The Eight Strokes of the Clock

dame

onci

Bassi

30 NO

rest Fr

contract which no longer seems to give you pleasure. To me the seven battles which we fought and won together were a time of endless delight and enthusiasm. I was living beside you. I was conscious of all the good which that more active and stirring existenc

it was that I always believed our final adventure would be?

e mount. It came to me from my mother; and every one knew that it used to bring her happiness and me too. Since t

the clasp had disappeared,

don't know exactly.... I don't know when ... I

o keep my promise. What I have tried to do, in order to place life before you in a more favourable light, would seem purposeless, if your confidence feels the

pushed by the proximity of the date, I have failed, not however without placing things on such

the book of our common life eight good stories, to which we shall have brought energy, logic, perseverance, some subtlety and occasionally a little heroism. This

you will act as I

an indispensable condition of success--first of all, cut in your cousin's garden three slender lengths o

beads, cut into facets, and shorten it so that it c

n. On your head, a toque with red leaves on it. R

e church, an old woman dressed in black, saying her prayers on a silver rosary. She will offer you holy water. Give her your necklace. She will count the beads and hand it back to you.

find a youngish man with a very pasty complex

me to fetch

ns you, if he wants to know your reason for applying to him or what impels you to make tha

ou, I don't know your name; but I am obliged to come to y

ly on your confidence in yourself and your certainty of success. It will be a sort of match in which you must defeat your opponent in the first round. If you remain impassive, you will win. If you show hesitation or une

nce, my dear, and without any conditions, while stating quite plainly that all that I have been able to do for you and all that I may yet

ded it up and put it away at the back o

a'n't

that the period of her trials was apparently at an end. She could not forget that figure eight, which was the serial number of the next adventure. To launch herself u

ed them as she used to do in her childhood and at twelve o'clock had herself driven to the station. She was uplifted by an eager curiosity. She was unable to resist all the amusing and novel sensations which the adventure, proposed by Rénine, promised her

gerous to me at a spot three hundred miles from Paris, in that old deserted Chateau de Halingre, but nowher

necklace, which she reduced to seventy-five beads, put on a blue gown and a toque with

hich, from unreflecting fear rather than any reasonable motive, she had thrust aside! She looked around her, almost hop

osary in her hands, offered her holy water and then began

whis

ve. That's

he Pont des Tournelles to the Ile Saint-Louis and went down an empty street leading to

," she

ld lady w

at it absently. A sign-board bore the words "The Mercury," together with the name of the owner of the shop, "Pancaldi." Higher up, on a projecting cornice which ran on a level with the first floor, a small niche sheltered a terra-cotta Mercury

said, under

andle of the doo

m at the back of the shop and after that another, both crammed with furniture and knick-knacks, many of which looked very valuable. Hortense followed a narrow g

and looking through some account-boo

ce, madam.... Pleas

ratory in the middle ages: stuffed owls, skeletons, skulls, copper alembics, astrolabes and all around, hanging on th

ar, madam?" asked M. Pancaldi, closin

an," though

with grey, lengthened his face, which was surmounted by a bald, pallid foreh

ot removed her veil

nt a

e," he said, leading the

d over the glas

nt just any clasp, but a clasp which I lost out of a jewe

ommotion displayed on his feat

are in the least likely....

in gold filigree ...

" he stammered. "Why

her veil and lai

gh terrified by the sigh

e!... And--can I believe my

tly. He pointed his finger at it, began to stagger where he stood and ended by b

e did n

Rénine had written, "have th

rce. Nevertheless she forced he

from his swoon, wiped away the perspiration streaming down his fore

you appl

lasp is in you

id, without denying the ac

I came here positive that I should find my clasp and wi

ow me? Do you

I read it over your shop. To me you are simply the

ll empty space surrounded by a circle of piled-up furniture, at

m; and, profiting by his confusion, she said,

ou must give it back t

s hands and mumbled a few words of entreaty. Then, def

insis

must give

I must ..

ordered, more

ll write my secret.... And

te a few lines on a sheet of paper, whic

's my secret.... It w

t his temple a revolver which he had produ

ullet struck the mirror of a cheval-glass. But Pancaldi

eat effort not to

a play-actor. He has kept the envelope. He has

letely unnerved her. All her energies were dispersed, like the sticks of a bundle whose string has been cut; and she

than a few minutes but it was she who had succumbed, thanks to her feminine ne

vent a transition, he ceased his jeremiads, leapt to his feet, cut a s

t it would be a nuisance to be at the mercy

wn the iron shutter which closed the shop. Then, s

that you had come from the back of beyond, as an emissary of Providence, to call me to account; and, like a fool, I was about to give the thing ba

and, with a malicious

ave always been honest in my life, scrupulously honest ... except once ... in the matter of that clasp. And, wherea

all his virile strength, all his spite, all his fears, all the threats expressed

you here? Who urged you to take action? Is it a rival incensed by my good luck, who wants in his tur

r his revolver and stepped back, holding he

h of the attack as of her assailant's distorted face, was beginning to scream, when Pancaldi suddenly stood

you get in?" he aske

at it was his inexplicable appearance that was causing the dealer such dismay. As a matter of fact, a sl

ated Pancaldi. "Whe

aid, very amiably, po

up t

loor above this for the past three months. I heard a noise

id you get

e stai

stai

t before you had a flat on my floor and used to go up and down b

t, sir? It amount

, when there's a fellow

re, who

this lady's," said Rénine, bending

d to be chokin

nstigated the plot ... it w

. Pancaldi

are your i

mply a little interview. When that is over, you wi

ha

cla

r!" shouted

It's a forego

sir, can compel me

ame Pancaldi will perhaps realize

adversary seemed to appeal to Pancaldi. There was a b

going for you just now. No, M. Pancaldi only has to find himself dealing with a man to recover his qualities of courtesy and kindness. A

a woman who was holding a door open. She might have been thirty years of age. Very simply dressed, she looked, with the a

urprised to recognize her as a maid whom

, Lucienne? Are yo

cognized her also and seemed e

Pancaldi, to settle a rather complicated matter a

iously ill at ease, asking her husba

they want with me?...

p!" Pancaldi whisper

the seriousness of her position. And she did not try to keep her count

.. Mlle. Hortense has found the t

usband and wife adopted the attitude of defeated persons whose only hope lay in the victor's clem

es of one and all. Now it was said that your young mistress' clasp had always brought luck to its owners. That was why, in a weak moment prompted by M. Pancaldi, you stole the clasp. Six months afterwards, you became Madame Pancaldi.... That is your whole story, is it not, told in a few sentences? The whole story of two people who would have remained honest members of society, if they had been able to resist that casual temptation?... I need not tell you how you both succeeded in life and how, possessing the talisman, believing its powers and trusting in yourselves, y

used and

wrath.... It was highly imprudent of you, Pancaldi! People don't write such confessions! And, above all, they don't leave them lying about! Be this as it may, I read them and I noted one passage, which struck me as particularly important and was of use to me in preparing my plan of campaign: 'Should she come to me, the woman whom I robbed, should she come to me as I saw her in her garden, while Lucienne was taking the clasp; should she appear to me wearing the blue gown and the toque of red leaves, with the jet necklace and the whip of three plaited rushes which she was carrying that day; should she appear to me thus and say: "I have come to claim my property," then I shall understand that her conduct is inspired from

to recover all his energy at the v

Madame P

here it is," th

is Thursday and, as on every Thursday, your little boy is to come home alone from his aunt's. Two of my friends are po

ldi lost her

... I swear that I know nothing. My husba

e con

lic prosecutor. Evidence: the confessions in the account-book. Conse

t affect him and that, protected by his fetish, he believed himself to be i

going to prison and I don't want to go!...

th compassion, took

Let me interc

he said. "Nothing is go

ur two

er b

ion to the pub

re th

are you try

which will tell us what we want to know. We've tried every other means. This is the l

ich you expect to h

in a low voice. "We must finish

hour to which he was alluding was the eighth and that he had no oth

and prison: prison for certain, since there is the book with its confessions. And now, on the other hand, here's my of

dame Pancald

pausing betwee

Pancaldi, you're unreasonable!... I suppose you want me to

there was no doubt that the

yield and did so with a sudden ou

Look here, you aren't going to be obstinate, what? If you are, it mean

se whi

madness; the clas

ir heads! To rob them of all control over what they are thinking and saying!... And, in the midst of this confusion, in the storm that tosses them to and fro, to catch sight of the tiny sp

y to guess the seething turmoil of his whole being, shaken by conflicting emotions, by the clash between greed and fear. Suddenly

t's on your side or else against you. And luck has been on my side these last nine years. It has never betrayed me; and you expect me to betray it? Why? Out of fear? Prison? My son? Bosh!... No harm will come to me so long as I com

curiosity-dealer was now laughing, with a nervous laugh, while resuming the self-control of a man who fee

I? The little thing defended itself all alone.... It does not want to be discovered and it sha'n't be.... It likes being here.... It presides over a good, honest business that satisfies it.... Pancaldi's luck! Why, it's known to all the neighbourhood, among all the dealers! I proclaim it from the house-tops: 'I'm a lucky man!' I even made so bold as to take the god of luck, Mercury, as my

t into Rénine's arms. And, laughing heartily, growing more and more excited as his en

d nobody's going to prison! Good-bye, Mlle. Hortense! Good-day, sir! Hope to see you again! If you want to speak to me at any time, just give three th

ch of them by the arm in turn and pushed them up

He did not attempt to resist. He allowed himself to be

he made his offer to Pancaldi and the moment when Pancald

nine had taken on the first floor looked out upon the

ght that, whatever happened, I should most likely see you this evening and that we might as well dine

t from everything that she had seen hitherto that she felt disconcerted. At any rate,

manservant. Two minutes later, he came back f

nd the statue of Mercury, Pancaldi

k preside over our

xpressed his great delight at

rushes, the blue gown; simply irresistible! And, when I had thrown in a few puzzles of my own invention, such as the seventy-five beads of the necklace and the old woman with th

e had got on the track

act: the talismanic character attributed to the clasp. I had only to hunt about and see whether among the people around you, among your servants, there was ever any one upon whom that character may have exercised some

ith such a careless air and even talking in a tone of triumph, whereas really he h

the fashion in which she did so betrayed a c

ain is broken, because, when all is said, though you know the t

hermore she was irritated to see how heedlessly he was accepting a blow whic

emptying his own, with his eyes fixed on the statuette of Mercury. He turned i

es of form. Look at this little statue. Pancaldi's right: it's the work of a great artist. The legs are both slender and muscular; the whole fi

You mean, don't you, a certain lack of balance? The god is leaning over too far

trained eye to see it. Really, however, as a matter of logic, the weight of the body ought t

ause he c

ad sinned against an aesthetic law, whereas I ought to have been shocked because he had overlooked a physical law. As though a

these reflections, which seemed so far removed

that I didn't understand sooner why Mercury d

t is the

s purpose, must have disturbed its balance, but that this balance was restored by somethin

ing, yo

counte

too was beginning to see a

you thinking that it migh

y n

so, how did Pancaldi come t

one," Rénine declared.

ere? An

e signboard and beside the niche containing the little god. And I exchanged the two, that is t

that one le

nd he will continue to think himself favoured by luck, which is another way of saying that luck will continue to favour him. Meanwhile, here's the statuette, the

eed for that," Horten

ined in the background. But she suddenly remembered that the eighth adventure was completed, that Rénine had surmounted every obstacle,

ty to call atten

to eight,

discomfort to such a degree that they hesitated to make

that he was to use it. In the end, the spark is obtained. In my case, what produced the spark was the unconscious but inevitable comparison which he drew between the cornelian clasp, the element of luck, and Mercury, the god of luck. That was enough. I understood that t

remarks were falling on deaf ears. Hortense had put her hand to h

hs and the wonderful behaviour of the man who had offered her his devotion. She saw, as in a magic picture, the fabulous deeds performed by him, all the good that he had done, the lives saved, the sorrows assuaged, the order restored wherever his masterly will had be

o and would this last adventure be any more difficult for him than the others? Supposing that she ran away: did the wide world contain a retreat in whi

restored the cornelian clasp to her before the eighth hour had struck, she was nevertheless protected by the fact that this eighth hour was to strike o

ng again; and, when, on the fixed date, t

moving either, but sat s

of saying, she was ev

not this one. So I am free, am I not? I am entitled not to keep my promise, which, moreover, I never made, but w

ise moment, there was a click behind he

unded, then a sec

clock, which three months ago, by breaking in a supernatural manner the silence

strokes. The clo

in her hands. "The clock ... the clock is here ... t

wish to resist. All the adventures were over, but one remained to be undertaken, the anticipation of which wiped out the memory of all the rest. It was the adventure of love, the most delightful, the most bewildering, the most adorable of all adventures.

k the hour for

ut she was like a charmed bird, incapable of any movement of revolt; and

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