"I am going on a short journey; I shall not be away for very long.But come with me to the Gymnase; I shall start just before midnight, after I have had time to say good-bye to you.""Poor pet! so you are really going, are you?" she said.She put her arms round his neck, and drew down his head against her bodice.
"You are smothering me!" cried Castanier, with his face buried in Aquilina's breast.That damsel turned to say in Jenny's ear, "Go to Leon, and tell him not to come till one o'clock.If you do not find him, and he comes here during the leave-taking, keep him in your room.--Well," she went on, setting free Castanier, and giving a tweak to the tip of his nose, "never mind, handsomest of seals that you are.
I will go to the theatre with you this evening? But all in good time;let us have dinner! There is a nice little dinner for you--just what you like.""It is very hard to part from such a woman as you!" exclaimed Castanier.
"Very well then, why do you go?" asked she.
"Ah! why? why? If I were to begin to begin to explain the reasons why, I must tell you things that would prove to you that I love you almost to madness.Ah! if you have sacrificed your honor for me, I have sold mine for you; we are quits.Is that love?""What is all this about?" said she."Come, now, promise me that if Ihad a lover you would still love me as a father; that would be love!
Come, now, promise it at once, and give us your fist upon it.""I should kill you," and Castanier smiled as he spoke.
They sat down to the dinner table, and went thence to the Gymnase.
When the first part of the performance was over, it occurred to Castanier to show himself to some of his acquaintances in the house, so as to turn away any suspicion of his departure.He left Mme.de la Garde in the corner box where she was seated, according to her modest wont, and went to walk up and down in the lobby.He had not gone many paces before he saw the Englishman, and with a sudden return of the sickening sensation of heat that once before had vibrated through him, and of the terror that he had felt already, he stood face to face with Melmoth.
"Forger!"
At the word, Castanier glanced round at the people who were moving about them.He fancied that he could see astonishment and curiosity in their eyes, and wishing to be rid of this Englishman at once, he raised his hand to strike him--and felt his arm paralyzed by some invisible power that sapped his strength and nailed him to the spot.
He allowed the stranger to take him by the arm, and they walked together to the green-room like two friends.
"Who is strong enough to resist me?" said the Englishman, addressing him."Do you not know that everything here on earth must obey me, that it is in my power to do everything? I read men's thoughts, I see the future, and I know the past.I am here, and I can be elsewhere also.
Time and space and distance are nothing to me.The whole world is at my beck and call.I have the power of continual enjoyment and of giving joy.I can see through walls, discover hidden treasures, and fill my hands with them.Palaces arise at my nod, and my architect makes no mistakes.I can make all lands break forth into blossom, heap up their gold and precious stones, and surround myself with fair women and ever new faces; everything is yielded up to my will.I could gamble on the Stock Exchange, and my speculations would be infallible;but a man who can find the hoards that misers have hidden in the earth need not trouble himself about stocks.Feel the strength of the hand that grasps you; poor wretch, doomed to shame! Try to bend the arm of iron! try to soften the adamantine heart! Fly from me if you dare! You would hear my voice in the depths of the caves that lie under the Seine; you might hide in the Catacombs, but would you not see me there? My voice could be heard through the sound of thunder, my eyes shine as brightly as the sun, for I am the peer of Lucifer!"Castanier heard the terrible words, and felt no protest nor contradiction within himself.He walked side by side with the Englishman, and had no power to leave him.
"You are mine; you have just committed a crime.I have found at last the mate whom I have sought.Have you a mind to learn your destiny?
Aha! you came here to see a play, and you shall see a play--nay, two.
Come.Present me to Mme.de la Garde as one of your best friends.Am Inot your last hope of escape?"
Castanier, followed by the stranger, returned to his box; and in accordance with the order he had just received, he hastened to introduce Melmoth to Mme.de la Garde.Aquilina seemed to be not in the least surprised.The Englishman declined to take a seat in front, and Castanier was once more beside his mistress; the man's slightest wish must be obeyed.The last piece was about to begin, for, at that time, small theatres gave only three pieces.One of the actors had made the Gymnase the fashion, and that evening Perlet (the actor in question) was to play in a vaudeville called Le Comedien d'Etampes, in which he filled four different parts.
When the curtain rose, the stranger stretched out his hand over the crowded house.Castanier's cry of terror died away, for the walls of his throat seemed glued together as Melmoth pointed to the stage, and the cashier knew that the play had been changed at the Englishman's desire.
He saw the strong-room at the bank; he saw the Baron de Nucingen in conference with a police-officer from the Prefecture, who was informing him of Castanier's conduct, explaining that the cashier had absconded with money taken from the safe, giving the history of the forged signature.The information was put in writing; the document signed and duly despatched to the Public Prosecutor.
"Are we in time, do you think?" asked Nucingen.
