Paul and His Dog Volume I Part 37

"Oh! mon Dieu! why, this is horrible, monsieur le docteur," said Honorine; "it's a regular ghost story."

"Pray go on, monsieur," said Agathe; "it interests me deeply; but you haven't told us who it was that was murdered. Was it a man or a woman?"

"It was a man, mademoiselle, a young man, who was found dead in that ravine. How it happened has never been known, nor were the a.s.sa.s.sins ever discovered."

"Was it somebody who lived hereabout?"

"No, for no one recognized him; and the strangest thing was that he had not been robbed; they found a gold watch on him and a large amount of money."

"But perhaps the miscreants who committed the crime heard someone coming, and, being afraid of being captured, ran away before they had had time to rob their victim."

"The result is that they have set up a cross on that spot, and that the villagers make a long detour rather than go through the ravine at night, for they are sure that they would meet the ghost."

"Bah! turlututu! that's a pretty story!" said Pere Ledrux, showing his face at the door of the salon. "What's this, doctor! are you telling these ladies all these old stories so that they'll be afraid to come here to live? Why, it's all fiddle-faddle. I've been through the ravine lots of times at night, right by the cross, and I never met anybody, not the first hobgoblin! The old women say to each other over the fire: 'What can we think up to give us a good fright?' And they invent those old nurse's tales!"

"I am simply telling what everyone says, Ledrux; I am informing these ladies concerning the _chronique_ of the place, nothing more."

"The colic of the place don't know what it's saying; anybody can walk anywhere in our neighborhood at all hours; there ain't any danger.--I'll go and take a look at the hens; I think there's one of 'em bothering the others."

"Mesdames," continued the doctor when the peasant had gone, "I hope that you do not think me capable of trying to frighten you; for I should be delighted to have you come here to live."

"We think it so little, monsieur, that we beg you to continue your story; it gives us the greatest pleasure to listen to you."

The doctor rose to bow again to the ladies; then resumed his seat, blew his nose and continued:

"You see, while I don't pretend to be very strong-minded, I don't believe in ghosts, for the reason that I never saw one; if I had seen one, I should believe in them; and in that regard my opinion coincides with that of my brother Desire Beaub.i.+.c.hon, professor of bookkeeping in Paris,--a very learned man, of whom you ladies may have heard?"

"No, monsieur, never."

"Nature swarms with curious facts, which the most learned are not always able to explain; and from Apollonius of Tyana, the greatest magician of ancient times, down to Cagliostro, who also was able to evoke the devil, many people, who were not fools by any means, have believed in ghosts.

For my part, I declare that I should much rather believe everything than nothing!--I return to the Tower.

"The property is quite extensive, in addition to the buildings, wherein a large number of people can be accommodated, for it is like a small chateau--there are more than twelve sleeping-rooms. Then there are the garden and a small park--about twelve acres in all. I believe that the price asked was fifty thousand francs, but as I have had the honor to tell you, they could find no purchaser; the nearness of the cross in the ravine, and all the stories that were in circulation frightened the ladies who came to see the property. So that there was great surprise throughout the region when the notary at Noisy-le-Grand said to his neighbors one morning: 'the Tower is sold!'

"The news flew from mouth to mouth: 'the Tower is sold!'

"'Bah! it isn't possible!'

"'Yes, it's a fact; monsieur le notaire himself told it.'

"'Well, to whom is it sold?'

"'To Monsieur Paul.'

"'Paul who? Paul what?'

"To all such questions the notary, upon whom secrecy had been enjoined, answered:

"'To Monsieur Paul; the purchaser has given no other name, but he pays cash for the property, and is at liberty to take possession whenever he chooses.'

"'Paul is it!' said the country folk; 'after all, a man may have no other name than Paul and be a perfectly honorable man; we have had merchants and manufacturers who were called simply Jean or Pierre. If this Paul is an agreeable man, a jovial companion, he'll be a welcome addition to the neighborhood. And then, it's probable that he has a wife and children; as he has bought that big house, he must have people to put in it. Perhaps he will give a party, a ball to his new neighbors, to become acquainted with them; then we shall find out what sort of man he is.'

"That, madame, was what the people said here in Ch.e.l.les and in the neighborhood. But time pa.s.sed and no one arrived; the estate of the Tower showed no sign of life, a.s.sumed no festal air.

"'For heaven's sake, isn't the new owner going to occupy his house?'

people began to say. 'In that case, why did he buy it?'

"But one morning Jeannette the poulterer informed her neighbors:

"'Well, the gentleman who's bought the Tower has arrived; he's been in the house a fortnight. What do you suppose his household consists of?--a dog! nothing but a great dog that's always at his master's heels. But I suppose he found out that his dog couldn't get his dinner and do his housework, so he's hired old Mere Lucas, from the village of Couberon, who's almost blind and a little deaf, and she takes care of his house.'

"You can understand, mesdames, that everybody was amazed to learn that the only occupants of that enormous house were a man, a dog and a half-blind and deaf old woman.

"'The gentleman has come on ahead,' people thought; 'his family is probably going to join him here.' But no one came. And then, the new owner, instead of showing himself to his neighbors and trying to become acquainted with them, never went out to walk, or at all events not in any frequented part of the country; and people said: 'Have you seen the owner of the Tower?'--'No.'--'Nor I; where in the devil does the man keep himself?'--'Doesn't he ever leave his house or his grounds? he must live like a hermit, then?'

"One day, however, one of the townspeople met him and lost no time in letting everybody know that this Monsieur Paul was a tall, well-built man, neither young nor old, that is to say, with a full beard which covered a large part of his face and made it impossible to guess his age; but that he had a savage, repellent, disagreeable manner; that he was dressed very simply, in hunting costume: jacket, long leather gaiters and a cap with a broad vizor which concealed all the upper part of his face. He had a gun in his hand and a large dog at his heels.

"People said: 'He is probably very fond of hunting and pa.s.ses all his time at it; hunters aren't very good-natured, so we must overlook his peculiarities. But the hunting season doesn't last forever, and no doubt the man with the big dog will become more sociable; let us wait.'

"They waited in vain. However, they saw Monsieur Paul occasionally, walking in the fields with his faithful companion. But when anyone approached, he quickly turned in the other direction to avoid meeting them.

"One day, however, Madame Droguet, one of the largest land-owners in the neighborhood--Madame Droguet, having watched to see which roads the master of the Tower usually chose for his walks, said to her friends:

"'I am determined to see our new neighbor and to speak to him; in short, I propose to find out what that man has to say for himself; if he's a foreigner, I can tell by his accent what country he comes from. The fact is, I propose to find out what we are to think about him, and it won't take me long to see whether he's a _comme il faut_ person or an ill-bred one.'

"'How will you go to work to find out?' someone asked Madame Droguet--'As the owner of the Tower avoids everybody, as he only goes where n.o.body else goes, how do you expect to talk with him?'

"'That's my affair, I shall find a way! you know that what a woman wants always comes to pa.s.s in time.'

"Madame Droguet is a woman who has no doubt of her ability to do anything, and who fears nothing. There are some people hereabout who declare that she was a _vivandiere_ in her youth, and that she served in Africa; that is a statement hardly worth repeating.

"And so this lady, who, as I have had the honor to tell you, had carefully observed what roads the master of the Tower frequented, concealed herself in a dense thicket at the corner of one of those roads. For four days in succession she had the resolution to station herself there and to wait several hours for the gentleman to pa.s.s. I presume that she carried her knitting; one can knit anywhere, even in a thicket. But the man with the dog did not pa.s.s. On the fifth day, however, her patience was rewarded; she saw the hunter coming along a path, and when he was within ten yards of her, she quickly stepped from her thicket, so that she was directly in front of him, in a path so narrow that it was impossible to avoid the meeting. The gentleman, amazed to see a lady suddenly appear in front of him, stopped and seemed disposed to turn back; but he concluded to step aside so as to allow Madame Droguet to pa.s.s, while his dog glared at her as if he longed to ask her what she was doing there.

"But, instead of pa.s.sing the hunter, Madame Droguet halted directly in front of him, made a low curtsy, and said:

"'I believe that I have the pleasure of addressing the new owner of the Tower? I am charmed that chance affords me the pleasure of making his acquaintance. I am a land-owner at Ch.e.l.les; I receive all the best people in the province, and if monsieur will deign to do me the honor to come to see me----'

"But at that point the hunter abruptly interrupted the lady and said to her in a sharp and none too courteous tone:

"'I go nowhere, madame, and I do not desire to make any new acquaintances!'

"With that, he just touched his hand to his cap, which he did not even raise from his head, and strode away, followed by his huge dog.

"Ah! if you could have seen Madame Droguet when she got home! She was perfectly furious! She ran about to all her acquaintances, saying: 'I know the owner of the Tower now! he's a boor, a clown, a man of no breeding whatever! He didn't even raise his cap to me! He must be a mere n.o.body who has made money, no one knows how. I'll wager that he doesn't know how to read or write, and if he avoids society, it's because he realizes that he would be out of place therein, and wouldn't know how to behave himself! Thanks! I shan't undertake his education; it would be too hard work to grub up that fellow.'

"For some time people talked of nothing but Madame Droguet's interview with the newcomer, and the whole district knew that that gentleman needed a thorough grubbing up; Madame Droguet's expression was a great success; she often makes some very remarkable ones. After all, when a person talks a great deal and says whatever comes into his head, it isn't surprising that in the vast output of words there should be a few clever ones--they may occasionally fall from the dullest person's lips.

"Several months pa.s.sed and the proprietor of the Tower continued to follow the same line of conduct.