CHAPTER I.
THE HOUSE IN ST. FRANCOIS STREET.
One night toward the middle of April, 1789, when the moon with itsradiance clearly lighted the scene, a man, wrapped in a great-coat, andwith his hat pulled far over his countenance, might have been seencarefully surveying the neighborhood of a building located in one of themost deserted streets of Paris, St. Francois Street, in the Swamp. Alofty wall, its black stones weathered with years of exposure, rannearly the whole length of the thoroughfare, and served as facing to aterrace surmounted with trees that had laughed to scorn the storms of acentury. Through their heavy foliage one caught glimpses of the stonefront, the peaked roof, and the high brick chimneys of a mansion in thestyle of Louis XIV. A wall, pierced by several grated openings, formed adeep, semi-circular approach, leading up to a coach gate of massive oak,studded with enormous spikes of iron. To judge from the thick layers ofdust and cobwebs which covered the gate, many had been the days since itwas opened. A little bastard gate, closed with a wicket, and no lessmassively built than the principal entrance, gave on its other side ontoa narrow and vaulted passage. To the left of this passage stood the doorof a lodge the windows of which overlooked a spacious garden, laid outin the fashion of the previous century, and ornamented with vases andstatues of stone, stained and broken by time. In the center of thegarden rose another dwelling whose doors had been walled up, and whosewindows were sealed with plates of lead, soldered into iron frames setin the masonry.
One more little building, snuggled up against the entry-gate andevidently intended for the porter, was occupied only by a Jew and hiswife. The couple this evening were chatting in a lower room whosehalf-open door communicated with the vaulted passage running to thestreet.
David Samuel was in the neighborhood of thirty, his wife Bathsheba,twenty-five. The lineage of Israel was strongly stamped on theirfeatures. Bathsheba, seated before a little table lighted by a copperlamp, was preparing to write at her husband's dictation. The latter,sunk in an arm-chair, his forehead in his hands, was in grave mood, andsaid to his wife after a silence of several minutes:
"The more I think over the present state of affairs, the more am Iconvinced that it is the part of prudence and necessity for us toprepare against unfortunate eventualities. In spite of our precautionswithin and without, what goes on here may one day be uncovered by thecreatures of the Lieutenant of Police. We would then both be imprisoned,my dear Bathsheba! Then, if I should die in prison--"
"Ah, my friend, what gloomy forebodings! Think not of such sad chances."
"Everything must be reckoned with. So, then, in case I die, our cousinLevi, on whom I count as on myself--you know him--"
"Your confidence is well placed."
"I am sure of it. I wish to charge him, in that case, to take my placein the sacred mission which my grandfather and father have handed downto me. That is why I wish to hold ready, in advance, the memorandumwhich will place our relative in possession of the knowledge he willneed in order to replace me. Come then, write as I dictate."
At the moment that Samuel uttered these last words, he heard a knockingin a peculiar manner at the little bastard gate. First there were threeblows, then two, separated from the others by a pause; and then twoagain; total, seven, the cabalistic number.
Samuel manifested no surprise at the signal. He left the room, traversedthe passage, drew close to the wicket, and asked in an undertone:
"Who knocks?"
"_A blind one._"
"What does he seek?"
"_The light._"
"What time is it?"
"_The hour of darkness, my brother!_"
Immediately upon the last response, Samuel swung back the gate. Twopersons wrapped in cloaks hurried through the passage and disappeared inthe garden. The Jew secured again the gate, and returned to his wife,who, no more surprised than he by the mysterious entrance of the twonewcomers, said:
"Dictate, my friend; I shall write."
"In the year 1660," began Samuel, "Monsieur Marius Rennepont, a richProtestant shipowner and captain, lay in Lisbon. He had carried fromFrance, on his ship, Monsieur the Duke of San Borromeo, one ofPortugal's greatest lords. The very day of his arrival in Lisbon,Monsieur Rennepont saw from his hotel on the Plaza Mayor, thepreparations for an auto-da-fe. On inquiry he learned that the next daya Jew named Samuel was to be burnt in the cause of religion. MonsieurRennepont, being a humane and generous-minded man, and, moreover, havingsympathy for the fate of heretics as his own Protestant co-religionistswere beginning in France to be persecuted in spite of the Edict ofNantes, resolved to snatch this Jew from the torture, and counted on thesupport and protection of the Duke of San Borromeo.
"The latter, more than once during the passage, had made tender of hisservices to the captain. Chance so willed it that he was the elderbrother of the Inquisitor of Lisbon. Monsieur Rennepont's hopes wererealized. The Duke of San Borromeo by his credit obtained from thetribunal of the Inquisition a commutation of the Jew's sentence fromcapital punishment to one of perpetual banishment. Monsieur Rennepont,having saved his protege, made inquiries as to his character, andreceived the best accounts thereof. He proposed that the Jew accompanyhim to France, an offer which the latter accepted with gratitude. Lateron Monsieur Rennepont entrusted him with the money matters of his trade;and Samuel devoted himself body and soul to his benefactor.
"That Hebrew, my grandfather, was soon able to prove his gratitude toMonsieur Marius Rennepont. The Protestant persecutions increased infury. Those who refused to be converted were exposed to violence andexactions of every sort. Monsieur Rennepont had a son whom he lovedpassionately. In order to ensure to this son the enjoyment of his goodsby sheltering them from confiscation, he abjured the Protestant faith.Dearly he paid for that moment of weakness. The Jesuit Society, for somehidden reason which my grandfather never could fathom, pursued from ageto age with their secret surveillance and hatred a certain Lebrennfamily, with which one of Monsieur Rennepont's ancestors had beenconnected by marriage in the middle of the Sixteenth Century.[1] Forreasons to be revealed later, that branch of the Renneponts had brokenoff its relations with the Lebrenns; it was even ignorant of whether itsformer allies had left any descendants.
"The Society of Jesus, enveloping in its covert network of espionage allwho, either closely or distantly, were connected with the Lebrennfamily, learned through its agents that Monsieur Marius Rennepont, inspite of his apparent conversion to Catholicism, was in the habit ofattending, along with several of his co-religionists, a certainProtestant church. Denounced by the Jesuits, Monsieur Rennepont incurredthe terrible penalties visited upon the fallen from faith--the galleysfor life, and the confiscation of his property. At the same time hisonly son fell a victim to a duel without witnesses. Some timethereafter, the father conceived the hazardous idea of escaping, at hisage, from the rigors of the galleys. He fled to a house several hoursdistant from Paris, called my grandfather Samuel to his side, andentrusted to him his wishes and his last testament. The goodsconfiscated from him, had, by a royal order, been turned over to hisbetrayers, the Jesuits, who thus profited by his fortune. But MonsieurRennepont, having long intended to leave to his son, should the lattersurvive him, a certain patrimony had laid away in a secret place fiftythousand crowns in gold. That sum he confided to my grandsire, charginghim to re-purchase this estate where we now are, then estimated atbetween seven and eight thousand crowns. Samuel was instructed to carryout certain orders with regard to the main dwelling of the estate, andto live, with his descendants, in the lodge which we occupy.
"The sum thus remaining in my grandfather's hands, amounting to someforty thousand crowns, he was to put out at interest as securely aspossible; the sums accruing from this interest were to be capitalizedand added to the principal for the space of about a century and a half,that is to say, till the year 1832. Samuel was authorized to draw everyyear two thousand livres from the profit of these investments, and topass on this duty, and the salary attached to it, to his own son, or inca
se of the latter's death, to some relative, or co-religionist, knownto him for probity.
"Such is the solidarity which binds us Hebrews together, and whichconstitutes our strength, that my grandsire, even had he no son, wouldhave found some faithful repository for his trust. But God willed thatit should be my father Isaac himself who was to acquit himself of thisdebt of gratitude towards the protector of our ancestor, and that I, inturn, should fulfil the same duty.
"The object of Monsieur Marius Rennepont in thus bequeathing to us theduty of investing the interests on the sum which he confided to ourancestor, was to leave to the third or fourth generation of his heirs anenormous fortune, the employment of which will only be disclosed uponthe opening of his will, which his representatives will perform inforty-three years, on the 13th of February, 1832, in this house, thedoor of which is to remain sealed and the windows fastened until thatdate."
At this point of his dictation Samuel was interrupted by a new series ofraps, in the pre-arranged fashion, at the little gate. He disappearedfor a moment, and almost as soon returned, saying to his wife:
"We shall have to postpone our writing--we can take it up later. You maywithdraw now about your household affairs. Prince Franz of Gerolsteinhas just arrived with a new comrade whom he wishes to entertain here inthis chamber, before his initiation."
"We shall continue the dictation again, then, my friend," respondedBathsheba, rising. And she added, with a deep sigh, "O, may you neverregret having affiliated yourself with the 'Seeing Ones,' or 'Voyants,'as they call themselves."
"No, my beloved wife, never shall I regret my affiliation with theVoyants. The ideas of which they have made themselves the propagandistsmust infallibly bring about the reign of fraternity and the emancipationof the human race. Then we, contemned Jews, shall enter into thecommunion of the great human family. In affiliating myself with theVoyants of Paris, in offering them the subterranean chambers which Iplace at their disposal for their meetings, I serve our own personalcause and also the cause of the disinherited, the downtrodden ones ofthe world. I am fulfilling thereby a sacred duty. Whatever may hap, Ishall not regret having put my shoulder to the work of emancipation."
"Oh, will that sacred cause, to which you have given yourself, soul andbody, ever triumph? What dangers must be run, and for an uncertain end!"
"Everything proclaims the early victory of our cause! Be of good cheer!"
"Illusion, Samuel; the illusion of a generous heart. I fear you are butcruelly deceived."
"It is no illusion, Bathsheba! Must it not be truth, which has soirresistible an attraction? Why else should the offspring of a prince bea Voyant?"
"You mean Prince Franz of Gerolstein?"
"He was initiated in Germany, the very cradle of our secret society. Hehas become one of our most ardent converts. Blessings on the day when itwas given me to make acquaintance with the noble young man. Never didthe cause of humanity have a more eloquent apostle, a more great-hearteddefender. And still withal the society of which he is a member hasdeclared an implacable war upon all privilege of birth or riches, uponall authority, royal or religious. 'Neither Kings nor priests!'--that isour motto. The Prince holds these ideas of equality, ofemancipation--he, of a sovereign race! he, one destined to rule! Are notthese thrilling signs? The doctrines of the enfranchisement of theworking class are spread by the sovereign princes. The Emperor ofAustria, Joseph II, brother of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France,without owning allegiance to the Voyants, without completely acceptingtheir principles, nevertheless travels Europe incognito as aphilosopher, nowhere permitting that they pay him the honors due toroyal blood, visiting the bourgeois, the lower ranks, mingling with allclasses of society, observing for himself the trend of their spirit,sympathizing with their new ideas, submitting himself, perhaps withouthis own knowledge, to the influence of that regenerating breeze which issweeping over the old world. The reign of justice and equality is closeat hand!"
"In truth--these signs are thrilling," mused Bathsheba pensively.
"Yes, dear wife, the end of persecution and iniquity draws nigh. In afew years, one will find difficulty in persuading himself that there wasa time when we Israelites were under the ban of the world; when therewas a price upon us; when we were tortured, hanged, burned, all becausewe were Jews; and when the Protestants, like us, were sent to thegalleys or to death, solely because they were Lutherans or Calvinists.Ah, no fear, the descendants of Monsieur Marius Rennepont will be ableto enjoy in security the huge fortune which they are to inherit, whetherthey are Catholics or Protestants--my hope is firm."
Bathsheba reflected a moment and answered:
"My friend, I do not understand you. Monsieur Marius Rennepont left athis death but fifty thousand crowns in gold as his whole heritage. Outof this your ancestor paid the price of this mansion. How, then, willhis heirs inherit the colossal fortune of which you speak!"
"In this way, Bathsheba. My grandfather, after the death of MonsieurRennepont, by means of certain financial operations, succeeded, aftersome little time, in recouping the eight thousand crowns paid for theestate. In 1683 he had completely restored the fifty thousand crowns. Hetook the cash; invested it, together with the interest and emoluments,and fifteen years later, in 1696, the sum had already grown to threehundred thousand livres, which, doubled by investment in 1710, made sixhundred thousand. Finally, in 1719, when my grandfather died, the sumhad reached nearly a million. The doubling of the capital took place inten, twelve, or fourteen years, depending on the rate of interest, itbeing in different years seven, six, or five per cent.
"The million which my grandfather Samuel left at his death," continuedSamuel, "had, by 1724, become 1,200,000; 1742, two years after my birth,nearly 5,000,000; in 1766, it was 9,600,000 livres; in 1780, 19,600,000livres; and at this moment the bequest of Marius Rennepont has attainedthe magnitude of 34,300,000 livres, 8 sous, 11 deniers. That is not all.Just think of what it will be forty years from now, progressing at thesame rate: In 1794 it will climb to nearly 38,000,000; in 1808, to76,000,000; in 1822, to 150,000,000; and in 1832, the time set for theopening of the will of Monsieur Marius Rennepont and for the partitionof his fortune among his descendants, the fortune will have capped theenormous figure of 220,000,000 livres!"
"It is certainly prodigious," rejoined Bathsheba. "Even with yourexplanation, my surprise makes me dizzy. But that dizziness," she added,with great emotion, "shall not keep me from feeling a noble pride in thefact that it was your grandsire, your sire, and you yourself, who havebeen till now the worthy repositories of such a treasure. Oh, Samuel,you indeed acquit the debt of gratitude contracted by your grandfathertoward Monsieur Marius Rennepont."
"We but perform a sacred duty confided to our integrity and ourprudence," returned the Jew. "My grandparent, my parent and I have everbeen careful not to endanger the smallest part of this sum in riskyventures. Thanks to the financial relations of our co-religionists withall the banks of Europe, we have been able to confine ourselvesrigorously to investments of the highest security. Should God give to usa son, my dear wife, he will have, I hope, the prudence and the probityof his fathers. If the joy of having a son is denied us, or if someunforeseen development should prevent me from carrying on this missionof honor, our cousin Levi, whose uprightness I well know, will take myplace. Or better still, perhaps the Lord will grant me a green old age,thus enabling me in 1832, with ninety winters on my back, to return inperson to the heirs of the house of Rennepont the sacred trust whichtheir ancestor so long ago confided to mine. That will be a day too goodto hope for, if I can be present at the opening of Monsieur Rennepont'stestament. But God alone knows the future!"
After a pause, Samuel continued:
"To bring his heirs together at the distant time set for the opening ofhis will, Monsieur Rennepont, a short time before his death, hit uponan ingenious plan. He transmitted to each of his descendants a medalwhich bore on one side the legend:
VICTIM OF S. J. PRAY FOR ME 1682.
And on the reverse, the words:
AT PARIS, SAINT FRANCOIS STREET, NO. 3 IN A CENTURY AND A HALF YOU WILL BE FEBRUARY THE 13TH, 1832.
"It is by means of these medals, handed down from generation togeneration, that the Rennepont heirs will one day be reunited here, inthis, the house of their ancestor."
"My friend," asked Bathsheba, "in the note you were dictating to me forour friend Levi, you made mention of a Lebrenn family, related toMonsieur Rennepont, which, in spite of its relationship, will probablynot partake in the division of the fortune. Whence and why thisexclusion?"
"I learned from my father that the grandfather of Monsieur Rennepont,after his abjuration, conceived the greatest aversion for his relativesof the Lebrenn branch, severed all connection with them, and evenconcealed the fact of their existence from his son, out of dread tosubmit him some day to the influence of that family, the implacableenemy, as it was, of the Church."
"And did the father of Monsieur Marius Rennepont remain true to theRoman faith?"
"He did, my beloved Bathsheba; but his son, Monsieur Marius himself,reaching the age of reason shortly after his father's death, embracedProtestantism, which still later he feigned to renounce, in order toprotect his fortune for his son--a regrettable act of weakness."
"How, then, was the existence of this Lebrenn branch discovered? It allgrows more and more mysterious to me, and whets my curiosity."
"Shortly before his death, by suicide, Monsieur Marius Rennepont waslooking over some family papers running back to the Sixteenth Century,to the period of the religious wars. There he found to a certainty proofof the connection between the Renneponts and the Lebrenns. But whetherthe latter had left any descendants he was unable to determine."
"Does that mean, Samuel, that should there be living survivors of theLebrenn family at the time the Rennepont fortune is partitioned, theywill have no share in it?"
"The formal wish of the testator," replied Samuel, "is that only thosewho in 1832 present themselves here armed with their hereditarymedallion shall be admitted to benefice in the inheritance. I shallabide by the instructions which have been handed down to me. Accordingto what my father said, who had his information direct from his father,the confidant of Monsieur Rennepont himself, that clause was dictated bymotives which will be revealed in the will."
"Everything in this affair is strange and singular. Probably no one evenknows where to find the present descendants of Monsieur Rennepont."
"As to me, Bathsheba, I have not the slightest clue. Still--my fatherdid tell me that twice in his life, Rennepont heirs presented themselveshere with their hereditary medals bearing the address of this house,drawn hither by curiosity or vague pecuniary expectations--curiosity andexpectations which met only with disappointment."
"What said your father to them?"
"Just what I should say in like case: 'I have nothing to communicate toyou. This house belongs to me; it was left me by my father. I know notfor what purpose or with what plan in view your ancestor designated thisbuilding to his heirs as their rendezvous a century and a half fromdate.'"
"That is, in fact, the answer commanded by prudence, Samuel. The worldmust remain in ignorance of the great value of the bequest you arecharged with."
"Reasons of the utmost gravity impose upon us an absolute secrecy on thesubject. In the first place, according to what my father had from mygrandfather, the Society of Jesus, always so well served by itsinnumerable host of spies, succeeded in finding out that MonsieurRennepont had saved an important sum from the confiscation which provedso profitable to the reverend fathers; for the informers and theexecutioners parted the spoils."
"Samuel! If these priests, so powerful, so masterful, and with so manyavenues of underground working should ever suspect the truth! I trembleat the mere thought."
"Take heart, my good wife. The danger would be great, but I should knowhow to escape it. It was even more necessary in my grandfather's andespecially in my father's case that they kept in profound secrecy thetreasures they possessed; for the governments of Louis XIV, the Regent,and Louis XV, always in want, always at their wits' end for cash, werenone too scrupulous in the means they chose to replenish their coffers.We Jews have always been a little beyond the pale of common rights, sothat my grandfather or my father, once suspected of being the possessorsof a sum amounting to several millions, would have been haled off on_lettres de cachet_, thrown into the cell of some State prison, and keptthere till they had bought off their liberty, or, perhaps, their verylives at the price of the treasure which they were suspected ofguarding."
"Ah, Samuel, I shudder to think that in those days every wickedness waspossible. They might even have put your father to the torture."
"Thanks be to God, all that is out of the question to-day. And still,anticipating ill chances and exactions, we have always stowed ourtreasure in safe places and safe hands. Should the mansion be ransackedfrom cellar to eaves, the wealth of which we are the keepers wouldescape the search--"
Pricking his ear, Samuel checked his speech and listened intently amoment in the direction of the street gate. Then he said aloud tohimself:
"Who is knocking there? It is not one of our men."
"The hour is unearthly," answered Bathsheba, uneasily. "It is pastmidnight. This lonely street has long since been deserted. May it not beour lookout come to warn us of the approach of some peril?"
"No, our lookout would have given the established signal," answered theJew. "I'll go see what it may be."
And taking the lamp, he passed out of the chamber.