We must do Max the justice to say that he never looked calmer than when his blood and brain were seething. Never in any soldier were the qualities that make a great general combined in a higher degree. If he had not been checked in his career by being taken prisoner, the Emperor would have found in this fellow a man of the sort needful to a vast enterprise.
On going into the room where the victim of all these tragicomic scenes still sat sobbing, Max inquired the cause of his despair; he was greatly astonished; he knew nothing; he heard, with well-acted surprise, of Flore’s departure, and cross-questioned Kouski to throw some light on the purpose of this unaccountable journey.
“Madame just said this,” said Kouski; “I was to tell monsieur that she had taken the twenty thousand francs in gold that were in his desk, thinking that Monsieur would not grudge it her as wages for these two-and-twenty years.”
“As wages?” said Rouget.
“Yes,” said Kouski. “ ‘Oh, I shall never come back!’ She went away saying so to Védie—for poor Védie, who is greatly attached to monsieur, was putting it to madame. ‘No, no,’ says she, ‘he has not the least affection for me; he let his nephew treat me like the scum of the earth!’ and she was crying too—ever so!”
“What do I care for Philippe!” cried the old man, whom Max was watching. “Where is Flore? How can we find out where she is?”
“Philippe, whose advice you are so ready to take, will help you,” said Maxence coldly.
“Philippe?” said the old man; “what can he do with the poor child? There is no one but you, my good Max, who can find Flore; she will come with you; you will bring her back to me.”
“I do not wish to find myself in antagonism with Monsieur Bridau,” said Max.
“By Heaven!” cried Rouget, “if that is all—he has promised me that he will kill you.”
“Ah, ha!” laughed Gilet, “we will see—”
“My dear fellow,” said the old man, “find Flore; tell her I will do whatever she wishes—”
“She must have been seen passing by somewhere in the town,” said Maxence to Kouski. “Serve dinner, put everything on the table, and then go from place to place, making inquiries, and tell us at dessert what road Mademoiselle Brazier has taken.”
This order soothed the poor man for a minute; for he was whimpering like a child that has lost its nurse. At this moment Max, whom Rouget hated as the cause of all his misfortunes, appeared to him as an angel. A passion like Rouget’s for Flore is strangely like a child’s. At six o’clock the Pole, who had simply taken a walk, came in and announced that Flore had set out for Vatan.
“Madame is gone back to her native place, that is clear,” said Kouski.
“Will you come to Vatan this evening?” asked Max of the old man. “The road is bad, but Kouski drives well, and you will make up your quarrel better at eight o’clock this evening than tomorrow morning.”
“Let us be off,” cried Rouget.
“Put the horse in very quietly, and try to prevent the town hearing all about this foolish business, for Monsieur Rouget’s dignity,” said Max. “Saddle my horse, and I will ride ahead,” he added in Kouski’s ear.
Monsieur Hochon had already sent news of Mademoiselle Brazier’s departure to Philippe Bridau, who rose from table at Monsieur Mignonnet’s to hurry back to the Place Saint-Jean, for he guessed at once the purpose of this skilful strategy. When Philippe went to his uncle’s door Kouski called to him out of a first-floor window that Monsieur Rouget could receive no one.
“Fario,” said he to the Spaniard, who was walking in the Grande Narette, “go and tell Benjamin to set out on horseback; I must positively know where my uncle and Maxence are going.”
“They are putting the horse to the barouche,” said Fario, who had been watching Rouget’s house.
“If they start for Vatan,” replied Philippe, “find a second horse for me, and return with Benjamin to Monsieur Mignonnet’s house.”
“What do you purpose doing?” asked Monsieur Hochon, who came out of his house on seeing Philippe and Fario on the Place.
“A general’s skill, my dear Monsieur Hochon, consists not merely in keeping a sharp lookout on the enemy’s movements, but also in guessing his intentions from his movements, and constantly modifying his own plan as fast as the foe upsets it by some unexpected tactics. Look here; if my uncle and Maxence go out together in the chaise, they are going to Vatan; Maxence will have promised to reconcile him to Flore, who fugit ad salices—for this manoeuvre is General Virgil’s. If this is their game, I don’t know what I shall do. But I have the night before me, for my uncle cannot sign a power of attorney at ten o’clock at night; notaries are in bed.
“If, as the pawing of a second horse suggests to me, Max is going ahead to give Flore her instructions before she sees my uncle—as seems necessary and probable—the rascal is done for! You will see how we play a return match in the game of inheritance, we soldiers. And since, for this last hand in the game, I need an assistant, I am going back to Mignonnet’s to make arrangements with my friend Carpentier.”
After shaking hands with Monsieur Hochon, Philippe went down the Petite Narette to see Major Mignonnet. Ten
