Cheri-Bibi: The Stage Play Page 13

  LA FICELLE: Then, we can breathe a bit easier. After the experience of last night, I doubt that Le Kanak will try again soon.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: But I will not endure his perpetual threat. I promised the dying Countess to avenge her, and I will! It would seem that our adventures aren’t quite over yet. Since I’ve taken on the identity of the Marquis du Touchais, I’ve neglected Chéri-Bibi. I must now try to rehabilitate his memory, for the real murderer of Monsieur Bourrelier and the late Marquis–the man in the gray hat whom I saw–is still at large.

  LA FICELLE: We’ve faced so many terrible threats that I’m not happy to hear you talk about facing new ones. To rehabilitate Chéri-Bibi is a task beyond human strength. (a pause) What is your life’s dream? To be loved by Cécily. You’ve succeeded. What more do you wish?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: You can’t understand the joy I will feel the day I hear : “You know this Chéri-Bibi, the man they accused of so many crimes? Well, he was innocent!” Because, you know, my good La Ficelle, that I am not guilty. The only crime I committed was the murder of Baroness Proskoff, but I had no choice: it was either kill her or lose Cécily. I decided to keep the only woman I ever loved!

  LA FICELLE: Order, Chéri-Bibi, and I will obey, even if it proves fatal for both us. Such is my destiny.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Then, find Sister Mary of the Angels. Tell her that you know someone who is taking an interest in reopening Chéri-Bibi’s case because of the recent commotion about him. Add that this person has heard of Reine’s statements regarding Chéri-Bibi’s innocence, and that they feel that the moment has come for her to tell the truth, and unmask the real murderer. The Dowager Marquise’s agony must be very painful for Reine and it might help convince her to talk.

  (The servant returns.)

  SERVANT: Inspector Costaud asks if you can receive him now, Monsieur le Marquis.

  (The servant leaves.)

  CHÉRI-BIBI He’s never arrived in so timely a manner. Quick! Go find Sister Mary, and take her to the Chateau so she can obtain Reine’s confession.

  LA FICELLE: Ah! Why do I feel that today is not going to be a peaceful day.

  (La Ficelle leaves as the servant returns with Costaud.)

  COSTAUD: Have you recovered from the emotions of last night, Marquis?

  CHÉRI-BIBI Completely, Inspector, but without you, I was a dead man. It was a close call!

  COSTAUD: I was busy this morning looking for Chéri-Bibi. All the trails end here or at the Chateau. I think that this bandit is scheming to take you or your wife hostage again. So my men will not leave you, and I’ve had all the entrances and exits watched.

  CHÉRI-BIBI I can only be grateful for your zeal, Inspector. Still, in order to not terrify my family, I would like your surveillance to be performed with the utmost discretion.

  COSTAUD: Of course, Marquis. You can count on us.

  CHÉRI-BIBI Tell me, Inspector. Are you still certain of Chéri-Bibi’s guilt in all the original crimes of which he was accused?

  COSTAUD: Certainly. When the police catch someone, it’s always the guilty party.

  CHÉRI-BIBI A terrifying logic. So much that I hesitate to share some personal thoughts with you.

  COSTAUD: Monsieur le Marquis must be joking! I am always delighted and flattered to hear your thoughts.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: When I was on the Bayard, I had numerous conversations with Chéri-Bibi, and he always protested his innocence of the murders of Monsieur Bourrelier and the old Marquis du Touchais, my father.

  COSTAUD: ...And recounted to you for the millionth time his fantastic story of a man with a grey hat. That’s all rubbish.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: It’s precisely on that very point, Inspector, that you and I are not in completely agreement. I inherited from my ancestors a stubborn streak and I got it into my head to find the man in the grey hat.

  COSTAUD: (laughing) It’s a distraction like any other.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: But I did find him.

  COSTAUD: (stupefied) What do you mean?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: My goodness! You’re no longer laughing, Inspector.

  COSTAUD: Should I take you seriously, Marquis?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: If I didn’t have the pleasure of your visit, Inspector, I would have sent for you, because, within an hour, I will deliver to you the real murderer of the Marquis du Touchais and Monsieur Bourrelier. I don’t know his name yet, but I can affirm that it is not Chéri-Bibi.

  (The servant returns.)

  SERVANT: Monsieur de Pont-Marie is here.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Ask him to wait for a minute and beg my wife to come right away.

  (The servant starts to go.)

  CHÉRI-BIBI: And let me known when Monsieur Hilaire has returned.

  (The servant leaves.)

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (to Costaud) Don’t go very. I’m going to keep my promise.

  COSTAUD: Marquis, you see me flabbergasted. Chéri-Bibi innocent? That really would take the cake!

  (Costaud leaves. Chéri-Bibi remains alone for a moment, then Cécily enters.)

  CÉCILY: You asked for me, darling?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: I wanted you to read a letter which I just received.

  CÉCILY: (taking the letter and reading it) “My dear Maxime, I behaved like a wretch, but I’ve been able to finally realize the enormity of my mistake and I am really repentant. I beg you to allow me to beg for Cécily’s forgiveness in person. I hope that, after what happened between us, we can still remain friends. De Pont-Marie.”

  CHÉRI-BIBI: He’s here and asks to see you in order to apologize to you in person. (after a pause) So be it!

  (To a servant after ringing a bell.)

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Show Monsieur de Pont-Marie in.

  (De Pont-Marie enters, introduced by the servant.)

  PONT-MARIE: (to Cécily) I realize how much my presence may revive some awful memories, Madame, but having decided to go away for a while, it was hard for me to leave without first asking for your pardon. And without being reconciled with Maxime.

  CÉCILY: Since we shall no longer see each other, I pardon you for whatever offense you may have given me.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (to de Pont-Marie) You’ve decided to go away and have no intention of ever returning?

  PONT-MARIE: Yes, and I’d like to talk to you about my plans.

  CÉCILY: May I go now, darling? I must return to your mother’s bedside.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Of course.

  PONT-MARIE: (bowing deferentially) Madame.

  (She leaves as the servant returns.)

  SERVANT: Monsieur Hilaire is back and urgently asks to speak with Monsieur le Marquis.

  (La Ficelle enters.)

  LA FICELLE: (to Chéri-Bibi) I’ve brought Reine back with me.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Sister Mary of the Angels convinced her to talk? Excellent! At last, we’ll know the truth. Take her to see Costaud; he will receive her confession. I must have a final word with de Pont-Marie.

  (La Ficelle leaves.)

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (to de Pont-Marie) I am listening.

  PONT-MARIE: I’ve decided to go into exile and make a new life for myself far from here, but I need money to do that and I haven’t got any. Give me a small stipend, say, a hundred thousand francs, very little for a man with your fortune, and you will never hear from me again.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: You’ve already tried to take my wife, and now you’re trying to take my money! You’re either mad or cynical beyond belief!

  PONT-MARIE: Let’s not be angry, my dear Maxime. Notice how politely I have asked you to give me money, money which I could rightfully demand. When you half-strangled me at the Abbey of Thélème, and I went without causing a scandal, it was because I thought it was in our mutual interest not to have a public fight. But here, alone, face to face, I can tell you that if you have forgotten the past, I haven’t.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: I know you are capable of all kinds of blackmail, but I am not afraid of you.

  PONT-MARIE: You don’t lack courage, I’ll say that for you! But stop posturing, Maxime, and listen to me. You h
ave to stand by me since we both have blood on our hands.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (startled) Blood!

  PONT-MARIE: Yes, blood! You know perfectly well what I’m talking about! What is this comedy? You won’t get away with trying to intimidate me. I need money, so you’ll give me some! And hurry up about it! Or you’ll find that you’ve made a far costlier mistake. Remember when you were up to your neck in debt, like me, and needed cash in a hurry? That night, you told me “Monsieur Bourrelier will be carrying a hefty sum of money on his way back from Dieppe.” It was at your behest that I attacked him on the cliff.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (recoiling, haggard) You’re the man with the grey hat!

  PONT-MARIE: And remember our rage when we discovered that the old man’s wallet contained only a trifle sum compared with what we expected. Then, you said to me, “There’s only one thing left for us to do: rob my father.”

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (wheezing) You’re lying.

  PONT-MARIE: Remember how your father surprised us in the middle of the burglary, and I thought that you were going to strangle each other. Remember how I forced him to let you go, just in time.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (rasping) You’re lying! You must be lying!

  PONT-MARIE: (unstoppable) At last, remember how your teeth were chattering as you hid me under the bed in your own room while we heard the commotion and saw the police arrest Chéri-Bibi, which, thanks to the Devil, saved our bacon! (pause) What’s the matter with you? You look pale as a sheet.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (gripped by a terrible emotion) Fatality! I took on the face of what I thought was a honest man only to discover that he is a murderer! (to de Pont-Marie) Shut up! Shut-up!

  PONT-MARIE: Have I ever spoken of it? Don’t I have, just as you do, a vested interest in keeping the whole matter under wraps? No one must ever suspect us. No one knows a thing.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: That’s where you’re mistaken! There is someone who knows! Someone who’s come to denounce you; someone I brought here myself, who is speaking to Inspector Costaud at this very moment, and is giving your description to the police who are surrounding this villa.

  (Suddenly, Costaud enters, followed by several policemen.)

  COSTAUD: Monsieur le Marquis, you promised to reveal to me the name of the true murderer of the Marquis du Touchais and Monsieur Bourrelier. At your behest, the companion of the Dowager Marquise has come to make a confession, one that is so astonishing that I ask myself if the Dowager Marquise’s death, which occurred just as the lady in question was leaving the chateau, did not disturb her sanity. Yet, this woman insists that she has irrefutable proof, which she will produce. So, I am now obliged to confront you with the lady...

  (He goes to the door, opens it. Reine enters.)

  COSTAUD: Madame, you have just made an accusation of such gravity that I fear that you may not have fully grasped its significance. Please remain calm. Here are Monsieur le Marquis du Touchais and Monsieur de Pont-Marie. Do you persist in accusing them of the murders of the old Marquis du Touchais and Monsieur Bourrelier?

  REINE: Yes. I told the truth. (to Chéri-Bibi) I remained silent until now so that your mother would live, because I knew the truth would kill her, and I had such veneration for her that I wanted to preserve the peace and honor of her old age. So I knowingly allowed an innocent man to be condemned in your place, which was evil. But the hour of expiation has come with the death of the Dowager Marquise, and I am now handing the true murderers over to justice.

  (Chéri-Bibi remains annihilated.)

  PONT-MARIE: (forcing himself to put on a brave show) Inspector, I hope you’re not going to give credence to the ravings of a senile old crone. Let her provide some evidence.

  REINE: Here it is! (pulling a wallet from her corsage) This wallet was Monsieur Bourrelier’s! The assassins stole it from him that very same day. I found it the following day under the bed of the young Marquis.

  PONT-MARIE: (uttering a muffled curse) Bourrelier’s billfold! We’re lost!

  COSTAUUD: What do have you to say on your behalf?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (choking) The proof Reine brought is sufficient. I will not oppose any resistance, but I beg you to fetch Doctor Walter immediately. I have revelations to make of the greatest importance, which I can only do in his presence.

  (Costaud signals to one of the gendarmes who leaves. Then he signals to two others.)

  COSTAUD: Take Monsieur de Pont-Marie away.

  PONT-MARIE: (as he passes Chéri-Bibi) Time to pay the piper, Maxime, old boy.

  (He leaves in the custody of the gendarmes.)

  COSTAUD: Out of respect for your title I won’t put the cuffs on you, but I’m keeping you under close watch.

  (La Ficelle enters and rushes to Chéri-Bibi.)

  LA FICELLE: What’s going on? What is it that they told me? Can it be true?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Yes, La Ficelle, I’m a murderer.

  LA FICELLE: You–the Marquis?

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Good La Ficelle! The brave companion of my adventures! There’s nothing left to do, except to finish the last act written for me by Fate. I sought to prove Chéri-Bibi innocent of the murder of the Marquis du Touchais, but you know who the assassin was? It’s I, the old Marquis’ own son! And now, I’m thinking of Cécily, whose heart I had finally gained! Fate is too unjust, La Ficelle, for I’m paying not only for the living, but for the dead But I do have one last act of vengeance to fulfill.

  (Le Kanak enters, preceded by a gendarme; seeing Chéri-Bibi, he looks worried.)

  COSTAUD: (to Le Kanak) Doctor, I sent for you because the Marquis du Touchais requested your presence when he makes his statement.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (to Costaud) You never believed in the death of Chéri-Bibi? You were right, Inspector. For I am Chéri-Bibi. Ask Doctor Walter.

  LE KANAK: This man is mad!

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Come on, “Doctor,” take off the mask. The moment has come for you, too, to pay for your crimes. You will recollect Inspector, that a doctor was once convicted for carving up human flesh? That doctor was Le Kanak, and Le Kanak is Doctor Walter.

  LE KANAK: That’s false!

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Taking advantage from the fortuitous presence of Maxime du Touchais aboard the Bayard, he grafted on me, Chéri-Bibi, the face of Marquis. The real Marquis died and was buried at sea under my name. The graft was so well done that, before you, stands Chéri-Bibi with the face of the Marquis du Touchais.

  LE KANAK: Prove it!

  CHÉRI-BIBI: (pulling a sealed envelope from his pocket and handing it to Costaud) Here’s the last will and testament of Le Kanak himself, known to you as Doctor Walter, written in his own hand.

  LE KANAK: Very well. Justice will have to determine if my discovery of skin grafting is a crime, and if a scientist can be compared to a murderer.

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Are you a scientist? What use did you make of your discovery? You sought to make a docile tool of me, turn me into a puppet whose strings you could wield at your pleasure. Since fate decrees that I fall, I am dragging you with me.

  COSTAUD: (to Le Kanak) In the name of the law, I arrest you.

  KANAK: I’ll follow you. (passing by Chéri-Bibi) You’ve just avenged the Countess.

  CÉCILY: (running in from the opposite door) Maxime!

  CHÉRI-BIBI: Don’t approach me, Madame. I am one of those accursed souls whom fate pursues like a bird of prey. Whatever I may be, whatever I may do, whatever I may attempt, whenever I undertake to free myself from its yoke, I still find myself entwined again in the strands of merciless fate, which always casts me back into the Hell for which I was born. Leave me alone. I must no longer exist for you. You were my only reason to live. Losing you, I will die, and rid the world of a monster whose soul is now trapped in a body that is not his. Goodbye, Cécily, Goodbye!

  (He leaves like a madman followed by Costaud and the gendarmes. Cécily has fallen into an armchair. La Ficelle weeps silently. Reine, her eyes haggard, remains still in a corner. Sister Mary of the Angels enters and heads slowly towards Cécily. She leads Petit Ber
nard by the hand.)

  SISTER MARY: Have courage, sister. Think of your son, and pray to God in whose heart resides pardon and mercy.

  REINE: I wanted to save Chéri-Bibi and I am the one who destroyed him.

  LA FICELLE: (in a burst of tears) Fatality!

  C U R T A I N

  Bibliography of Gaston Leroux

  (1868-1927)

  1. L’Homme de la Nuit [A Man in the Night] (novel) (Le Matin, Dec. 5, 1897-March 14, 1898; Fayard, 1911)

  2. Sur mon Chemin [On My Path] (collection of articles) (Flammarion, 1901)