The Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged Penguin) (120 page)

‘And I, Monsieur,’ he replied, ‘shall be happy to receive you.’
Whereupon he had offered to drive Cavalcanti back to the Hôtel des Princes, provided (of course) that he could bear to be separated from his son.

Cavalcanti replied that his son had long been accustomed to lead the bachelor life of a young man and consequently had his own horses and carriages; since they had not arrived together, he saw no difficulty in their leaving separately.

So the major got into Danglars’ carriage and the banker took his place by his side, ever more charmed by the man’s ideas of order and economy, even though he gave his son 50,000 francs a year, which indicated a fortune capable of producing an income of some 5,000 or 6,000
livres
.

As for Andrea, in order to cut a good figure, he started by scolding his groom for not coming to collect him at the steps instead of at the gate, meaning that he had an extra thirty steps to reach his tilbury. The groom accepted the telling-off with good grace and shifted the bit into his left hand, to restrain the horse, which was stamping its hoof with impatience, and with the other hand gave the reins to Andrea, who took them and lightly set his polished boot on the running-board.

At that moment a hand touched his shoulder. The young man looked around, thinking that Danglars or Monte Cristo must have forgotten to tell him something and wished to catch him as he was leaving. But, instead of either of them, he saw a strange face, tanned by the sun and enclosed in a ready-made beard, with eyes shining like gems and a mocking smile which revealed, inside the mouth, each one in its place and not a single one missing, thirty-two sharp white teeth, as ravenous as those of a wolf or a jackal.

The head, with its dirty greying hair, was covered in a red check handkerchief, and the dirtiest, most ragged workman’s smock hung around a frame so fleshless and bony that you half expected the bones to clink like those of a skeleton as it walked. As for the hand which clasped Andrea’s shoulder, and the first thing that the young man saw, it seemed to him to be of gigantic size. Did the young man recognize the creature in the light from the lantern on his tilbury, or was he simply struck by his horrible appearance? We cannot say, but he shuddered and started back.

‘What do you want with me?’ he asked.

‘Beg pardon, guv’nor!’ the man said, lifting a hand to his red kerchief. ‘I may be interrupting, but I must have a word.’

‘You shouldn’t beg after dark,’ the groom said, threatening to drive this trouble-maker away from his master.

‘I’m not begging, my fine fellow,’ the stranger replied with an ironic smile – a smile so terrifying that the groom shrank back. ‘I just want to say two words to your guv’nor, who asked me not a fortnight ago to do something for him.’

‘Come, come,’ said Andrea, loudly enough to disguise his anxiety from the servant. ‘What do you want? Quick now, friend.’

‘I want… I want…’ the man in the red kerchief whispered, ‘you to spare me the trouble of walking back to Paris. I’m very tired and, not having dined as well as you, I can hardly stand.’

The young man shuddered at this unusual familiarity. ‘But what do you want from me?’ he asked.

‘Well, I should like you to let me get into your fine carriage and to drive me back.’

Andrea’s face paled, but he said nothing.

‘For heaven’s sake!’ the man in the red kerchief said, digging his hands into his pockets and giving the young man a challenging look. ‘Yes, it’s an idea I’ve got. Do you understand, my little Benedetto?’

At that name, the young man no doubt thought again, with the result that he went over to his groom and said: ‘I did indeed give this man a job to do for me and he is going to tell me the outcome. Walk as far as the gate and take a cab there, so as not to be too late home.’

The servant went away, surprised.

‘At least let me reach the shadows,’ said Andrea.

‘As far as that’s concerned, I’ll find you the perfect spot,’ the man said, taking the horse by the bit and leading the tilbury to a place where it was impossible for anyone to see the honour Andrea was according him. ‘It’s not because I want the glory of getting into your fine carriage,’ he continued, ‘but simply that I am tired; and also, a bit, because I have business to discuss with you.’

‘Come, get in,’ said the young man.

It is a great shame that it was not daylight, because the spectacle must have been odd indeed, with the tramp plainly seated on the upholstered seat of the tilbury beside its elegant young driver.

Andrea drove the horse to the last house on the outskirts of the village without saying a word to his companion, who smiled and kept his mouth shut, as if delighted to be travelling in such a fine
vehicle. But once they were out of Auteuil, Andrea looked around, no doubt to make sure that they could not be overheard or overlooked, pulled up the horse and said, crossing his arms in front of the man with the red kerchief: ‘Damn it! Why have you come to disturb me now?’

‘And why do you defy me, my lad?’

‘How have I defied you?’

‘How? You are asking me how? We separated at the Pont du Var, when you told me you were going to travel through Piedmont and Tuscany, and not a bit of it: you came to Paris.’

‘Why should you mind?’

‘On the contrary, I don’t. Not at all. I even hope it might be useful.’

‘Ah! I see!’ Andrea said. ‘You’re speculating on me.’

‘There you are! Insults already.’

‘I warn you, Master Caderousse, you would be making a mistake.’

‘All right, my lad, all right. Don’t get angry. But you must know what it’s like to fall on hard times. It makes you envious. So there am I, thinking you’re roving around Piedmont and Tuscany, forced to work as a
faccino
or a
cicerone
, and feeling sorry for you, as I would for my own child… You know I’ve always called you my child?’

‘So? What about it?’

‘Hold on! Be patient!’

‘I am patient. Just say what you have to.’

‘Then all at once I see you riding through the gate at Les Bons-Hommes with a groom, and a tilbury, and brand-new clothes. Brand new! What does it mean? You’ve discovered a gold mine – or have you bought a place on the Exchange?’

‘And the result, you tell me, is that you’re envious?’

‘No, no, I’m happy; so happy that I wanted to congratulate you, little one! But since I was not formally dressed, I took steps to make sure I didn’t compromise you.’

‘Some steps!’ Andrea said. ‘You accosted me in front of my servant.’

‘What do you expect! I accosted you when I could. You have a lively horse and a light carriage, you are by nature as slippery as an eel and, if I had missed you this evening, I might never have caught you at all.’

‘I’m not hiding, as you can see.’

‘Good for you; I wish I could say the same. But I am hiding. Not to mention the fact that I was afraid you would not recognize me – but you did,’ Caderousse added, with his evil smile. ‘There! You’re a kind fellow.’

‘So what do you want?’

‘You’re not polite with me and that’s not nice, Benedetto, to an old comrade. Be careful, you may make me very demanding.’

At this threat, the young man’s anger subsided: a cold breath of coercion had just blown over it. He whipped his horse back to a trot.

‘It’s not nice of you, my friend,’ he said, ‘to take that tone with an old comrade, as you say. You are a Marseillais, I’m…’

‘Have you found out what you are now?’

‘No, but I was brought up in Corsica. You are old and obstinate, I am young and stubborn. It’s a bad idea for people like us to threaten one another. We should do business amicably. Is it my fault if luck is still hard on you and has been kind to me?’

‘So, your luck’s good, is it? Which means it’s not some borrowed groom or borrowed tilbury or borrowed clothes that we have here? Fine! So much the better!’ Caderousse said, his eyes gleaming with greed.

‘You can see that very well and you know it, since you’ve accosted me,’ Andrea said, getting more and more excited. ‘If I had a kerchief like yours on my head, a filthy smock on my back and gaping shoes on my feet, you wouldn’t recognize me.’

‘You see, little one, you do despise me, and you are wrong. Now I’ve found you, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be dressed in fine linen like anyone else, since I know your generosity. If you had two coats, you would give one to me. I gave you my share of soup and beans when you were starving.’

‘That’s true,’ Andrea said.

‘What an appetite you had! Do you still?’

‘Surely,’ Andrea said with a laugh.

‘You must have had a good dinner with that prince you have just left.’

‘He’s not a prince, just a count.’

‘A count? Rich, huh?’

‘Yes, but don’t rely on him. He looks an awkward customer.’

‘Oh, don’t worry! I’ve got no plans for your count; keep him
for yourself. But,’ Caderousse added, the same unpleasant smile hovering about his lips, ‘you’ll have to pay for it, you know…’

‘Come on, what do you need?’

‘I think that with a hundred francs a month…’

‘Yes?’

‘I could live…’

‘On a hundred francs?’

‘And not very well, as you know. However, with…’

‘With?’

‘A hundred and fifty francs, I should be very happy.’

‘Here are two hundred,’ said Andrea, putting ten gold
louis
into Caderousse’s hand.

‘Good,’ said Caderousse.

‘Come and see the concierge on the first of every month and you will have the same.’

‘Come, now! You’re humiliating me again!’

‘Why?’

‘Sending me to deal with the skivvies. No, I want to deal directly with you.’

‘Very well, ask for me, and on the first of every month, for as long as I am getting my income, you shall have yours.’

‘You see! I was right, you are a fine lad, and it’s a blessing when good fortune comes to those like you. So, tell me all about it.’

‘Why do you need to know?’ Cavalcanti asked.

‘There! Hostility again!’

‘No, no. Well, I’ve found my father.’

‘A real one?’

‘Huh! As long as he pays…’

‘You will believe in and honour him. That’s fair. What’s this father’s name?’

‘Major Cavalcanti.’

‘Is he happy with you?’

‘For the time being, I seem to fit the bill.’

‘And who found this father for you?’

‘The Count of Monte Cristo.’

‘This count you’ve just left?’

‘Yes.’

‘In that case, try to find me a post with him as a grandparent, since he’s making a business of it.’

‘I’ll mention you to him. Meanwhile, what will you do?’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, you.’

‘You’re a good lad, to worry about that,’ said Caderousse.

‘Since you’re taking such an interest in me, I can at least find out something about you myself.’

‘Very well. I’m going to rent a room in a respectable house, buy myself a decent coat, get a shave every day and go and read the newspaper in a café. In the evenings, I shall go to the theatre with the man who organizes the claque. I’ll be taken for a retired baker. That’s my dream…’

‘Excellent! If you follow that plan sensibly, everything will be fine.’

‘Listen to Monsieur Bossuet
²
… And what are you going to become: a peer of the realm?’

‘Uh, uh!’ Andrea said. ‘Who knows?’

‘Perhaps Major Cavalcanti is one. What a shame the hereditary peerage has been abolished.’

‘Keep off politics, Caderousse! Now you have what you wanted and we have arrived home, jump down and disappear.’

‘Not so, my good friend.’

‘What do you mean: not so?’

‘Just think, little one: here I am with a red kerchief on my head, virtually no shoes, no documents at all and ten gold
napoleons
in my pocket, quite apart from what was there already, which adds up to a round two hundred francs! They would most certainly arrest me at the gate, and I should be forced, in my own defence, to tell them that you gave me these ten
napoleons
. Then there’d have to be a statement and an enquiry. They would find that I left Toulon without asking for leave and send me back from one police force to the next down to the shores of the Mediterranean. I should quite simply become, once more, Number one hundred and six
³
– and goodbye to my dreams of playing the part of a retired baker! No, no, son, I’d rather stay honestly in the capital.’

Andrea raised an eyebrow. As he had boasted himself, this supposed son of Major Cavalcanti was something of a hothead. He paused, cast a rapid glance around him and, as his eyes completed this circular investigation, innocently let his hand go down to his trouser pocket where it began to fondle the stock of a small pistol. However, during this same time, Caderousse, while not taking
his eyes off the other man, put his hands behind his back and gently opened a long Spanish knife which he kept there for any eventuality.