“A religious book, uncle?”
“Yes, and no, or, rather—no.
It is the history of their missions in Central Africa,
and is rather a book of travels and adventures.
What these men have done is very grand.”
I began to feel that matters were going badly, so
I got up. “Well, good-by, uncle,”
I said, “I see you are going to give up Freemasonry
for religion; you are a renegade.”
He was still rather confused, and stammered:
“Well, but religion is a sort of Freemasonry.”
“When is your Jesuit coming back?” I asked.
“I don’t—I don’t know
exactly; to-morrow, perhaps; but it is not certain.”
I went out, altogether overwhelmed.
My joke turned out very badly for me! My uncle
became thoroughly converted, and if that had been
all I should not have cared so much. Clerical
or Freemason, to me it is all the same; six of one
and half a dozen of the other; but the worst of it
is that he has just made his will—yes,
made his will—and he has disinherited me
in favor of that rascally Jesuit!
“Come with me,” said my friend Boisrene,
“you will see some very interesting bric-a-brac
and works of art there.”
He conducted me to the first floor of an elegant house
in one of the big streets of Paris. We were welcomed
by a very pleasing man, with excellent manners, who
led us from room to room, showing us rare things, the
price of which he mentioned carelessly. Large
sums, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty thousand francs,
dropped from his lips with such grace and ease that
one could not doubt that this gentleman-merchant had
millions shut up in his safe.
I had known him by reputation for a long time Very
bright, clever, intelligent, he acted as intermediary
in all sorts of transactions. He kept in touch
with all the richest art amateurs in Paris, and even
of Europe and America, knowing their tastes and preferences;
he apprised them by letter, or by wire if they lived
in a distant city, as soon as he knew of some work
of art which might suit them.
Men of the best society had had recourse to him in
times of difficulty, either to find money for gambling,
or to pay off a debt, or to sell a picture, a family
jewel, or a tapestry.
It was said that he never refused his services when
he saw a chance of gain.
Boisrene seemed very intimate with this strange merchant.
They must have worked together in many a deal.
I observed the man with great interest.
He was tall, thin, bald, and very elegant. His
soft, insinuating voice had a peculiar, tempting charm
which seemed to give the objects a special value.
When he held anything in his hands, he turned it round
and round, looking at it with such skill, refinement,
and sympathy that the object seemed immediately to
be beautiful and transformed by his look and touch.
And its value increased in one’s estimation,
after the object had passed from the showcase into
his hands.
