Page:Dumas - Tales of Strange adventure (Methuen, 1907).djvu/58

46 "I saw,—I cannot tell you yet exactly what, but I certainly saw . . . "

"Come, explain yourself."

"Well, I was sitting in my usual working-room, underneath the Marquis's great study, and communicating with it, as you know, by a private staircase. I was examining once more the clauses of the will to make sure we had forgotten nothing in drafting it, in view of its supreme importance for the future well-being of the house. Seven o'clock had just struck; suddenly I hear the sound of footsteps in the room above, which I had locked yesterday behind my master the Marquis, and the key of which I had in my pocket. I listen again. Yes, it is certainly footsteps,—some one walking about the room above. More than that, I can hear the drawers of Monsieur de Chauvelin's desk being opened. I can hear the armchair standing in front of the desk being moved,—and that without any attempt to deaden the sound, which strikes me as more than ever extraordinary. My first idea is that thieves have broken into the house; but if so, they are either very reckless or very confident of success. What to do for the best? shall I call the servants? they are in the offices at the other end of the vast building. While I am going to fetch them, the intruders will have ample time to escape. So I take my double-barrelled gun instead, and creep up the little staircase that leads from my room to the Marquis's study on tiptoe. The nearer I come to the top of the stairs, the more eagerly do I strain my ears. Not only can I catch the sound of more moving about, but I hear groans and sobs and inarticulate noises that moved me only too profoundly. For I must tell you frankly, the nearer I came, the more convinced was I that it was my master the Marquis I heard."

"Strange! " exclaimed the Abbé.

"Yes, most strange indeed! echoed the Monk.

"Go on, Bonbonne, go on!"

"Finally," resumed the Intendant, coming closer to his two hearers, as if to seek safety in their proximity, "at last I looked through the keyhole, Then I saw a bright light flooding the room, though it was night by this time and the shutters were closed. Indeed I had fastened them myself."

"And then?"

"The noises went on—groans that were like the rattle in the throat of a dying man. My blood seemed to stand still in my veins, but I was resolved to see the thing out. I made a supreme effort, and looked into the room again. I saw a circle of tall candles surrounding a coffin.'

"Oh I you are mad, mad, my dear Monsieur Bonbonne," cried the Monk, shuddering in spite of himself.

"I saw it, my Father, I saw it with my own eyes."

"But perhaps your eyes deceived you," put in the Abbé.

"I tell you, Abbé, I saw it all as plainly as I see you; I assure you I lost neither my judgment nor my presence of mind."

"And yet you ran away in a panic!"

"Not at all; I did exactly the contrary, I stayed where I was, praying God and my patron Saint to give me strength. Suddenly however, I heard a crash, and the candles went out, leaving all in darkness once more. It was only then I came downstairs, left the house and saw you. We are three together now. Here is the key of the Marquis's room. You are Churchmen, and therefore proof against superstitious terrors. Will you come with me? We will satisfy ourselves by personal inspection what has happened."

"Let us do so," assented Monk and Abbé with one voice.

All three entered the Château, not by the side door from which Bonbonne had issued, but by the main portal by which the Marquis had gone in. As they crossed the vestibule and passed in front of a great timepiece, a family heirloom, surmounted by the Chauvelin coat of arms, the Intendant held aloft the candle he had just lighted.

"Well, well! but that is curious! Some one must have meddled with this clock and put it out of order."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it has been there ever since I was a child, and I have never known it vary a second."

"Well?"

"Well, don't you see it has stopped?"

"At seven o'clock!" observed the Monk.

"Yes, at seven o'clock!" echoed the Abbé.

The two men looked at each once more. The Abbé muttered a "Now for