Volume I Part 41 (1/2)
”No, mademoiselle; the one I know is very good-looking too, but she lives on Rue Saint-Jacques; she lost her mother long ago.”
”I know whom you mean!” cried Bahuchet; ”you mean Ambroisine, whom they call La Belle Baigneuse. Ah! she's a very handsome girl--tall and well built! She is Master Hugonnet's daughter, whose baths are very popular.--Oh! I know her; I know all Paris, I do! But she isn't the one in question, for my friend Plumard--his name ought to be _Plume_ [plucked], for before long he will not have three hairs on his scalp---- But, no matter; Plumard told me about the daughter of his neighbor, the bath keeper on Rue Dauphine. His name is Landry; he is an old soldier, who will not look on it as a joke if he learns that a gallant is making love to his daughter, whatever the gallant's name and rank may be!”
”And--was it long ago, monsieur, that you had this conversation at your friend's window on Rue Dauphine?”
”About six weeks, mademoiselle.”
”Have you seen your friend again since? Has he told you anything more concerning Monsieur Leodgard de Marvejols's love affairs?”
”I have seen Plumard very often since. We sometimes dine together at the cook shop. A few days, or rather a few nights ago, I escorted my comrade home; it was very late, almost midnight; we had been singing and playing cards and drinking a long, long while, and Plumard, who is not over brave, was afraid to go home alone. He was in dread of falling in with Giovanni the robber--the famous Italian brigand whom our archers, our arquebusiers, our watch, in fact, all our soldiery, have not succeeded in catching. They are not shrewd. To secure that villain's arrest, I shall have to take a hand in it. But I will show them how to catch him.
I know how they must go to work to do it, and----”
”You will have Giovanni arrested?” cried Miretta, whose face had turned deathly pale.
”Well, well! what has happened to you, child?” said Valentine, almost alarmed by her maid's abrupt exclamation. ”Mon Dieu! how excited you are!”
”I beg pardon, mademoiselle; excuse me; but monsieur said that he knew how they could arrest this Italian--this Giovanni.”
”How does that concern you? You do not seem to be afraid of him, for you never go out except at night, and you come home quite late, so Beatrix tells me.”
”That is true, mademoiselle; but, for all that, I would like to know----”
”But I wish to know what concerns Monsieur Leodgard. I am not at all interested in this famous robber.--For heaven's sake, Monsieur Bahuchet, go on. You were taking your friend Plumard home, to Rue Dauphine.”
”Yes, mademoiselle; we were walking quietly along, arm in arm, talking together, and he was a.s.suring me that he had discovered three more hairs on his head since the night before, and he attributed that capillary recrudescence to some grease made from a man who had been hanged, which an old woman had presented to him.”
”Ah! monsieur, you abuse my patience!”
”A thousand pardons, mademoiselle! I continue.--About a hundred yards from the bath keeper's house, Plumard stopped and squeezed my arm.
”'What is it?' I asked, without wincing. 'I am not afraid of anything; I am as brave as a lion. What did you see, Plumard?'
”'What I saw,' he replied, 'was a man climbing into a window on the first floor of yonder house.'
”And he pointed to Master Landry's house.
”'Let us hurry,' said I; 'we must make sure of the fact.'
”And I pulled Plumard along by the arm; but he did not go any more quickly for that. When we drew near the window in question, at which there is a balcony, we thought that we saw a rope, or a rope ladder, which someone hastily drew up. When we were in front of the house, we saw nothing.--Was it a lover? was it a thief?--I recalled Comte Leodgard's watches in front of the bathing establishment, and I said to Plumard:
”'This must be the sequel of what we saw from your window.'
”But Plumard, who sees thieves everywhere, did not agree with me; he wanted to call the watch and the neighbors; but, happening to glance at my feet, directly beneath the balcony, I saw something white on the ground. I stooped, and picked up a beautiful white plume, like those with which our young seigneurs adorn their hats. Then I remembered that Comte Leodgard had one of them on his hat, and I said to my friend, showing him the plume:
”'Look! here is something that our climber lost on the way. Thieves don't wear such plumes as this on their nocturnal expeditions; so this is some lovers' affair. Let us leave them in peace; go home to bed and stop trembling.'
”Thereupon I left Plumard at his door and went home.”
”And the plume that you found?”
”I carried it home with me, and I still have it; it's a very fine one!