The Second Class Passenger: Fifteen Stories

ade haste to interrupt. Upon the further pavement, Savinien, whom he once believed in as a poet, had stopped in the shelter of

le to the two inconspicuous men who approached him from either side. The one, with an air of hurry, ran against him at the instant, when he was exploring his upper waistcoat pocke

see what he was shouting at, and a group of them, momentarily blocking the pavement, made it eas

id Cobb, who always forgot h

neck, whined and stammered. He was a rat of a man, w

d. "But I have got not

ther

where Savinien stood, the cigarette still un

en robbed, don't you? I just caught this fellow a

of grotesqueness, with a huge white torpid face and a hypochondriac stoop of the shoulders, and the han

g the thief's whimpering protests with

ng though he were pleased and relieved to

'll hand him over to the police an

en. "Let him go before there arrive

confidentially, as though there were reasons for his r

" bega

terwards, I will explain to you." He put his shape

him

Cobb. "He's to go, is he?

t less expert with crowds than with pockets. He was no sooner loose than he seemed to merge into the folk about, to pass through and beyond

ed someone, and t

inuated itself thr

said the poet. "You are puzzled- no

bet, was it

ou?" he suggested. "But it was not a bet; it is mor

ien, with loud gasps, let himself down upon an exiguous chair, rested both fat hands upon the head of

, "that discomposes me, a

asy," coun

size of a thimble. When he was a little restored from his exertions, he laid his arm on the ta

y you are distributing watches to

ien. "It is simply that I have a need

to emerge; but his enunciation was as clean and dexterous as in the days when he had made a vogue

me, who cannot take your arm for a promenade along the pavement without a tightness in the neck and a flutter of my heart, who may not go upstairs quicker than a step a minute,

being in a difficulty, I go in search o

"That is, I have

erceived as I opened the door was the back of Rigobert, as he sprawled against the counter, signing his name upon a form while the clerk counted out money to him. Hundred franc notes, my friend-noble new notes, ten in number, a thousand francs in all, which Rigobert received for his untidy autograph upon a blue pap

he ex

nt he was empty of excuses. When he suggested that we should go to a cafe, to change one of the notes, that he might pay me my two hundre

changed. 'Now, my friend,'

en, very slowly, he put one hand in his pocket and drew out th

wo-fifty, is it not? See, now, here is five hundred, and I

nity to repudiate his proposal, but at that instant there came to me-who can say what it wa

d. 'But first permit m

He handed me the coin without a word-an

to each flick of its wings, and his palm intercepted it as it fell. I leaned across to see; behind Rigobert's shoulder the waiter leaned lik

f horror at what remained to him of his thousand francs. The waiter beamed at me and

obert. 'Lend me that f

any r

his eye lit ag

st five hundred. This'-he laid his hand on his remaining money -'is no

I am not a gambler; I

at inspired impulse,

greed,' I

elf. He cast a look at me, the glance of a brigand. I was imperturba

eh?' he asked, ba

e coin is in the

es of the waiter and myself rushed to it; the result was capable of no adjustment. I felt my heart

ed from a throat constricted

at all that is troub

esolately. "All! That was merely the commencemen

idn't get any of i

ntenance; I felt like a child before such a combination of qualities. Then he began to talk. He has an air, that brigand; he can cock his head so as to deceive a bailiff; he can wear a certain nobility of countenance; and with it all he can importune like a beggar. He has a horrid and pla

at fashion of politeness which one dre

ain you,' replied R

inted, M'sieur. You said, 'Bring your bill to me o

examined me rapidly. But the spell was broken, and I was myself again master o

s is not a time to talk to me of business.

t on my head and reached for my cane. It was then that the truly significant thing occurred-the clue, as it were. My hand, as I took my cane, brushed against my liqueur glass upon the table;

' he said. 'The gl

stood aloof, and let me pass unharmed; I was destined to be the prey of a mightier evil. When I light my cigarette, do my matches blow out in the wind? No, they burn with the constancy of an altar candle. If I leave my gloves in a cab, as happened

," sai

ne receives one's yellow packet, one pays, one salutes, one departs. There is nothing in the place to invite one to linger; never in my life have I said more than those two words-'Maryland' on entering and 'Madame' on leaving-to the good creature of the

I raise my hat and depart. Not till then does she know the continuation:-'ssed Marie,

is impatient at being disturbed. 'Maryland,' I request. She puts down the book and fumbles for a packet. But I am curious to know what book it is that holds her so strongly, what genius of a romancer has aimed so surely at her intelligence. I turn the book round with a finger. The shop, the shelves, the horse's face of Madame the proprietress swim before me.

nquired Cobb. "Give

reached across to the comptoir for a pen. She turned at that and stared, possibly fearful, poor creature, that it was the till that attracted me. I took the pen and splashed down on the fly- leaf of the book my name

t is becoming sinister; it needed a counter-poise before it became so pronounced that nothing but sudden death would suffice. The thief steals my watch and I am relieved; he is departing with my best wishes for his success; all promises well, till you arrive at th

s and drank, setting it d

ng," he said. "It is a

it; I don't l

I don't think I'd worry, if I were

," said Savini

th no show of neck between. He was comical and pathetic; he seemed too vast in mere flesh to be the sport of a thing so freakish as lu

arn," mu

th a foot-rule sticking out of his coat-pocket. He looked like an elderly man-servant who had descended to tra

my watch, reposing on my bedside table. It appears that when I made my toilet in the morning I forgot

an answer?" For the little a

stared. "But--then mo

ha

at note when he had written it," said th

iled in the shock of h

ell me that afte

concierge found him in the morning," he replied. "It is

ord!" s