Four Weddings And A Funeral 3 page

Laurent left Therese in Saint-Ouen and went back to Paris alone. He wanted to tell Madame Raquin the terrible news himself. He did not want Therese to tell Camille's mother. He wanted Therese to become calm and think more clearly.

'Therese will say too much,' he thought. 'She might make a mistake and tell Madame Raquin the truth.'

Laurent went back into Paris on an omnibus. As he rode back into the city, he thought of the story that he was going to tell Madame Raquin. He was a little worried, but he was happy too. Laurent was sure that people would believe his story. It had been a perfect murder. No one would ever know the truth.

Laurent got off the omnibus when it reached Paris. Then he took a cab to Old Michaud's house. Laurent had decided that he did not want to tell Madame Raquin about Camille's death himself. It would be safer to have Michaud with him.

It was now nine o'clock in the evening and Michaud was having dinner with Olivier and Suzanne. Laurent told them his terrible story. He pretended to be shocked and unhappy.

He wept as he walked up and down the Michauds' dining- room.

'I've come to you for help,' Laurent said with tears in his eyes. 'You are the Raquins' closest friends. Those two poor women! Therese is suffering already. Madame Raquin will suffer too, when she hears the terrible news of her son's death. I don't know what Madame Raquin will do. Please come with me, so that we can tell her together.'

Olivier stared at Laurent but he said nothing. Laurent suddenly felt a little afraid of the police official. But Olivier believed Laurent's story.

'Oh, poor Camille!' Old Michaud cried. 'What a terrible accident! How will Madame Raquin live without her son? She loved Camille so much!

'You came to us,' the old man went on. 'That was the right thing to do. We are Madame's friends. We'll go with you at once.'

They went together to the Passage du Pont-Neuf. When they arrived at the arcade, Old Michaud stopped Laurent.

'Wait here,' the old man said. 'If Madame Raquin sees you without Camille and Therese, she'll know that something terrible has happened. Wait here for us.'

Laurent waited for half an hour. He walked up and down the damp, narrow street outside the drapers shop. Suddenly, he felt very hungry. He went into a bakers shop, bought some cakes and ate them quickly.

In the little drapers shop, Madame Raquin listened to Old Michaud tell the story of her son's death. She screamed and wept. The mother thought only of her poor son who had drowned in the fast-moving water of the River Seine. She had saved his life so many times when he had been a child. And now he had died without her. He had drowned in cold dirty water. As she thought about it, Madame Raquin wanted to die too.

Old Michaud and Olivier left Suzanne with the old woman and went to find Laurent. Then the three men took a cab back to Saint-Ouen. The journey was terrible for all of them and no one spoke.

In the cafe by the river bank, Therese could not get out of bed. Her body was shaking and her skin was burning hot. She had a fever. Therese was terrified that she might confess to the murder. So she had made herself ill. Her mouth and eyes were tightly shut and her body was curled in the bed like a baby.

In her mind, Therese could see her lover, Laurent. She could see him murdering her husband, Camille. It was like a terrible dream. She saw the murder happening again and again. She thought that she could see Camille rising up out of the dirty water and coming towards her.

Old Michaud tried to talk to Therese, but she turned her face away and began to weep again.

'Let her sleep, sir,' the cafe owner said. 'She needs to rest.'

In the cafe, a police officer was asking questions about the accident. When Olivier told the officer that he was an important police official, no one asked any more questions.

Several people said that they had seen the accident happen. But they were only repeating Laurent's lies. Everyone believed Laurent's story. He was not going to be accused of any crime. He had nothing to fear now, and he knew this.

'We can't leave poor Therese here,' Laurent said to the Michauds. 'We must take her back to Paris with us.'

Laurent went upstairs to talk to Therese. He repeated her name several times. When Therese heard her lover's voice, she gave a cry and opened her eyes. She looked terribly ill, but she sat up and looked at Laurent.

The cafe-owner's wife helped Therese to get dressed.

Then Therese walked slowly downstairs and Olivier helped her into the cab.

On the way home, no one spoke. It was dark inside the cab and Laurent held Therese's hand tightly. Therese was very frightened and she sat very still. But she did not take her hand away. When the cab stopped, Laurent whispered to Therese.

'Be strong, Therese,' he said. 'Remember. We have a long time to wait.'

'Oh, I'll remember,' she replied quietly.

Laurent went with her to the shop and left her there with Olivier. Madame Raquin was in her bedroom where Suzanne had been looking after her. Suzanne came down the stairs and took Therese up to her own bedroom. The young widow fell onto her bed and lay still.

It was now after midnight. Laurent walked back through the empty streets to the house where he lived. Everything had gone well and he felt pleased with himself. Camille was dead and no one thought that he had been murdered.

'Everything is perfect,' Laurent said to himself. 'I've killed Camille but no one knows that I'm his murderer. Now I must wait for a few months and live alone. Then I can marry Therese and we can begin our new life together.'

Laurent felt very tired as he walked up the stairs. When he reached his little attic room, he lay down on his bed and fell asleep at once. The murderer slept well that night.

Chapter seven

The Morgue

The next day, Laurent woke up feeling very cheerful. Only one thing was troubling him. The place on his neck where Camille's teeth had broken the skin was sore. The bite-mark was red and it was very painful. Laurent washed off the blood and turned up the collar of his shirt to hide the mark. Then he put on his suit and necktie and went to his office as usual. He told everyone in the railway office about Camille's death and how it had happened. The story was reported in all the Paris newspapers. Laurent was a hero.

Laurent was only worried about one thing. Camille's body had not been found and so a death certificate could not be signed. If the body of a dead person was found, it was taken to the Paris Morgue. The corpse was kept in this cold, damp building for several days. People went to the morgue to see if the dead body of a friend or relation had been found in a street or the River Seine. The morgue was a horrible place, but Laurent now went there every day. He was sure that Camille's body would soon be found in the river.

The dead bodies lay on huge blocks of stone, with cold water running over them. There was a wall of glass between the corpses and the people who came to look at them.

Every day, Laurent moved slowly along the glass wall. He looked carefully at all the bodies of the people who had been found in the river, but he could not see Camille.

Laurent began to have bad dreams because of his visits to the morgue. He went there every day for more than a week, and every night he had bad dreams. Then, on the tenth day, he saw Camille's body there. It was lying on one of the cold, wet blocks of stone.

When he saw Camille's body, a terrible pain went through Laurent's heart. The drowned man's eyes were open and he seemed to be looking at his murderer.

For more than five minutes, Laurent stared at his dead friend. Camille had been in the water for some time and his corpse was a horrible sight. His face was still smooth, but his skin was brown and green. Camille's body had many terrible green and black wounds on it. His head was twisted to one side and his black lips seemed to be smiling.

Laurent turned away and left the morgue quickly. He felt sick.

'I made Camille like this,' Laurent said to himself. 'I've never seen a more horrible sight. I thank God that I won't have to see his corpse again!'

Laurent went to Old Michaud, and told the retired Police Commissioner what he had seen. No one thought that Camille had been murdered. They did not believe that a crime had been committed. They believed that Camille had died in a terrible accident. So the officials at the Paris Morgue wrote and signed a death certificate and Camille's body was buried.

Laurent thought that he could stop worrying. Now he could forget about the murder! He decided to enjoy himself. He began to look forward to the future.

After the death of Camille, the drapers shop in the Passage du Pont-Neuf was closed for three days. Madame Raquin and Therese stayed in their beds for two days. They did not speak and they did not see each other. Suzanne Michaud looked after the two women. But she could do very little to help them.

Camille's death had been terrible for Madame Raquin. For twenty-four years, she had looked after her sickly son. Because of her care, Camille had not died when he was a child. Then, in a few minutes, the young man had been taken away from his mother. Sometimes the old woman sat up in her bed and stared at the walls of her room. She did not speak and her face looked like a pale corpse. At other times, she screamed and wept. Sometimes she called out Camille's name as she slept.

Therese lay in her bed, stiff and silent. Her face was always turned towards the wall and she pulled the bedclothes over her eyes. She did not speak and she did not weep. On the third day, Therese suddenly sat up in her bed. After a few seconds, she threw off the bedclothes and got out of the bed.

At first her legs were weak and she could not stand. Then she slowly walked towards a mirror which was on the wall and looked at her face. Her pale skin was blotchy and she looked much older.

Therese pulled her hair away from her face and tied it behind her head. Then she dressed quickly and went to Madame Raquin's bedroom. The old woman turned her head and looked at her niece. Then she held out her arms to Therese and kissed her.

'My poor child! My poor Camille!' she said.

Madame Raquin began to weep loudly. Therese knelt on the floor and hid her face in her aunt's bedclothes. She stayed completely still for a few minutes. Therese had been very afraid of her first meeting with the old woman, but all seemed to be going well. She stood up and spoke to Madame Raquin for the first time.

'My dear aunt, you must try to get up,' Therese said in a quiet voice. 'Everyone is very worried about you. You'll feel better if you go into the shop again.' At this moment, Suzanne Michaud came into the bedroom.

'Suzanne and I are here to help you,' said Therese. 'You have your other friends too. Let me get you something to eat now.'

Madame Raquin stared at Therese and then she began weeping again. When she spoke, the old woman sounded like a child.

'Thank you, thank you,' she said to Suzanne. 'Thank you for looking after me. And you, my dear Therese! You're unhappy too. I've lost my son, but you've lost your husband! We must always stay together now. We must always help each other.'

That evening, Madame Raquin got out of bed. Her legs felt very weak. She had to use a stick to help her to walk.

The next day, she told Therese to open the shop.

'I'll go mad if I stay in bed another day,' Madame Raquin said in a weak voice. 'We'll sit together in the shop again, my dear Therese. We must try to live.'

When the shop opened again, it seemed darker and damper than before. The windows were dirty and all the goods looked dirty too.

Every morning, Madame Raquin walked slowly down the spiral staircase. Then Therese helped the old woman to her seat behind the counter. Madame Raquin and Therese sat there all day. They did not move. People walked past the shop and saw Therese's calm, pale face as she sat at the counter. Everyone felt sorry for the young widow and her old aunt, Madame Raquin.

Every two or three days, Laurent visited the drapers shop in the Passage du Pont-Neuf. He came in the evenings and sat in the shop with Madame Raquin for half an hour. The old lady welcomed him. Laurent had been brave at the river. He had tried to help her son and he had saved her niece. During his visits, Laurent did not look at Therese or speak to her.

Laurent was in the shop at eight o'clock one Thursday evening when the Thursday visitors arrived. They had not met together since Camille's death.

Madame Raquin was surprised to see her friends, but she lit the lamp in the sitting-room and began to make tea. Everyone sat round the table. But when Grivet took the dominoes out of their box, the old lady began to cry.

'My dear lady, you mustn't cry,' Old Michaud said. 'You'll become ill and you'll upset your friends too.'

But Madame Raquin shook her head and went on weeping.

Old Michaud spoke again.

'Madame,' he said. 'We've come here to help you. We want to help you to forget this terrible time. Let's play a game of dominoes!'

Madame Raquin decided that the old man was right. She continued crying, but she began to play dominoes with her friends.

Laurent and Therese watched and listened but they said nothing. Laurent wanted everything to continue as it had before Camille's death. He wanted to meet the same friends at the shop. He wanted to play dominoes with them on Thursday evenings. It made him feel safe. When other people were in the room, he was able to look at Therese again.

Therese was dressed in black clothes. The young widow looked very beautiful. Sometimes she looked calmly into Laurent's eyes. Laurent was happy. Therese still belonged to him.

Fifteen months passed. As the days went by, Laurent and Therese began to feel safe. Soon, Laurent was coming to the shop every evening after he finished work. But some things had changed. Laurent now arrived at about half past nine - after dinner. He stayed until Madame Raquin locked the shop. On Thursday evenings, Laurent went to the sitting- room before Madame Raquin's other guests arrived and he lit the fire in the stove. He looked after the old woman and did little things to help her.

Therese watched Laurent carefully. The young woman was more cheerful now. But sometimes her pale face had an expression of pain and terror.

Madame Raquin was not thinking clearly. The lovers could have done what they liked and she would not have known. But the lovers never tried to be alone together and they never kissed. The murder of Camille had killed their desire for each other. They no longer wanted to make love. When they were together, they did not know what to do or say.

Therese and Laurent tried to understand their feelings but they could not talk about them. The lovers thought that they were being careful and that their desire for each other would return. And now that Camille was dead, Laurent and Therese could get married. They believed that when they were married, they would have peace.

At night, alone in her bed, Therese was happy. Weak, stupid Camille was no longer there to make her angry. Therese felt like a little girl again. She felt safe in the big bedroom. Sometimes she opened the window and stared at the high black wall and the narrow strip of sky above it. Sometimes she had bad dreams. Only at these times did she think of Laurent. Therese did not desire her lover. She only wanted Laurent in her bed to keep her safe. She wanted Laurent because she did not want to be lonely. And she did not want anyone to think that she had killed Camille.

During the day, Therese was much happier. She became interested in the people around her and she talked more.

One day, Therese noticed a young man who lived near the Passage du Pont-Neuf. He was completely different from Laurent in every way. The young man was tall and slim, with fair hair and blue eyes. For a week, Therese was in love with this young man. But she never spoke to him and when he went away, she forgot about him.

Therese began to read books. She read romances and she fell in love with the heroes of these love stories. She began to think about other people and how they felt. But Therese could not understand her own feelings. She became nervous and worried about everything.

Laurent's feelings changed too.

'Did I really kill a man?' he said to himself. 'What a fool I was! I must have been drunk or mad. I committed a terrible crime. I did it for a woman and now I don't care about her at all!

'Well, I was clever, and I was lucky too. No one thought that I killed Camille Raquin. But I will never do anything like that again.'

Laurent became fat and lazy and he had no desire to make love with Therese. He wanted to get married because it would make his life more comfortable. When he came to live in the Passage du Pont-Neuf, he would have a bigger home, more money and good meals every day.

Then one day, Laurent met his old friend who was an artist and he began to spend a lot of time in the artist's studio.

When Laurent went to the studio, he saw that his friend was painting a picture of a pretty young woman. Laurent liked the artist's model, so he took her home with him. The girl became his lover and stayed with him.

Laurent did not love the model, but that did not worry him. He enjoyed making love with her and that pleased him. He never told Therese about the girl.

Then things changed again.

Therese no longer wore black clothes. She began to wear pretty, brightly-coloured dresses again.

One evening, Laurent noticed that Therese was looking younger and more beautiful. He also noticed that she laughed a lot and seemed very nervous. Sometimes she was very happy and sometimes she was very sad. Laurent did not like to see Therese behave in this way. He did not trust her and he began to feel afraid.

Laurent began to think about marriage again. Sometimes he thought that he would not marry Therese. He thought that he would stay away from her and live with the pretty young model.

'But if I don't marry Therese,' Laurent thought, 'then I killed her husband for nothing! I'm a fool if I don't marry Therese now. She might go to the police and tell them everything. I can't let her do that.'

Then the model left Laurent. She moved out of his room and once again, Laurent was alone at night. After a week, Laurent went back to the drapers shop in the Passage du Pont-Neuf. He spent more time there and his desire for Therese returned. She looked at him with desire too. All their feelings for each other were strong again.

One evening, Laurent spoke to Therese as he was leaving the shop.

'I want you,' he said. 'I want to make love to you. Shall I come to your room tonight?'

Therese looked terrified. 'No, let's wait,' she said. 'We must be careful.'

'I've waited long enough,' Laurent replied. 'I want you,' he said again.

Therese stared at him. Her dark eyes shone brightly in her pale face. Then her cheeks became red.

'As soon as we are married, I'll be yours for ever,' she replied.

Chapter eight

The Return of Camille

Laurent felt very worried as he left the little shop in the arcade. His desire for Therese had returned, but he was also very afraid of returning to his attic room. And for the first time, he was afraid of being alone. He went into a wine-shop and drank several glasses of wine. He was angry with Therese.

'I wouldn't be afraid if I'd stayed with her,' he thought. He turned towards a waiter. 'Bring me another glass of wine!' he shouted.

Laurent stayed in the wine-shop for many hours. Then he bought some matches and walked home to his attic.

He had left a candle on a table on the first floor of the building. He had to go along a dark corridor, and up the stairs to the first floor to find his candle. He was terrified of the dark corridor. He believed that someone was waiting to kill him there.

Laurent struck a match and the flame gave a weak yellow light. Suddenly, the corridor became full of dark shadows. Laurent walked quickly up the stairs to the first floor and found his candle. He lit it and walked slowly up to the sixth floor, holding the candle in front of him.

When he reached his attic room, Laurent shut the door behind him. Then he closed the skylight and looked under the bed. The shadows in the room looked like people who were waiting to kill him. At last, he lay on the bed and began to think about Therese. He had to make a decision. Should he marry Therese, or not? He wanted to sleep, but his thoughts and fears kept him awake.

As he thought about Therese, Laurent's desire for her returned. He dreamt that he went back to the drapers shop in the Passage du Pont-Neuf. In his dream, he ran along the dark streets and into the arcade. He went through the alley and up the stairs to Therese's bedroom. Therese opened the bedroom door and stood there, waiting for him.

Laurent could see everything so clearly in his dream, that he sat up in his bed and cried out. 'I must go!' he shouted. 'Therese is waiting for me!'

He jumped out of his bed. The floor under his feet was very cold. Suddenly, Laurent felt afraid again. He was too frightened to leave his little room in the middle of the night. So he got back into the bed and pulled the bedclothes over his head. This quick movement made the bite-mark on his neck burn with pain. He touched the sore place and it reminded him of Camille. Laurent began to shake with fear. Perhaps Camille was in the room now! Perhaps he was under the bed!

Laurent sat up and lit the candle. Long, dark shadows moved on the walls.

'What a fool I am,' he said to himself. 'I shouldn't have stayed so long in the wine-shop. I drank too much wine. That's why I have been dreaming. I'll drink some water and try to sleep again.'

So Laurent drank some water, blew out the candle-flame, and lay down on the bed again. He felt calm now and he was sure that he would sleep. His body felt heavy and tired, but his mind was still busy.

Once more, he dreamt that he was on his way to the arcade in the Passage du Pont-Neuf. He ran along the little alley beside the shop and up the stairs. He knocked on the door and it opened immediately. But, oh, horror! It was Camille who opened the door! The corpse of his dead friend stood in the bedroom. Its skin was green and brown and covered in terrible wounds. Camille's body looked the same as when Laurent had seen it in the morgue!

The dead Camille held out his arms to his murderer and a laugh came from his twisted mouth. Laurent could see the dead man's black tongue behind his white teeth. Laurent woke up with a loud cry of fear. His bedclothes were damp from the cold sweat which covered his body.

'I must sleep,' Laurent said to himself. 'It will be morning soon.'

But every time that Laurent fell asleep, he had the same terrible dream. Again and again, the young man woke up and found cold sweat covering his skin.

At last he decided to get out of bed and get dressed. It was sunrise. Light was coming through the square skylight above the bed.

'I can't sleep because of Therese,' he said to himself. 'If she had let me stay with her, I wouldn't have had this terrible dream.'

After he had washed his face and got dressed, Laurent felt a little better.

'I'm not a coward,' he thought. 'I was strong and brave when I killed Camille. I wasn't afraid of him when he was alive. I'm not afraid of him now that he's dead. When Therese and I are married, I'll hold her in my arms and forget all about Camille.'

Laurent stood in front of a mirror and looked at the bite-mark on his neck. Camille's teeth had made the mark more than a year ago. But the sore place was still red and it felt very painful. Laurent turned up his shirt collar to hide the mark.

'I'll ask Therese to kiss my neck,' he said. 'Then the mark will disappear.'

Laurent felt very tired in the office all that day. He fell asleep many times.

'Poor Therese is very tired,' Madame Raquin told Laurent that evening. 'She did not sleep well last night. She had bad dreams and cried out while she was sleeping. When the poor girl woke up this morning, she felt ill.'

While Madame Raquin was talking, Therese came into the sitting-room. She looked at Laurent and he looked at her.

The ghost of Camille had visited Therese too. Her desire for Laurent had returned. But in her dreams, she had seen the terrible corpse of her husband.

Laurent and Therese had drowned Camille. His dead body would hold the lovers together for ever. They would never be able to escape from his ghost. They had to marry as soon as possible. Only then would the ghost of Camille leave them in peace.

The months passed. The lovers made a plan. They would not talk about marriage themselves. Laurent would continue to come to the Raquins' shop each evening. He would be kind and polite to Therese and her aunt. He would help them as much as possible. Soon Madame Raquin would believe that Therese should marry her husband's friend, Laurent. If the old woman suggested the marriage, there would be no problem.

As soon as Laurent and Therese were married, the ghost of Camille would leave them alone. That is what they believed. But they did not want to marry immediately. If they did, their friends might think about the relationship between Laurent and Therese. And then their friends might ask questions about Camille's death.

Every night, the lovers slept in their own beds. Every night, Camille's ghost came and they were unable to sleep.

Therese kept a lighted candle in her room. But the pale yellow flame did not stop the shadow of Camille's corpse from visiting her.

Laurent was afraid to go home and he sometimes walked through the streets all night. Whenever he slept, he dreamt that he was holding Therese in his arms. But then his dream changed and he saw that he was holding Camille's corpse.

Laurent and Therese became more terrified every day. But their desire for each other was like a burning fever.

Therese wanted to marry Laurent because she was afraid. And she needed Laurent and his kisses. Laurent wanted to marry Therese because he wanted an easy, comfortable life. He wanted to eat, drink, sleep and make love to Therese whenever he wished.

He also wanted money. He had not seen his father for years. He would never get any money from him. But Madame Raquin had about forty thousand francs. If he married her niece, Laurent would not have to work. For all these reasons, he had murdered Camille.

After several months, the lovers' plan began to work. Therese behaved like a sad, young widow. She moved slowly and she took no interest in anything. She said very little and she often wept.

'Perhaps Therese is ill. Perhaps she's dying!' Madame Raquin thought. She became very worried. The old woman had no other relatives. Madame Raquin feared that she would be alone if Therese died.

One Thursday evening, Madame Raquin told Old Michaud her fears.

'My dear friend, don't you know why Therese is behaving like this?' he said, laughing. 'Your niece is unhappy because she has been alone every night for nearly two years. She needs a husband!'

Madame Raquin could not believe these words. Did Therese want another husband now that her dear Camille had died?

'Make her marry as soon as possible,' Old Michaud said. 'Please believe me. I know that I'm right.'

Michaud's words made Madame Raquin cry. She cried for her dead son and she cried for herself. She could not believe that people were forgetting Camille already.

But Therese's unhappiness was making the old woman unhappy. Madame Raquin liked people to be cheerful and friendly. She wanted her niece to be happy again. But she did not want a stranger in her family.

Laurent came to the shop nearly every day. He helped Madame Raquin as much as possible. Then he would sit for many hours and talk to her in a soft, kind voice.

Laurent also told the old woman that he was worried about Therese.

'Dear Therese is very ill,' he said sadly. 'I'm afraid that we will lose her soon. What will happen to us then? Poor Therese loved Camille very much. We all loved him! Your niece has been slowly dying for the past two years. Therese is getting weaker every day.'

Laurent almost believed his own words. Madame Raquin began to cry. At last, the poor mother began to think of Laurent as her son and she soon loved him as her own child.

On the next Thursday evening, Old Michaud noticed Laurent talking kindly to Therese. Michaud whispered to his old friend.

'Look, my dear Madame,' he said. 'Here is the husband that your niece should marry. Laurent should be Therese's husband. You must tell them this. We'll help you!'

Therese marry Laurent? Madame Raquin had never thought of this. But she understood immediately. It was a good idea! The three of them would be a perfect family.

All through the evening, Madame Raquin smiled at Laurent and her niece. The murderers knew that their plan was working well.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 690