Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45
The Rain of Blood.

"As the jeweller returned to the apartment, he cast around
him a scrutinizing glance -- but there was nothing to excite
suspicion, if it did not exist, or to confirm it, if it were
already awakened. Caderousse's hands still grasped the gold
and bank-notes, and La Carconte called up her sweetest
smiles while welcoming the reappearance of their guest.
'Well, well,' said the jeweller, 'you seem, my good friends,
to have had some fears respecting the accuracy of your
money, by counting it over so carefully directly I was
gone.' -- 'Oh, no,' answered Caderousse, 'that was not my
reason, I can assure you; but the circumstances by which we
have become possessed of this wealth are so unexpected, as
to make us scarcely credit our good fortune, and it is only
by placing the actual proof of our riches before our eyes
that we can persuade ourselves that the whole affair is not
a dream.' The jeweller smiled. -- 'Have you any other guests
in your house?' inquired he. -- 'Nobody but ourselves,'
replied Caderousse; 'the fact is, we do not lodge travellers
-- indeed, our tavern is so near the town, that nobody would
think of stopping here. -- 'Then I am afraid I shall very
much inconvenience you.' -- 'Inconvenience us? Not at all,
my dear sir,' said La Carconte in her most gracious manner.
'Not at all, I assure you.' -- 'But where will you manage to
stow me?' -- 'In the chamber overhead.' -- 'Surely that is
where you yourselves sleep?' -- 'Never mind that; we have a
second bed in the adjoining room.' Caderousse stared at his
wife with much astonishment.

"The jeweller, meanwhile, was humming a song as he stood
warming his back at the fire La Carconte had kindled to dry
the wet garments of her guest; and this done, she next
occupied herself in arranging his supper, by spreading a
napkin at the end of the table, and placing on it the
slender remains of their dinner, to which she added three or
four fresh-laid eggs. Caderousse had once more parted with
his treasure -- the banknotes were replaced in the
pocket-book, the gold put back into the bag, and the whole
carefully locked in the cupboard. He then began pacing the
room with a pensive and gloomy air, glancing from time to
time at the jeweller, who stood reeking with the steam from
his wet clothes, and merely changing his place on the warm
hearth, to enable the whole of his garments to be dried.

"'There,' said La Carconte, as she placed a bottle of wine
on the table, 'supper is ready whenever you are.' -- 'And
you?' asked Joannes. -- 'I don't want any supper,' said
Caderousse. -- 'We dined so very late,' hastily interposed
La Carconte. -- 'Then it seems I am to eat alone,' remarked
the