CHAPTER XIV

  HOW JAMES THE FIRST, FAILING TO DIGEST THE PIN ON WHICH THE BUTTERFLY WAS IMPALED, SUSTAINED A PERFORATION OF THE PERITONEUM

  “Misfortunes never come singly,” says the proverb, and this is profoundly true. Only a day or two after Tom’s death, James the First showed unmistakable signs of illness, which alarmed the whole colony, with the exception of Gazelle. The latter, remaining three-fourths of the day tucked into her shell, seemed quite indifferent to any events which did not directly bear on her personal comfort, and, moreover, as we know, she was not on very intimate terms with James.

  The first symptoms of the disorder showed themselves in continuous somnolence, accompanied by heaviness in the head; in two days’ time his appetite gave way entirely, and was succeeded by an insatiable and increasing thirst; towards the middle of the third day the comparatively slight colic from which he suffered became so intense and unintermitting that Alexandre Decamps took a cabriolet and went for Doctor Thierry. The latter at once recognized the serious nature of the attack, although he could not precisely diagnose it, being undecided as to whether it was inflammation of the bowels, paralysis of the intestines, or peritonitis. At any rate he began by taking a couple of ounces of blood from him, promised to return in the evening to bleed him again, and ordered that during the interval thirty leeches should be applied to the abdominal region. Further, James was to be

  given soothing drinks and everything calculated to allay internal inflammation. James allowed the treatment to be carried out with a resignation which showed he himself understood the serious nature of the case.

  In the evening, when the doctor returned, he found that, far from yielding to the remedies applied, the disease had made progress; there was increased thirst, complete loss of appetite, swelling of the abdomen, and inflamed tongue; the pulse was small, weak, and quick, and the sunken eyes showed the suffering which poor James felt. Thierry bled him again, taking another two ounces, James submitting without a murmur, as earlier in the day he had felt some little relief after a similar operation. The doctor ordered the cooling drinks to be continued throughout the night; and a nurse was sent for, to keep on administering them hour by hour. Soon a little old woman, who might almost have passed for a female of James’s species, arrived, and directly she saw the invalid, demanded an increase in the wages she generally received, under the frivolous pretext that, as she was accustomed to nurse men and not monkeys, the task was beneath her dignity. The matter was arranged, as matters usually are when it is a question of dignity, by paying a double fee.

  It was a bad night for both. James kept the old woman from her sleep, and the old woman beat James; the noise of the combat reached Alexandre’s room, and he got up and entered the sick chamber. James, exasperated by the disloyal conduct of the old woman towards him, had rallied all the strength he possessed, and, as she bent down to hit him, he seized her cap and tore it in pieces.

  Alexandre arrived just in time to see the end of the row. The old woman gave her account of the affair in words, and James his by signs. Alexandre soon saw that the old woman was in the wrong. She still wished to defend her conduct, but the bottle, the contents of which were still almost untouched, although the night was two-thirds gone, completed the evidence against her.

  The old woman was paid off and turned out, in spite of the unholy hour, and Alexandre, to James’s great delight, continued the watch by the bedside which the infamous hag he had sent off had begun. Then the energy which the patient had shown was followed by a complete collapse; James fell back as if he were dying. Alexandre thought that the last moment had come, but on bending over James he saw that it was an attack of feebleness and not actual death. About nine o’clock in the morning James stirred and partially raised himself in bed, showing some signs of pleasure; as he did so, the sound of footsteps was heard, and the bell rang. For a moment James tried to get up, but fell back exhausted; the door opened and Fau appeared. He had been told by the doctor how ill James was, and he came to see how his pupil was.

  For a few moments James’s emotion caused him to forget all his pain. But soon his physical condition triumphed over his moral force; fearful nausea supervened, followed in half an hour’s time by vomiting. The doctor arrived while this was going on; he found the patient lying on his back, with his tongue blanched, dry and covered with mucous deposit. His breathing was short and stertorous; the scene between James and the old woman had hastened the progress of the disease. Thierry at once wrote off to one of his fellow-practitioners, Doctor Blasy, sending the note by one of the lads in Decamps’ studio. A consultation was necessary, Thierry being no longer in a position to answer for his patient.

  Towards mid-day Doctor Blasy came. Thierry introduced him to James’s room, detailed the symptoms, and showed him his prescriptions; then after he had himself examined the unfortunate James, he agreed with Thierry that his treatment had been correct and the patient was suffering from congestion of the bowels, caused by eating too much white lead and Prussian blue.

  The patient was so weak that they dared not take the risk of more bleeding, and the men of science had to fall back on the possible efforts of Nature. The day passed away thus, broken from time to time by recurrent attacks. In the evening Thierry came again, and a glance showed him that the disease was gaining ground. He shook his head sadly, wrote out no fresh prescription, and said that if the patient seemed to show a liking for any particular thing, he might have whatever he fancied. The same remark is often heard in the condemned cell on the eve of an execution, and threw everybody into despair.

  In the evening Fau came, declaring that he and no one else should sit up with James. In consequence of the doctor’s decision, he filled his pockets with sugar plums,- pralines, and fresh almonds. Being unable to save James, he wished at least to soothe his last moments.

  James received his visit with a transcendental look of joy. When he saw him sit down in the place vacated by the old woman, he understood the devoted affection of his master, and thanked him by a little murmur of pleasure and contentment. Fau began to give him a glass of the draught prescribed by Thierry. James, evidently for fear of displeasing Fau, swallowed it with a great effort, but he brought it up again with such fearful spasms that Fau thought he would die in his arms. However, at the end of a few minutes he became somewhat calmer, and, trembling as he was in every limb, he found a short respite to his sufferings more from exhaustion than actual sleep.

  About two o’clock in the morning the first symptoms of cerebral disturbance appeared. Not knowing how to calm the patient they offered James some sugared almonds. He at once understood what they were, holding as they did the first place in his gastronomic affections. A week before he would have submitted to any chastisement on the chance of obtaining a supply of these delicacies. But sickness is a hard instructor. It had left James with the will to enjoy pralines, but had removed the power. James sadly picked out the sweetmeats which seemed to hold the best almonds and to be the best coated with sugar, and, unable to swallow them, he concealed them in the pouches with which Nature had endowed him on each side of his mouth, so that very soon his cheeks hung down to his breast, like Charlet’s whiskers did until he had them cut.

  But, although James could not, greatly to his regret, swallow the pralines, he still felt a certain pleasure in the preliminary operation which he managed to accomplish. Moistened by the saliva, the sugar coating of the almonds slowly melted, and this gave a certain pleasure to the dying monkey. As the sugar melted, the volume in his pouches diminished and left room for more pralines. James put out his hand. Fau understood James, offered him a handful of sweets, from which the patient picked such as suited him, and the pouches again seemed quite full and round. As for Fau, he began to hope a little from what had passed, for, as the pouches diminished in size, he supposed that this was due to mastication, and augured from this that there must be a sensible improvement in the state of the patient, who was now able to eat, while a short time before he could not even drink. Unfortunately, Fau was wrong. About seven in the morning the cerebral attacks became frightful. This Thierry had foreseen, for instead of asking, when he came, how James was, he asked if he were dead or not. On being told he was not, he seemed surprised, and entered the room where he found assembled Fau, Jadin, Alexandre and Eugène Decamps. The patient was at his last gasp. Then, being unable to save his life, and certain that he had not two hours to live, he sent the servant with instructions to go to Tony Johannot and bring back with him James the Second, so that James the First, dying in the arms of one of his own kindred, might at least communicate to him his last wishes.

  The scene was piteous; everybody loved James, who, except for the faults common to all his kind, was what amongst men of the world is called a downright good fellow. The only dry eye among those present was that of Gazelle, who as if to fling a last insult at the poor dying ape, came into the room dragging with her from the studio a carrot, which she proceeded to eat underneath a table in an impassive manner, which indicated an excellent digestion, but a very hard heart. James gave her many sidelong looks, which would not have altogether befitted his position had he been a Christian, but which were certainly excusable in a monkey. While this was going on, the servant returned bringing James the Second. James the Second had not been warned as to the scene which awaited him, so that his first impulse was one of extreme terror. The death-bed on which lay one of his own kind, the view of the animals of another kind which surrounded the dying monkey — animals he recognized as men, who as a race were in the habit of persecuting his own — everything impressed him so gravely that he began to tremble in every limb.

  But to allay his fears, Fau came to meet him with a sugar-plum in his hand. James the Second took the sweetmeat, turned it over and over to see if there was anything noxious concealed in it, tasted it with the tip of his tongue, and then at last, convinced by the evidence of his senses that no harm was to be done him, recovered little by little from his state of fear.

  Then the servant put him down close to the bed of his fellow-countryman, who, making a last effort, turned towards him a face on which death was written. James the Second then understood, or, at least, appeared to understand what was expected of him; he came up to his dying comrade, all disfigured as he was from the fact of his pouches being stuffed full of sugared almonds, and taking him gently by the paw, seemed to beg him to confide his last wishes to him. The invalid, making an obvious effort to rally his energy, succeeded in sitting up; then whispering some words in his mother tongue into the ear of his friend, he pointed to the impassive Gazelle, with a gesture similar to that with which, in Alfred de Vigny’s fine drama, the dying Maréchal d’Ancre points out to his son Albert de Luynes, his father’s murderer. James the Second nodded his head, to show he understood, and James the First fell back, motionless.

  Ten minutes later, he carried his two hands to his head, looked round the circle of those about him, as if to bid them an eternal farewell, and raising himself for the last time with a feeble exclamation, fell back in the arms of James the Second.

  James the First was dead.

  Among the bystanders there supervened a moment of stupefaction, which James the Second seemed at first to share. With fixed eyes he watched his dead friend, rigid himself as the corpse before him. Then, after thus staring at him for five minutes, so as to be perfectly certain that there was not the faintest trace of life in the body before his eyes, he took the mouth of the corpse between his two paws, opened the jaws and, taking the pralines out of the pouches, incontinently crammed his own cheeks with them. What had been taken for the devotion of a friend was really but the greed of an heir-at-law!

  Fau snatched the body of James the First from the arms of his unworthy executor, and handed it over to Thierry and Jadin, who asked for it in the names of Science and Art respectively. Thierry wanted to make a post-mortem examination as to the cause of death, while Jadin wished to take a cast of the head so as to preserve the face among the collection of casts of celebrities. Priority was given to Jadin, so that his operation might be completed before death had changed the expression of the features, and it was settled that he should pass the body on to Thierry, for him to make the autopsy. As the modelling allowed a spare hour to Thierry, he employed it in going to look up Blasy, with whom he planned to go to Fontane’s where the body was to be taken, and where it would be placed at the disposal of the surgeons. These arrangements made, Jadin, Fau, Alexandre and Eugène Decamps took a carriage and went to Fontane’s studio, carrying with them James the First, and leaving James the Second and Gazelle in sole charge of the house. The model,-.executed with great care, succeeded to perfection, and the likeness was taken with a fidelity which left to James’s friends the consolation of preserving a perfect likeness of the defunct. They had just finished this last sad function when the two doctors arrived. Art had done her part; it was now the turn of Science. Fau, Alexandre and Eugène Decamps retired, not having the courage to witness this second operation, and Jadin alone remained. Having opened the body, they found the contents of the peritoneum much discoloured, with here and there white patches mingled with a bloody mucus. All this was evidently an effect, and not the cause. Then almost in the middle of the lesser bowel they found a slight ulceration surrounding the point of a pin, the body of which was buried in the intestines. They at once recollected the incident of the butterfly pin, and all was clear to them. Death had been inevitable, and the two doctors had the consolation of knowing that although they had made a slight mistake as to the cause of the malady, it could not but have proved fatal, and that none of the resources of science could have saved him from the consequences of his gluttony.

  As for Fau, Alexandre and Eugène Decamps, they went sadly up the stairs of No. 109, and on the second floor they smelt a strange odour of frying fat. As they got higher the smell became stronger, till when they got to their own landing, they became certain that the odour came from their rooms. They opened the door hurriedly, for, as they had not left the cook at home, they were at a loss to interpret the meaning of these culinary operations; the smell came from the studio, which they entered at once. A sound of frizzling came from the stove, and a thick heavy smoke was pouring up from it. Alexandre opened the stove door, and there on the glowing embers was Gazelle, turned over on her back and done to a cinder in her own shell.

  The vengeance of James the First had been carried out by James the Second. He was pardoned on account of the goodness of his intentions, and sent home to his master.

  CHAPTER XV

  HOW TONY JOHANNOT, NOT HAVING LAID IN FIREWOOD ENOUGH TO LAST THE WINTER, PROCURED A CAT, AND HOW IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE SAID CAT’S DEATH, JAMES THE SECOND GOT HIS TAIL FROZEN

  Some time after the events we have just narrated, winter began, and every one had made such provision to pass it in comfort as his resources permitted and his foresight suggested. But, as Matthieu Laensberg had prophesied a mild season for that year, many had laid in but a poor stock of firewood. Among these was Tony Johannot, influenced either by his belief in Matthieu Laensberg, or perhaps by other reasons, into which we need not be indiscreet enough to pry. The result of this neglect on his part was that about the 15th of January the talented artist of the “King of Bohemia and his Seven Castles,” on going to fetch a log of wood for his stove, found that if he continued to keep up fires both in his studio and his bedroom, he would scarcely have enough to last him a fortnight.

  Moreover, skating had been going on for a week, the river was full of broken ice as in the time of Julian the Apostate, and M. Arago, disagreeing with the Canon of Saint-Barthélemy, announced from the top of the Observatory that the cold, already fifteen degrees below freezing point, would probably go down to twenty-three degrees, that is to say, within six degrees of the temperature experienced during the retreat from Moscow. And as the future may safely be predicted from the

  past, people began to believe that M. Arago was right, and that for once in a way Matthieu Laensberg might have made a mistake.

  Tony came out of his woodshed greatly distressed at the result of his investigations. It seemed a choice between freezing by day or freezing by night. However, after thinking deeply, while working up a picture of Admiral Coligny being hanged at Montfaucon, he saw a way out of the difficulty — namely, to carry his bed into his studio. As for James the Second, a bearskin rolled up in four would do for him very well. Thus, the same evening, both he and James made their move, and Tony slept warm and happy with the thought that Providence had led him to make such a fortunate choice.

  The next morning he wondered for a moment where he was; then, as he recognized his studio, his eyes, with the paternal instinct which the artist feels for his work, turned towards his easel. James the Second was seated on the back of a chair, just within easy reach of the picture. Tony, when he first looked, thought that the intelligent animal, from constantly watching painting, had become a connoisseur in the art, and as he had placed himself very close to the work, it seemed evident that he was admiring its high finish. But soon Tony found he had made a great mistake; James the Second loved the taste of white lead, and the picture of Coligny being nearly finished, and all the high lights being put in with the pigment in question, James was engaged in licking it off with his tongue wherever he could find it.

  Tony jumped out of bed and James jumped off his chair. But it was too late; all the flesh-tints executed in this colour were cleared off down to the bare canvas. The Admiral’s body was gone completely; there was the gibbet and there was the rope, but there was no one hanging to it. Clearly the Protestant hero must be hanged all over again. Tony at first was in a fearful rage with James, but on reflection he saw that after all it was his own fault for not tying the monkey up, and went to get a chain and a staple. He fixed the staple in the wall, fastened one end of the chain to it, and, having thus made all his preparations for the following night, he set to work again on his Coligny, who was almost hanged again by five o’clock in the evening. Then, thinking he had done quite enough work for one day, he went for a turn on the boulevard, dined at the Taverne Anglaise, and afterwards went to the theatre, where he remained till about half-past eleven.