"Sound asleep."
"Ah! so much the better," said Madame Hochon. "I wish she may sleep on
till the matter is cleared up. Such a shock might kill the poor
child."
But Agathe woke up and came down half-dressed; for the evasive answers
of Gritte, whom she questioned, had disturbed both her head and heart.
She found Madame Hochon, looking very pale, with her eyes full of
tears, at one of the windows of the salon beside her husband.
"Courage, my child. God sends us our afflictions," said the old lady.
"Joseph is accused--"
"Of what?"
"Of a bad action which he could never have committed," answered Madame
Hochon.
Hearing the words, and
seeing the
lieutenant of gendarmes, who at this
moment entered the room accompanied by the two gentlemen, Agathe
fainted away.
"There now!" said Monsieur Hochon to his wife and Gritte, "carry off
Madame Bridau; women are only in the way at these times. Take her to
her room and stay there, both of you. Sit down, gentlemen," continued
the old man. "The mistake to which we owe your visit will soon, I
hope, be cleared up."
"Even if it should be a mistake," said Monsieur Mouilleron, "the
excitement of the crowd is so great, and their minds are so
exasperated, that I fear for the safety of the accused. I should like
to get him
arrested, and that might satisfy these people."
"Who would ever have believed that Monsieur Maxence Gilet had inspired
so much
affection in this town?" asked Lousteau-Prangin.
"One of my men says there's a crowd of twelve hundred more just coming
in from the faubourg de Rome," said the
lieutenant of gendarmes, "and
they are threatening death to the
assassin."
"Where is your guest?" said Monsieur Mouilleron to Monsieur Hochon.
"He has gone to walk in the country, I believe."
"Call Gritte," said the judge
gravely. "I was in hopes he had not left
the house. You are aware that the crime was committed not far from
here, at daybreak."
While Monsieur Hochon went to find Gritte, the three functionaries
looked at each other significantly.
"I never liked that
painter's face," said the
lieutenant to Monsieur
Mouilleron.
"My good woman," said the judge to Gritte, when she appeared, "they
say you saw Monsieur Joseph Bridau leave the house this morning?"
"Yes,
monsieur," she answered, trembling like a leaf.
"At what hour?"
"Just as I was getting up: he walked about his room all night, and was
dressed when I came downstairs."
"Was it daylight?"
"Barely."
"Did he seem excited?"
"Yes, he was all of a twitter."
"Send one of your men for my clerk," said Lousteau-Prangin to the
lieutenant, "and tell him to bring warrants with him--"
"Good God! don't be in such a hurry," cried Monsieur Hochon. "The
young man's
agitation may have been caused by something besides the
premeditation of this crime. He meant to return to Paris to-day, to
attend to a matter in which Gilet and Mademoiselle Brazier had doubted
his honor."
"Yes, the affair of the pictures," said Monsieur Mouilleron. "Those
pictures caused a very hot quarrel between them
yesterday, and it is a
word and a blow with artists, they tell me."
"Who is there in Issoudun who had any object in killing Gilet?" said
Lousteau. "No one,--neither a
jealous husband nor anybody else; for
the fellow has never harmed a soul."
"But what was Monsieur Gilet doing in the streets at four in the
morning?" remarked Monsieur Hochon.
"Now, Monsieur Hochon, you must allow us to manage this affair in our
own way," answered Mouilleron; "you don't know all: Gilet recognized
your
painter."
At this
instant a clamor was heard from the other end of the town,
growing louder and louder, like the roll of
thunder, as it followed
the course of the Grande-Narette.
"Here he is! here he is!--he's
arrested!"
These words rose
distinctly on the ear above the
hoarse roar of the
populace. Poor Joseph, returning quietly past the mill at Landrole
int
ending to get home in time for breakfast, was spied by the various
groups of people, as soon as he reached the place Misere. Happily for
him, a couple of gendarmes arrived on a run in time to
snatch him from
the inhabitants of the faubourg de Rome, who had already pinioned him
by the arms and were threatening him with death.
"Give way! give way!" cried the gendarmes,
calling to some of their
comrades to help them, and putting themselves one before and the other
behind Bridau.
"You see,
monsieur," said the one who held the
painter, "it concerns
our skin as well as yours at this moment. Innocent or
guilty, we must
protect you against the
tumult raised by the murder of Captain Gilet.
And the crowd is not satisfied with suspecting you; they declare, hard
as iron, that you are the
murderer. Monsieur Gilet is adored by all
the people, who--look at them!--want to take justice into their own
hands. Ah! didn't we see them, in 1830, dusting the jackets of the
tax-gatherers? whose life isn't a bed of roses, anyway!"
Joseph Bridau grew pale as death, and collected all his strength to
walk onward.
"After all," he said, "I am
innocent. Go on!"
Poor artist! he was forced to bear his cross. Amid the hooting and
insults and threats from the mob, he made the
dreadfultransit from
the place Misere to the place Saint-Jean. The gendarmes were obliged
to draw their sabres on the
furious mob, which pelted them with
stones. One of the officers was wounded, and Joseph received several
of the missiles on his legs, and shoulders, and hat.
"Here we are!" said one of the gendarmes, as they entered Monsieur
Hochon's hall, "and not without difficulty,
lieutenant."
"We must now manage to
disperse the crowd; and I see but one way,
gentlemen," said the
lieutenant to the magistrates. "We must take
Monsieur Bridau to the Palais accompanied by all of you; I and my
gendarmes will make a
circle round you. One can't answer for anything
in presence of a
furious crowd of six thousand--"
"You are right," said Monsieur Hochon, who was trembling all the while
for his gold.
"If that's your only way to protect
innocence in Issoudun," said
Joseph, "I
congratulate you. I came near being stoned--"
"Do you wish your friend's house to be taken by
assault and pillaged?"
asked the
lieutenant. "Could we beat back with our sabres a crowd of
people who are pushed from behind by an angry
populace that knows
nothing of the forms of justice?"
"That will do, gentlemen, let us go; we can come to
explanations
later," said Joseph, who had recovered his self-possession.
"Give way, friends!" said the
lieutenant to the crowd; "HE is
arrested, and we are
taking him to the Palais."
"Respect the law, friends!" said Monsieur Mouilleron.
"Wouldn't you prefer to see him guillotined?" said one of the
gendarmes to an angry group.
"Yes, yes, they shall guillotine him!" shouted one madman.
"They are going to guillotine him!" cried the women.
By the time they reached the end of the Grande-Narette the crowd were
shouting: "They are
taking him to the guillotine!" "They found the
knife upon him!" "That's what Parisians are!" "He carries crime on his
face!"
Though all Joseph's blood had flown to his head, he walked the
distance from the place Saint-Jean to the Palais with remarkable
calmness and self-possession. Nevertheless, he was very glad to find
himself in the private office of Monsieur Lousteau-Prangin.
"I need hardly tell you, gentlemen, that I am
innocent," said Joseph,
addressing Monsieur Mouilleron, Monsieur Lousteau-Prangin, and the
clerk. "I can only beg you to
assist me in proving my
innocence. I
know nothing of this affair."
When the judge had stated all the
suspicious facts which were against
him,
ending with Max's
declaration, Joseph was astounded.
"But," said he, "it was past five o'clock when I left the house. I
went up the Grande rue, and at half-past five I was
standing looking
up at the facade of the
parish church of Saint-Cyr. I talked there
with the sexton, who came to ring the angelus, and asked him for
information about the building, which seems to me
fantastic and
incomplete. Then I passed through the vegetable-market, where some
women had already assembled. From there, crossing the place Misere, I
went as far as the mill of Landrole by the Pont aux Anes, where I
watched the ducks for five or six minutes, and the miller's men must
have noticed me. I saw the women going to wash; they are probably
still there. They made a little fun of me, and declared that I was not
handsome; I told them it was not all gold that glittered. From there,
I followed the long avenue to Tivoli, where I talked with the
gardener. Pray have these facts verified; and do not even
arrest me,
for I give you my word of honor that I will stay quietly in this
office till you are convinced of my
innocence."
These
sensible words, said without the least
hesitation, and with the
ease of a man who is
perfectly sure of his facts, made some impression
on the magistrates.
"Yes, we must find all these persons and
summon them," said Monsieur
Mouilleron; "but it is more than the affair of a day. Make up your
mind,
therefore, in your own interests, to be imprisoned in the
Palais."
"Provided I can write to my mother, so as to
reassure her, poor woman
--oh! you can read the letter," he added.
This request was too just not to be granted, and Joseph wrote the
following letter:--
"Do not be
uneasy, dear mother; the mistake of which I am a victim
can easily be rectified; I have already given them the means of
doing so. To-morrow, or perhaps this evening, I shall be at
liberty. I kiss you, and beg you to say to Monsieur and Madame
Hochon how grieved I am at this affair; in which, however, I have
had no hand,--it is the result of some chance which, as yet, I do
not understand."
When the note reached Madame Bridau, she was
suffering from a nervous
attack, and the potions which Monsieur Goddet was
trying to make her
swallow were
powerless to
soothe her. The
reading of the letter acted
like balm; after a few quiverings, Agathe subsided into the depression
which always follows such attacks. Later, when Monsieur Goddet
returned to his patient he found her regretting that she had ever
quitted Paris.
"Well," said Madame Hochon to Monsieur Goddet, "how is Monsieur
Gilet?"
"His wound, though serious, is not mortal," replied the doctor. "With
a month's nursing he will be all right. I left him
writing to Monsieur
Mouilleron to request him to set your son at liberty, madame," he
added, turning to Agathe. "Oh! Max is a fine fellow. I told him what a
state you were in, and he then remembered a circumstance which goes to
prove that the
assassin was not your son; the man wore list shoes,
whereas it is certain that Monsieur Joseph left the house in his
boots--"
"Ah! God
forgive him the harm he has done me--"
The fact was, a man had left a note for Max, after dark, written in
type-letters, which ran as follows:--
"Captain Gilet ought not to let an
innocent man suffer. He who
struck the blow promises not to strike again if Monsieur Gilet
will have Monsieur Joseph Bridau set at liberty, without naming
the man who did it."
After
reading this letter and burning it, Max wrote to Monsieur
Mouilleron stating the circumstance of the list shoes, as reported by
Monsieur Goddet, begging him to set Joseph at liberty, and to come and
see him that he might explain the matter more at length.
By the time this letter was received, Monsieur Lousteau-Prangin had
verified, by the
testimony of the bell-ringer, the market-women and
washerwomen, and the miller's men, the truth of Joseph's
explanation.