And he began to hum in his bass voice, slightly out of tune, snatches
from the air: "Parigi o cara, noi lasceremo."
We passed a charming evening together, what with conversation, music,
and cards. He won three francs of me at piquet, with a ridiculous
display of triumph. About twelve o'clock I took him to his bedroom. When
he was ready to get into bed, he exclaimed: "Té! I have some securities here which I had forgotten!" And taking a
penknife, he proceeded to cut the stitches of his coat lining, from
which he drew out some papers.
"See!" he said, as he held them out to me, "here are seven hundred
thousand francs' worth of bills on London and Paris. You shall get them
cashed."
"Very well, uncle," I replied. "And what do you want me to do with the
money?"
"Oh, upon my word, that's your affair, my pichoun! You may be sure,
now that you have come into your inheritance, I am not going to be
troubled with such matters!"
"Well, at least advise me about them."
"But, my good fellow, that means that I am still to have all the bother
about them--. After all," he continued, "keep the money if you like--it
will do for my pocket money."
Thereupon he went to bed, I wished him good night, and was about to
leave the room, when he called me back.
"Come here, André! Write, if you please, to the notary and ask him to
come here to-morrow."
"Ah!" I replied, "you're coming round to that at last!"
"I am coming round to nothing whatever!" he exclaimed, in a most decided
tone. "Only I want to know what has become of my camels! As you may
guess, I intended to present them to the Zoological Society. I must have
them found! Good night!"
I should certainly annoy you, my dear Louis, if I were to endeavour to
impress upon you the full significance of the amazing events through
which I have passed during these four months. I don't know of a single
mortal who has experienced more original adventures. The dreadful letter
from the notary, my installation at Férouzat, my uncle's will, the harem
tumbling down upon me from Turkey, the entering into complete
possession of my fortune, and the whole crowned by the return of the
deceased. Certainly you will agree with me that these are incidents
which one does not meet with in everyday life. Nevertheless, if you want
to know my ideas about them, I confess that they seem to me at the
present moment to be nothing but the Necessary and the Contingent of
philosophers, in their simplest application. I would go so far as to
assert that, to a nephew of my uncle, things could not fall so to
happen, for it would show a want of training in the most elementary
principles of logic, to exhibit surprise at such little adventures, when
once Barbassou-Pasha has been introduced on the scene as Prime Cause.
The substratum of my uncle so powerfully influences my destiny, that to
my mind it would seem quite paradoxical to expect the same things ever
to happen to me as to any other man. Cease being astonished, therefore,
at any strange peculiarities in my life, even if they be eccentric
enough to shock a rigidly constituted mind. Like those erratic planets
which deviate occasionally from their course, I move around the
remarkable star called Barbassou-Pasha, and he draws me into his own
eccentric orbit. In spite of a semblance of romantic complications among
the really simple facts which I have related to you, I defy you to
discover in them the slightest grain of inconsistency. They can be
perfectly well accounted for by the most natural causes and the most
ordinary calculations of common sense. Cease your astonishment,
therefore, unless you wish to fall into the lowest rank in my
estimation.