THE SLAVES OF PARIS.
33
have done is worth more than five francs per
diem."
Beaumarchef was an old soldier and a brave
man, but he was easily disconcerted. Toto's
surprising impudence led him to believe that
the youth was controlled by some experienced
counsellor. If this was so it would be impos-
sible to calculate the result of these menaces.
Not having any idea how to act under these
difficult circumstances, and afraid to move
without a consultation with his superior, Beau-
marchef thought it prudent to draw in his horns
slightly.
" You want—how much?" he said, at last.
"Well! I should say seven francs to begin
with!"
" The devil you do! Seven francs per day!
Upon my word you are cool, indeed! Very
well, I will give it to you to-day, until I can
lay your pretensions before the master."
" You won't make me open my lips to-day
for twenty sous, I can tell you that," answered
the youth, with the most insolent disdain. " If
you wish me to speak you must give me a hun-
dred francs down on the spot I"
"A hundred francs!" answered Beaumar-
chef, nearly petrified with horror.
" Yes, just that, neither more nor less."
"And what will you give in return?-—no,"
said Beaumarchef, shrugging his shoulders;
"your demand is utterly preposterous. Be-
sides, what could you do with that much
money?"
' ' Never you mind that. One thing is certain :
I shall not spend it in buying pomade like that
you put on your moustache."
Impudent Chupin! he dared to attack that
sacred moustache, and consequently was about
to receive the kick he sc richly deserved, when
in came Father Tantaine, looking just as he did
when he made his appearance before Paul in
his attack. He wore the same long overcoat,
shiny from long wear, and spotted with suc-
cessive layers of grease and dust. His everlast-
ing smile was on his withered lips.
"Tut   tntt"  he. exclaimed: "never quarrel
Tut, tut!"  he exclaimed
with the doors open."
In his heart, Beaumarchef thanked the lucky
star that had prevented his administration of
summary justice, and sent him this unexpected
reinforcement. He began, in a tone of indig-
nation:
" Toto-Chupin, sir, pretends------"
" I have heard every word," interrupted Tan-
taine.
On this, Toto concluded that he had better
get outside of the door. The Parisian street
boy is an acute observer; necessity sharpens his
natural powers of observation, and he becomes a
no mean physiognomist.
Toto-Chupin scarcely knew Mascarot; but he
distrusted him, while he thoroughly despised
Beaumarchef; but he trembled with abject fear
before this sweet-spoken Tantaine, in whom he
recognized a spirit that would bear no trifling.
He hastened, therefore, to offer his excuses.
"Just let me speak, sir," he said. "I only
wanted------"
"Money? Ah, that is but natural. And,
upon my word, you are too useful for us to
think of relinquishing your services. Come,
Beaumarchef, hand this good boy the hundred
francs he wants."
The clerk was astounded at this unheard-of
generosity, and his lips parted with an objec-
tion ; he was silenced by a gesture, which Toto,
however, did not see. He unlocked the cash-
box, therefore, and extended his hand with the
money.
Toto looked at it, then at the faces of the two
men, but did not dare take the money. Sup-
pose they were mocking him! Suppose that
some snare was hidden there!
" Take them," said Tantaine. "If your in-
formation is worthless, I will reclaim them.
So now follow me into the confessional, where
we shall not be disturbed."
The confessional, as it was called in the office,
was darkened by green curtains, and contained
as furniture a low sofa, two arm-chairs, and a
table. Tantaine seated himself, and turning
toward Toto, who stood twirling his cap in his
hands, said:
"I heard you."
The youth had by this time regained his
habituai impertinence;, did he not feel the hun-
dred francs burning in his pocket?
' ' Five days ago," he began, " I took Caroline
Schemmel under my observation. I know every-
thing about her now. That woman, sir, is a
regular clock, and the little drinks she takes
mark the hours."
Tantaine smiled.
" She rises," continued Toto, " at ten o'clock,
takes her absinthe; breakfasts at the nearest res-
taurant, and has her petite beurre and her game of
besique with any one who comes to hand. So
much for the day. Then at six o'clock she goes
to The Turks—a restaurant, sir, in the Rue des
Poissonnier. Bless me ! what an establishment
that is! You can dine, drink and dance just
as much as you please—that is, if they let you
in."
"Ah!   And do they forbid you admittance?"
Toto pointed to his rags, as he answered:
"Of course they won't permit me to enter in
this costume, but I have my plans all made.
Just wait!"
As they talked, Tantaine took the address of
The Turk. When he had finished, he looked
up and said, severely: "Do you think, Toto,
this information is worth one hundred francs?"
Toto made a grimace like a monkey. " Wait
a moment," he said. " Do you think that Caro-
line can live this sort of a life without money?
And phave found out where that money comes
from!"
The semi-daylight of the confessional enabled
Tantaine to conceal the intense satisfaction oc-
casioned by these words.
" Ah !" he answered, indifferently ; " you have
learned that?"
"Yes, and several other things, too. Listen
now ! Yesterday, after breakfast, my beloved
Caroline began to play cards with two individu-
als who had been eating at the next table. As
soon as I saw the way they shuffled the cards I
knew that they were old hands, and I said
to myself, ' Now my good woman, they are
going to clean you out!' I was right, too, and
at the end of an hour she was compelled to offer
the proprietor one of her rings as security for the
breakfast she had eaten. He refused to take it,
saying that he had confidence in her. Then
she said, ' That is very good of you; I will go
to my room and come hack.' I saw her and
heard her."
" And she did not go to her room?"
"Not she! She went out, crossed the whole
of Paris, and went at once to the very finest
house on the Rue de Varennes—an absolute pal-
ace it was. She knocked, and then she went in.
I waited, of course."
" Do you know who lives in this house?"
" Of course I know. The grocer at the cor-
ner told me that it belonged to tbe Duc de—
the Duc de—wait a minuté—the Duc de Champ-
doce; yes, that is the name—a nobleman who
has, they say, his cellars as full of gold as if
they belonged to a bank."
Tantaine never was so indifferent in manner
as when he was deeply interested.
" You are a little tedious, my boy," he said;
"go on."
Toto, who had counted on making a great
impression, was extremely annoyed.
"Give me time," he muttered. "In about
half an hour out came my Caroline as lively as
you please. A carriage passed. She hailed it,
and off she went. Fortunately I have a good
pair of legs, and I reached the Palais Royal
just in time to see Caroline stop at the broker's
office and exchange two notes of two hundred
francs each."
"How did you And out that?"
"By my eyes.    The paper was yellow."
Tantaine smiled pleasantly.     "You know
bank notes, then?"
"Yes, when I see them; but I never touched
one. They say that they are as soft as satin. One
day I went into an office and asked them just to
let me take a bank-note in my hands. They
said : ' Clear out !' And then I asked them what
business they had to make people curious by
showing them such piles behind their glass
windows."
But Tantaine was not listening. "Is that
all?" he said.
"Not quite—I have kept the best for the last.
I wish to tell you that we are not the only per-
sons who are watching Caroline."
This time Toto had every reason to be satis-
fled with the effect produced.    The old man
started so prodigiously that his hat tumbled off.
" What is that you say?" he exclaimed.
"Simply, that for three days a big fellow
with a harp on his back has been at her heels.
I distrusted him at once—and 1 was right.    He
followed the woman, just as I did, to this su-
perb house."
Tantaine thought for a moment.
"A musician, was it? Ah! Imustknow what
this means,    Now, Toto, hear me.    Drop Caro-
line and stick to this harpist, and be prudent.
Go, you have well earned your money. "
Chupin went off. The old man shook his
head.
"Too intelligent by half," he muttered; " he
will never make old bones."
Beaumarchef here opened his Hps to speak to
ask Tantaine Jp remain in the office while he
changed his dress, but the old man prevented it
by saying:
" As the master does not like to be disturbed,
I will just go in without knocking, and when
these gentlemen arrive show them in at once,
because you see, my good friend, the pear is
ripe, so ripe that if it were not gathered it would
decay on the stem!"
CHAPTER XVI.
TUBNING THE THUMB-SCBEWS.
It was Dr. Hortebise who was the first to
keep the appointment given by Mascarot to his
honorable associates. To rise before ten o'clock
was to him an insufferable penance, from the
shock of which he did not recover all day. But
business was business, he said to himself. When
he appeared, the agency was full of clients,
which did not prevent the doctor from noticing
the negligence of Beaumachef's dress.
"Ah!" said Hortebise, "you have been tip-
pling, I fear."
"My master is within," answered the
wretched clerk, with an attempt at dignity,
" and Monsieur Tantaine is with him."
A brilliant idea at this moment entered the
doctor's mind, but with great gravity, he said:
" I shall be delighted to meet that most ex-
cellent old gentleman!"
Nevertheless, when he entered the innermost
sanctuary of the employment agency, he found
Mascarot alone, classifying those eternal square
bits of paper.
"Well," he said, "what are the news?'
"There are none."
"Have you not seen Paul?"
"No."
" Will he come?"
" Yes."
The estimable agent is generally laconic, but
never to this degree.
" What is the matter?" asked the physician;
" our greeting is absolutely funereal. Are you
ill?"
"I am simply preoccupied—which is excus-
able on the eve of a decisive battle," answered
But he only told part of the truth ;
there was something more which he did not
wish to tell his friend. Toto-Chupin disturbed
him. One flaw, and the most solid axle ever
cast shivers to atoms. Toto might be the grain
of sand which, falling into the machine, stops
its working and renders it worthless. Now
Mascarot was in search of a way of distroying
this grain of sand.
"Pshaw!" said the doctor,rattling his medal-
lion as he spoke, "we shall succeed. What is
there to fear, after all? Resistance from Paul?"
Mascarot shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
"Paul may struggle a little," he answered;
" but I have decided, nevertheless, that he shall
assist at our seance to-day. The scene will be
a stormy one, so prepare yourself. We might
measure out the truth to him, as we would the
drops of wine for an invalid, but I prefer a full
dose."
"The deuce you do! Suppose he should
take flight and disappear with our secret?"
"He won't disappear in a hurry!" said Mas-
carot, in a tone that struck terror to the soul of
his listener. "He can't escape from us any
more than thejeockchafer can get loose from the
string that a child has tied to his leg. Do you
not understand these yielding natures like his?
He is the glove; I, the nervous hand beneath.
The doctor did not attempt to discuss this
point, but softly murmured: "Amen."
"If we meet with anv resistance," resumed
Mascarot, "it will come 'from Catenae. I may
be able to obtain from him an apparent co-
operation, but it will be only apparent.
"Catenae!" interrupted the doctor, greatly
surprised. "Do you propose, then, to bring
him into this?"
" Most certainly I do."                         ,
" But why have you changed your mind t
" Simply because I recognized the fact that
if we renounce his services now, it would be to
leave in his hands—the hands of a man of busi-
negs_the secret of our society. Because, in
short—-*."                 -