Loe raamatut: «Mississippi Outlaws and the Detectives», lehekülg 11

Every one had talked about the affair, but no one felt exactly sure what a fête champêtre was, and so United States Commissioner Charlie Morton determined to ask the Don himself what his entertainment would be. Accordingly, as Don Pedro approached with Mrs. Arlington on his arm, Morton greeted him pleasantly, and said:

"Don Pedro, every one who has received an invitation to your fête champêtre is dying of curiosity to know what it means, and so I am going to take the liberty of asking you to explain it. I freely confess my own ignorance, and I know that there are a great many others no better informed than I am, who would be ashamed to admit that fact; but I cheerfully acknowledge that I have never attended one, and I don't know how I shall be expected to dress nor to act. So please tell me all about it, and I will promise to spread the news among my acquaintances."

"My dear sir," replied Don Pedro, politely, "I admire your frankness, and I shall take pleasure in explaining the principal features of our fête champêtre. It was the Donna Lucia's desire and mine to devote one day to enjoyment, and we therefore decided upon giving an entertainment in the open air which should combine every species of gayety and social recreation. It is our intention to embark in the forenoon and proceed by steamer to one of the large islands in the river. There everything will be prepared for outdoor enjoyment; there will be boats and bathing-houses; swings and archery-grounds; billiard-tables and bowling-alleys; in short, opportunities will be provided for the gratification of every one's tastes. About five o'clock a dinner will be served, the menu for which will include every procurable luxury of the table, and after dinner, the evening will be spent in dancing on the open platforms or in enclosed ballrooms, according to the preferences of the guests, while magnesium lights and colored lanterns will give all possible brilliancy to the scene. Dazzling displays of fireworks will be given at intervals during the evening, and when we finally leave the island on our return to the city, a grand illumination of the whole island will take place as we steam off into the darkness."

Quite a group had gathered around while the Don was speaking, and as he closed, there was a general murmur of admiration. The whole affair was planned on a scale of such magnificence as to appear almost too wonderful to be believed, but the Don had shown such fertility of invention previously, that there was no doubt he was quite equal to creating a scene of oriental splendor such as had never before been witnessed in this country.

"Well, I admit frankly," said Charlie Morton, "that we Americans must learn the art of enjoying life from foreigners, and I think there is no doubt that Don Pedro is a most adept master of its mysteries. Is there not something said in the invitations about appearing in masks, Don Pedro?"

"Oh, yes; I forgot to say at first that there will be much amusement in requiring every guest to be dressed in fancy costume and to wear a mask. The masks will not be removed until the dinner is served, and then, at a given signal, the guests will expose themselves in their own characters."

The Don's description of the intended programme for the fête was soon repeated through all the fashionable circles of Gloster, and the expectation of the whole city was raised to a high pitch. No other social event had ever created a like excitement, and it was the theme of conversation at all times and in all places.

The day following the Taylor's party Don Pedro seemed to have determined to get rid of as much paper money in exchange for gold as possible, and during the day he sent more than twenty thousand dollars to be exchanged; of this amount Lesparre and Madame Sevier handled the greater portion, but even the young man, Salter, was entrusted with three thousand dollars in paper, for which he obtained gold at a trifling discount. This method of exchanging money was repeated several times, it being evidently the Don's intention to retain nothing but gold in his possession, and as he had already obtained the greater portion of his plunder in coin, it was not long before he had accomplished his object.

Meantime, the preparations for the fête went on apace, and the time of the Don and Lesparre was quite fully occupied in planning and arranging the details. The Senator called to see me daily, and his constant urging somewhat excited me, so that I became nervous and apprehensive myself. Still, no news came from abroad, and I could do nothing.

CHAPTER VI

A Mysterious Stranger. – An unexpected Meeting and a startling Recognition. – An old Friend somewhat disturbs the Equanimity of Don Pedro. – The Detectives fix their Attention upon Pietro Bernardi. – Pietro and his unpalatable Reminiscences. – The Donna shows Spirit.

"Early one forenoon Salter was called to the front door by a violent pull at the bell, and on arriving there he confronted a rather disreputable-looking character, who eyed him with an extremely distrustful look. The man appeared to be about thirty years old, and he was evidently a foreigner. He was tall, well-formed, and muscular, and his general bearing was quite at variance with his ragged, dirty clothing. He had black hair and moustache, a swarthy complexion, small feet and hands, the latter soft and well-shaped, and his dark eyes were piercing and brilliant.

"Good morning," he said to Salter, with a haughty nod; "is Don Juan at home?"

"No such person lives here," replied Salter, partially closing the door upon the wolfish-appearing stranger.

"I have good reasons for believing that Don Juan is here," replied the man, "and is doubtless the guest of the gentleman who resides here. At any rate, I know that he is now in this house, and I want to see him very much. He would be equally glad to see me if he knew I were here;" and so saying, he pushed Salter aside and entered the hall.

This action still further prejudiced Salter against him, and he said:

"Perhaps you mean Monsieur Lesparre, who is a guest of my employer?"

"That may be," replied the man; "please say that I wish to see him immediately."

Salter did not care to leave the stranger alone, and so he told one of the female servants, who was dusting the parlor furniture, to call Monsieur Lesparre. That gentleman was in Don Pedro's room, discussing some plans for the fête, and, when informed that a stranger wished to see him, he told the servant to show him to the room where he usually transacted business. As the man passed before Don Pedro's door, however, Lesparre stepped out to learn who it was.

"This man wishes to see you, Monsieur Lesparre," said Salter, who was following the stranger.

"That is not the gentleman I asked for," the latter replied.

At this instant Don Pedro came into the hall, and, as his eyes fell upon the stranger, he gave a sudden start, and became very pale. The recognition was mutual, for the newcomer rushed forward and said:

"Ah! Don Juan, I am delighted to meet you again. I knew I was not mistaken when I saw you yesterday and recognized – "

"There, there!" interrupted the Don, giving the speaker a warning look, "I am glad to meet you again, Pietro; walk into my room, and sit down."

Lesparre was about to follow, but Don Pedro stopped, and whispered to him:

"Excuse me a short time, my dear Lesparre; this is an old acquaintance whom I knew in better circumstances years ago. He seems quite reduced now, and he may be sensitive enough to object to telling the story of his loss of fortune before a stranger;" and, so saying, the Don retired to his room, leaving Lesparre and Salter outside.

The latter immediately hurried into the closet, where he could hear the whole conversation within the room.

"Well, Pietro," began the Don, "where are you from? You have not been fortunate, it is evident; but how did it happen?"

"You are right; I have had bad luck," replied Pietro. "It is the old story; I have had thousands of dollars at times, and have lived like a prince; and again I have been badly treated by Dame Fortune, and have lived as I could; but I have never before been so very miserable and poor as now. Positively, it is most providential that I have met you, for I have eaten nothing for twenty-four hours."

"Indeed, Pietro, you shock me," replied the Don, sympathetically; "shall I order some breakfast for you?"

"No; I can wait awhile, and I do not care to be seen by your servants until I get better clothing. But tell me where you have been since we parted in Peru. You have certainly been as fortunate as I have been the reverse; do you make much by gambling?"

"No, Pietro; I gamble very little, except in an occasional game of cards with gentlemen of my acquaintance; but I made a good sum – that is," continued the Don, checking himself a moment, "I made a wealthy marriage, and my wife's fortune is ample for us both. By the way, how did you happen to find me?"

"Well, I have been enjoying life in New Orleans for some time, and, having won quite a large amount there, I decided to come North as the mild weather began. So I started a month ago on one of those enormous Mississippi steamboats, and, of course, I gambled whenever I could. My luck was bad from the start, and, on arriving here, I had nothing except my clothing and jewelry; these I pawned gradually, and soon I was reduced to my present condition. Yesterday I met you as you were entering the Globe Hotel with a party of gentlemen, but I did not want to mortify you by speaking to you in company; so I waited until you came to this house, intending then to call upon you late in the evening, when no one would see me; but you went out in your carriage, and remained so late, that I put off my visit until this morning. I thought that, considering our former relations to each other, you would be willing to set me on my feet again."

"I shall be very glad indeed to do so," replied the Don, eagerly, "and you must tell me what you wish to do, and where you wish to go."

"Well, just now I should like to go to breakfast, Don Juan," said Pietro, with a gaunt smile; "but I have no money to pay for my meal."

"Don't call me 'Don Juan,' my dear friend," said the Don. "I have adopted another name for use in this country, and of course no one knows me except as Don Pedro P. L. de Morito."

"Oh, ho! is that all there is of it?" asked Pietro, with a laugh. "Well, I shall remember in future to call you 'Don Pedro'; but what can you do for me in the way of money and clothes?"

"I will give you fifty dollars at once, and you can get a new outfit yourself; then, when you call again to-morrow morning, we will talk over your future plans. I have a very important engagement to keep in about fifteen minutes, so I must ask you to excuse me now."

"But I can't get any respectable suit of clothes and underclothing for fifty dollars," replied Pietro.

"Well, here are fifty dollars," said the Don handing a roll of bills to Pietro, "and my secretary, Monsieur Lesparre, will give you an equal amount. You will then have enough to satisfy your immediate wants, and we will arrange the rest to-morrow."

So saying, the Don called Monsieur Lesparre and introduced the stranger as Pietro Bernardi, a fellow-countryman in distress. The Don was quite pale and nervous, and though he did not show any marked signs of agitation, a close observer, like Lesparre, could readily see that his new visitor was anything but a welcome one.

"I wish you to give Señor Bernardi fifty dollars, Monsieur Lesparre," said the Don, "and order breakfast for him here, if he wishes it. I am going out immediately, as I see the carriage is waiting for me, but I shall return at lunch-time. Au revoir, gentlemen; call about nine o'clock to-morrow, Pietro."

The Don then went to his carriage, and Pietro followed Lesparre to his business-room, where he received an additional fifty dollars. Pietro quickly stowed the money away in his pocket, and walked abruptly out of the house, saying:

"I'll not trouble you to prepare breakfast for me, as I can get it down town just as well."

The moment Pietro was gone, Lesparre called Salter out of the closet, and sent him out on an errand ostensibly; of course, his real duty was to "shadow" Mr. Pietro Bernardi, and report the occurrences of the morning to me. Salter kept his man in view until he was seated at a popular restaurant table, and then, knowing that some time would be required before the Peruvian's appetite would be satisfied, my detective hurried to my office, and made his report. As it would not be safe to detain Salter long away from his duties at the Morito residence, I decided to keep a watch upon Bernardi myself until Mr. Bangs could send me a man from Chicago. Having sent a telegram to Mr. Bangs, I went to the restaurant at once, being joined by Judge Key on the way. Together we entered the restaurant, and I quickly discovered Bernardi still lingering over his breakfast. We each ordered a cup of coffee, and I informed the Judge of the new developments in the case as brought out in the conversation between the Don and Bernardi.

"My opinion is," I said, in a tone audible only to the Judge, "that this man, Bernardi, knows some important facts relative to the past life of Don Pedro, and if we can pump this information out of him, we may thereby obtain valuable assistance in our endeavors to outwit the Don. Now it shall be my aim to learn all that this man knows, for it may give us the means of proceeding against Señor Morito immediately; but even if it should not, we may need such information very much. You see, it is not impossible that we may be forced to use threats to make him disgorge, for I shall not let him escape with his plunder without a struggle, even though no news whatever should come from Peru or England. At present, however, we will devote some time to this Pietro Bernardi, and see what he can tell us."

The Judge fully concurred with me, and said that, as I might be too busy to see Senator Muirhead, he would call upon that gentleman and tell him the latest news. We accordingly sipped our coffee slowly until Bernardi was ready to go, and then I followed him at a little distance, while the Judge went to call upon Senator Muirhead.

Bernardi slowly sauntered down the street, smoking a cigar, and soon reached a large retail clothing store. I remained in the street watching the entrance of the store about an hour, when, as I expected, Bernardi came out in a neat business suit complete, but wearing the same old boots and hat. These articles were soon replaced by new ones, and after a bath and shave, Señor Bernardi was a very different-looking person from the rough customer who had visited Don Pedro in the morning. In addition to his underclothing, linen, hat, boots, and suit of clothes, he purchased at a pawnbroker's shop some very decent jewelry and he now appeared like a gentlemanly gambler, or a member of the Board of Trade. He did not conclude his business arrangements until he had engaged a boarding-place and bought a trunk, which was sent to his lodgings. He then appeared to have relieved his mind of all care, and he spent the afternoon playing pool and billiards in a fashionable saloon. After dining at a restaurant, he went to a minstrel entertainment, after which he returned to his lodgings to retire for the night. When I went to bed at eleven o'clock, after having followed Bernardi most of the day, I realized that the duties of a faithful "shadow" were sometimes excessively wearying.

The next morning, however, I found that a Mr. Newton had arrived from Chicago in response to my telegram, and I was thus relieved from any further anxiety. He was a cool, shrewd fellow, of attractive appearance and pleasing manners, so that he was peculiarly fitted to obtain the confidence of a man like Bernardi, and it was on that account that I had selected him for the work. He had no difficulty in tracking Bernardi to Don Pedro's residence, and having seen him admitted there, Newton hurried back to report to me. I then instructed him to follow Bernardi until he should have an opportunity to make his acquaintance; this could be done without difficulty in a drinking or billiard saloon, and he was then to cultivate an intimacy with him.

On asking to see Señor Morito, Bernardi was at once admitted, and as soon as the Don closed his door, Salter slipped into the closet to listen.

"Ah! you are looking much better this morning," said the Don, as he scratched a match and handed it to Bernardi to light his cigar.

"Yes, I am feeling much better too. This seems quite like old times, doesn't it? As I sit here and puff your fragrant Havanas, I could almost imagine you were again in the real estate business in Peru. Ha! ha! that was a speculation that paid well, eh?"

"Pietro, you must be careful not to drop a hint of those times to any one, or I should be ruined," replied the Don; "I am in good society here, and I hope to make a little money out of a scheme I have on hand; but it is still quite uncertain whether I shall succeed, and my expenses in engineering the affair are fast eating up all my capital. Now, I shall be happy to assist you as far as I can, but it will be on condition that you leave town; for if you should get tipsy and begin to talk about me, I should lose everything. Next month, I may realize my hopes, but I am playing a risky game, and I cannot afford to jeopardize it. What do you want? Tell me how I can serve you, and how much money you need, and if I can help you, I will gladly do so."

"That is fair enough, Don Juan – Pedro, I mean – I only want a start, and I shall get along without any difficulty; but to tell the truth, I don't know where to go. I could not return to Peru – neither could you, for that matter – and I know of only one place where I could succeed and be satisfied to stay. I have been thinking of going to Buenos Ayres, if I could have a fair sum to start me in good style on arriving there; but it is a long journey, and I am in no haste to start. By the way, where is your present señorita? or are you really married as you said? Is she as handsome as the other was?"

"Yes, she is very handsome," replied the Don, curtly; "but she knows nothing about my history previous to our meeting, and I do not wish that she should; so let us leave her out of our discussion. I have some money left, though it is decreasing rapidly, and I will assist you as far as possible, if you will leave Gloster at once; for I am afraid that you will begin drinking to excess again, and you know that when you are half drunk there is nothing in the world you will not tell. How much do you want?"

"Oh! Don Pedro, you need not fear that I shall betray you; but I can't start off on a long journey so soon after the fatigue and hardship I have undergone during the last month. Just let me have three or four hundred dollars to enable me to live in good style for a week or two, and to get some better jewelry than this cheap stuff, and I will be ready to start for Buenos Ayres as soon as you wish."

"Well, I will give you three hundred dollars now, and as soon as you have spent that, you must be ready to leave Gloster on your way out of the United States."

So saying, the Don stepped to his dressing-case, opened and then closed a drawer, and said:

"There are three rouleaux of gold pieces, each containing one hundred dollars. When that is gone, I will buy your ticket to Buenos Ayres or Montevideo, as you prefer, and will give you as much money as I can possibly spare; you must be prepared to go then."

"All right, my dear Pedro," replied Bernardi, rising to go; "I shall be ready at that time. You can trust my discretion, however, as long as I stay here, and no one shall ever hear a word from me to your discredit. I may call to see you occasionally?"

"Oh! certainly; come in the forenoon. By the way, Pietro, let me caution you against gambling while you are here, for I have found that we are no match for these Northern gamblers. They will take every dollar from you if you venture to stake against them. You will surely lose, and then you will want me to supply you again; but I tell you frankly I will not do it. I have hardly money enough to carry through my scheme, and if you choose to betray me, you can do so, but it won't do you any good whatever; whereas, if you are faithful to me, I can spare you a reasonable sum to start you afresh in Buenos Ayres."

"Never fear, Don Pedro, I shall be mute as an oyster," and so saying, Bernardi took his leave.

The foregoing conversation had taken place in the Don's dressing-room, so that Salter had no difficulty in hearing every word, even when the speakers dropped their voices to mere whispers; but there was another listener in the Don's bed-chamber who was equally successful in overhearing all that had been said. The Donna, having heard of the arrival of this mysterious Pietro Bernardi the day before, was anxious to know who he was and what he came for. Accordingly, she placed herself at the keyhole of their chamber door leading into the Don's dressing-room, and when Pietro had gone, she entered the Don's presence.

"Who was that person, Don Pedro?" she asked, with a sharp tone to her voice, foreboding no good to her already nervous and irritated spouse.

"Oh! his name is Pietro Bernardi, and I formerly knew him in Peru. He was quite a fine young fellow then, but he has taken to gambling, drinking, and general dissipation, so that it is very unpleasant to have him turn up here as an acquaintance."

"Is that the only reason why you dislike to see him, Señor Morito?" asked the Donna, her manner becoming more clearly inquisitive and hostile. "You are too anxious to get rid of him for that to be the sole cause of your annoyance at his presence."

"Well, my dear Lucia, the fact is, that he knows enough about me in the past to be a very dangerous person to have around just now, for he might expose me to the people here, and ruin our schemes upon the Diamond Company."

"Why did you not tell me about this? There must be no secrets which I do not share, for I do not intend to be deserted by you as you have deserted others before. No, no, Don Pedro," she continued, passionately, "I heard every word of your conversation with this man, and you must understand that you cannot treat me like a doll, to be thrown away when you are tired of me. I am able and anxious to help you in all your plans, but I must have your full confidence. You know that I love you, and you say that you return my love, but sometimes I distrust you. You deserted a señorita in Lima, and some day you may try to desert me; but I warn you that I would follow you to the ends of the earth, and I could easily find it in my heart to kill you if you played me false."

As the Donna uttered these words, her determined tones clearly showed that she would have no hesitation in executing her threat. The Don had no reply to offer, and finally the Donna closed the conversation by saying:

"This is our first approach to a quarrel, and I hope it will be the last. You know that I am fearfully excited by any suggestion of the possibility of losing you, and this man's words and sneers have made me almost beside myself. But recollect, I am not without friends, for there are plenty of rich men here who would be delighted to obey my lightest whims if I would permit them, and if you should ever desert me, I would tell all I know of you, and invoke their aid to bring you to punishment. Now let us go along together, without any secrets apart from each other in the future, and we shall have no occasion to quarrel again."

The Donna then left the room, and went out to drive with Madame Sevier, leaving the Don alone. Salter quickly slipped downstairs, but was summoned back by the ringing of the Don's bell. On entering the dressing-room, Salter found his employer seated in a large easy-chair, looking quite pale and agitated.

"I wish you would bring me a decanter of brandy and a glass, George," said the Don; "I don't feel very well, and I think a sip of cognac will do me good."

Salter obeyed orders, and then went to Lesparre's room to report the conversations which he had overheard while concealed in the closet. Lesparre soon went into the Don's room to talk over the plans for the fête, but Don Pedro was in low spirits, and did not care to converse. He ordered his horse to be brought to the door, and was soon galloping down the avenue as a relief to his depressed nerves. Lesparre immediately came to my office, reported what Salter had told him, and then went about his duty of preparing the island to receive the guests on the day of the fête.