The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 1 of 6. Эжен Сю

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СКАЧАТЬ and I loved all of them. At last, when I could bear it no longer, I used to wake covered all over with sweat, as cold as melting snow."

      "That was a horrid dream, Chourineur!"

      "It was; yes. That dream, do you see, was enough to drive one mad or foolish; so, twice, I tried to kill myself, once by swallowing verdigris, and another time by trying to choke myself with my chain; but, confound it, I am as strong as a bull. The verdigris only made me thirsty; and as for the twist of the chain round my neck, why, that only gave me a natural cravat of a blue colour. Afterwards, the desire of life came back to me, nay nightmare ceased to torment me, and I did as others did."

      "At the Bagne, you were in a good school for learning how to thieve?"

      "Yes, but it was not to my taste. The other 'prigs' bullied me; but I soon silenced them with a few thumps of my chain. It was in this way I first knew the Schoolmaster; and I must pay him the compliment due to his blows, – he paid me off as you did some little time ago."

      "He is, then, a criminal who has served his time?"

      "He was sentenced for life, but escaped."

      "Escaped, and not denounced?"

      "I'm not the man to denounce him. Besides, it would seem as if I were afraid of him."

      "But how is it that the police do not detect him? Have they not got his description?"

      "His description? Oh! yes, yes; but it is long since he has scraped out from his phiz what nature had placed there; now, none but the 'baker who puts the condemned in his oven' (the devil) could recognise him" (the Schoolmaster).

      "What has he done to himself?"

      "He began by destroying his nose, which was an ell long; he ate it off with vitriol."

      "You jest."

      "If he comes in this evening, you'll see. He had a nose like a parrot, and now it is as flat as in a death's head; to say nothing of his lips, which are as thick as your fist, and his face, which is as wrinkled as the waistcoat of a rag-picker."

      "And so he is not recognised?"

      "It is six months since he escaped from Rochefort, and the 'traps' have met him a hundred times without knowing him."

      "Why was he at the Bagne?"

      "For having been a forger, thief, and assassin. He is called the Schoolmaster because he wrote a splendid hand, and has had a good education."

      "And is he much feared?"

      "He will not be any longer, when you have given him such a licking as you gave me. Oh, by Jove, I am anxious to see it!"

      "What does he do for a living?"

      "He is associated with an old woman as bad as himself, and as deep as the 'old one;' but she is never seen, though he has told the ogress that some day or other he would bring his 'mot' (woman) with him."

      "And this women helps him in his robberies?"

      "Yes, and in his murders too. They say he brags of having already, with her assistance, 'done for' two or three persons; and, amongst others, three weeks ago, a cattle-dealer on the road to Poissy, whom they also robbed."

      "He will be taken sooner or later."

      "They must be very cunning, as well as powerful, to do that, for he always has under his blouse a brace of loaded pistols and a dagger. He says that Charlot (the executioner) waits for him, and he can only lose his head once, and so he will kill all he can kill to try and escape. Oh! he makes no mystery of it; and as he is twice as strong as you and I, they will have a tough job who take him."

      "What did you do, Chourineur, when you left the Bagne?"

      "I offered myself to the master-lighterman of the Quai St. Paul, and I get my livelihood there."

      "But as you have never been a 'prig,' why do you live in the Cité?"

      "Why, where else can I live? Who likes to be seen with a discharged criminal? I should be tired of always being alone, for I like company, and here I am with my equals. I have a bit of a row sometimes, and they fear me like fire in the Cité; but the police have nothing to say to me, except now and then for a 'shindy,' for which they give me, perhaps, twenty-four hours at the watch-house, and there's an end of that."

      "What do you earn a day?"

      "Thirty-five sous for taking in the river foot-baths, up to the stomach from twelve to fifteen hours a day, summer and winter; but let me be just, and tell the truth; so if, through having my toes in the water, I get the grenouille,7 I am allowed to break my arms in breaking up old vessels, and unloading timber on my back. I begin as a beast of burden, and end like a fish's tail. When I lose my strength entirely, I shall take a rake and a wicker basket, like the old rag-picker whom I see in the recollections of my childhood."

      "And yet you are not unhappy."

      "There are worse than I am; and without my dreams of the sergeant and soldiers with their throats cut, – for I have the dream still sometimes, – I could quietly wait for the moment when I should drop down dead at the corner of some dunghill, like that at which I was born; but the dream – the dream – by heaven and earth! I don't like even to think of that," said the Chourineur, and he emptied his pipe at the corner of the table.

      The Goualeuse had hardly listened to the Chourineur; she seemed wholly absorbed in a deep and melancholy reverie. Rodolph himself was pensive. A tragic incident occurred, which brought these three personages to a recollection of the spot in which they were.

      CHAPTER V

      THE ARREST

      The man who had gone out for a moment, after having requested the ogress to look after his jug and plate, soon returned, accompanied by a tall, brawny man, to whom he said, "It was a chance to meet in this way, old fellow! Come in, and let us have a glass together."

      The Chourineur said, in a low voice, to Rodolph and the Goualeuse, pointing to the newcomer, "We shall have a row. He's a 'trap.' Look out for squalls."

      The two ruffians, one of whom, with the Greek skull-cap pulled over his brows, had inquired several times for the Schoolmaster and the Gros-Boiteux, exchanged rapid glances of the eye, and, rising suddenly from the table, went towards the door; but the two police officers, uttering a peculiar note, seized them. A fierce struggle ensued. The door of the tavern opened, and all of the policemen dashed into the room, whilst, outside, were seen the muskets of the gens-d'armes. Taking advantage of the tumult, the charcoal-seller, of whom we have spoken, advanced to the threshold of the tapis-franc, and, meeting the eye of Rodolph, he put to his lips the forefinger of his right hand. Rodolph, with a gesture as rapid as it was imperious, desired him to go, and then turned his attention to the scene before him. The man with the Greek skull-cap shrieked with rage, and, half extended on a table, struggled so desperately, that three men could scarcely hold him. His companion, enfeebled, dejected, with livid aspect and pale lips, his lower jaw fallen, and shaking convulsively, made no resistance, but held out his hands to be enclasped by the handcuffs. The ogress, seated at her bar, and used to such scenes, remained motionless, with her hands in the pockets of her apron.

      "What have these fellows done, my dear M. Narcisse Borel?" inquired she of one of the policemen whom she knew.

      "Killed СКАЧАТЬ