La Grande Breteche | Page 8

history of la Grande Breteche?'
" 'Yes, Madame Lepas.'
" 'And what did he tell you?'
"I repeated in a few words the creepy and sinister story of Madame de
Merret. At each sentence my hostess put her head forward, looking at
me with an innkeeper's keen scrutiny, a happy compromise between the
instinct of a police constable, the astuteness of a spy, and the cunning
of a dealer.
" 'My good Madame Lepas,' said I as I ended, 'you seem to know more
about it. Heh? If not, why have you come up to me?'

" 'On my word, as an honest woman----'
" 'Do not swear; your eyes are big with a secret. You knew Monsieur de
Merret; what sort of man was he?'
" 'Monsieur de Merret--well, you see he was a man you never could see
the top of, he was so tall! A very good gentleman, from Picardy, and
who had, as we say, his head close to his cap. He paid for everything
down, so as never to have difficulties with any one. He was hot-
tempered, you see! All our ladies liked him very much.'
" 'Because he was hot-tempered?' I asked her.
" 'Well, may be,' said she; 'and you may suppose, sir, that a man had to
have something to show for a figurehead before he could marry
Madame de Merret, who, without any reflection on others, was the
handsomest and richest heiress in our parts. She had about twenty
thousand francs a year. All the town was at the wedding; the bride was
pretty and sweet-looking, quite a gem of a woman. Oh, they were a
handsome couple in their day!'
" 'And were they happy together?'
" 'Hm, hm! so-so--so far as can be guessed, for, as you may suppose,
we of the common sort were not hail-fellow-well-met with
them.--Madame de Merret was a kind woman and very pleasant, who
had no doubt sometimes to put up with her husband's tantrums. But
though he was rather haughty, we were fond of him. After all, it was his
place to behave so. When a man is a born nobleman, you see----'
" 'Still, there must have been some catastrophe for Monsieur and
Madame de Merret to part so violently?'
" 'I did not say there was any catastrophe, sir. I know nothing about it.'
" 'Indeed. Well, now, I am sure you know everything.'
" 'Well, sir, I will tell you the whole story.--When I saw Monsieur
Regnault go up to see you, it struck me that he would speak to you
about Madame de Merret as having to do with la Grande Breteche. That
put it into my head to ask your advice, sir, seeming to me that you are a
man of good judgment and incapable of playing a poor woman like me
false--for I never did any one a wrong, and yet I am tormented by my
conscience. Up to now I have never dared to say a word to the people
of these parts; they are all chatter-mags, with tongues like knives. And
never till now, sir, have I had any traveler here who stayed so long in
the inn as you have, and to whom I could tell the history of the fifteen

thousand francs----'
" 'My dear Madame Lepas, if there is anything in your story of a nature
to compromise me,' I said, interrupting the flow of her words, 'I would
not hear it for all the world.'
" 'You need have no fears,' said she; 'you will see.'
"Her eagerness made me suspect that I was not the only person to
whom my worthy landlady had communicated the secret of which I
was to be the sole possessor, but I listened.
" 'Monsieur,' said she, 'when the Emperor sent the Spaniards here,
prisoners of war and others, I was required to lodge at the charge of the
Government a young Spaniard sent to Vendome on parole.
Notwithstanding his parole, he had to show himself every day to the
sub-prefect. He was a Spanish grandee--neither more nor less. He had a
name in /os/ and /dia/, something like Bagos de Feredia. I wrote his
name down in my books, and you may see it if you like. Ah! he was a
handsome young fellow for a Spaniard, who are all ugly they say. He
was not more than five feet two or three in height, but so well made;
and he had little hands that he kept so beautifully! Ah! you should have
seen them. He had as many brushes for his hands as a woman has for
her toilet. He had thick, black hair, a flame in his eye, a somewhat
coppery complexion, but which I admired all the same. He wore the
finest