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the extraordinary situation in which he found himself。



〃Louis XI。 and I;〃 he said in conclusion; 〃have just been lying to

each other like two pedlers of coconuts。 You understand; my girl; that

if he follows me; he will get the secret of the hiding…place。 The king

alone can watch my wanderings at night。 I don't feel sure that his

conscience; near as he is to death; can resist thirteen hundred

thousand crowns。 We MUST be beforehand with him; we must find the

hidden treasure and send it to Ghent; and you alone〃



Cornelius stopped suddenly; and seemed to be weighing the heart of the

sovereign who had had thoughts of parricide at twenty…two years of

age。 When his judgment of Louis XI。 was concluded; he rose abruptly

like a man in haste to escape a pressing danger。 At this instant; his

sister; too feeble or too strong for such a crisis; fell stark; she

was dead。 Maitre Cornelius seized her; and shook her violently; crying

out:



〃You cannot die now。 There is time enough laterOh! it is all over。

The old hag never could do anything at the right time。〃



He closed her eyes and laid her on the floor。 Then the good and noble

feelings which lay at the bottom of his soul came back to him; and;

half forgetting his hidden treasure; he cried out mournfully:



〃Oh! my poor companion; have I lost you?you who understood me so

well! Oh! you were my real treasure。 There it lies; my treasure! With

you; my peace of mind; my affections; all; are gone。 If you had only

known what good it would have done me to live two nights longer; you

would have lived; solely to please me; my poor sister! Ah; Jeanne!

thirteen hundred thousand crowns! Won't that wake you?No; she is

dead!〃



Thereupon; he sat down; and said no more; but two great tears issued

from his eyes and rolled down his hollow cheeks; then; with strange

exclamations of grief; he locked up the room and returned to the king。

Louis XI。 was struck with the expression of sorrow on the moistened

features of his old friend。



〃What is the matter?〃 he asked。



〃Ah! sire; misfortunes never come singly。 My sister is dead。 She

precedes me there below;〃 he said; pointing to the floor with a

dreadful gesture。



〃Enough!〃 cried Louis XI。; who did not like to hear of death。



〃I make you my heir。 I care for nothing now。 Here are my keys。 Hang

me; if that's your good pleasure。 Take all; ransack the house; it is

full of gold。 I give up all to you〃



〃Come; come; crony;〃 replied Louis XI。; who was partly touched by the

sight of this strange suffering; 〃we shall find your treasure some

fine night; and the sight of such riches will give you heart to live。

I will come back in the course of this week〃



〃As you please; sire。〃



At that answer the king; who had made a few steps toward the door of

the chamber; turned round abruptly。 The two men looked at each other

with an expression that neither pen nor pencil can reproduce。



〃Adieu; my crony;〃 said Louis XI。 at last in a curt voice; pushing up

his cap。



〃May God and the Virgin keep you in their good graces!〃 replied the

silversmith humbly; conducting the king to the door of the house。



After so long a friendship; the two men found a barrier raised between

them by suspicion and gold; though they had always been like one man

on the two points of gold and suspicion。 But they knew each other so

well; they had so completely the habit; one may say; of each other;

that the king could divine; from the tone in which Cornelius uttered

the words; 〃As you please; sire;〃 the repugnance that his visits would

henceforth cause to the silversmith; just as the latter recognized a

declaration of war in the 〃Adieu; my crony;〃 of the king。



Thus Louis XI。 and his torconnier parted much in doubt as to the

conduct they ought in future to hold to each other。 The monarch

possessed the secret of the Fleming; but on the other hand; the latter

could; by his connections; bring about one of the finest acquisitions

that any king of France had ever made; namely; that of the domains of

the house of Burgundy; which the sovereigns of Europe were then

coveting。 The marriage of the celebrated Marguerite depended on the

people of Ghent and the Flemings who surrounded her。 The gold and the

influence of Cornelius could powerfully support the negotiations now

begun by Desquerdes; the general to whom Louis XI。 had given the

command of the army encamped on the frontiers of Belgium。 These two

master…foxes were; therefore; like two duellists; whose arms are

paralyzed by chance。



So; whether it were that from that day the king's health failed and

went from bad to worse; or that Cornelius did assist in bringing into

France Marguerite of Burgundywho arrived at Ambroise in July; 1438;

to marry the Dauphin to whom she was betrothed in the chapel of the

castlecertain it is that the king took no steps in the matter of the

hidden treasure; he levied no tribute from his silversmith; and the

pair remained in the cautious condition of an armed friendship。

Happily for Cornelius a rumor was spread about Tours that his sister

was the actual robber; and that she had been secretly put to death by

Tristan。 Otherwise; if the true history had been known; the whole town

would have risen as one man to destroy the Malemaison before the king

could have taken measures to protect it。



But; although these historical conjectures have some foundation so far

as the inaction of Louis XI。 is concerned; it is not so as regards

Cornelius Hoogworst。 There was no inaction there。 The silversmith

spent the first days which succeeded that fatal night in ceaseless

occupation。 Like carnivorous animals confined in cages; he went and

came; smelling for gold in every corner of his house; he studied the

cracks and crevices; he sounded the walls; he besought the trees of

the garden; the foundations of the house; the roofs of the turrets;

the earth and the heavens; to give him back his treasure。 Often he

stood motionless for hours; casting his eyes on all sides; plunging

them into the void。 Striving for the miracles of ecstasy and the

powers of sorcery; he tried to see his riches through space and

obstacles。 He was constantly absorbed in one overwhelming thought;

consumed with a single desire that burned his entrails; gnawed more

cruelly still by the ever…increasing agony of the duel he was fighting

with himself since his passion for gold had turned to his own injury;

a species of uncompleted suicide which kept him at once in the

miseries of life and in those of death。



Never was a Vice more punished by itself。 A miser; locked by accident

into the subterranean strong…room that contains his treasures; has;

like Sardanapalus; the happiness of dying in the midst of his wealth。

But Cornelius; the robber and the robbed; knowing the secret of

neither the one nor the other; possessed and did not possess his

treasure;a novel; fantastic; but continually terrible torture。

Sometimes; becoming forgetful; he would leave the little gratings of

his door wide open; and then the passers in the street could see that

already wizened man; planted on his two legs in the midst of his

untilled garden; absolutely motionless; and casting on those who

watched him a fixed gaze; the insupportable light of which froze them

with terror。 If; by chance; he walked through the streets of Tours; he

seemed like a stranger in them; he knew not where he was; nor whether

the sun or the moon were shining。 Often he would ask his way of those

who passed him; believing that he was still in Ghent; and seeming to

be in search of something lost。



The most perennial and the best materialized of human ideas; the idea

by which man reproduces himself by creating outside of himself the

fictitious being called Property; that mental demon; drove its steel

claws perpetually into his heart。 Then; in the midst of this torture;

Fear arose; with all its accompanying sentiments。 Two men had his

secret; the secret he did not know himself。 Louis XI。 or Coyctier

could post men to watch him during his sleep and discover the unknown

gulf into which he had cast his riches;those riches he had watered

with the blood of so many innocent men。 And then; beside his fear;

arose Remorse。



In order to prevent during his lifetime the abduction of his hidden

treasure; he took the most cruel precautions against sleep; besides

which; his commercial relations put him in the way of obtaining

powerful anti…narcotics。 His struggles to keep awake were awfulalone

with night; silence; Remorse; and Fear; with all the thoughts that

man; instinctively perhaps; has best embodiedobedient thus to a

moral truth as yet devoid of actual proof。



At last this man so powerful; this heart so hardened by political and

commercial life; this genius; obscure in history; succumbed to the

horrors of the torture he had himself created。 Maddened by certain

thoughts more agonizing than those he had as yet

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