第56章

"Excuse me, neighbor," said Monsieur Bernard, in a troubled voice; "Isee you have sent that gardener away satisfied, for he bowed civilly to me on the landing.It seems, young man, as if Providence had sent you to me at the very moment when I was about to succumb.Alas! the hard talk of that man must have shown you many things! It is true that I received the half-yearly payment of my pension two weeks ago; but Ihad more pressing debts than his, and I was forced to put aside my rent for fear of being turned out of the house.I have told you the state my daughter is in, and you have probably heard her."He looked uneasily at Godefroid, who made him an affirmative sign.

"Well, then, you know it would be her death warrant, for I should then be compelled to put her in a hospital.My grandson and I were fearing that end this morning; but we do not dread Cartier so much as we do the cold.""My dear Monsieur Bernard," said Godefroid, "I have plenty of wood;take all you want."

"Ah!" said the old man, "but how can I ever return such services?""By accepting them without difficulty," said Godefroid, quickly, "and by giving me your confidence.""But what are my claims to so much generosity?" asked Monsieur Bernard, becoming once more distrustful."Ah! my pride and that of my grandson are lowered indeed!" he cried bitterly."We are compelled to offer explanations to the few creditors--only two or three--whom we cannot pay.The utterly unfortunate have no creditors; to have them one must needs present an exterior of some show, and that we have now lost.But I have not yet abdicated my common-sense,--my reason," he added, as if he were talking to himself.

"Monsieur," replied Godefroid, gravely, "the history you gave me yesterday would touch even a usurer.""No, no! for Barbet, that publisher, the proprietor of this house, is speculating on my poverty, and has sent the Vauthier woman, his former cook, to spy upon it.""How can he speculate upon you?" asked Godefroid.

"I will tell you later," replied the old man."My daughter is cold, and since you offer it, I am reduced to accept alms, were it even from my worst enemy.""I will carry in some wood," said Godefroid, gathering up ten or a dozen sticks, and taking them into Monsieur Bernard's first room.The old man took as many himself; and when he saw the little provision safely deposited, he could not restrain the silly, and even idiotic smile with which those who are saved from a mortal danger, which has seemed to them inevitable, express their joy; for terror still lingers in their joy.

"Accept things from me, my dear Monsieur Bernard, without reluctance;and when your daughter is safe, and you are once more at ease, we will settle all.Meantime, let me act for you.I have been to see that Polish doctor; unfortunately he is absent; he will not be back for two days."At this moment a voice which seemed to Godefroid to have, and really had, a fresh, melodious ring, cried out, "Papa, papa!" on two expressive notes.

While speaking to the old man, Godefroid had noticed that the jambs of a door leading to another room were painted in a delicate manner, altogether different from that of the rest of the lodging.His curiosity, already so keenly excited, was now roused to the highest pitch.He was conscious that his mission of benevolence was becoming nothing more than a pretext; what he really wanted was to see that sick woman.He refused to believe for an instant that a creature endowed with such a voice could be an object of repulsion.

"You do, indeed, take too much trouble, papa!" said the voice."Why not have more servants?--and at your age, too! Good God!""But you know, my dear Vanda, that the boy and I cannot bear that any one should wait upon you but ourselves!"Those sentences, which Godefroid heard through the door, or rather divined, for a heavy portiere on the inside smothered the sounds, gave him an inkling of the truth.The sick woman, surrounded by luxury, was evidently kept in ignorance of the real situation of her father and son.The violet silk dressing-gown of Monsieur Bernard, the flowers, his remarks to Cartier, had already roused some suspicion of this in Godefroid's mind.The young man stood still where he was, bewildered by this prodigy of paternal love.The contrast, such as he imagined it, between the invalid's room and the rest of that squalid place,--yes, it was bewildering!