The Crystal Stopper [29]
he relaxed his tense muscles; and, now that his eyes were calmer and his mouth less contorted, Lupin, who was examining him closely, found something that he recognized, an undoubted resemblance.
This again confirmed certain facts which he suspected and which he had for some time been linking in his mind. Indeed, unless he was mistaken, the position was becoming very different and he would soon assume the direction of events. After that...
A ring at the bell followed, at once, by two others, sharp ones.
"Hullo!" said Lupin to the child. "Here's mummy come to fetch you. Don't move."
He ran and opened the door.
A woman entered, wildly:
"My son!" she screamed. "My son! Where is he?"
"In my room," said Lupin.
Without asking more, thus proving that she knew the way, she rushed to the bedroom.
"As I thought," muttered Lupin. "The youngish woman with the gray hair: Daubrecq's friend and enemy."
He walked to the window and looked through the curtains. Two men were striding up and down the opposite pavement: the Growler and the Masher.
"And they're not even hiding themselves," he said to himself. "That's a good sign. They consider that they can't do without me any longer and that they've got to obey the governor. There remains the pretty lady with the gray hair. That will be more difficult. It's you and I now, mummy."
He found the mother and the boy clasped in each other's arms; and the mother, in a great state of alarm, her eyes moist with tears, was saying:
"You're not hurt? You're sure? Oh, how frightened you must have been, my poor little Jacques!"
"A fine little fellow," said Lupin.
She did not reply. She was feeling the child's jersey, as Lupin had done, no doubt to see if he had succeeded in his nocturnal mission; and she questioned him in a whisper.
"No, mummy," said the child. "No, really."
She kissed him fondly and petted him, until, in a little while, the child, worn out with fatigue and excitement, fell asleep. She remained leaning over him for a long time. She herself seemed very much worn out and in need of rest.
Lupin did not disturb her contemplation. He looked at her anxiously, with an attention which she did not perceive, and he noticed the wider rings round her eyes and the deeper marks of wrinkles. Yet he considered her handsomer than he had thought, with that touching beauty which habitual suffering gives to certain faces that are more human, more sensitive than others.
She wore so sad an expression that, in a burst of instinctive sympathy, he went up to her and said: "I do not know what your plans are, but, whatever they may be, you stand in need of help. You cannot succeed alone."
"I am not alone."
"The two men outside? I know them. They're no good. I beseech you, make use of me. You remember the other evening, at the theatre, in the private box? You were on the point of speaking. Do not hesitate to-day."
She turned her eyes on him, looked at him long and fixedly and, as though unable to escape that opposing will, she said:
"What do you know exactiy? What do you know about me?"
"There are many things that I do not know. I do not know your name. But I know... "
She interrupted him with a gesture; and, resolutely, in her turn, dominating the man who was compelling her to speak:
"It doesn't matter," she exclaimed. "What you know, after all, is not much and is of no importance. But what are your plans? You offer me your help: with what view? For what work? You have flung yourself headlong into this business; I have been unable to undertake anything without meeting you on my path: you must be contemplating some aim... What aim?"
"What aim? Upon my word, it seems to me that my conduct... "
"No, no," she said, emphatically, "no phrases! What you and I want is certainties; and, to achieve them, absolute frankness. I will set you the example. M. Daubrecq possesses a thing of unparalleled value, not in itself, but for what it represents. That thing you know. You have twice held it in your hands.
This again confirmed certain facts which he suspected and which he had for some time been linking in his mind. Indeed, unless he was mistaken, the position was becoming very different and he would soon assume the direction of events. After that...
A ring at the bell followed, at once, by two others, sharp ones.
"Hullo!" said Lupin to the child. "Here's mummy come to fetch you. Don't move."
He ran and opened the door.
A woman entered, wildly:
"My son!" she screamed. "My son! Where is he?"
"In my room," said Lupin.
Without asking more, thus proving that she knew the way, she rushed to the bedroom.
"As I thought," muttered Lupin. "The youngish woman with the gray hair: Daubrecq's friend and enemy."
He walked to the window and looked through the curtains. Two men were striding up and down the opposite pavement: the Growler and the Masher.
"And they're not even hiding themselves," he said to himself. "That's a good sign. They consider that they can't do without me any longer and that they've got to obey the governor. There remains the pretty lady with the gray hair. That will be more difficult. It's you and I now, mummy."
He found the mother and the boy clasped in each other's arms; and the mother, in a great state of alarm, her eyes moist with tears, was saying:
"You're not hurt? You're sure? Oh, how frightened you must have been, my poor little Jacques!"
"A fine little fellow," said Lupin.
She did not reply. She was feeling the child's jersey, as Lupin had done, no doubt to see if he had succeeded in his nocturnal mission; and she questioned him in a whisper.
"No, mummy," said the child. "No, really."
She kissed him fondly and petted him, until, in a little while, the child, worn out with fatigue and excitement, fell asleep. She remained leaning over him for a long time. She herself seemed very much worn out and in need of rest.
Lupin did not disturb her contemplation. He looked at her anxiously, with an attention which she did not perceive, and he noticed the wider rings round her eyes and the deeper marks of wrinkles. Yet he considered her handsomer than he had thought, with that touching beauty which habitual suffering gives to certain faces that are more human, more sensitive than others.
She wore so sad an expression that, in a burst of instinctive sympathy, he went up to her and said: "I do not know what your plans are, but, whatever they may be, you stand in need of help. You cannot succeed alone."
"I am not alone."
"The two men outside? I know them. They're no good. I beseech you, make use of me. You remember the other evening, at the theatre, in the private box? You were on the point of speaking. Do not hesitate to-day."
She turned her eyes on him, looked at him long and fixedly and, as though unable to escape that opposing will, she said:
"What do you know exactiy? What do you know about me?"
"There are many things that I do not know. I do not know your name. But I know... "
She interrupted him with a gesture; and, resolutely, in her turn, dominating the man who was compelling her to speak:
"It doesn't matter," she exclaimed. "What you know, after all, is not much and is of no importance. But what are your plans? You offer me your help: with what view? For what work? You have flung yourself headlong into this business; I have been unable to undertake anything without meeting you on my path: you must be contemplating some aim... What aim?"
"What aim? Upon my word, it seems to me that my conduct... "
"No, no," she said, emphatically, "no phrases! What you and I want is certainties; and, to achieve them, absolute frankness. I will set you the example. M. Daubrecq possesses a thing of unparalleled value, not in itself, but for what it represents. That thing you know. You have twice held it in your hands.