"Capital!" said Lousteau, "and it is complete and uninjured. It is signed IV.; J, Second Edition. Ladies, the figure IV. means that this is part of the fourth volume. The letter J, the tenth letter of the alphabet, shows that this is the tenth sheet. And it is perfectly clear to me, that in spite of any publisher's tricks, this romance in four duodecimo volumes, had a great success, since it came to a second edition.--We will read on and find a clue to the mystery.
OR ROMAN REVENGE 21
corridor; but finding that he was pursued by the Duchess' people "Oh, get along!""But," said Madame de la Baudraye, "some important events have taken place between your waste sheet and this page.""This complete sheet, madame, this precious made-up sheet. But does the waste sheet in which the Duchess forgets her gloves in the arbor belong to the fourth volume? Well, deuce take it--to proceed.
Rinaldo saw no safer refuge than to make forthwith for the cellar where the treasures of the Bracciano fam-ily no doubt lay hid. As light of foot as Camilla sung by the Latin poet, he flew to the entrance to the Baths of Vespasian. The torchlight already flickered on the walls when Rinaldo, with the readiness be-stowed on him by nature, discovered the door concealed in the stone-work, and suddenly vanished. A
hideous thought then flashed on Rinaldo's brain like lightning rend-ing a cloud: He was imprisoned!
He felt the wall with uneasy haste "Yes, this made-up sheet follows the waste sheet. The last page of the damaged sheet was 212, and this is 217. In fact, since Rinaldo, who in the earlier fragment stole the key of the Duchess' treasure by exchanging it for another very much like it, is now--on the made-up sheet--in the palace of the Dukes of Bracciano, the story seems to me to be advancing to a conclusion of some kind. I hope it is as clear to you as it is to me.--I understand that the festivities are over, the lovers have returned to the Bracciano Palace; it is night--one o'clock in the morning. Rinaldo will have a good time.""And Adolphe too!" said President Boirouge, who was considered rather free in his speech.
"And the style!" said Bianchon.--"Rinaldo, who saw /no better refuge than to make for the cellar/.""It is quite clear that neither Maradan, nor Treuttel and Wurtz, nor Doguereau, were the printers," said Lousteau, "for they employed correctors who revised the proofs, a luxury in which our publishers might very well indulge, and the writers of the present day, would benefit greatly. Some scrubby pamphlet printer on the Quay--""What quay?" a lady asked of her neighbor. "They spoke of baths--""Pray go on," said Madame de la Baudraye.
"At any rate, it is not by a councillor," said Bianchon.
"It may be by Madame Hadot," replied Lousteau.
"What has Madame Hadot of La Charite to do with it?" the Presidente asked of her son.
"This Madame Hadot, my dear friend," the hostess answered, "was an authoress, who lived at the time of the Consulate.""What, did women write in the Emperor's time?" asked Madame Popinot-Chandier.
"What of Madame de Genlis and Madame de Stael?" cried the Public Prosecutor, piqued on Dinah's account by this remark.
"To be sure!"
"I beg you to go on," said Madame de la Baudraye to Lousteau.
Lousteau went on saying: "Page 218.
218 OLYMPIA
and gave a shriek of despair when he had vainly sought any trace of a secret spring. It was impossible to ignore the horrible truth. The door, cleverly constructed to serve the vengeful purposes of the Duchess, could not be opened from within.
Rinaldo laid his cheek against the wall in various spots; nowhere could he feel the warmer air from the passage. He had hoped he might find a crack that would show him where there was an opening in the wall, but nothing, nothing! The whole seemed to be of one block of marble.
Then he gave a hollow roar like that of a hyaena----"Well, we fancied that the cry of the hyaena was a recent invention of our own!" said Lousteau, "and here it was already known to the literature of the Empire. It is even introduced with a certain skill in natural history, as we see in the word /hollow/.""Make no more comments, monsieur," said Madame de la Baudraye.
"There, you see!" cried Bianchon. "Interest, the romantic demon, has you by the collar, as he had me a while ago.""Read on," cried de Clagny, "I understand.""What a coxcomb!" said the Presiding Judge in a whisper to his neighbor the Sous-prefet.
"He wants to please Madame de la Baudraye," replied the new Sous-prefet.
"Well, then I will read straight on," said Lousteau solemnly.
Everybody listened in dead silence.
OR ROMAN REVENGE 219
A deep groan answered Rinaldo's cry, but in his alarm he took it for an echo, so weak and hollow was the sound. It could not proceed from any human breast.
"Santa Maria!" said the voice.
"If I stir from this spot I shall never find it again," thought Ri-naldo, when he had recovered his usual presence of mind. "If I knock, I shall be discovered. What am Ito do?"
"Who is here?" asked the voice.
"Hallo!" cried the brigand; "do the toads here talk?""I am the Duke of Bracciano.
Whoever you may be, if you are not a follower of the Duchess', in the name of all the saints, come towards me."220 OLYMPIA
"I should have to know where to find you, Monsieur le Duc," said Ri-naldo, with the insolence of a man who knows himself to be necessary.
"I can see you, my friend, for my eyes are accustomed to the darkness.
Listen: walk straight forward--
good; now turn to the left--come on--this way. There, we are close to each other."Rinaldo putting out his hands as a precaution, touched some iron bars.
"I am being deceived," cried the bandit.
"No, you are touching my cage.
OR ROMAN REVENGE 221
Sit down on a broken shaft of por-
phyry that is there."
"How can the Duke of Bracciano be in a cage?" asked the brigand.
"My friend, I have been here for thirty months, standing up, unable to sit down----But you, who are you?""I am Rinaldo, prince of the Cam-
