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"What was his name?" inquired the count, who seemed to become somewhat interested in Bertuccio's story. "Gaspard Caderousse; he had married a woman from the village of Carconte, and whom we did not know by any other name than that of her village. She was suffering from malarial fever, and seemed dying by inches.
'The Abbe Busoni, said La Carconte. 'He was a foreigner? 'An Italian, from the neighborhood of Mantua, I believe. 'Let me see this diamond again, replied the jeweller; 'the first time you are often mistaken as to the value of a stone. Caderousse took from his pocket a small case of black shagreen, opened, and gave it to the jeweller.
He dressed in the picturesque costume worn upon grand occasions by the inhabitants of the south of France, bearing equal resemblance to the style adopted both by the Catalans and Andalusians; while La Carconte displayed the charming fashion prevalent among the women of Arles, a mode of attire borrowed equally from Greece and Arabia.
'And who are you? 'Eh, pardieu, Joannes, the jeweller. 'Well, and you said I offended the good God, said La Carconte with a horrid smile. 'Why, the good God sends him back again. Caderousse sank pale and breathless into his chair.
Arrived at the top stair, she turned round, and called out, in a warning tone, to her husband, "Gaspard, consider well what you are about to do!" "I have both reflected and decided," answered he. La Carconte then entered her chamber, the flooring of which creaked beneath her heavy, uncertain tread, as she proceeded towards her arm-chair, into which she fell as though exhausted.
"The jeweller, meanwhile, was humming a song as he stood warming his back at the fire La Carconte had kindled to dry the wet garments of her guest; and this done, she next occupied herself in arranging his supper, by spreading a napkin at the end of the table, and placing on it the slender remains of their dinner, to which she added three or four fresh-laid eggs.
'Have you any other guests in your house? inquired he. 'Nobody but ourselves, replied Caderousse; 'the fact is, we do not lodge travellers indeed, our tavern is so near the town, that nobody would think of stopping here. 'Then I am afraid I shall very much inconvenience you. 'Inconvenience us? Not at all, my dear sir, said La Carconte in her most gracious manner.
And, whatever people may say," continued Caderousse, in his native language, which was not altogether devoid of rude poetry, "I cannot help being more frightened at the idea of the malediction of the dead than the hatred of the living." "Imbecile!" exclaimed La Carconte. "Do you, then, know in what manner Fernand injured Dantes?" inquired the abbe of Caderousse. "Do I? No one better."
But this unexpected, unhoped-for, unheard-of fortune sufficed you no longer when you once possessed it; you wished to double it, and how? by a murder! You succeeded, and then God snatched it from you, and brought you to justice." "It was not I who wished to kill the Jew," said Caderousse; "it was La Carconte."
"Fifty thousand francs!" muttered La Carconte when left alone; "it is a large sum of money, but it is not a fortune." The Prison Register.
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