“Just so! Why not?” replied the conciliating bargeman, thinking of the beginning of a salute for the bearer of good news.
Suddenly shouts were heard on the ground-floor—shouts of joy, it is true, which, coming from Nanon and Enogate, could not be addressed to an envoy of Kamylk Pasha.
“It is he! It is he!” repeated the two women.
“He? he?” said Captain Antifer, and he was walking towards the stairs when the door of his room opened.
“Good evening, uncle, good evening!”
This was said in a cheery, satisfied voice, which had the effect of exasperating the uncle in question.
“He!” was Juhel. He had just arrived. He had not failed in catching the train from Nantes, nor in passing his examination, for he shouted,—
“Passed, uncle, passed!”
“Passed!” repeated the woman and the girl.
“Passed—what?” replied Captain Antifer.
“Passed as long-voyage captain, with the maximum of marks!”
And as his uncle did not open his arms to him he fell into those of Tregomain, who hugged him to his heart in a way that nearly squeezed the breath out of him.
“You are suffocating him, Gildas!” said Nanon.
“I only just touched him!” replied the smiling bargeman.
Juhel panted a little, and recovered himself, and then turning to Antifer, who was walking about feverishly, said,—
“And now, uncle, when shall the wedding be?”
“What wedding?”
“My wedding with my dear Enogate,” replied Juhel; “was it not agreed upon?”
“Yes, agreed upon,” said Nanon.
“At least, unless Enogate does not care for me now I am a captain.”
“Oh! Juhel!” answered the girl, holding out a hand in which the worthy Tregomain—so he pretended—thought he saw her put her heart.
Antifer did not reply, but seemed to be trying to find out which way the wind blew.
“Come, uncle,” said the young man, and he stood there, his face radiant, his eyes bright with happiness.
“Uncle,” said he, “did you not say that the wedding should take place when I passed, and that we would fix the day as soon as I came back?”
“I believe you did say so, my friend,” ventured the bargeman.
“Well, I have passed,” said Juhel; “and here I have come back, and if it is not inconvenient, uncle, we will fix it for the first week in April—”
Antifer started.
“In eight weeks? Why not in eight days, in eight hours, in eight minutes?”
“Well, I should not object, uncle.”
“Oh! we must have a little time,” said Nanon, “there are preparations, purchases to make—”
“Yes, I have to get a new coat built,” said Tregomain, the future best man.
“Then—shall we say the 5th of April?” asked Juhel.
“Be it so,” said Antifer, who found himself driven behind his last entrenchments.
“Ah I my good uncle,” said the girl, leaping on to his neck.
“Ah! my dear uncle,” said the young man.
And as he embraced him on one side, while Enogate embraced him on the other, it is not impossible that their cheeks met.
“That is agreed,” continued the uncle; “the 5th of April, but on one condition.”
“Oh, no condition!”
“A condition?” exclaimed Tregomain, who feared some further device on the part of his friend.
“Yes, one condition.”
“And what is that?” asked Juhel, beginning to frown.
“If my longitude does not reach me before then.”
They all breathed again.
“Yes! yes!” they replied with one voice.
And really it would have been cruel to refuse this satisfaction to Captain Antifer. Besides, what likelihood was there that the messenger of Kamylk Pasha, whom they had been expecting for twenty years, would make his appearance before the date fixed for the wedding of Juhel and Enogate?
CHAPTER VI.
A week went by. Of a messenger there was not even a shadow. Gildas Tregomain said he would be just as much astonished to see the prophet Elijah return from the sky. But he took care not to express his opinion in this biblical form before Captain Antifer.
As to Enogate and Juhel, they hardly gave a thought to the messenger of Kamylk Pasha, who, as far as they were concerned, was a purely imaginary being. No! They were busy with their preparations for that charming land of matrimony, of which the young man knew the longitude, and the girl the latitude, and which it would be easy to reach by combining these two geographical elements. They might rest assured that the combination would take place on the 5th of April, the date fixed.
As to Captain Antifer he had become more unsociable, more unapproachable than ever. The date of the ceremony was a day nearer every twenty-four hours. A few weeks only, and the young couple would be united. A fine result, truly! In his heart their uncle had been dreaming of superb alliances for them when he became a rich man. And if he made so much of these millions, these undiscoverable millions which belonged to him, it was not with the idea of enjoying them himself, of living a grand life, of dwelling in a palace, riding in a carriage, dining off gold plates, wearing diamond studs—No! He was thinking of wedding Juhel to a princess, and Enogate to a prince! That was his whim, his monomania. And here was his heart’s desire in jeopardy owing to a messenger not arriving at a proper time; and for want of a few figures which, combined with others he already possessed, Kamylk’s hiding-place would not yield up its treasures until too late!
Antifer stormed no more. He could not remain inside the house, and it was all the better for the peace of the household that he was outside. They saw him only at mealtimes, and his meals he got through at double the usual rate. Whenever there was an opportunity, Tregomain offered his cheek to the smiter in the hope of provoking an explosion, which would relieve his friend who sent him to Jericho. In short it was to be feared that he was going to be ill. His only occupation was to stride about the railway station, watching the arrival of the trains, and about the Sillon quays, watching the arrival of the boats, endeavouring to discover among the passengers some exotic figure which might belong to the envoy of Kamylk, an Egyptian, without doubt, perhaps an Armenian, certainly a foreign personage recognizable by his appearance, his accent, his clothes, and who would ask for the address of Pierre Servan Malo Antifer.
And there was nobody of this sort! Normans, Bretons, English, Scandinavians, there were many, but travellers from Eastern Europe, Maltese, or Levantines, there were none.
On the 9th of February, after a breakfast, at which he had not opened his lips—except to eat and drink—Captain Antifer went forth for his usual walk, like another Diogenes in search of a man.
He went along the narrow streets of the town, bordered by their tall granite houses, and paved with pebbles. He descended the Rue du Bey towards