Short Stories, vol 4 | Page 9

promise----'
"Cavalier put him back on the ground and forced him to his knees:
"'Beg for pardon,' he said.
"With eyes lowered, the scamp murmured:
"'I ask for pardon!'
"Then his uncle lifted him to his feet, and dismissed him with a cuff
which almost knocked him down again.
"He made his escape, and I did not see him again that evening.

"Cavalier appeared overwhelmed.'
"'He is a bad egg,' he said.
"And throughout the whole dinner, he kept repeating:
"'Oh! that worries me, monsieur, that worries me.'
"I tried to comfort him, but in vain.
"I went to bed early, so that I might start out at daybreak.
"My dog was already asleep on the floor, at the foot of my bed, when I
put out the light.
"I was awakened toward midnight by the furious barking of my dog
Bock. I immediately noticed that my room was full of smoke. I jumped
out of bed, struck a light, ran to the door and opened it. A cloud of
flames burst in. The house was on fire.
"I quickly closed the heavy oak door and, drawing on my trousers, I
first lowered the dog through the window, by means of a rope made of
my sheets; then, having thrown out the rest of my clothes, my
game-bag and my gun, I in turn escaped the same way.
"I began to shout with all my might: 'Cavalier! Cavalier! Cavalier!'
"But the gamekeeper did not wake up. He slept soundly like an old
gendarme.
"However, I could see through the lower windows that the whole
ground- floor was nothing but a roaring furnace; I also noticed that it
had been filled with straw to make it burn readily.
"Somebody must purposely have set fire to the place!
"I continued shrieking wildly: 'Cavalier!'
"Then the thought struck me that the smoke might be suffocating him.
An idea came to me. I slipped two cartridges into my gun, and shot
straight at his window.
"The six panes of glass shattered into the room in a cloud of glass. This
time the old man had heard me, and he appeared, dazed, in his
nightshirt, bewildered by the glare which illumined the whole front of
his 'house.
"I cried to him:
"'Your house is on fire! Escape through the window! Quick! Quick!'
"The flames were coming out through all the cracks downstairs, were
licking along the wall, were creeping toward him and going to surround
him. He jumped and landed on his feet, like a cat.
"It was none too soon. The thatched roof cracked in the middle, right

over the staircase, which formed a kind of flue for the fire downstairs;
and an immense red jet jumped up into the air, spreading like a stream
of water and sprinkling a shower of sparks around the hut. In a few
seconds it was nothing but a pool of flames.
"Cavalier, thunderstruck, asked:
"'How did the fire start?'
"I answered:
"'Somebody lit it in the kitchen.'
"He muttered:
"'Who could have started the fire?'
"And I, suddenly guessing, answered:
"'Marius!'
"The old man understood. He stammered:
"'Good God! That is why he didn't return.'
"A terrible thought flashed through my mind. I cried:
"'And Celeste! Celeste!'
"He did not answer. The house caved in before us, forming only an
enormous, bright, blinding brazier, an awe-inspiring funeral-pile, where
the poor woman could no longer be anything but a glowing ember, a
glowing ember of human flesh.
"We had not heard a single cry.
"As the fire crept toward the shed, I suddenly bethought me of my
horse, and Cavalier ran to free it.
"Hardly had he opened the door of the stable, when a supple, nimble
body darted between his legs, and threw him on his face. It was Marius,
running for all he was worth.
"The man was up in a second. He tried to run after the wretch, but,
seeing that he could not catch him, and maddened by an irresistible
anger, yielding to one of those thoughtless impulses which we cannot
foresee or prevent, he picked up my gun, which was lying on the
ground. near him, put it to his shoulder, and, before I could make a
motion, he pulled the trigger without even noticing whether or not the
weapon was loaded.
"One of the cartridges which I had put in to announce the fire was still
intact, and the charge caught the fugitive right in the back,--throwing
him forward on the ground, bleeding profusely. He immediately began
to claw the earth with his hands and with his knees, as though trying to

run on all fours like a rabbit who has been mortally wounded, and sees
the hunter approaching.
"I rushed forward to the boy, but I could already hear the death-rattle.
He passed away