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Exploits of Juve (version 2)

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<h2>XXII</h2> <h3>THE PUGILIST'S WHIM</h3> An old servant had brought out the early coffee to the arbour in the garden. It was about eight o'clock, and in the shady retreat the freshness of springtime reigned. Soon down the gravel walk appeared the well-built figure of Dixon, dressed in white flannels. He bent under the arch of greenery that led to the arbour, and seemed vexed to find that it was empty. Clearly the pugilist was not going to breakfast alone and, to while away the time until his companion should appear, he lighted a cigarette. Suddenly the door of the house opened to give passage to a gracious apparition—Josephine. Wrapped in a kimona of bright silk and smiling at the fine morning, the young woman came slowly down the steps and then stopped short, blushing. Some one came to meet her—it was Dixon.[Pg 177] The giant, too, seemed moved. Lowering his eyes he asked: "How are you this morning, fair lady?" "And you, M. Dixon?" "Mlle. Finette, the coffee is served, won't you join me?" The two young people broke their fast in silence, exchanging only monosyllables, to ask for a napkin, a plate, the sugar. At last, overcoming his bashfulness Dixon asked in a voice full of entreaty: "Will you always be so hard-hearted?" Josephine, embarrassed, evaded the question, and with a show of gaiety to hide her confusion, remarked: "This is an awfully nice place of yours." The pugilist answered her by describing the calm and simple delights of a country life in the springtime, and, slipping his arm round her supple waist, asked her softly: "As you consented to come this far with me, why did you repel me afterwards? Why resist me so stubbornly?" "I was a trifle tipsy yesterday," she replied. "I don't know what I did or why I came here with you." And then, with a touch of sadness: "Naturally, finding me in such a place you took me for a——"[Pg 178] "Sure enough," replied the American, "but I can see you are not like the others." "And what attracts me to you," continued Josephine, "is that you are not a brute. Why, yesterday evening, if you had wanted, when we were alone together, eh?" And she gave Dixon such a queer look that he asked himself whether she did not regard him as absurd for having respected her. "I like you very much," he said, "more than any other woman. In a month from now I shall be off to America. I have already a good deal of money and I shall earn much more out there. If you will come with me, we won't part any more. Do you agree?" Josephine was at first amused by this downright declaration, but gradually she took it more seriously. She would see the world, be elegant, rich, well dressed. She would have her future secured and no more bother with the police. But, on the other hand, it might become terribly boring after the exciting life she had led. And there was Loupart. Certainly he was often repellant to her, but he had only to come back and speak to her to be again submissive, loving and tractable. And, strange to say, there was also—just of late—at the bottom of Josephine's heart, a feeling of friendship, almost affection, for the stern[Pg 179] and thorough-going detective, for Juve, to whom she owed her escape from a very bad fix. Fandor, too, she liked pretty well. She valued the daring journalist, quick, full of courage, and yet a good sort, free from prejudice. The more she thought about it, the more Josephine felt herself to be strikingly complex: she felt that she could not analyse her feelings, she was incomprehensible even to herself. "Let me think it over a little longer," she asked. Dixon rose ceremoniously. "Dear friend," he declared, "you are at home here, as long as you care to stay, and I hope you will consent to lunch with me at one o'clock. From now till then I shall leave you alone to think at your leisure." The old servant, too, having gone off shopping, Josephine remained alone in the place, and after visiting the charming villa from top to bottom strolled delightedly amid the lovely scenery of the park. As she was about to turn into a narrow path, she uttered a loud cry. Loupart was before her. The leader of the Gang of Cyphers had his evil look and savage smile. "How goes it?" he cried, then queried, sardonically: "Which would madame prefer, the pig-sticker or the barker?"[Pg 180] Josephine, in terror, stepped backwards till she rested against the trunk of a great tree. Loupart carelessly got out his revolver and his knife: he seemed to hesitate which weapon to use. "Loupart," stammered Josephine, in a choking voice, "don't kill me—what have I done?" The ruffian snarled. "Not only do you peach to M. Juve, but you let yourself be carried off by the first toff that comes along; you don't stick at making me a cuckold! That's very well!" Josephine fell on her knees in the thick grass. Sure enough she had played Loupart false, and suddenly a wave of remorse rose in her heart. She was overcome at the thought that she could have endangered her lover even for a moment, that she could have informed the police. She was honestly maddened by the thought that Loupart had all but been arrested through her fault. Yes, he was right in reproaching her, she deserved to be punished. As for having wronged him, that was not true. She protested with all her might against his accusation of unfaithfulness. "I was wrong in listening to the pugilist, in coming here, but in spite of appearances—Loupart, believe me, I am still worthy of you." Loupart shrugged his shoulders.[Pg 181] "Well, we'll leave that for the moment. Just now you are going to obey me without a word or protest." Josephine's heart stopped; she knew these preambles. She tried to turn the conversation. "And how did you get here?" "How did you get here yourself?" "M. Dixon's motor-car." "And who tracked you?" "Why—no one." "No one?" jeered the ruffian. "Then what was Juve doing in the taxi which was rolling after you?" Josephine uttered an exclamation of surprise. Loupart went on, greatly satisfied with himself: "And what was Loupart up to? That crafty gentleman was cosily ensconced on the springs behind the taxi in which the worthy inspector was riding." The ruffian was teasing, and that showed he was in good humour again. Josephine put her arms round his neck and hugged him. "It's you that I love and you alone—let's go, take me away, won't you?" Loupart freed himself from the embrace. "Since you are at home here—the American said as much—I must see to profiting by it. You will stay here till this evening: at five you will be[Pg 182] at the markets, and so shall I. You won't recognise me, but I shall speak to you, and then you will tell me exactly where this pugilist locks up his swag. I want a full plan of the house, the print of the keys, all the usual truck. This evening I shall have something new for Juve and his crew, an affair in which you will serve me." Josephine, panting, did not pay heed to this last sentence. She flushed crimson, perspiration broke out on her forehead, a great agony tightened her heart. She, so docile till then, so devoted, suddenly felt an immense scruple, an awful shame at the thought of being guilty of what her lover demanded. Against any other man, she would have obeyed, but to act in that way toward Dixon, who had treated her so considerately, she felt was beyond her powers. Here Josephine showed herself truly a woman. While determined not to be false to Loupart, she would not leave the pugilist with an evil memory of her. She hesitated to betray him and unwittingly proved the truth of the philosopher's dictum: "The most honest of women, though unwilling to give hope, is never sorry to leave behind her a regret!" But Loupart was not going to stay discussing such subtleties with his mistress. He never gave his orders twice. To seal the reconciliation he[Pg 183] imprinted a hasty kiss on Josephine's cheek and vanished. A sound of crackling marked his passage through the thickets. Josephine was once more alone in the great park around the villa. <hr style="width: 45%;" /> Fandor and Dixon were taking tea in the drawing-room. The journalist came, he alleged, to interview Dixon about his fight with Joe Sans, the negro champion of the Soudan, which was to come off next day. After getting various details as to weight, diet and other trifles, Fandor inquired with a smile: "But to keep in good form, Dixon, you must be as sober as a camel, as chaste as a monk, eh?" The American smiled. Fandor had told him a few moments before that he had seen him supping at the "Crocodile" with a pretty woman. At Juve's instigation Fandor had alleged a sporting interview, in order to get into the American's house and discover if Josephine was still there. He meant to ascertain what the relations were between the pugilist and the girl. The allusion to that evening loosened the American's tongue. Absorbed by the pleasing impression which his pretty partner had made on him, Dixon began talking on the subject. He belonged to that class of men who, when they are in love, want the whole world to know it.[Pg 184] The American set the young woman on such a pedestal of innocence and purity—that Fandor wondered if the pugilist were not laughing at him. But Dixon, quite unconscious, did not conceal his intention to elope with Josephine and shortly take her to America. Suddenly he rose. "Come," he said, "I will introduce you to her." Fandor was about to protest, but the American was already scouring the house and searching the park, calling: "Finette, Mlle. Finette, Josephine!" Presently he returned, his face distorted, unnerved, dejected, and in a toneless voice he ejaculated painfully: "The pretty little woman has made off without a word to me. I am very much grieved!" Five minutes later, Fandor jumped into a train which took him back to Paris. <hr style="width: 65%;"/>[Pg 185] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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