Memoirs of a Physician (60 page)
” Ah ! ” said the magistrate, ” that is not a very exacting demand. You shall have the convent. Speak.”
” Then I have your word, sir ?”
” I think I said so.”
” Then ‘ said Lorenza, “take this coffer; it contains mysteries which will make you tremble for the safety of the king and his dominions.”
” Then, you know these mysteries ? “
” Only partially ; but I know they exist.”
” And that they are important ? “
“That they are terrible.”
“Political secrets, you say ?”
”Have you never heard that there existed a secret society ? ‘
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” All ! the freemasons ? “
” The invisibles.”
“Yes, but I do not believe it.”
““When you have opened this coffer you will believe.”
” Ah !.” said M. de Sartines, eagerly, ” let me see.”
And lie took the coffer from Loreuza’s hands. But suddenly, after a moment’s reflection, he placed it upon the desk.
” No,” said he, with an air of suspicion ; ” open the coffer yourself.”
“But I have not the key.”
” How ! you have not the key ? You bring me a coffer which contains the safety of a kingdom, and you forget the key ? “
” Is it so very difficult, then, to open a lock ? “
” No, not when one knows it.” Then, after a moment’s pause, he added : ” We have in this place keys for all kinds .of locks ; you shall have a bunch (and he looked fixedly at Lorenza), and you shall open it yourself.”
” Give it me,” said Lorenza, without the slightest hesitation.
M. de Sartiues held out a bunch of little keys of all kinds to the young girl. She took them. M. de Sartines touched her hand it was cold as marble.
” But why,” said he, ” did you not bring the key of the coffer ? “
” Because the master of the coffer never lets it out of his possession ? “
”And who is the master of the coffer this man who is more powerful than a king ? ”’
” What he is, no one can say. The Almighty alone knows how long he has lived ; the deeds he accomplishes none see but God.”
But his name his najne ? “
I have known him change it ten times.”
Well, that by which you generally address him ? “
Acharat.”
And he lives “
Hue St “
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Suddenly Lorenza started, shuddered, and let the coffer, which she held in one hand, and the keys which she held in the other, fall to the ground. She made an effort to reply, her lips were distorted convulsively ; she raised her hands to her throat, as if the words she was about to utter had suffocated her ; then, tossing her trembling arms aloft, she fell her whole length upon the carpet of the study, unable to utter a single word.
” Poor girl ! ” murmured M. de Sartines, ” what the deuce is the matter with her ? She is really very pretty. Ah ! there is some jealousy at work in this project of revenge.
He rang the bell hastily, and in the meantime raised the young girl in his arms, who, with staring eyes and motionless lips, seemed already dead, and disconnected with this lower world. Two valets entered.
” Carry this young lady carefully into the adjoining apartment,” said he ; “endeavor to revive her, but above all, use no violence. Go ! “
The valets obeved and carried Lorenza out.
CHAPTER LVI.
THE COFFER.
he was alone, M. de Sartines turned the coffer round and round, with the air of a man who can appre-ciate the value of a discovery. Then he stretched out his hands and picked up the bundle of keys which had fallen from Lorenza’s hands.
He tried them all ; none would fit.
He took several similar bunches from his drawer.
These bunches contained keys of all dimensions ; keys of all sorts of articles, coffers included ; .common keys and microscopic keys, M. de Sartines might be said to possess a pattern of every key known.
He tried twenty, fifty, a hundred ; not one would even turn round The magistrate concluded, therefore, that
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the lock was only a feigned one, and that, consequently, his keys were only counterfeit keys.
He then took a small chisel and a little hammer from the same drawer, and with his white hand, buried in an ample frill of Mechlin lace, he burst open the lock, the faithful guardian of the coffer.
A bundle of papers appeared, instead of the destructive machine he had feared to find there, or instead of poisons which should diffuse a fatal odor around, and deprive France of its most useful magistrate.
The first words which met the magistrate’s eye were the following, written in a handwriting which was evidently feigned :
” Master, it is time to abandon the name of Balsamo.”
There was no signature, but merely the three letters, L. P. D.
” Ha !” said lie, twitching the curls of his wig, ” if I do not know the writing, I think I know the name. Balsamo let me see I must search the B’s.”
He opened one of his twenty-four drawers, and took from it a list, arranged in alphabetical order, written in a fine handwriting full of abbreviations, and containing three or four hundred names, preceded, followed, and accompanied by flaming notes.
“Oh, ho!” said he, .“there is a long article on this Balsamo.”
And he read the whole page with unequivocal signs of dissatisfaction. Then he replaced the list in the drawer, and continued the examination of the coffer.
He had not proceeded far till his brow assumed a darker hue, and soon he came to a note full of names and ciphers.
This paper seemed important ; it was much worn at the dges, and filled with pencil-marks. M. de Sartines rang the bell ; a servant appeared.
” The assistance of the chancery clerk,” said he. ” immediately. Let him come through the reception-rooms from the office to save time.”
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The valet retired. Two minutes afterward, a clerk with a pen in his hand, his hat under one arm, a large register under the other, and wearing sleeves of black serge over his coat-sleeves, appeared on the threshold of the study. M. de Sartines perceived his entrance in the mirror before him, and handed him the paper over his shoulder.
” Decipher this,” said he.
” Yes, my lord,” replied the clerk.
This decipherer of riddles was a little thin man, with pinched lips, eyebrows contracted by study, pale features, and head pointed both at top and bottom, a narrow chin, a receding forehead, projecting cheek bones, hollow and dull eyes, which often sparkled with intelligence.
M. de Sartines called him La Fouine.
“Sit down ‘ said the magistrate to him, on seeing him rather embarrassed by his note-book, his code of ciphers, his paper and his pen.
La Fouine modestly took his seat upon the corner of a stool, approached his knees together, and began to write upon them, turning over his dictionary and searching his memory with an impassible countenance. In five minutes he had written :
*’ An order to assemble three thousand brothers in Paris.
” An order to form three circles and six lodges.
“An order to form a guard for the grand Copht, and, to contrive four dwellings for him, one in a royal household.
” An order to place five hundred thousand francs at his disposal for a police.
” An order to enroll the flower of literature and philosophy moving in the first Parisian circles.
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“An order to hire or to gain over the magistracy, and particularly to make sure of the lieutenant of police, by corruption, violence, or cunning.”
Here La Fouine stopped for a moment ; not that the poor man was reflecting, he took care not to do that, it would have been a crime, but because his page was filled, and the ink yet wet, so he was obliged to wait for its dry-ing before he could proceed.
M. de Sartines, becoming impatient, snatched the paper from his hands and read it.
At the last paragraph, sucli an expression of fear was painted on his face that he turned a deeper pale at seeing himself change color in the mirror of his cupboard.
He did not return the paper to his clerk, but handed him a fresh sheet. The clerk once more commenced to write in proportion as he deciphered, which he did with a facility terrifying for all writers in cipher.
This time M. de Sartines read over his shoulder :
” To drop the name of Balsamo, which is already too well known in Paris, and to take that of the Count de Fe “
A large blot of ink concealed the rest of the word.
“While M. de Sartines was endeavoring to make out the last syllable, which would complete the name, a bell was rung outside, and a valet entering, announced :
“The Count de Fenix.”
M. de Sartiues uttered a cry, and at the risk of demolishing the harmonious edifice of his wig, he clasped his hands above his head, and hastened to dismiss his clerk by a secret door.
Then resuming his place before the desk, he said to the valet :
” Introduce him.”
A few seconds afterward, M. de Sartines perceived in his glass the marked profile of the count, which he had
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already seen at court, on the day of
Mme.
Dubarry’s presentation.
Balsamo entered without any hesitation whatever.
M. de Sartines rose, bowed coldly to the count, and, crossing one leg over the other, he seated himself ceremoniously in his armchair.
At the first glance the magistrate had divined the cause and the aim of this visit.
At the first glance also Balsamo had perceived the opened box, half emptied upon M. de Sartines’ desk. His look, however hasty, at the coffer, did not escape the lieutenant of the police.
” To what chance do I owe the honor of your presence, my lord count ? ” asked M. de Sartines.
” Sir,” replied Balsamo, with a most affable smile, “I have had the honor of being presented to all the sovereigns, ministers, and ambassadors of Europe, but I have not found any one to present me to you ; I have, therefore, come to introduce myself.”
“In truth, sir,” replied the lieutenant of police, “you arrive most opportunely, for I feel convinced that had you not come of yourself, I should have had the honor of sending for vou.”
” Ah, indeed ! ” said Balsamo. ” What a coincidence!”
M. de Sartines inclined his head with a sarcastic sinile.
” Shall I be so fortunate as to be of any use to you ? ” asked Balsamo.
And these words were uttered without a shadow of emotion or of uneasiness clouding his smiling features.
” You have traveled much, my lord count ? ” asked th lieutenant of the police.
“A great deal, sir.”
” Ah ! “
” You wish for some geographical information, perhaps ? A man of your capacity does riot confine his observations to France alone, he surveys Europe the world.”
” Geographical is not exactly the word, count. Moral would be more correct.”
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” Have no scruples, I beg ; one is as welcome as the; other. I am wholly at your service.”
” Well, count, picture to yourself that I am in search of a most dangerous man a man who, on my word, js a complete atheist.”
” Oh ! “
” A conspirator.”
“Oh !”’
“A forger.”
” Oh ! “
” A debauchee, a false coiner, a quack, a charlatan, the chief of a society a man whose history I have in my books, in this box that you see here everywhere, indeed.”
“Ah ! yes, I comprehend,” said Balsamo ; “you have the history, but not the man.”
“No.”
” Diable ! The latter seems to me the most important point.”
” Of course ; but you shall see we are not far from hav-ing him. Certainly Proteus had not more forms, nor Jupiter more names, than this mysterious traveler. Acharat in Egypt Balsamo in Italy Somini in Sardinia the Marquis Danna in Malta the Marquis Bellegrini in Corsica and lastly, the Count de ? “
” Count de ? ” added Balsamo.
“The last name I could not decipher perfectly, sir. But I am sure you will be able to assist me, will you not ? For there is no doubt you must have met this man during your travels in each of the countries I have just now named.”
” Enlighten me a little, I entreat,” said Balsamo, quietly.
” Ah ! I understand ; you wish for a description of his person, do you not, count ?”
” Yes, sir, if you please.”
” “Well,” said M. de Sartines, fixing a glance which he intended to be inquisitorial upon Balsamo, ” he is a man of your age, of your size, of your figure. He is sometimes a great lord, scattering money on all sides sometimes a.
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charlatan, searching into the secrets of nature sometimes a gloomy member of some mysterious brotherhood which meets by night, and swears < Death to kings and the overthrow of all thrones. ‘ “
” Oh !” said Balsamo, ” that is very vague.”
” How vague ? “
” If you knew how many men I have seen who resemble this description.”
” Indeed ! “
” Of course ; and you must be a little more precise if you wish me to assist you. In the first place, do you know in which country he prefers to live ?”
” He dwells in all.”
” But at present, for instance ? “
” At present he is in France.”
” And what is his errand in France ? “
“He directs an immense conspiracy.”
“Ah! that is, indeed, some clue; and if you know what conspiracy he directs you probably hold the thread by which to catch your man.”
” I am just of your opinion.”
” Well, if you think so, why, in that case, do you ask my advice ? It is useless.”
” Ah ! but I am not yet decided.”
” On what point ? “
“Whether I shall arrest him or not.”
“I do not understand the not, Monsieur Lieutsnaut of Police, for if he conspires “
” Yes ; but if he is partially defended by some name or some title.”
” Ah, I understand. But what name, what title ? You must tell me that before I can assist you in your search, sir.”
