THE   MAN   WITH   THE   BROKEN   EAR.
23

He arrived at the railroad station, had his trunk
registered, and threw himself down full length on
the seat of a first class apartment. He smoked his
porcelain pipe. His two fellow passengers were
asleep. He soon followed their example and
snored. The breathing of this enormous man
had something sinister in it You would have
thought you were hearing the ophicleides of the
last judgment What vision visited him in that
hour of his sleep? No other person ever knew, for
he kept his dreams to himself as every thing else
that belonged to him.
But between two stations, while the train was
going at the utmost speed, he distinctly felt two
hands which were pulling at his feet A sensa-
tion too well known, alas, and which recalled the
worst recollections ot his life. He opened his
eyes with terror and saw the man of the photo-
graph in the costume of the photograph. His hair
stood on end, his eyes bulged out like loto balls,
he emitted a piercing shriek and threw himself
down between the two seats and the fset of his
neighbors.
Some vigorous, well directed kicks recalled him
to his senses. He raised himself as well as he
could and looked around him. No one but the
two passengers, who were mechanically giving
their last kicks against nothing while wiping their
eyes with their elbows. He awakened .them by
his inquiries as to the visit he had just received,
but those gentlemen declared they had seen noth-
ing.
Meiser sadly took his place. He remarked that
his visions had a terrible reality to him. That idea
prevented his sleeping again.
" If this continues long," thought he, " the col-
onel's ghost will finish by smashing my nose with
his fist and pocketing my two eyes."
A little after he remembered that he had very
lightly breakfasted, and imagined that tiie night-
mare might have been caused by the diet. He de-
scended at the next ten minutes' stop, and called
for a soup. They served him one of vermicelli
very hot, and he blowed into the bowl like a dol-
phin into the Bosphorus.
A man passed before him without touching him,
without speaking to him or even seeing him, and
yet the bowl jumped from the hands of the rich
Nicolas Meiser, the vermicelli applied itself to his
shirt and vest, where it formed an elegant inter-
lacing which reminded tbe beholder Of the archi-
tecture of the Porte Saint£Martin. Some yellow-
ish threads detached from the mass hung like
stalactites upon the buttons of his coat. The ver-
micelli stopped at the surface, but the soup pene-
trated much farther. It was hot; an egg would
have become hard as a rock if left in it ten min-
utes. The bell sounded for the departure, the boy
at the lunch stand called for his ten sous, and
Meiser returned to the car preceded by a plaster of
vermicelli and followed by a little thread of soup,
which issued from the bottoms of his pantaloons.
All this because he had seen or had believed to
see the terrible form of Colonel Fougas eating a
sandwich.
Oh, how long the journey seemed to himl How
he ached to see himself at home, between his wife
Catherine and Berbel, with all the doors well
closed. His two fellow passengers laughed as
though they would lose all their buttons. They
laughed in the compartment before and the com-
partment behind. As he tore off the vermicelli,
the little pieces seemed to form little eyes in the
open air and to silently laugh at him. How hard
it is for a millionaire to amuse men who have not
a cent. He remained in his seat until he reached
• Dantzig; he did not even stick his nose out of the
door. He conversed alone with-his porcelain pipe,
where Leda was caressing a swan and did not
laugh.
Sad, sad voyage!—he arrived, nevertheless. It
was eight o'clock in the evening. Old Berbel was
waiting with his crochets to carry his master's
trunk. No more terrifying figures, no more mock-
ing laughs. The history of the soup had fallen
into forgetfulness, like a discourse of Keller's.
Already Meiser, in the baggage room, had seized
his solo-leather trunk, when he saw at the oppo-
site extiemity the specter of Fougas, who pulled
the other way, and seemed resolved to dispute the
possession of his baggage. He became stubborn,
pulled harder, and even plunged his left hand into
his pocket where he kept his revolver. But the
luminous regard of the colonel fascinated him;
his knees trembled, he fell, and thought he saw
Fougas fall back also, with the trunk falling upon
him. When he regained his senses, his old servant
was patting his hands; the trunk was placed on
the crochets and the colonel had disappeared.
The servant swore that he had seen nobody, and
that he had received the trunk himself from the
agent's own hands.
Twenty minutes later the millionaire was at
home and joyfully clapping his face against the
acute angles of his wife. He dared not relate his
visions, for Frau Meiser was a strong minded
woman in her way. It was she who talked to him
of Fougas.
"A whole history has happened to me," she
said.   "Would you believe that the police have
written to us from Berlin to ask if our uncle had
left us a mummy, and at what time, and how long
we kept it and what we had done with it?   I re-
plied the truth, adding that the Colonel Fougas
was in such a bad state, and so injured by moths,
that we had sold him as old rags.   What, now,
have the police to do with our affairs?"
Meiser gave a profound sigh.
"Let us talk of money," continued the lady.
"The president of the bank came to see me.- The
million you demanded is ready; they will deliver
it upon your signature.   It seems they have had
great difficulty in procuring the sum in coin.   If
you had wished paper on Vienna or Paris you
would have put them at ease.   But they have
finally done as you desired. No other news except
that Schmidt, the merchant, has killed himself.
He had a note of ten thousand thalers fall due,
and not the half of that sum in his hands.   He
came to get the money of me; I offered him ten
thousand thalers at twenty-five per cent, payable
in ninety days, with a first mortgage upon his
buildings.   The fool preferred to hang himself in
his store.   Every one to his taste."
"Did he hang himselt very high?"
"I do not know.   Why?»
"Because we might buy a piece of rope very
cheap, and we need some, my dear Catharine.
That Colonel Fougas gives me a shock."
" Always those silly ideas.    Come to supper."
The angular Baucis conducted her Philemon
into a large, handsome dining-room, where the
domestic served a repast worthy of the gods.   Six
bottles of Bhine wine, chosen  from the  best
growths, awaited, under their  silver caps, the
kisses of their master.   But the owner of all these
good things was neither hungry nor thirsty.   He
ate with the points of his teeth, and drank with
his lips, as though waiting for some great event,
which, indeed, did not long tarry.   A knock at the
massive hammer soon shook the house.
Nicolas Meiser shook with terror; his wife en-
deavored to reassure him. " It is nothing," said
she. " The president of the bank told me that he
would come and see you. He offers to pay us the
premium if we will take paper instead of coin."
" It concerns a great deal of money," cried he.
" It is a spirit from the infernal regions who Is
coming to see us! "
At the same instant the domestic precipitated
herself into the room, shrieking, "Monsieur!
Madam! lt is the Frenchman of the three cof-
fins.   Holy Marie! "
Fougas bowed politely and said: " My good
friends, let me not disturb you, I pray you. We
have a iittle affair to discuss together, and I will
endeavor to place it before you in two words. You
are pressed for time, and I also; you have not
supped, nor 1 either."
Madam Meiser, thinner and more motionless
than a statue of the thirteenth century, opened
her large toothless mouth. Terror paralyzed her.
The man, better prepared for the visit of the
phantom, cocked his revolver >under the table,
aimed it at the colonel, crying, " Vade retro,
Satanus! " The exorcism and the pistol snapped
at the same time.
Meiser did not get discouraged; he pulled the
trigger six times upon the demon, who stood look-
ing at him.  Nothing left the barrels.
"What game are you playing now?" asked the
colonel, putting himself astride a chair. " One
don't usually receive the visit of a gentleman
with that ceremony."
Meiser dropped his revolver, and dragged him-
self like a whipped cur to Fougas' feet His wife,
who was no more reassured, followed him. Both
joined their iiands, and the man cried:
"Spirit! I confess my wrongs and am ready to
repair them. I am guilty toward thee. I have
transgressed the orders of my uncle. What dost
thou wish? What dost thou command! A tomb?
A rich monument?   Prayers?   Many prayers? "
" Fool ! " said Fougas, thrusting him back with
his foot " I am not a spirit, and I want nothing
but the money you have stolen from me."
Meiser still groveled, but his wife, standing
erect, with hands on hips was already opposing
the colonel.
" Moneyl " she screamed. " We do not owe you
any. Have you any notes? Show us our signa-
ture. Where would one be, just Heaven! if they
were obliged to give money to every adventurer
who presents himself ? And, first, what right
have you to enter our house, if you are not a
ghost? Ah! you are a man like the others. Ahl
then you are not a ghost. Very well, Monsieur.
There are judges in Berlin, and there are judges
in the province, too, and we will see if you touch
a sou of our money. Get up there, old simpleton;
it is nothing but a man. And you, Monsieur
Ghost, decamp at once! "
The colonel sat like a rock.
"What a tongue the woman has! Sit down,
my old beauty—and take your fingers out of my
eyes; that hurts. And you, old puff-ball, get upon
your chair and hear me. There will be time
enough to plead if we do not come to an under-
standing. Stamped paper offends my nostrils;
that is why I would rather settle amicably."
Monsieur and Madam Meiser recovered from
their first emotion. They feared the magistrate,
like all those who have not a clear conscience. If
the colonel was a poor fellow whom they might
buy off by means of a few dollars, it would be
better to avoid the lawsuit.
Fougas conducted the case with a military
frankness. He proved the evidence of his right;
related what he had done to establish his identity
at Fontainebleau, Paris, and Berlin; cited from
memory two or three passages of the will; and
finished by declaring that the Prussian govern-
ment, in harmony with France, would support his
just demands.
"You can easily comprehend," added he, shak-
ing Meiser by his coat-button, " that I am not a
fox of chicanery. If you had a fist vigorous
enough to handle a good saber, we would go into
the field, arm in arm, and I would play you for
the sum in three points, as sure as you smell of
soup."
" Fortunately, Monsieur," said Meiser, " my age
puts me out of reach of your brutality. You
would not wish to lay at your feet the body of a
venerable, gray-headed man."
" Venerable rascal ! But you would have killed
me like a dog if your pistol had not missed fire."
" It was not loaded, Monsieur le Colonel. It
was—almost not loaded. But I am an accommo-
dating man, and we may very easily come to an
understanding; I owe you nothing, and besides
there is the right of proscription; but finally—how
much do you demand? "
" Now you are talking.   Now It Is my turn."
» The partner of the old rascal softened the tone
of her voice.   Imagine a saw licking a tree before
biting it.
"Hear, Claus, hear what Monsieur Colonel
Fougas is going to say. You are going to see
how reasonable he is! He would not think of
ruining poor folks like us. Ah! He is not capa-
ble of it. He has a noble heart; a man so disin-
terested; a worthy officer ot the great Napoleon;
may Heaven rest his soul!"
"Enough, old woman!" said Fougas, with an
energetic gesture that cut off the discourse in
the middle. " I have made an account at Berlin
of what is due me in capital and interest"
"Interest!" cried Meiser. "But in what coun-
try, under what latitude, are they compelled to