The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo [152]
“Zounds! Odds bodikins! By the Rood! By Cock and pye! Damme! ‘Sdeath! Thunder and Mars!”
“By my soul,” exclaimed Jehan, “that can be no other than my friend Captain Phœbus!”
The name of Phœbus reached the archdeacon’s ears, just as he was explaining to the king’s proxy the dragon hiding his tail in a bath from which rise smoke and a king’s head. Dom Claude shuddered, stopped short, to the great surprise of Charmolue, turned, and saw his brother Jehan talking to a tall officer at the door of the Gondelaurier house.
It was indeed Captain Phœbus de Châteaupers. He was leaning against the corner of his lady-love’s house, and swearing like a pirate.
“My word! Captain Phœbus,” said Jehan, taking him by the hand, “you swear with admirable spirit!”
“Thunder and Mars!” replied the captain.
“Thunder and Mars, yourself!” responded the student. “Now, then, my fine captain, what has caused such an outburst of elegant epithets?”
“Your pardon, good comrade Jehan,” cried Phœbus, shaking him by the hand; “but a horse running at full speed cannot stop short. Now, I was swearing at full gallop. I have just come from those prudes; and when I leave them, I always have my mouth full of oaths; I must needs spit them out, or I should choke. Thunder and guns!”
“Will you take a drink?” asked the student. This proposition calmed the captain.
“With pleasure; but I’ve no money.”
“But I have!”
“Pshaw! let me see!”
Jehan displayed the purse to the captain’s eyes, with dignity and simplicity. Meanwhile the archdeacon, having left the amazed Charmolue, had approached them, and stood some paces distant, watching them both unobserved by them, so absorbed were they in looking at the purse.
Phœbus exclaimed, “A purse in your pocket, Jehan! That’s like the moon in a pail of water. I see it, but it is not really there. It’s only a shadow. By Heaven! I wager there’s nothing but pebbles in it!”
Jehan answered coldly, “I’ll show you the kind of pebbles that I pave my pocket with.”
And without another word he emptied the purse upon a neighboring post, with the air of a Roman saving his country.
“Good God!” muttered Phoebus; “gold pieces, big silver pieces, little silver pieces, crowns, shillings, and pence! It is dazzling!”
Jehan remained dignified and unmoved. A few pennies had rolled into the mud; the captain, in his enthusiasm, stooped to pick them up. Jehan restrained him, saying,—
“Fie, Captain Phoebus de Châteaupers!”
Phoebus counted the money, and turning solemnly to Jehan, asked, “Do you know, Jehan, that you have here twenty-three crowns? Whom did you rob last night in the Rue Coupe-Gueule?”
Jehan threw back his fair curly head, and said, half closing his eyes in scorn,—
“I have a brother who is an archdeacon and a fool.”
“Confound it!” cried Phœbus; “so you have, the worthy fellow!”
“Let us take a drink,” said Jehan.
“Where shall we go?” said Phoebus; “to the Pomme d‘Eve!”
“No, Captain; let us go to the Vieille Science.”
“No, the wine is better at the Pomme d‘Eve; and besides, at the door is a vine in the sun, which cheers me as I drink.”
“So be it,” said the student; and taking Phoebus by the arm, the two friends set out for that tavern. It is needless to say that they first picked up the money, and that the archdeacon followed them.
The archdeacon followed them, sad and worn. Was this the Phœbus whose accursed name, since his interview with Gringoire, had mingled with all his thoughts? He knew not; but at any rate it was a Phoebus, and that magic name was enough to make the archdeacon follow the two heedless comrades with stealthy tread, listening to their every word and noting their least gesture with eager attention. Moreover, nothing was easier than to hear everything they said; for they spoke very loud, utterly regardless of the fact that they were taking the passers-by into their confidence. They talked of duels, women, drinking, and riots.
At the corner of a street the sound of a tambourine was heard from a neighboring cross-way. Dom Claude overheard the officer