by Erckmann-Chatrian [Émile Erckmann & Alexandre Chatrian].
Originally published in Strange Stories (Contes Fantastiques). (D. Appleton & Co.; 1880).
I.
The day before the Christmas of 1832, my friend Wilfrid, his double-bass slung over his shoulder, and I, with violin under my arm, were on our way from the Black Forest to Heidelberg. An extraordinary quantity of snow had fallen that season. As far as our eyes could see over the great desert plain before us, not a trace of the route, either of road or path, was to be discovered. The north wind whistled its shrill aria about our ears with a monotonous persistence, and Wilfrid, with wallet flattened against his thin back, his long heron-legs stretched to the utmost, and the visor of his little flat cap pulled down over his nose, strode along before me, humming a gay air from "Undine." Every now and then he turned his head with a grim smile and cried:
"Comrade, play me the waltz from 'Robin'—I wish to dance!"
A peal of laughter always followed, and then the brave fellow would push on again with fresh courage. I toiled on behind in his footsteps, with the snow up to my knees, and my spirits sinking lower and lower every moment.
The heights about Heidelberg had begun to appear on the distant horizon, and we were hoping to reach the town before nightfall, when we heard the gallop of a horse behind us. It was about five o'clock, and great flakes of snow were whirling about in the gray light. Soon the rider was within twenty steps. He slackened his pace, examining us out of one corner of his eye. We also examined him.
Imagine a big man with red beard and hair, wrapped in a brown cloak, over which was loosely thrown a pelisse of fox-skins; on his head a superb cocked-hat; his hands buried in fur gloves reaching to the elbows. On the croup of his stout stallion was strapped a well-filled valise. Evidently he was some burly sheriff or burgomaster.
"Hey, my lads!" he cried, drawing one of his big hands from the muff which hung across his saddle-bow, and clapping his charger's neck, "we are going to Heidelberg, I see, to try a little music."
Wilfrid eyed the traveler askance.
"Is that any affair of yours, sir?" he answered gruffly.
"Eh? yes; I should have a piece of advice to give you."
"Well, you can keep it till it's asked for," retorted Wilfrid, quickening his pace.
I cast a second glance at our new companion. He looked exactly like a great cat, with ears standing out from his head, his eyelids half closed, and a long bristling mustache; altogether, he had a sort of purring, paternal air.
"My friend," he began again, this time addressing me, "the best thing you can do is to return whence you came."
"Why, sir?"
"The famous Maestro Prinenti, from Novara, has announced a grand Christmas concert at Heidelberg. Everybody is going to it; you will not get a single kreutzer."
This was too much for Wilfrid.
"A fig for your maestro, and all the Prinentis in the world!" he cried, snapping his fingers. "This lad here, with his long curls and blue eyes, and not a hair yet on his chin, is worth an army of your Italian charlatans. Though he never played outside the Black Forest, he can handle a bow with the first musician in Europe, and will draw melody from his violin such as was never heard before in Heidelberg."
"Hear, hear!" cried the stranger.
"It is just as I tell you," said Wilfrid, blowing on his fingers, which were red with the cold.
Then he set out to run, and I followed him as best I might, thinking he wished to make game of the traveler, who kept up with us, however, at a little trot.
In this way we went on in silence for more than hall a league. Suddenly the stranger cried out, in a harsh voice:
"Whatever your talents may be, go back to the Black Forest. We have vagabonds enough in Heidelberg already without you. It is good advice I give you; you had best profit by it."
Wilfrid was about to make an angry retort, but the rider had started off at a gallop, and already reached the grand avenue of the Elector. At the same moment a great flock of crows rose from the plain, and seemed to follow him, filling the air with their loud cries.
About seven o'clock in the evening we reached Heidelberg. There, in fact, we found posted on all the walls Prinenti's flaming placards, "Grand Concert, Solo," etc., etc. We wandered about among the different ale-houses, in which we met several musicians from the Black Forest, all old comrades of ours, who immediately engaged us to play in their band. There were old Bremer, the violoncellist; his two sons, Ludwig and Carl, capital second violins; Heinrich Siebel, the clarinet player; and big Bertha with her harp. Wilfrid, with his bass-viol, and myself as first violin, made up the troupe.
It was agreed that we should all go together, make one purse, and divide after Christmas. Wilfrid had already engaged a room for himself and me. It was on the sixth story of the little tavern "Sheep's Foot," in the middle of the Holdergasse, and was only a garret, though, luckily, it had a sheet-iron stove, in which we lighted a fire to dry ourselves.
While we were sitting quietly over the fire, roasting chestnuts and discussing a pot of wine, who should come tripping up the stairs and knock at the door but little Annette, the maid of the inn, in scarlet petticoat and black velvet bodice, with cheeks like roses and lips as red as cherries. Next moment she had thrown herself into my arms with a cry of joy.
We were old friends, the pretty Annette and I, for we were both from the same village, and, to say truth, my heart had long been captive to her bright eyes and coquettish airs.
"I saw you go up just now," she said, drawing a stool to my side, "and here I am, come for a minute's talk with you."
With that she began such a string of questions about this one and that—in fact, about every one in our village—that I declare to you it was as much as I could do to answer the half of them. Every little while she would stop and look at me with such a tender air—we would have been there till this time, had not suddenly Mother Gredel Dick screamed from the bottom of the stairs:
"Annette! Annette! are you ever coming?"
"This minute, madame, this minute," cried the poor child, jumping up in a fright. She gave me a little pat on the cheek and flew to the door. But just as she was going out, she stopped.
"Ah!" she cried, turning back, "I forgot to tell you. Have you heard—"
"What?"
"The death of our prorector Zahn?"
"Well, what is that to us?"
"Ah, yes; but take care, sir, take care—if your papers are not all right! To-morrow morning at eight o'clock they will come to ask for them. They have arrested, oh! so many people during the last two weeks. The prorector was assassinated yesterday evening, in the library, at the Cloister of Saint Christopher. Last week, the old priest, U1met Elias, who lived in the Jews' quarter, was killed in the same way. Only a few days before that they murdered the nurse, Christina Haas, and Seligmann, the agate merchant of the Durlachstrasse. So, my poor Kasper," she added, with a tender glance, "take good care of yourself, and be sure that your papers are all right."
All the while she was speaking the cries below continued:
"Annette, oh, Annette, will you come? Oh, the miserable creature, to leave me here all alone!"
And now, too, we could hear the shouts of the guests in the saloon calling for wine, beer, ham, sausages. Annette saw that she must go, and ran down the stairs as quickly as she had come up.
"Mon Dieu! mon Dieu!" I heard her soft voice answering her mistress, "what can be the matter, madame, that you should make such an outcry? One would think that the house was on fire."
Wilfrid closed the door after her and came back to his seat. We looked at each other with some uneasiness.
"This is strange news," said he, at last. "At any rate, your papers are all in order?"
"Certainly," I replied, and showed him my pass.
"Good! There is mine. I had it viséed before we left. But still, all these murders bode no good to us. I am afraid we shall make but a poor business here. Many families must be in mourning, and then, besides all these annoyances, the trouble which the police will give us."
"Bah!" cried I, "you take too dismal a view of everything."
We continued to talk about these strange events until long past midnight. The fire in our little stove lighted up the angles of the roof, the square dormer-window with its three cracked panes of glass, the mattress spread upon the bare boards, the blackened beams overhead, the little fir table, which cast an unsteady shadow on the worm-eaten floor. A mouse, attracted by the heat, darted back and forth like an arrow along the wall. We could hear the wind without, whistling and bellowing around the high chimney-stacks, sweeping the snow from the gutters beneath the eaves in misty swirls. I was dreaming of Annette. Silence had fallen upon us. Suddenly Wilfrid, throwing off his coat, cried:
"It is time to sleep; put another stick of wood in the stove, and let us go to bed."
"Yes, that is the best thing we can do," said I, and began to pull off my boots. Two minutes afterward we were stretched on the mattress, the coverings drawn up to our chins, and a great log under our heads for a pillow. Wilfrid was asleep in a moment. The light from the little stove blazed up and died away, the wind redoubled its violence without, and, in the midst of dreams of Annette, I, too, in my turn, slept the sleep of the just.
About two o'clock in the morning I was awakened by a strange noise. At first I thought it was a cat running along the gutters; but, my ear being close to the rafters, I could not remain long in doubt. Some one was walking over the roof. I touched Wilfrid with my elbow, to awaken him.
"Hist!" whispered he, pressing my hand.
He also had heard the noise. The fire was just dying out; the last feeble flame flickered on the crumbling walls. I was on the point of springing from the bed, when, at a single blow, the little window, kept closed by a fragment of brick, was pushed open. A pale face, with red hair, eyes gleaming with phosphorescent light, and quivering cheeks, appeared in the opening, and looked about the room. Our fright was so great that we could not utter a sound. The man passed first one leg, then the other, through the window, and descended into the garret so carefully that not a board creaked under his footsteps.
This man, with heavy, round shoulders, short and thick-set, his face wrinkled and set like a tiger crouched to spring, was none other than the rider who had overtaken us on the road to Heidelberg. But what a change in his appearance since then! In spite of the excessive cold, he was in his shirt-sleeves, a pair of breeches belted about his waist, woolen stockings, and shoes with silver buckles. A long knife, flecked with blood, glittered in his hand.
Wilfrid and I gave ourselves up for lost. But he did not seem to see us under the shadow of the sloping roof, although the fire was fanned again into a blaze by the current of cold air from the open window. The intruder seated himself on a stool, cowering and shivering in a strange way. Suddenly his greenish-yellow eyes fixed themselves on me, his nostrils dilated; for more than a minute, which seemed to me an age, he stared at me. The blood stood still in my veins. Then, at last, turning toward the fire, he coughed with a husky, hoarse sound, like that which a cat makes, without moving a muscle of his face. Drawing a watch from the fob of his pantaloons, he seemed to look at the hour, and then, whether from absence of mind or some other reason, I know not, laid it upon the table. At length, rising from his seat with an air of uncertainty, he looked toward the window, appeared for a moment to hesitate, and then passed out of the door, leaving it wide open behind him.
I jumped up to shove the bolt, but already the man's steps were creaking on the staircase two stories below. An irresistible curiosity overcame my terror. I heard a window open, which looked upon the court, and, in a moment, I was at the dormer in the landing of the stairs on the same side. The court, seen from this height, was like a deep well. A wall, fifty or sixty feet high, divided it into two parts. On the right was the court of a pork-butcher; on the left, that of the Sheep's Foot. The wall was covered with moss and the rank vegetation which flourishes in the shade. Its summit reached from the window which the marauder had just opened, in a straight line, to the roof of a great, gloomy building in the rear of the Bergstrasse. All this I took in at a glance, as the moon shone out from among the heavy snow-laden clouds, and I trembled as I saw the man come out through the window, and fly along the top of this wall, his head bent forward, the long knife in his hand, while the wind whistled and wailed a dismal chorus.
He gained the roof in front, and disappeared through a window. I believed I must be dreaming. For several moments I remained with open mouth, my breast bare, and my hair blown about by the wind and wet by the sleet which fell from the eaves. At last, waking from my stupor, I returned to our garret, and found Wilfrid with face blanched and haggard with fright, and muttering a prayer under his breath. I hastened to bolt the door, throw some wood into the stove, and slip on my clothes.
"Well?" asked my comrade, getting out of bed.
"Well," I replied, "we are safe this time. If that man did not see us, it was only because Heaven was not ready yet for us to die."
"Yes," he murmured, "yes; it is one of the assassins Annette told us about. Good Heavens! what a face! and what a knife!"
He fell back on the mattress. I swallowed what was left of the wine in the pitcher; and, as the fire was now burning brightly, filling the room with its heat, and the bolt seemed a strong one, I began to regain my courage.
Still, the watch was there; the man might return to look for it. Our fears awoke again at this idea.
"What is to be done now?" asked Wilfrid. "Our shortest plan will be to go back at once to the Black Forest. I have no wish to play any more double-bass. You can do as you choose—"
"But why? What should make us go back? We have done no crime."
"Hush! speak low!" whispered he. "The word crime alone is enough to hang us, if any one heard. Poor devils like us serve as examples for others. Were they only to find this watch here—"
"Come, Wilfrid," said I, "it is no use to lose one's head. I dare say a crime has been committed last night in the neighborhood; it is more than probable; but, instead of flying, an honest man should aid justice; he should—"
"But how aid it? how?"
"The simplest way will be to take the watch to-morrow to the provost, and tell him what has taken place."
"Never! never! I would not dare touch the watch."
"Very well; I will go myself. Come, let us go to bed again."
"No; I can not sleep any more."
"As you will. Light your pipe, then, and let us talk."
As soon as day dawned I took the watch from the table. It was a very fine one, with two dials—one for the hours, the other for the minutes. Wilfrid seemed, however, by this time, to have regained his assurance.
"Kasper," he said, "all things considered, it will be better for me to go to the provost. You are too young for such a piece of business. You will not be able to explain properly."
"Just as you choose," I replied.
"Besides, it would seem strange for a man of my age to send a child."
"Oh, yes, Wilfrid; I understand."
I saw that his self-esteem had driven him to this resolution. He would have been ashamed to own to his comrades that he had shown less courage than I.
He took the watch, and we descended the stairs with grave faces. Passing through the alley which leads to the street Saint Cristopher, we heard the clinking of glasses and knives and forks. At the same time I recognized the voices of old Bremer and his two sons.
"Faith, Wilfrid," said I, "a good glass of wine would not be bad before we go out."
I pushed open the door into the saloon. All our friends were there; violins and horns hung upon the walls—the harp in one corner. They received us with joyful cries of welcome, and made us take seats at the table.
"Heh!" cried old Bremer, "good luck, comrades! See the snow, and the wind! The saloons will all be full. Every flake of snow in the air is a florin in our pockets!"
The sight of my little Annette, as fresh and piquant as ever, smiling on me with eyes and lips full of love, gave me new spirits. The best pieces of ham were for me; and, every time that she came to set down a glass near me, her hand would tenderly press my shoulder. Ah! how my heart beat as I thought of the nuts which we had cracked together the night before!
Still, the pale face of the assassin would pass from time to time before my eyes, making me shudder at the recollection. I looked at Wilfrid. He was grave and thoughtful. As eight o'clock struck, we all rose to go, when suddenly the door opened, and three mean-looking fellows, with leaden faces and eyes sharp as rats', followed by several more of the same sort, presented themselves on the threshold. One of them, with a long nose, which seemed to be on the scent for some mischief, a great cudgel in his fist, advanced with the demand—
"Your papers, gentlemen!"
Every one hastened to satisfy him. Unhappily, however, Wilfrid, who was standing near the stove; was seized with a sudden fit of trembling; and, as he saw the practiced eye of the police-agent regarding him with an equivocal look, the unlucky idea occurred to him of letting the watch slip down into his boot. Before it reached its destination, however, the officer stepped up to him, and, slapping him on the leg, cried, in a bantering tone:
"Ah ha! something seems to trouble you here!"
Upon this, Wilfrid, to the consternation of all, succumbed entirely. He fell back upon a bench, as pale as death; and Madoc, the chief of police, with a malicious shout of laughter, drew forth the watch from his pantaloons. But the moment the agent looked at it, he became grave.
"Let no one go out!" he thundered to his followers; "we've the whole gang here. 'Tis the watch of the dean, Daniel Van der Berg. Quick! the handcuffs!"
Thereupon arose a terrible tumult. Giving ourselves up for lost, I slipped down under the bench close to the wall. In spite of their protests, poor old Bremer, his sons, and Wilfrid. were all handcuffed. Just then I felt a soft little hand passed gently about my neck. It was Annette's, and I pressed my lips upon it as a last adieu, when, seizing my ear, she pulled it gently—gently. Under one end of the table I saw the cellar-door open; I slipped through; the trap-door closed.
All had passed in a second. In my hiding-place I heard them trampling over the door; then everything was still; my unlucky comrades were gone. Without, on the door-step, I heard Mother Gredel Dick lamenting in shrill tones the dishonor which had fallen on the Sheep's Foot.
All day long I remained squeezed behind a hogshead, with back bent and legs doubled under me—a prey to a thousand fears. Should a dog stray into the cellar, should the landlady take a fancy to refill the jug herself, or a fresh cask have to be broached—the least chance might be my destruction. I imagined old Bremer and his sons, Wilfrid, big Bertha herself, all hanging from the gibbet on the Harberg, in the middle of a great flock of crows that were feasting at their expense. My hair stood on end.
Annette, as anxious as myself, carefully closed the door each time she left the cellar.
"Leave the door alone," I heard the old woman say. "Are you a fool, to lose half your time in opening it?"
After that the door remained open. I saw the tables surrounded by new guests, who discussed in loud tones the doings of the famous band of murderers who had just been captured, and exulted over the fate in store for them. All the musicians from the Black Forest, they said, were bandits, who made a pretense of their trade to find their way into houses and spy out the bolts and bars, and then, next morning, the master would be found murdered in his bed, the mistress and children with their throats cut. They ought all to be exterminated without pity.
"All the town will go to see them hanged!" cried Mother Gredel. "It will be the happiest day of my life!"
"And to think that the watch of Master Daniel was the means of their capture! He told the police of its loss, and gave them a description of it, this morning; and, an hour after, Madoc bagged the whole covey."
Thereupon followed shouts of laughter and triumph. Shame, indignation, terror, made me hot and cold by turns.
Night came at last. All the drinkers had gone, save two or three who still lingered over their cups. A single candle remained lighted in the saloon.
"Go to bed, madame," said Annette's soft voice to Mother Gredel; "I will stay till these gentlemen go."
The carousers, tipsy as they were, understood the hint, and took their leave, one by one. "At last," thought I, as I heard the last one go, stumbling and hiccoughing through the door, "they are all gone. Mother Gredel will go to bed. Annette will come without delay to deliver me."
In this agreeable anticipation, I had already disentangled my numb limbs, when these dreadful words of the portly landlady met my ears: "Annette, go and close up, and do not forget the bar. I am going myself into the cellar."
Alas! this seemed to be the praiseworthy, but for me most unlucky, custom of the good lady—so as to see herself that all was right.
"But, madame," stammered Annette, "there is no need; the cask is not empty—"
"Mind your own business," interrupted her mistress, whose candle already was shining at the top of the steps.
I had hardly time to crouch again behind the cask. The old woman went from one cask to the other, stooping beneath the low ceiling of the vault.
"Oh, the hussy!" I heard her mutter; " how she lets the wine leak out! But only wait—I will teach her to close the stopcocks better. Just to see! just to see!"
The light cast dark shadows on the walls glistening with moisture. I made myself as small as possible.
Suddenly, just as I thought the danger over, I heard a sigh from the stout dame—a sigh so long, so lugubrious, that it struck me at once. Something extraordinary must have happened. I risked a look. To my horror, I saw Mother Gredel, with open mouth and eyes starting from her head, staring at the ground beneath the cask behind which I was crouching motionless. She had espied one of my feet, projecting beneath the joist which supported the hogshead. No doubt, she thought that she had discovered the chief of the brigands, hidden there for the purpose of cutting her throat during the night. My resolution was taken quickly. Rising up, I said, in a low voice:
"Madame, for Heaven's sake, have pity on me! I am—"
But thereupon, without listening, without even looking at me, she began to scream like any peacock—the shrillest, the most ear-piercing screams—and at the same time to clamber up the stairs as fast as her fat body would let her. Almost beside myself with terror, I clung to her robe—fell on my knees beside her. But this was worse still.
"Help! help! assassins! murder!" she shrieked. "Oh! oh! Let me go! Take my money! Oh! oh!"
It was frightful.
"Look at me, madame," I tried to say; "I am not what you think."
But she was crazy with fear; she raved, she gasped, she bawled at the top of her lungs—so that, had we not been underground, the whole quarter would have been aroused. In despair, and furious at her stupid folly, I clambered over her back, and gained the door before her—slammed it in her face, and shoved the bolt. During the struggle the light had been extinguished, and Mistress Gredel remained in the dark, her voice only faintly heard at intervals.
Exhausted, almost annihilated, I looked at Annette, whose distress was equal to mine. We stood listening in silence to the faint cries. Gradually they died away and ceased. The poor woman must have fainted.
"Oh, Kasper!" cried Annette, clasping her hands. "What is to be done? Fly! Save yourself! Have you killed her?"
"Killed her? I?"
"No matter—fly! Here—quick!"
And she drew the bar from before the street-door. I rushed into the street without even thanking her—ungrateful wretch that I was! The night was black as ink—not a star to be seen, not a lamp lighted, snow driving before the wind. I ran on for half an hour, at least, before I stopped to take breath. I looked up—imagine my despair—there I was, right in front of the Sheep's Foot again. In my terror I had made the tour of the quarter perhaps two or three times for aught I knew. My legs were like lead; my knees trembled.
The inn, but just before deserted, was buzzing like a beehive. Lights went from window to window. It was full, no doubt, of police-agents. Exhausted with hunger and fatigue, desperate, not knowing where to find refuge, I took the most singular of all my resolutions.
"Faith," said I to myself, "one death as well as another! It is no worse to be hung than to leave one's bones on the road to the Black Forest. Here goes!"
And I entered the inn to deliver myself up to justice. Besides the shabby men with crushed hats and big sticks, whom I had already seen in the morning, who were going and coming, and prying everywhere, before a table were seated the grand provost Zimmer, dressed all in black, solemn, keen-eyed, and the secretary Roth, with his red wig, imposing smile, and great, flat ears, like oyster-shells. They paid hardly any attention at all to me—a circumstance which at once modified my resolution. I took a seat in one corner of the hall, behind the great stove, in company with two or three of the neighbors, who had run in to see what was going on, and called calmly for a pint of wine and a plate of Sauerkraut.
Annette came near betraying me.
"Ah, good heavens!" she exclaimed; "is it possible that you are here?"
But luckily no one noticed her exclamation, and I ate my meal with better appetite, and listened to the examination of the good lady Gredel, who sat propped up in a big arm-chair, with hair disheveled, and eyes still dilated by her fright.
"Of what age did this man seem to be?" asked the provost.
"Forty or fifty, sir. It was an immense man, with black whiskers, or brown—I don't know exactly which—and a long nose, and green eyes."
"Had he no marks of any kind—scars, for instance?"
"No—I can't remember. Luckily, I screamed so loud he was frightened; and then I defended myself with ray nails. He had a great hammer, and pistols. He seized me by the throat. Ah! you know, sir, when one tries to murder you, you have to defend yourself."
"Nothing more natural, more legitimate, my dear madame. Write, M. Roth: 'The courage and presence of mind of this excellent lady were truly admirable.'"
Then came Annette's turn, who simply declared that she had been so frightened she could remember nothing.
"This will do," said the provost. "If further inquiry is necessary, we will return to-morrow."
The examination being thus ended, every one departed, and I asked Madame Gredel to give me a room for the night. She did not in the least recollect ever having seen me before.
"Annette," she gasped, "take the gentleman to the little green room in the third story. As for myself, sir, you see I can not even stand on my legs! 0 good Lord! good Lord! what does not one have to go through in this world?"
With this she fell to sobbing, which seemed to relieve her.
"Oh, Kasper, Kasper!" cried Annette, when she had taken me to my room and we were alone, "who would have believed that you were one of the band? I can never, never forgive myself for having loved a brigand!"
"How? Annette, you too?" I exclaimed. "This is too much!"
"No, no!" she cried, throwing her arms about my neck, "you are not one of them—you are too good for that. Still, you are a brave man just the same, to have come back."
I explained to her that I should have died of cold outside, and that this alone had decided me. After a few minutes, however, we parted, so as not to arouse Mother Gredel's suspicions; and having made certain that none of the windows opened on a wall, and that the bolt on the door was a good one, I went to bed, and soon was fast asleep.
II.
When I drew the curtain of my bed next morning, I saw that the window-panes were white with snow, which was heaped up also on the sill without. I thought mournfully of my poor comrades' fate. How they must have suffered from cold! Old Bremer and big Bertha especially—my heart ached for them.
While I was absorbed in these sad reflections a strange noise arose outside. It drew near the inn, and, not without fear and trembling, I jumped out of bed, and rushed to the window, to see what new danger threatened.
They were bringing the terrible band to confront it with Madame Gredel Dick. My poor companions came clown the street between two files of policemen, and followed by a perfect avalanche of ragamuffins, yelling and hissing like true savages. There was poor Bremer, handcuffed to his son Ludwig, then Carl and Wilfrid, and, last of all, stout Bertha, who walked by herself, lamenting her fate all the while in heart-rending tones:
"For Heaven's sake, gentlemen, for Heaven's sake, have pity on a poor innocent harpist! kill! I—rob! Oh! good Lord! can it be possible?"
And she wrung her hands. The others looked doleful enough as they walked with heads bent and disheveled hair hanging over their faces. The procession, rabble and all, turned into the dark alley which led to the inn. Presently the guards drove out the eager crowd, who remained outside in the mud, with their noses flattened against the window-panes.
I dressed myself quickly, and opened my door to see if there were not some chance of escape; but I could hear voices and footsteps going to and fro down stairs, and made up my mind that the passages were well guarded. My door opened on the landing, just opposite the window which our midnight visitor of the night before must have used in his flight. At first I paid no attention to this window, but, while I remained listening, on a sudden I perceived that it was open—that there was but little snow on the sill; and, drawing near, I perceived that there were fresh tracks along the wall. I shuddered at this discovery. The man had been there again; perhaps he came every night. The cat, the weasel, the ferret, all such beasts of prey, have their accustomed paths in this way. In a moment everything was clear to my mind.
"Ah," thought I, "if chance has thus put the assassin's fate in my hands, my poor comrades may be saved."
Just at this moment the door of the saloon was opened, and I could hear some words of the examination going on.
"Do you admit having participated, on the 20th of this month, in the assassination of the priest Ulmet Elias?"
Then followed some words which I could not make out, and the door was closed again. I leaned my head on the baluster, debating in my mind a great, a heroic resolution. "Heaven has put the fate of my companions in my hands. I can save them. If I recoil from such a duty, I shall be their murderer! my peace of mind, my honor, will be gone for ever! I shall feel myself the most contemptible of men!"
For a long time I hesitated, but all at once my resolution was taken. I descended the stairs and made my way into the hall.
"Have you never seen this watch?" the provost was saying to Gredel. "Try to recollect, madame."
Without awaiting her answer, I advanced, and replied myself, in a firm voice: "This watch, sir, I have seen in the hands of the assassin himself; I recognize it, and I can deliver the assassin into your hands this very night, if you will but listen to me."
Profound silence for a moment followed my address. The astounded officials looked at each other; my comrades seemed to revive a little.
"Who are you, sir?" demanded the provost, recovering himself.
"I am the comrade of these unfortunate men, and I am not ashamed to own it," I cried; "for all of them, though poor, are honest. Not one of them is capable of committing the crime they are accused of."
Once more there was silence. The great Bertha began to sob under her breath. The provost seemed to reflect. At last, looking at me sternly, he said:
"Where do you pretend you will find the assassin for us?"
"Here, sir, in this house; and, to convince you, I only ask to speak one moment to you in private."
"Come," said he, rising.
He motioned to the chief detective, Madoc, to follow us, and we went out.
I ran quickly up stairs, the others close behind me. On the third story I stopped before the window, and pointed out the tracks in the snow.
"There are the assassin's footsteps," said I. "This is where he passes every evening. Night before last he came at two o'clock in the morning. Last night he was here; no doubt he will return to-night."
The provost and Madoc looked at the footsteps for several moments without saying a word.
"And how do you know these are the footprints of the murderer?" asked the chief of police, incredulously.
I told them about the man's entrance into our garret, and pointed out above us the lattice through which I had watched his flight in the moonlight. "It was only by accident," I said, "that I had discovered the footsteps this morning."
"Strange!" muttered the provost. "This modifies considerably the position of the prisoners. But how do you explain the murderer's being in the cellar?"
"The murderer was myself, sir."
And I related in a few words the events of the night before.
"That will do," said he, and then, turning to the chief of police, continued:
"I must confess, Madoc, that these fiddlers' story has seemed to me by no means conclusive of their having had anything to do with the murders. Besides, their papers establish, for several of them, an alibi very hard to disprove. Still, young man, though the account you give us has the appearance of being true, you will remain in our power until it is verified. Madoc, do not lose sight of him, and take your measures accordingly."
With this he went down stairs, collected his papers, and ordered the prisoners to be taken back to jail. Then, casting a look of contempt at the corpulent landlady, he took his departure, followed by his secretary.
"Madame," said Madoc, who remained with two of his men, "you will please preserve the most profound silence as to what has taken place. Also, prepare for this brave lad here the same room he occupied night before last."
His tone admitted of no reply, and Madame Gredel promised by all that was sacred to do whatever they wished, if they would only save her from the brigands.
"Give yourself no uneasiness about the brigands," replied Madoc. "We will stay here all day and all night to protect you. Go quietly about your affairs, and begin by giving us breakfast. Young man, will you do me the honor to breakfast with me?"
My situation did not permit me to decline this offer. I accepted.
We were soon seated in front of a ham and a bottle of Rhine wine. The chief of police, in spite of his leaden face, his keen eye, and great nose like the beak of an eagle, was a jolly enough fellow after a few glasses of wine. He tried to seize Annette by the waist as she passed. He told funny stories, at which the others shouted with laughter. I, however, remained silent, depressed.
"Come, young man," said Madoc, with a laugh, "try to forget the death of your estimAle grandmother. We are all mortal. Take a good drink, and chase away all these gloomy thoughts."
So the time slipped away, amid clouds of tobacco-smoke, the jingling of glasses, and clinking of cans. We sat apart during the day in one corner of the saloon. Guests came to drink as usual, but they paid no attention to us. At nine o'clock, however, after the watchman had gone his round, Madoc rose.
"Now," said he, "we must attend to our little business. Close the door and shutters—softly, madame, softly. There, you and Mademoiselle Annette may go to bed."
The chief and his two followers drew from their pockets bars of iron loaded at the ends with leaden balls. Aladoc put a fresh cap on his pistol, and placed it carefully in the breast-pocket of his overcoat, so as to be ready at hand.
Then we mounted to the garret. The too attentive Annette had lighted a fire in the stove. Madoc, muttering an oath between his teeth, hastened to throw some water on the coals. Then he pointed to the mattress.
"If you have any mind for it," said he to me, "you can sleep."
He blew out the candle, and seated himself with his two acolytes in the back part of the room against the wall. I threw myself on the bed, murmuring a prayer that Heaven would send the assassin.
The hours rolled by. Midnight came. The silence was so profound I could scarcely believe the three men sat there with eye and ear strained to catch the least movement, the slightest sound. Minute after minute passed slowly—slowly. I could not sleep. A thousand terrible images chased each other through my brain. One o'clock struck—two—yet nothing—no one appeared.
At three o'clock one of the policemen moved. I thought the man was coming; but all was silent again as before. I began to think that Madoc would take me for an impostor, to imagine how he would abuse me in the morning. And then my poor comrades—instead of aiding, I had only riveted their chains!
The time seemed now to pass only too rapidly. I wished the night might last for ever, so as to preserve at least a ray of hope for me.
I was going over the same torturing fancies for the hundredth time, when on a sudden, without my having heard the least sound, the window opened, two eyes gleamed in the aperture. Nothing moved in the garret.
"They have gone to sleep!" thought I, in an agony of suspense.
The head remained there—motionless—watchful. The villain must suspect something! Oh! how my heart thumped—the blood coursed through my veins! And yet cold beads of sweat gathered on my forehead. I ceased to breathe.
Several minutes passed thus; then, suddenly, the man seemed to have decided; he glided down into the garret, with the same noiseless caution as on the previous night.
But at the same instant a cry—a terrible, short, thrilling cry—vibrated through the room.
"We have him!"
Then the whole house was shaken from garret to cellar by cries—the stamping of feet—hoarse shouts. I was petrified by terror. The man bellowed—the others drew their breaths in quick gasps—then came a heavy fall which made the floor crack—and I heard only the gnashing of teeth and clink of chains.
"Light!" cried the terrible Madoc.
By the flame of the burning coals, which cast a bluish light through the room, I could dimly see the police-officers crouched over the body of a man in his shirt-sleeves; one held him by the throat, the knees of the other rested upon his chest; Madoc was roughly clasping the handcuffs on his wrists. The man lay as if lifeless, save that from time to time one of his great legs, naked from knee to ankle, was raised, and struck the floor with a convulsive movement. His eyes were starting from their sockets; a blood-stained foam had gathered upon his lips.
Hardly had I lighted the candle when the officers started back with an exclamation:
"Our dean!"
And all three rose to their feet, looking at each other with pale faces.
The bloodshot eye of the assassin turned toward Madoc; his lips moved, but only after several seconds I could hear him murmur:
"What a dream! Good God! what a dream!"
Then a sigh, and he lay motionless again.
I drew near to look at him. Yes, it was he, the man who had overtaken us on the road to Heidelberg, and advised -tis to turn back. Perhaps even then he had a presentiment that we would be the cause of his ruin. Madoc, who had recovered from his surprise, seeing that he did not move, and that a thread of blood was oozing along the dusty floor, bent over him and tore asunder the bosom of his shirt; he had stabbed himself to the heart with his huge knife.
"Eh!" said Madoc, with a sinister smile. "Monsieur the dean has cheated the gallows. He knew where to strike, and has not missed his mark. Do you stay here," he continued to us. "I will go and inform the provost."
I remained with the two police-agents watching the corpse.
By eight o'clock next morning all Heidelberg was electrified with the news. Daniel Van der Berg, dean of the woolen-drapers, possessed of wealth and position such as few enjoyed—who could believe that he had been the terrible assassin?
A hundred different explanations were offered. Some said the rich dean had been a somnambulist, and therefore not responsible for his actions; others, that he had murdered from pure love of blood—he could have had no other motive for such a crime. Perhaps both theories were true. In the somnambulist the will is dead; he is governed by his animal instincts alone, be they pacific or sanguinary; and in Master Daniel Van der Berg, the cruel face, the flat head swollen behind the ears, the green eyes, the long bristling mustache, all proved that he unhappily belonged to the feline family—terrible race, which kills for the pleasure of killing.