been suggested by my relations with my friend from the Batignolles, who was still more terribly compromised than she thought, the poor girl; her colonel having been captured, and convicted of pillage and murder, and herself charged with complicity.

“Isolated as I was, without resources, and without relatives, I would certainly have perished, but for the devoted efforts of my friend the justice, whose official position gave him access everywhere, and enabled him to reach my judges.  He succeeded in demonstrating my entire innocence; and after forty-eight hours’ detention, which seemed an age to me, I was set at liberty.

“At the door; I found the man who had just saved me.  He was waiting for me, but would not suffer me to express the gratitude with which my heart overflowed.

“‘You will thank me,’ he said, ‘when I have deserved it better.  I have done nothing as yet that any honest man wouldn’t have done in my place.  What I wish is to discover what interests you are threatening without knowing it, and which must be considerable, if I may judge by the passion and the tenacity of those who are pursuing you.  What I desire to do is to lay hands upon the cowardly rascals in whose way you seem to stand.’

“I shook my head.

“‘You will not succeed,’ I said to him.

“‘Who knows?  I’ve done harder things than that in my life.’

“And taking a large envelope from his pocket,

“‘This,’ he said, ‘is the letter which caused your arrest.  I have examined it attentively; and I am certain that the handwriting is not disguised.  That’s something to start with, and may enable me to verify my suspicions, should any occur to my mind.  In the mean time, return quietly to Paris, resume your ordinary occupations, answer vaguely any questions that may be asked about this matter, and above all, never mention my name.  Remain at the Hotel des Folies:  it is in my district, in my legitimate sphere of action; besides, the proprietors are in a position where they dare not disobey my orders.  Never come to my office, unless something grave and unforeseen should occur.  Our chances of success would be seriously compromised, if they could suspect the interest I take in your welfare.  Keep your eyes open on every thing that is going on around you, and, if you notice any thing suspicious, write to me.  I will myself organize a secret surveillance around you.  If I can bag one of the rascals who are watching you, that’s all I want.’

“‘And now,’ added this good man,