第30章 THE PAINTER'S BARGAIN(5)

After dinner, using the customary formula, he called upon Diabolus to appear.The old ladies screamed, and hoped he would not appear naked; the young ones tittered, and longed to see the monster:

everybody was pale with expectation and affright.

A very quiet, gentlemanly man, neatly dressed in black, made his appearance, to the surprise of all present, and bowed all round to the company."I will not show my CREDENTIALS," he said, blushing, and pointing to his hoofs, which were cleverly hidden by his pumps and shoe-buckles, "unless the ladies absolutely wish it; but I am the person you want, Mr.Gambouge; pray tell me what is your will.""You know," said that gentleman, in a stately and determined voice, "that you are bound to me, according to our agreement, for six months to come.""I am," replied the new comer.

"You are to do all that I ask, whatsoever it may be, or you forfeit the bond which I gave you?""It is true."

"You declare this before the present company?""Upon my honor, as a gentleman," said Diabolus, bowing, and laying his hand upon his waistcoat.

A whisper of applause ran round the room: all were charmed with the bland manners of the fascinating stranger.

"My love," continued Gambouge, mildly addressing his lady, "will you be so polite as to step this way? You know I must go soon, and I am anxious, before this noble company, to make a provision for one who, in sickness as in health, in poverty as in riches, has been my truest and fondest companion."Gambouge mopped his eyes with his handkerchief--all the company did likewise.Diabolus sobbed audibly, and Mrs.Gambouge sidled up to her husband's side, and took him tenderly by the hand."Simon!"said she, "is it true? and do you really love your Griskinissa?"Simon continued solemnly: "Come hither, Diabolus; you are bound to obey me in all things for the six months during which our contract has to run; take, then, Griskinissa Gambouge, live alone with her for half a year, never leave her from morning till night, obey all her caprices, follow all her whims, and listen to all the abuse which falls from her infernal tongue.Do this, and I ask no more of you; I will deliver myself up at the appointed time."Not Lord G---, when flogged by lord B---, in the House,--not Mr.

Cartlitch, of Astley's Amphitheatre, in his most pathetic passages, could look more crestfallen, and howl more hideously, than Diabolus did now."Take another year, Gambouge," screamed he; "two more--ten more--a century; roast me on Lawrence's gridiron, boil me in holy water, but don't ask that: don't, don't bid me live with Mrs.

Gambouge!"

Simon smiled sternly."I have said it," he cried; "do this, or our contract is at an end."The Devil, at this, grinned so horribly that every drop of beer in the house turned sour: he gnashed his teeth so frightfully that every person in the company wellnigh fainted with the cholic.He slapped down the great parchment upon the floor, trampled upon it madly, and lashed it with his hoofs and his tail: at last, spreading out a mighty pair of wings as wide as from here to Regent Street, he slapped Gambouge with his tail over one eye, and vanished, abruptly, through the keyhole.

Gambouge screamed with pain and started up."You drunken, lazy scoundrel!" cried a shrill and well-known voice, "you have been asleep these two hours:" and here he received another terrific box on the ear.

It was too true, he had fallen asleep at his work; and the beautiful vision had been dispelled by the thumps of the tipsy Griskinissa.Nothing remained to corroborate his story, except the bladder of lake, and this was spirted all over his waistcoat and breeches.

"I wish," said the poor fellow, rubbing his tingling cheeks, "that dreams were true;" and he went to work again at his portrait.

My last accounts of Gambouge are, that he has left the arts, and is footman in a small family.Mrs.Gam.takes in washing; and it is said that, her continual dealings with soap-suds and hot water have been the only things in life which have kept her from spontaneous combustion.

CARTOUCHE.

I have been much interested with an account of the exploits of Monsieur Louis Dominic Cartouche, and as Newgate and the highways are so much the fashion with us in England, we may be allowed to look abroad for histories of a similar tendency.It is pleasant to find that virtue is cosmopolite, and may exist among wooden-shoed Papists as well as honest Church-of-England men.

Louis Dominic was born in a quarter of Paris called the Courtille, says the historian whose work lies before me;--born in the Courtille, and in the year 1693.Another biographer asserts that he was born two years later, and in the Marais;--of respectable parents, of course.Think of the talent that our two countries produced about this time: Marlborough, Villars, Mandrin, Turpin, Boileau, Dryden, Swift, Addison, Moliere, Racine, Jack Sheppard, and Louis Cartouche,--all famous within the same twenty years, and fighting, writing, robbing a l'envi!

Well, Marlborough was no chicken when he began to show his genius;Swift was but a dull, idle, college lad; but if we read the histories of some other great men mentioned in the above list--I mean the thieves, especially--we shall find that they all commenced very early: they showed a passion for their art, as little Raphael did, or little Mozart; and the history of Cartouche's knaveries begins almost with his breeches.