This was the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan, of which the

daroga's narrative has given us a glimpse. Erik had very original

ideas on the subject of architecture and thought out a palace much as a

conjuror contrives a trick-casket. The Shah ordered him to construct an

edifice of this kind. Erik did so; and the building appears to have

been so ingenious that His Majesty was able to move about in it unseen

and to disappear without a possibility of the trick's being discovered.

When the Shah-in-Shah found himself the possessor of this gem, he

ordered Erik's yellow eyes to be put out. But he reflected that, even

when blind, Erik would still be able to build so remarkable a house for

another sovereign; and also that, as long as Erik was alive, some one

would know the secret of the wonderful palace. Erik's death was

decided upon, together with that of all the laborers who had worked

under his orders. The execution of this abominable decree devolved

upon the daroga of Mazenderan. Erik had shown him some slight services

and procured him many a hearty laugh. He saved Erik by providing him

with the means of escape, but nearly paid with his head for his

generous indulgence.

Fortunately for the daroga, a corpse, half-eaten by the birds of prey,

was found on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and was taken for Erik's

body, because the daroga's friends had dressed the remains in clothing

that belonged to Erik. The daroga was let off with the loss of the

imperial favor, the confiscation of his property and an order of

perpetual banishment. As a member of the Royal House, however, he

continued to receive a monthly pension of a few hundred francs from the

Persian treasury; and on this he came to live in Paris.

As for Erik, he went to Asia Minor and thence to Constantinople, where

he entered the Sultan's employment. In explanation of the services

which he was able to render a monarch haunted by perpetual terrors, I

need only say that it was Erik who constructed all the famous

trap-doors and secret chambers and mysterious strong-boxes which were

found at Yildiz-Kiosk after the last Turkish revolution. He also

invented those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the

Sultan in all respects,[2] which made people believe that the

Commander of the Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he

was asleep elsewhere.

Of course, he had to leave the Sultan's service for the same reasons

that made him fly from Persia: he knew too much. Then, tired of his

adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one

"like everybody else." And he became a contractor, like any ordinary

contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered

for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted.

When he found himself in the cellars of the enormous playhouse, his

artistic, fantastic, wizard nature resumed the upper hand. Besides,

was he not as ugly as ever? He dreamed of creating for his own use a

dwelling unknown to the rest of the earth, where he could hide from

men's eyes for all time.




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