File No. 113 by Émile Gaboriau (summer beach reads .txt) 📕

His mind filled with these perplexing thoughts, Louis at last reached the house; and Gaston, to his great relief, said that he was so tired that he was going directly to bed.

At last he was free!

He lit a cigar, and, telling the servant not to sit up for him, went out.

He knew that Raoul, if it was Raoul, would be prowling near the house, waiting for him.

His suspicions were well founded.

He had barely proceeded thirty yards, when a man suddenly sprang from behind a tree, and stood before him.

The night was clear, and Louis recognized Raoul.

“What is the matter?” he impatiently demanded; “what has happened?”

“Nothing.”

“What! Do you mean to say that nothing has gone wrong in Paris⁠—that no one is on our track?”

“Not the slightest danger of any sort. And moreover, but for your inordinate greed of gain, everything would have succeeded admirably; all was going on well when I left Paris.”

“Then why have you come here?” cried Louis fiercely. “Who gave you permission to desert your post, when your absence might bring ruin upon us? What brought you here?”

“That is my business,” said Raoul with cool impertinence.

Louis seized the young man’s wrists, and almost crushed them in his vicelike grasp.

“Explain this strange conduct of yours,” he said, in a tone of suppressed rage. “What do you mean by it?”

Without apparent effort Raoul released his hands from their imprisonment, and jeeringly said:

“Hein! Gently, my friend! I don’t like being roughly treated; and, if you don’t know how to behave yourself, I have the means of teaching you.”

At the same time he drew a revolver from his pocket.

“You must and shall explain yourself,” insisted Louis: “if you don’t⁠—”

“Well, if I don’t? Now, you might just as well spare yourself the trouble of trying to frighten me. I intend to answer your questions when I choose; but it certainly won’t be here, in the middle of the road, with the bright moonlight showing us off to advantage. How do you know people are not watching us this very minute? Come this way.”

They strode through the fields, regardless of Gaston’s plants, which were trampled under foot in order to take a short cut.

“Now,” began Raoul, when they were at a safe distance from the road, “now, my dear uncle, I will tell you what brings me here. I have received and carefully read your letters. I read them over again. You wished to be prudent; and the consequence was, that your letters were unintelligible. Only one thing did I understand clearly: we are in danger.”

“Only the more reason for your watchfulness and obedience.”

“Very well put: only, before braving danger, my venerable and beloved uncle, I want to know its extent. I am not a man to retreat in the hour of peril, but I want to know exactly how much risk I am running.”

“I told you to keep quiet, and follow my directions.”

“But to do this would imply that I have perfect confidence in you, my dear uncle,” said Raoul, sneeringly.

“And why should you not? What reasons for distrust have you after all that I have done for you? Who went to London, and rescued you from a state of privation and ignominy? I did. Who gave you a name and position when you had neither? I did. And who is working now to maintain your present life of ease, and insure you a splendid future? I am. And how do you repay me?”

“Superb, magnificent, inimitable!” said Raoul, with mocking derision. “But, while on the subject, why don’t you prove that you have sacrificed yourself for my sake? You did not need me as a tool for carrying out plans for your own benefit; did you? oh no, not at all! Dear, kind, generous, disinterested uncle! You ought to have the Montyon prize; I think I must recommend you as the most deserving person I have ever met!”

Clameran was so angry at these jeering words that he feared to trust himself to speak.

“Now, my good uncle,” continued Raoul more seriously, “we had better end this child’s play, and come to a clear understanding. I follow you here, because I thoroughly understand your character, and have just as much confidence in you as you deserve, and not a particle more. If it were for your advantage to ruin me, you would not hesitate one instant. If danger threatened us, you would fly alone, and leave your dutiful nephew to make his escape the best way he could. Oh! don’t look shocked, and pretend to deny it; your conduct is perfectly natural, and in your place I would act the same way. Only remember this, that I am not a man to be trifled with. Now let us cease these unnecessary recriminations, and come to the point: what is your present plan?”

Louis saw that his accomplice was too shrewd to be deceived, and that the safest course was to trust all to him, and to pretend that he had intended doing so all along.

Without any show of anger, he briefly and clearly related all that had occurred at his brother’s.

He told the truth about everything except the amount of his brother’s fortune, the importance of which he lessened as much as possible.

“Well,” said Raoul, when the report was ended, “we are in a nice fix. And do you expect to get out of it?”

“Yes, if you don’t betray me.”

“I wish you to understand, marquis, that I have never betrayed anyone yet; don’t judge me by yourself, I beg. What steps will you take to get free of this entanglement?”

“I don’t know; but something will turn up. Oh, don’t be alarmed; I’ll find some means of escape: so you can return home with your mind at rest. You run no risk in Paris, and ’tis the best place for you. I will stay here to watch Gaston.”

Raoul reflected for some moments, and then said:

“Are you sure I am not in danger at Paris?”

“What are you afraid of? We have