Castles in the Air

  1.

  You would have thought that after the shameful way in which Theodoretreated me in the matter of the secret treaty that I would then andthere have turned him out of doors, sent him back to grub for scrapsout of the gutter, and hardened my heart once and for all against thatsnake in the grass whom I had nurtured in my bosom.

  But, as no doubt you have remarked ere this, I have been burdened byNature with an over-sensitive heart. It is a burden, my dear Sir, andthough I have suffered inexpressibly under it, I nevertheless agreewith the English poet, George Crabbe, whose works I have read with agreat deal of pleasure and profit in the original tongue, and whoavers in one of his inimitable "Tales" that it is "better to loveamiss than nothing to have loved."

  Not that I loved Theodore, you understand? But he and I had shared somany ups and downs together of late that I was loath to think of himas reduced to begging his bread in the streets. Then I kept him by me,for I thought that he might at times be useful to me in my business.

  I kept him to my hurt, as you will presently see.

  In those days--I am now speaking of the time immediately following theRestoration of our beloved King Louis XVIII to the throne of hisforbears--Parisian society was, as it were, divided into two distinctcategories: those who had become impoverished by the revolution andthe wars of the Empire, and those who had made their fortunes thereby.Among the former was M. le Marquis de Firmin-Latour, a handsome youngofficer of cavalry; and among the latter was one Mauruss Mosenstein, ausurer of the Jewish persuasion, whose wealth was reputed in millions,and who had a handsome daughter biblically named Rachel, who a yearago had become Madame la Marquise de Firmin-Latour.

  From the first moment that this brilliant young couple appeared uponthe firmament of Parisian society I took a keen interest in all theirdoings. In those days, you understand, it was in the essence of mybusiness to know as much as possible of the private affairs of peoplein their position, and instinct had at once told me that in the caseof M. le Marquis de Firmin-Latour such knowledge might prove veryremunerative.

  Thus I very soon found out that M. le Marquis had not a single louisof his own to bless himself with, and that it was Papa Mosenstein'smillions that kept up the young people's magnificent establishment inthe Rue de Grammont.

  I also found out that Mme. la Marquise was some dozen years older thanMonsieur, and that she had been a widow when she married him. Therewere rumours that her first marriage had not been a happy one. Thehusband, M. le Compte de Naquet, had been a gambler and a spendthrift,and had dissipated as much of his wife's fortune as he could lay hishands on, until one day he went off on a voyage to America, orgoodness knows where, and was never heard of again. Mme. la Comtesse,as she then was, did not grieve over her loss; indeed, she returned tothe bosom of her family, and her father--a shrewd usurer, who hadamassed an enormous fortune during the wars--succeeded, with the aidof his apparently bottomless moneybags, in having his first son-in-lawdeclared deceased by Royal decree, so as to enable the beautifulRachel to contract another, yet more brilliant alliance, as far asname and lineage were concerned, with the Marquis de Firmin-Latour.

  Indeed, I learned that the worthy Israelite's one passion was thesocial advancement of his daughter, whom he worshipped. So, as soon asthe marriage was consummated and the young people were home from theirhoneymoon, he fitted up for their use the most extravagantly sumptuousapartment Paris had ever seen. Nothing seemed too good or tooluxurious for Mme. la Marquise de Firmin-Latour. He desired her to cuta brilliant figure in Paris society--nay, to be the Ville Lumiere'sbrightest and most particular star. After the town house he bought achateau in the country, horses and carriages, which he placed at thedisposal of the young couple; he kept up an army of servants for them,and replenished their cellars with the choicest wines. He threw moneyabout for diamonds and pearls which his daughter wore, and paid allhis son-in-law's tailors' and shirt-makers' bills. But always themoney was his, you understand? The house in Paris was his, so was thechateau on the Loire; he lent them to his daughter. He lent her thediamonds, and the carriages, and the boxes at the opera and theFrancais. But here his generosity ended. He had been deceived in hisdaughter's first husband; some of the money which he had given her hadgone to pay the gambling debts of an unscrupulous spendthrift. He wasdetermined that this should not occur again. A man might spend hiswife's money--indeed, the law placed most of it at his disposal inthose days--but he could not touch or mortgage one sou that belongedto his father-in-law. And, strangely enough, Mme. la Marquise deFirmin-Latour acquiesced and aided her father in his determination.Whether it was the Jewish blood in her, or merely obedience to oldMosenstein's whim, it were impossible to say. Certain it is that outof the lavish pin-money which her father gave her as a free gift fromtime to time, she only doled out a meagre allowance to her husband,and although she had everything she wanted, M. le Marquis on his sidehad often less than twenty francs in his pocket.

  A very humiliating position, you will admit, Sir, for a dashing youngcavalry officer. Often have I seen him gnawing his finger-nails withrage when, at the end of a copious dinner in one of the fashionablerestaurants--where I myself was engaged in a business capacity tokeep an eye on possibly light-fingered customers--it would be Mme. laMarquise who paid the bill, even gave the pourboire to the waiter. Atsuch times my heart would be filled with pity for his misfortunes,and, in my own proud and lofty independence, I felt that I did notenvy him his wife's millions.

  Of course, he borrowed from every usurer in the city for as long asthey would lend him any money; but now he was up to his eyes in debt,and there was not a Jew inside France who would have lent him onehundred francs.

  You see, his precarious position was as well known as were hisextravagant tastes and the obstinate parsimoniousness of M.Mosenstein.

  But such men as M. le Marquis de Firmin-Latour, you understand, Sir,are destined by Nature first and by fortuitous circumstancesafterwards to become the clients of men of ability like myself. I knewthat sooner or later the elegant young soldier would be forced to seekthe advice of someone wiser than himself, for indeed his presentsituation could not last much longer. It would soon be "sink" withhim, for he could no longer "swim."

  And I was determined that when that time came he should turn to me asthe drowning man turns to the straw.

  So where M. le Marquis went in public I went, when possible. I wasbiding my time, and wisely too, as you will judge.