Chiffonier

“ The chiffonnier, however, despised as he is, figures a good deal in literature. A moving drama from the pen of M. Felix Pyat, and a vaudeville by MM. Frédéric de Courcy, Sauvage, and Bayard, have reproduced on the stage his manners and customs. One chiffonnier named Liard passed for a philosopher, and has been treated as such by more than one writer, and by at least one distinguished artist. He had descended from a higher station in life, and had suffered misfortunes. He would come out with Latin sentences on occasion. ”

“ Lorne. 'For God's sake, go up!'
"That was all they could get out of him, and Richard rushed upstairs with Gene after him. Nan ran over to Peters and commenced to shake him, but he would only groan; and I passed them and hurried upstairs myself. When I reached Julian's room Gene was lying face downward across the bed rolling from side to side and crying terribly, and Richard was standing in the doorway leading to the bathroom staring down at something which lay at his feet.
"I went to him, and there lay our poor Julian! I simply cannot tell you, Sergeant Odell! ”

“ Gene; puffing furiously at a pipe, opened the door.
"Oh, I say, I didn't know it was you, Sergeant. Come in; hope you don't mind my pipe. Anything I can do for you?" He was plainly flustered.
Odell took in the room in one swift, comprehensive glance: the bed had not yet been made, and the chifferobe was open, its trays and drawers in disorder, but the desk was closed. The top of the cut-glass tobacco-jar upon it was open, and the tobacco strewn all about it bore evidence of the haste with which the pipe had been filled. ”

“ Chiffield's mature age, his grim appearance, his sparse whiskers, and even the bald spot on the top of his head, were eminent advantages with which youth and bloom, and a full head of hair could not cope--unless with the aid of that fascination which Matthew flattered himself that he possessed, and which, he thought, he had used to some purpose during his hurried conversation with his twentieth enslaver, Miss Whedell. The usages of New Year's day, as well as frequent impatient nods from Quigg, and suggestive coughs from Overtop, would not permit of his staying longer. ”

“ Julian felt it clinging to him as if with human arms as he slowly walked over the thick carpet, glancing about him. Humanity touched him on every side. At one moment an elderly woman, with yellow hair and a fat-lined face, enveloped him in her skirts of scarlet and black striped silk. The black chiffon that swept about her neck and heaving shoulders fluttered against his face. ”

“ She was small and lithe; a dark, gypsy-like creature who would have been pretty in other circumstances. Now her big soft eyes were deeply encircled, and her clear dark skin chalkily pallid.
"Peters and Gerda have been sadly careless in rearranging the room, dear. I suppose I must not scold them at—at such a time, but I should have seen to it myself." The little lady's voice was low and as colorless as her personality. "You know your stepfather always likes this chair nearer the light." ”

“ She appeared to have, about everything that came up, a general lucid vision that almost glorified the particular case. “He has come to take possession?”
Chivers accepted, for the credit of the house, this sustaining suggestion. “He’s a-taking of it now.”
This evoked, for his companion, an instantaneous show. “What does he do and how does he do it? Can’t I see?” She was all impatience, but she dropped to disappointment as her guide looked blank. “There’s no grand fuss——?”
“I scarce think him, mum,” Chivers with propriety hastened to respond, “the gentleman to make any about anything.” ”

“ It is not well to think of. Me, I am most sorry for poor Monsieur Gene."
"For Monsieur Gene," repeated the detective in astonishment. "Were he and his brother so inseparable, then?"
"It is not that, Monsieur; but the very night before Monsieur Julian died they have so wicked a quarrel! Me, I am a light sleeper and my room is just at the head of the stairs above them. On Tuesday evening I make a soufflé for dessert—and figure to yourself, it is a failure, it falls!" She paused dramatically. "I am disconsolate; for only an artist can make a soufflé, and I think that I am losing my skill. ”

“ He heard the door open, and then the violent rushing upstairs of Miss Chiffers to announce his visitor.
“Somebody to see you, Mr. Norton,” she panted, bursting into the room.
“Well, show him up,” said Flower.
“All of 'em?” demanded Miss Chiffers.
“Is there more than one?” enquired Flower in a startled voice.
“Three,” said Miss Chiffers, nodding; “two gentlemen and a lady.”
“Did they say what their names were?” enquired the other, turning very pale.
Miss Chiffers shook her head, and then stooped to pick up a hairpin. “One of 'em's called Dick,” she said, replacing the pin. ”

“ Chiffield had imparted to him. "Now I shouldn't be surprised, sir, to hear of failures before long, and in quarters where the public least expect them."
If Mr. Whedell's double eyeglass had been astride his nose instead of swinging in his fingers, he might have noticed a faint paleness blending with the deep yellow of Mr. Chiffield's complexion. That gentleman replied, a little more quickly than was his wont:
"A few small, weak houses may go down, perhaps, but the strong ones will weather the storm easy enough. If our establishment could live through 1847, it is in no danger now." ”

“ Chiffield," said he, "as a wholesale dealer in dry goods, you must have observed, perhaps at times experienced, the fickleness of fortune."
"Can he suspect?" thought Chiffield. "And what if he does? The truth cannot be concealed much longer. But I will pump him a little further before disclosing all."
"Yes," said he; "our firm, like others, has had its ups and downs; but then, business would not be interesting without some little risks, you know."
The easy manner of his son-in-law convinced Mr. Whedell that no "little risks" had shaken the firm of Upjack, Chiffield & Co. ”

“ Chivers irrepressibly groaned.
“You want to keep him?” the stranger asked. Captain Yule turned away at the question, but her look went after him, and she found herself, somehow, instantly answered. “Then I’ll help you,” she said to Chivers; “and the oftener we go over the better.”
Something further, on this, quite immaterial, but quite adequate, passed, while the young man’s back was turned, between the two others; in consequence of which Chivers again appealed to his master. “Shall I show them straight in, sir?” ”

“ Captain Lisgard shook the trainer's hand with his usual hearty warmth, and Mr Chifney returned his pressure with unwonted cordiality. He was accustomed to meet men of a much higher social rank than his present visitor on something like equal terms; many of them shook hands with him; all of them treated him with familiarity. The Turf, like the Grave, levels all distinctions. ”

“ Chiffield this morning?"
The daughter laughed bitterly again. "I tell you, father," said she, "that this man is the meanest creature that walks OB two legs. He has not spent fifty dollars on both of us, during our absence. As for me, I have never got a cent from him, though I have dropped a thousand hints about new bonnets, dresses, and jewelry."
"Gracious heavens!" cried Mr. Whedell, turning pale "But then," he added, with an effort to laugh, "Mr. Chiffield is a business man, and was an old bachelor. He knows nothing of women's wants. It must be your mission to teach him what they are." ”

“ It is well to make quite sure that we are all alone before we begin,” said the horse-trainer. The two men accordingly stepped into the gorse, and commenced walking through it in parallel lines, as though in pursuit of game.
When he came to a patch of gorse a little higher and thicker than the rest, Mr Chifney struck it violently with his foot as if for rabbits. All of a sudden, there was a violent ejaculation from Derrick; he threw himself down upon some crouching object, and then came a struggle and a choking scream. “Hollo, don't kill the fellow,” exclaimed Chifney running up. ”

“ Cissie had hers in bed, I remember; and Randall—my youngest nephew, who is an invalid—was not well enough to come down; but Mr. Lorne, Nan, and myself were in the dining-room. I was pouring the coffee when Gene appeared; and his stepfather asked him if Julian were up. He said that he didn't think so, he had not heard him moving about. Mr. Lorne was annoyed, because Julian had an appointment to go downtown with him that morning, and finally he sent Peters up to call him."
Miss Meade paused; and Odell, who had watched her closely throughout her narration, marveled. ”

“ The detective knelt down by the hearth.
"Will you bring me an envelope?" he requested. Then, as Gene complied: "I want you to look closely at the ashes, Mr. Chalmers. What do you see?"
As he spoke he scooped some into the envelope, sealed it and placed it in his pocket.
"Why, just ashes!" Gene's tone betokened amazement, but his frightened face went a shade more pale.
"See any difference in the color?" Odell persisted. "Don't you know that everything that is inflammable and of a different texture or substance leaves a different ash behind? ”

“ As he drew closer the clink of ponies' hoofs sounded down in the dry wash. A number of dirty turbans came into sight above the bank. More followed and still more, until thirty-odd were bobbing up and down to the movement of the horses.
A moment passed, one of those mighty moments when a man's life appears before him as a period which he has finished, when a man's thoughts rove swiftly over what portions of that period they choose. And Schiefflin's mind went to that talk with the man at the Bruncknow house. ”

“ Chippy gave a chuckle, and dived a band into a pocket of his shorts. He drew out a hank of fine cord and a screw of paper. In the paper were half a dozen hooks on gut. 'That's all as we want,' he remarked. 'Wait till we come acrost a river wheer there's suthin' to cop.'
'Good for you, Chippy,' laughed Dick. 'A few fish will help us along in style. Only we mustn't poach.'
'No, no,' said Chippy; 'we'll play fair.'
By eleven o'clock the boys had made, with occasional halts, just about eight miles, and both had the knot out of their neckties. ”

“ This accomplished he emerged from the library to find Miss Meade waiting in the hall.
"How many servants do you employ?" he asked as he approached her.
"Four. Peters, Jane the housemaid, Gerda of whom I have already told you, and Marcelle the cook. Then there are the furnace man and the laundress, but they are not inmates of the house and know nothing of our affairs except the ordinary gossip below stairs," she replied. "Would you like to see any of them, Sergeant Odell?" ”

“ Gene passed over the table a flamboyant lavender envelope, and did not betray by a flutter of his downcast yellow eyelashes that he had observed not only his stepfather's sudden agitation but the attorney's start of surprise.
"Ill reply to this one; I see it is addressed to me—" Lorne was beginning when a terrific crash in the library made him start from his chair.
"Why, It's the portrait! The portrait of grandfather that hangs directly over the desk where I've been at work! It must weigh tons!" ”

“ If we send you out, Slynn, with a bit o' salmon that looks sweet and smells sweet, will you swear to a customer as it's dead fresh, and can't be bettered?'
Chippy was cornered. On one side his job—his precious job—how precious none could know unless they knew his starved and narrow home; on the other his oath as a boy scout to run straight and play fair to all men.
'Now, speak out,' cried Larry impatiently. But Chippy—poor Chippy!—had seen an ideal in his rough, hard life, and he clung to it. ”

“ Chivers crept solemnly away, as if to bury his dead, which he consigned, with dumb rites, to a situation of honourable publicity; then, as he came back, he replied without elation: “Miss Prodmore is here, mum. She’s having her tea.”
This, for his friend, was a confirmatory touch to be fitted with eagerness into the picture. “Yes, that’s exactly it—they’re always having their tea!” ”

“ For socially between the racing and house stables was a great gulf fixed; and Mr. Chifney could hardly be expected to recognise the existence of a man in livery standing at a pony's head, still less to accept direction from such a person. Servants must be kept in their place—impudent, lazy enough lot anyhow, bless you! On his feet the trainer had been known to decline to moments of weakness. But in the saddle, a good horse under him, he possessed unlimited belief in his own judgment, fearing neither man, devil, nor even his own meek-faced wife with pink ribbons in her cap. ”

“ I'm not trying to preach, Captain; you know yourself that the strong-minded crooks are the easiest to handle in the long run. We haven't any proof that Gene Chalmers ever sat for an instant under that portrait at the desk last night. The ladies and Randall had retired, and the only persons near were Lorne and his attorney in the next room with a heavy door closed between. ”

“ Yet, clumsy as its gait appeared, it was scarcely an instant before the bloody muzzle and red glaring eyes were thrust into the hole down which the chipmunk had disappeared. Much can be done, however, even in seconds, with a hair-trigger brain and nerves and muscles tensed by the fear of death. Like a flash, Chippy traversed the main passage of his burrow, dashed into a tunnel that forked off to the right, and then dived into a smaller branch, which angled off sharply from the larger tube. ”