Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 193 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

6 past of his chief, looked closely at the house and saw a large silver plate on the door. So he said; “There is some professional person lives there now, sire. There is a sign up.” Tbe emperor wheeled round and looked at the house more attentively. ** So there seems to be,” he remarked. ‘‘ Go and read the sign, count.” Gabriel went up and read aloud :— ‘‘ MADEMOISELLE CAMILLE LENORMAND, Seventh daughter of the famous Astrologer, REVEALS THE FUTURE AND PAST. TeRMS, TEN FRANCS A SITTING.” The emperor burst out laughing. He was just in the humor that night to seek any adventure, however ridiculous. “Ten Francs a sitting! The prophetess is dirt cheap. Who could refuse such an offer? To reveal the past, and the future, and all for ten francs! Count, let us try this wonderful lady. Iwish toask her of the famous astrolo- ger, whose daughter she is. On my word I never heard of him. Such is fame. . Come on.” He was going up to the door, when Gabriel ventured to say respectfully: ‘‘ But, sire, reflect. Your face is too well known to all Paris to be hidden, and though your wig is sufficient disguise out in the dark streets, this fortume-teller will certainly re- ize you.” ‘The emperor settled his wig and false whisk- ers, cocked his hat on one side and turned to Gabriel, who noticed with surprise that he had changed the whole expression of his counte- nance by drawing down one side of his mouth and putting a patch cf black plaster at one side of bis nose. He spoke, too, in a thick voice, and used a rustic patois from the south of France. ‘* How is that, my good one?” he asked. ‘If 1 had not chosen, you should never have known me on the Boulevard. Talma taught me how to change my face. Iam going in here,” And without more ado the emperor lifted the knocker, and sent a thundering peal echoing nee” a dark silent house in the Rue Cruche For some moments all was silent, and then a voice came out of the middle of the dcor, and they saw a little wicket, like that on the por- tal of a Masonic Lodge: ‘‘ Who comes?’ asked the voice. ‘‘Strangers, who wish to see the lady who tells fortunes,” answered Gabriel at a sign from the emperor. : CHAPTER VI. THE ASTROLOGER’S DAUGHTER. ‘* Wait.” said the voice from the hole in the door. ‘*The hour islate. I must ask.” Then they heard the click of the closing wicket and found themselves alone in the street, where Gabriel ventured to say: ‘* Sire, it will be all over Paris to-morrow if you are recognized.” The emperor stamped his foot angrily. ‘A truce to preaching, young man. I have taken a fancy to see if Fouche does his duty with these impostors. Remember, I am Jean Baptiste Bonhomme, from Tarascon, You are Lenoir, of Alsace. 1 wonder how much longer this detestable woman will keep us waiting. Gabriel lifted his hand to the knocker and the emperor nodded. “Yes. Wake herup again. Morbleu! is not eur money as good as that of the other idiots in Paris?” Gabriel knocked, and they soon heard a step po to the door. Then the little wicket opened, and the voice said: ‘Patience. The lady is consulting the stars. ve you the money ready?” “Yes! Tete Dieu, yes!” said the emperor, in an irritable tone. “Pass it in at the wicket, then,” said the voice, and the first man in Europe thrust in a gold piece at the little hole. ‘*There is twenty francs, for two. Nowopen the door, or I’ll call the police.” Whetber the Napoleon or the menace pre- vailed is uncertain, but the door was opened, and they entered a low, dark passage, lighted by a singie tallow cundle, and saw before them a short, humpbacked negro, in a rich Oriental dress, who said: “The prophetess will receive you. Please to advance.” Then he shut the door and followed them down the passage to a flight of stairs, when the emperor asked: * And on which floor does the lady live?” ** We have the whole house,” been replied ‘the negro. ‘The priestess of the stars brooks ‘no company in the house of magic spells.” _ ‘*Morbleu!” muttered the emperor. ‘ It must be a profitable business, telling the fortunes of others. Better than making sugar of beet- roots, eh, Lenoir?’ Gabriel answered in the same vein, with a ‘broad Alsatian accent: ‘but slow! ‘‘ Ay, ay, Pere Baptiste. But the devil pays good wages, they say.” < ‘The devil has nothing to do with it,” cried the negro, angrily. ‘‘My mistress reads the stars according to the sublime rules of astrology. Be pleased to ascend, ‘You will find her in the Divining Room.” He preceded them now, pufling and swelling with importance, and climbed stair after stair till they arrived under a skylight, when he said in a low voice, as if full of awe: “Hush! Not a word. We are approaching the Divining Room.” He pushed aside some curtains that hid a doorway, and ushered them into a darkish room covered with a skylight, through which thestars shone down, while the moon, hidden behind some neighboring roofs, was just peep- ing over the edge and sending a white shaft of light into one corner. y the faint light they could see that the room had an Oriental cushioned divan running round it, and that its only furniture was a huge celestial globe of biue, semi-transparent glass, that was lighted up inside and showed a perfect miniature of the starry sky. This globe rested on a massive bronze tripod, beneath the feet of which lay a huge open book, inseribed with phosphoric characters on a black page. The emperor took in all the details with a single glance, and noticed that the walls of the room were hung with curtains all round, so that one could not tell where the door was, without feeling for it. The black slave had disappeared, and they were alone in the dead silence of this curtained room, Gabriel was about to speak, when he was checked by a pressure of the arm, and saw the emperor lay his finger on his lips, as a sign for silence. So, for some minutes, they remained standing, looking at the globe, till they heard the sound of soft music, as if playing at a great distance; drawing nearer. Gabriel looked at his master, and saw his lip curl in a contemptuous smile. The emperor was not impressed by solemn mummeries of that sort. Nevertheless, the music was very sweet and sad and almost brought the tears to the eyes of the young man, as it died away into the faint- est of strains. Then, of a sudden, a voice spoke, right behind them, and thev both started. ‘Whom seek ye?” said the voice. They wheeled round and beheld almost touch- ing them, a tall, dark woman, with flowing braids of black hair, and great dark eyes. She was dressed in long, black robes, spangled with shining points like stars, and looked at them in a solemn, commanding way, that would have impressed most people. “ Whom seek ye?” ‘She repeated, in the same deep, rich tones as before. : “Tam seeking the lady who has six sisters,” responded the disguised emperor, brusquely. ‘‘What has become of them all, madame? She frowned on him as she answered: ‘What is thatto thee? Ask of thyself. This is not the first time these walls have seen thee. Many a time and oft have thy feet climbed these steps.” Gabriel could not help thinking: _ . “T knew it. She has pierced his disguise. They must know he once lodged here.” The emperor, far from being disconcerted, replied, with his Marseillais accent: “Tete Dieu, ma belle, thou bast made a little mistake. I am Jean Baptiste Bonhomme of Tarascon, and I came here to know if thou canst tell me what has become of the white calf that some one stole, only two weeks ago last MAbs The fortune-teller looked at him with a smile of some scorn, and said: ‘* Jean Baptiste Bonhomme, thy calf was not stolen. The stars never lie, and they have told me that you once lodged in this house,” She turned away to Gabriel. “What dost thou wish to know?” Gahriel hesitated. “1? Nothing—” “Then I will tell thee something,” she quickly retorted. ‘‘ Thou hast been a soldier, and there is blood on thy hands. Thou seekest what thou shalt never find, and itis well for thee it is so.” ‘‘Parbleu, Mademoiselle Lenormand, you speak in riddles,” observed the emperor, in his most sarcastic tones. ‘‘ And who, if I may ask, was the famous astrologer, your father, of whom you are so proud?” ‘‘Rame is comparative,” answered she ina frigid tone. ‘Those who knew him, knew a wonder. Dream, if thou wilt, that all the world knows thee; the day shall come when thy name shall be coupled only with that of Attila.” The emperor frowned deeply. Gabriel could see his face now, for the moonlight had filled the room. ‘‘One word, mademoiselle,” he said hoarsely. “Do you know me?” Shea em¥ed more courtecuesl+, ‘Your mejesty needs a better disguise than that, to hide the grandest head in Europe.” ee ee a — eee The emperor dashed off his wig petulantly. ‘To the devil with Talma and his rules of ar’, You have sharp eyes, Now tell meif you can, who is this? None of your mummery with me. If you know who I am, you know that I oti to be trifled with. ho is this with me?” The fortune-teller looked at Gabriel and an- swered instantly; ‘‘Count Gabriel of Friedland, Grand Louve- tier of the empire. I have seen bim many 4 time, but without that patch over his eye and in better clothes.” The emperor laughed, He had recovered his good-humor, and cried out: “She has thee fairly, count. I knew that there was no disguising that tall figure of thine, and the Grand Louvetier is a public character.” **And now,” said the fortune-teller, ‘‘ since your majesty has condescended to reveal your- self, it is for me to reveal my powers. You came here in scorn, thinking to find an impos- tor. Your majesty shall see that I know both past and future.” ‘Eh, parbleu! that is rasy enough with me,” returned the emperor good-naturedly, ‘‘ when half the fools in France have been writing my biographies, and questioning my old nurse to find out how many times I over-eat myself as a child. Tell me something about this gentle- man. That will be a test.’ The fortune-teller looked at Gabriel steadily, and her dark eyes shone strangely. **I see him as a boy,” she said slowly, ‘‘ alone on a battle-field among dead men. He is trying to raise a body. It is that of his father, for the likeness tells it, and there are six bullet-holes in the breast. I see the boy kneel down and raise his hands to heaven, as if praying. He is swear- ing to avenge his father. I see bim again, a. grown man. He rides a black horse and wears armor. He leads a long line of men in black armor, on black horses. They are all dark men. He is the only fair man in the line. They are riding over dead bodies in the Prussiam uniform. He has avenged his father, That is: ‘* All that is nothing,” remarked the emperor.. ‘*Give me a better test. The Death’s Heads are known over Europe.” The prophetess turned on him with flashing eyes and cried out: ; ‘‘You wish a test. Shall I tell you who it was that came to you last night?” Eagerly the emperor replied: Ry tell me what he Eid, and I will think ’ there is something in you.” Her voice Sik vow. thrilling Key: ‘‘He told you that the child you look for, on whom you build such hopes, would never sit on the throne of France, and that the second Na- poleon should be the descendant of Josephine, whom you cast off.” Even the iron nerves of the emperor were shaken by this avowal, but he asked her: ‘‘ And did he say no more? Did he tell who he was?” ‘‘ He did not, buf I can.” ** And who was he?” asked the emperor, with a slicht sneer. . **One who studied with you at Brienne, and of whose fame you were jealous, as of Mo- reau’s,” The emperor's brow grew black as night. _ “Fool,” he retorted, ‘‘ what man ever lived in France of whom IJ was jealous?” ‘*One,” answered the woman, boldly, ‘‘one besides Moreau. He died in prison, by own hand says the Moniteur, by Fouche’s police say others. But his spirit lives, and will haunt thee till the lilies wave over France again and the ocean waves roll by the grave of Napoleon the surper.” Then the emperor laughed aloud. “You have said it at last. I see who you are now—a Bourbon spy. If you know who he is, ou are in league with him. Come, count, we ave wasted time on an impostor. Fouche cam deal with her, It is not worth my while to soik my hands,” | And he quitted the room abruptly. CHAPTER VIL CASSE TETE’S ADVENTURE, GABRIEL half expected to bear the seeress say” something to prevent their departure, but she made no opposition, and they descended the stairs and went out into the street, where the disguised emperor at once struck off, at a fast: walk, toward the Tuileries, He said nothing on the way till he got to the open and crowded streets, Then he turned on his companion, and said, in a harsh, dry tone of voice: ‘Well, did you hear who she said he was, this fellow that troubles us so?” “1 did not understand, sire.” ‘She said it was a nan who died in prison) by his own band, according to the Moniteur. ‘* Yes, sire, and that other people blamed the Duke of Otranto’s police.” ¥ “Then you must know whom she meant. “I, sire? No. Your majesty forgets that, as . soldier, I take no interest in po ities or po- ce, ‘ The emperor looked at him susp'ciously, — IOOKS EGOMIUIE com '