LAiND & WATER 
December 21, iqiG 
same time^ he was wonderini^ what Kssares' real object had 
been in telephoning to him without being in any way obliged 
to. But Belval's silence in no way troubled the bankiT, who 
continued his civilities and ended the inscrutable converation 
witii a monologue in which he replied with tiie greatest ease to 
questions which lie kept putting to himself. 
In spjte of everytlung. Patrice felt more comfortable. 
He went back to his room, lay down on his bed and slept for 
I wo hours. Then he sent ior Ya- Bon. 
■ This time." he said, " try to control your nerves and not 
t(^ lose your head as you did just now. You are absurd. 
But don't lefa talk about it. Have you had your break- 
last ? No ? No more have I. Have you seen the doctor ? 
-N'o ? No more have I. And the surgeon has promised to 
lake off tills beastly bandage. You can imagine how jileased 
1 am. A wooden leg is all very well ; but a head wrapped up 
.n lint, for a lover, never ! Get o», look sharp. When we're 
ready, we'll start for the hospital. I.ittle Mother Coralie can't 
lorhid me to see her there ! " 
P itrice was as happy as a schoolboy. As he said to Ya-Bon 
an h )ur later, on their way to the Porte-Maillot, the clouds were 
iH'ginning to roll by : 
" Yes. Ya:Bon, yes, they are. And this is where we stand. 
To beign with. Coralie is not in danger. As I lioped, the 
battle IS being fougiit away from Iier, among the accomplices 
no doubt, over their milhons. As for the unfortunate man 
who rang me up and whose dying cries I overlieard, he was 
obviously some unknown friend, for he addressed me familiar- 
ly and called me by my Christian name. It was certainly he 
who sent me the key of tiie garden. Unfortunately, the letter 
that came with the key went astray. In the end, he felt con- 
strained to tell me everything. Just at that moment, he 
was attacked. By wliom, you ask. Probably by one of the 
;'ccomplices, who was frightened of his revelations. There 
vou are, Ya-Bon. It's all as clear as noonday. For that mattei' 
tlie truth may just as easily be the exact opposite of what I 
suggest. But I don't care. The great thing is to take one's 
stand upon a theory, true or false. Besides, if mine is false, 
I reserve the right to shift the responsibility on you. So you 
know what you are in for . . . ' 
At the Porte-Maillot they took a cab and it occured to 
Patrice to drive round by the Rue Raynouard. At the 
junction of this street with the Rue de Passy, they saw CoraUe 
leaving the Rue Raynouard, accompanied by old Simeon. 
She had hailed a ta.xi and stepped inside. Simton sat 
down by the driver. They went to the hospital in the Champs 
lilysees, with Patrice following. It was eleven o clock when 
they arrived. 
" All's well, said Patrice. " While her husband is running 
;:way, she refuses to make any change in her daily life." 
He and Ya-Bon lunched in the neighbour, ood, strolled 
along the avenue, without losing sight of the hospital, and 
< died there at half-past one. 
Patrice at once saw old Simeon, sitting at the end of a 
covered yard where the soldiers used to meet. His head was 
i.alf wrapped up in the usual comforter; and, with his big 
••.?llow spectacles on his nose, he sat smoking his pipe on the 
i:' air which he always occupied. 
As for Coralie, she was in one of the rooms allotted to 
cr on the first floor, seated by the bedside of a patient whose 
li md she held between her own. The man was asleep. 
Coralie apjieared to Patrice to be very tired. Tlie dark 
rings round her eyes and the unusual pallor of her clieeks bore 
witness to her fatigue. 
" Poor child ! he thought. " All these blackguards will \x 
th • death of you." 
He now understood, when he remembered the scenes of the 
n ght before, why Coralie kept her private life secret and 
endeavoured, at least to the httle world at the hospital, to 
hr merely the kind sister whom jx-ople call by her christian 
name. Suspecting the web of crime with which she was sur- 
lounded, she dropped her liusband's name and told nobody 
where she lived. And so well was she protected by tlie de- 
fenc;s set up by her modesty and determination that Patrice 
(!<u('d not go to her and stood rooted to the thresliold. 
" Yet surely," he said to himself, as he looked at Coralie 
iihout being seen by her, " I'm not going to send her in mv 
'.ird!" 
He was making up his mind to enter, when a woman who 
iiad come up the stairs, talking loudly as she went, called 
out : • 
" Where is Madame ? . . . M. Simeon, siie must come 
at once ! " 
Old Simi'on who had climbed the stairs with her, pointed 
to wliere Coralie sat at the far end of the room ; and the 
weman rushed in. She said a few words to Coralie, who 
s' ! med up^et and at once ran to the door, passing in front of 
I'alrice, and down the stairs, followed by Simon and the 
woman. 
" I've got a taxi, ma'am," stammered the woman, all out 01 
breath. " 1 had the luck to find one when I left the Lousi- 
and 1 kept it. We must be quick, ma'am . . . The 
commissary of police told me to 
Patrice, who was downstairs by this time, heard notliin.; 
more ; but the last words decided liim. He seized hold ot 
Ya-Bon as he passed ; and the two of them leapt into a cab. 
telling the driver to follow Conilie's taxi. 
" There's news, Ya-Bon, there's news ! " said Patric 
" The plot is thickening. The woman is obviously one of tin 
Essares' servants and she has come for her mistress by the 
commissary's orders. Therfcfore the colonel's disclosures an 
having their effect. House searched ; magistrate's inquest ; 
'every sort of worry for Little Mother Coralie ; and you hav< 
the cheek to advise me to be careful 1 You imagine that I 
would leave her to her own de\iccs at such a moment '. 
What a mean nature you must have, my poor Ya-Bon ! " 
An idea occured to liim ; and he exclaimed : 
" Heavens ! I hope that ruffian of an Essares hasn't 
allowed himself to be caught ! That would be a disaster ' 
But he was far too sure of himself. I expect he's been trifling 
away his time . . ." 
All through the drive, tliis fear excited Captain Belval 
and he removed his last scruples. In the end, liis certainty 
was absolute. Nothing short of Essares^ arrest could ha v. 
produced the servant's attitude of panic or Coralie 's pre 
cipitate departure. Under these conditions, how could he 
hesitate to interfere in a matter in which his revelations would 
enlighten the police ' All the more so as, by revealing les-. 
or more, according to circumstances, he could make his ^vi 
dence subservient to CoraUe 's interests. 
The two cabs pulled up almost simultaneously outside tiie 
Essares house, where a car was already standing. Corah'' 
ahghted and disappeared through the carriage-gate. Tt 
maid and Simeon also crossed the pavement. 
" Come along," .said Patrice to the Senegalese 
The front-door was ajar ano Patrice entered. In the bij; 
hall were two policemen on duty. Patrice acknowledged their 
presence with a hurried movement of his hand and passed 
them with the air of a man wlio belonged to the house and 
whose importance was so great that nothing done without him 
could be of any use. 
The sounds .of his footsteps echoing on the Hags reminded 
him of the fight of Bourel and his accomplices. He was on 
the right roa^.. Moreover, there was a drawing-room. on the 
left, the room, communicating with the library, to which 
the accomplices had carried the colonel's body. Voices came 
from the hbrary. He walked across the drawing-room. 
At that moment, he heard Coralie exclaim in accents ot 
terror : 
" Oh, my God, it can't be ! . " 
Two other policemen barred the doorway. 
"I'm a relation of Mme. Essares'," he said, "her only 
relation . ." 
" We have our orders, captain . ." 
" I know, of course. Be sure and let no one in! Ya- 
Bon. stay here." 
And he went in. 
But, in the immense room, a group^of six or seven gentle- 
men, no doubt commissaries of police and magistrates, stood 
in his way, bending over something which he was unable to 
distinguish. From amidst this group Coralie sud enly 
appeared and came towards him. tottering and wringing her 
hands. The housemaid took her nnind the waist and pressed 
her into a chair. 
" What's the matter ? " asked Patriae. 
" Madame is feeling faint." replied the woman, still quite 
distraught. " Oh. I'm nearly off my head ! 
" But why ? What's the reason ? " 
" It's the master . . . just think ! . . . Such -a 
sight ! ... It gave me a turn too . . ." 
" What, sight ? " 
On- of the gentlemen left the grou[) ami approached : 
" is Madame Essares unwell ? " 
" It's nothing." said the maid. " .\ fainting-fit 
She is liable to these attacks." 
" Take her away as soon as she can walk. We shall noi 
need her any longer." 
.And. addressing Patrice Behal with a (|ueslioning air ; 
" Cap'.ain ? . . ." 
Patrice jnetended not to understand : 
Yes, sir," he said, " we will take Mme. Essares away 
Her presence, as you saj'. is unnecessary Only I muv' 
tirst . . ." ' 
He moved aside to avoid his interlocutor and, perceiving 
that the group of magistrates had oixned out a little, stepped 
forward. What he now saw explained Coralie 's fainting-fit 
and the servant's agitation. He himself felt his flesh creep at 
{C ov.tintictl on />«£,'" 'jj'i 
