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He was resolved to do this thing, though a phantom should come to his bedside every night, and every shadow be his accusation. He committed to memory some phrases of French; Terrapin was his interpreter, and they went together those three and a sober cocher to the Bois de Boulogne.
The pulsating life of the streets quickened his own blood. "To the Bois de Boulogne!" he directed the cocher, finally, and soon they swung into the gay stream that flowed down the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne toward the most wonderful pleasure ground in the world. Paul found the Bois as beautiful as ever, with its lakes and rippling streams hidden away in the forests.
Now and then a tramway rumbles along the streets, but there is not a solitary omnibus running in the city. The popularity of the bicycle is regained, for well-to-do folk whose motor-cars have been requisitioned now make use of the humble wheel. The quaint, one-horse cab, evoking souvenirs of Muerger, Paul de Kock, and Guy de Maupassant, with venerable cocher, re-appears.
"The fellow must be mistaken," said I. "This place has not the air of encouraging visitors;" but, before the words were out of my mouth, the enterprising cocher had rung the gate bell. After an interval a gardener appeared, and betrayed such mild, ingenuous surprise at sight of us that I wished ourselves anywhere else than before the portals of the Château d'Aymaville.
Mauravania is a fairyland in very truth; and this beautiful avenue with its arches, its splendid trees, its sculpture, its Ah! cocher, pull up at once. Stop, if you please, stop!" "Oui, monsieur," replied the driver, reining in his horses and glancing round. "Dix mille pardons, M'sieur, there is something amiss?"
It would be a wonder, too, if any cocher would let him get into his carriage with the water running off him in rivulets. He was standing by the road-side bargaining with one of that tribe and had nearly exhausted his stock of dignified French when he happened to glance over his shoulder as a carriage passed close by him.
They had just got into their little victoria when Charlie appeared, cigarette in hand. "Charlie," observed Deane, "Miss Bell airs thinks you'll be more comfortable by yourself than perched on this front seat." "Especially as you're smoking," added Dora. "Allez, cocher." Charlie hailed another vehicle and got in. As he did so he remarked between his teeth, "I'm d d if I stand it."
I have no power, you simple girl. When I put my fingers on their silly heads, my hands might as well be resting on a sawdust pincushion in the Sahara Desert." "But the cures?" says I, looking to see if the cocher could overhear us. That question brought the laugh away from her, and for a minute she looked serious.
Then I heard a voice say, "If he is dead, I can never forgive myself; I was to blame." Another replied, "He is not dead, I know we can save him if only we reach the hospital in time. Drive like hell, cocher! twenty francs for you, if you get there in three minutes." Then there was night again, and nothingness, until I suddenly awoke and stared around.
"We'll see about this," said Burwell, thoroughly angered. It was now nearly noon, and the New Yorker remembered an engagement to lunch with a friend from Boston, who, with his family, was stopping at the Hôtel de l'Alma. With his luggage on the carriage, he ordered the cocher to drive directly there, determined to take counsel with his countryman before selecting new quarters.
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