LITMIR.BIZ

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few days earlier in a French bookshop in Kensington into my bag, alongside six volumes of his complete works published by Honoré Champion. ‘There are too many different versions of the discovery of his body in Rue de la Vieille-Lanterne. And the number of medical checks carried out in the morgue afterwards seems very high for a simple case of suicide by hanging.’

      ‘You told me yourself that his friends were famous writers. It’s hardly surprising that they discussed the circumstances of his death, with each one having his own theory. And even if Nerval didn’t commit suicide, it just means that he was killed for a few pennies by a local villain. Does it really make any difference? Do you think you’ll find one of the murderer’s family and force a confession out of him?’

      ‘I don’t claim to be rewriting history. I just want to find answers to some questions that fascinate me. Now, James, are you going to tell me if you’re coming or not?’

      ‘It’s just such a waste of time,’ my partner replied, yawning so widely that I thought he’d break his jaw. ‘My programme’s all mapped out: swimming, cricket and the pictures. It’s so nice not having anything to do! Afterwards, well, I’ll keep my strength up with that wonderful calf’s sweetbread they serve at McInnes’s, washed down with a pint, and then I’ll go and forget my sorrows in the arms of a pretty girl. In a week or so, if you still want to fritter your time away on the other side of the Channel and if no damsel has decided to cross the threshold of this flat to ask for my assistance, then maybe I’ll join you.’

      ‘Bah! You’ll show up within a week – I’m willing to bet on it!’

      ‘Very well, I bet you a case of Vouvray. But I beg you, Andrew: if an interesting case does turn up, don’t let it slip through your fingers because you had your head buried in a book. You will let me know, won’t you?’

      ‘I promise,’ I replied, putting on my jacket. ‘But let’s make it two cases of wine. I’ll wire you the address of my hotel as soon as I get there.’

      We embraced, laughing like children, and I left the home of Miss Sigwarth, our wonderful landlady. We had been renting rooms on the first floor for two years and, although our means had improved substantially, allowing us to take a more spacious flat, we were reluctant to leave the old lady.

      Seeing no taxis in Montague Street, I walked to the rank in Great Russell Street, a hundred yards away, where I found a cab which dropped me outside Victoria station in no time.

      At the Southern Railway ticket studyI paid the twenty-pound fare for the journey (a tidy sum but it’s not every day that you travel on one of the world’s most luxurious trains) and on the stroke of eleven, in keeping with its reputation for punctuality, the Golden Arrow moved off.

      At half past twelve I was in Dover. Ah, the miracle of human ingenuity! Had I had the choice, I would willingly have swapped my easy existence in this crowded century for the life of a young knight in the time of the houses of York and Lancaster, or that of a trapper on the prairies of the Wild West, or an explorer in the South Seas, or a romantic young blade under the July monarchy in France. Nonetheless, I admit that travelling from the hustle and bustle of Soho to the excitement of the Latin Quarter in just a few hours was a privilege for which I was grateful to the modern world.

      This was not the first time I had made the journey from London to Paris since James and I had set ourselves up in the English capital. Thanks to the success of our first cases, our reputation had spread to the Continent and on three occasions we had helped the Paris police: firstly, to solve the case of the Phantom Violin at the end of August 1932; then during the unlikely affair of the Curse of the Fresnoys, as the press referred to it in their excessive coverage, which had the public on tenterhooks for many weeks; and finally, in the case of the Cut-throat with the Broken Watch, which lingered in the memories of all at the Eclipse studios in Billancourt. But on those trips I had never had time to stroll through the streets of Paris, the city I had dreamt about for as long as I can remember.

      I was sixteen when I first read Gérard de Nerval and, as a sensitive and tormented young man, I had immediately recognised the writer as a kindred spirit. It was while I was at boarding school in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (the province where I was born), during a French lesson. I was reading his poems ‘El Desdichado’ and ‘Fantaisie’. Accompanying them was a short biography which briefly recounted the time the author had spent in a mental asylum and, above all, his tragic end. On the night of 25 January 1855, Nerval, then aged forty-six, had hanged himself from a grating in Rue de la Vieille-Lanterne in one of the most sordid areas of the city. Some had suspected foul play but that theory had quickly been discounted. The police investigation concluded that it was suicide.

      Since my time at boarding school, I had often returned to Nerval’s work, always with the same fervour. I’d found out about his life and read most of the articles written about him, although, after leaving my father’s house, these had proved very difficult to get hold of in America and England. I’d always promised myself that one day I would investigate the mystery surrounding his death. Had he hanged himself one night in despair or had it been a cowardly murder?

      At quarter to one I boarded the Canterbury, an imposing steamer chartered by the Southern Railway and the Compagnie du Nord, enabling passengers to cross the Channel in record time. In less than five hours, after being whisked to my destination on board the Flèche d’Or, the Golden Arrow’s French alter ego, I would be walking upon the cobblestones of the City of Light!

      In the meantime, I intended to make the most of the crossing.

      Stretched out on a deckchair, with my body facing east and my face caressed by spray and soft sunlight, I reread some pages from Sylvie. The English coastline had already disappeared over the horizon and the French coast, from Calais to several miles beyond the lighthouse at Cap Gris-Nez, was only just becoming visible. Suddenly, as I was about to nod off, I stared wide-eyed at a staggering vision. Fairly high above the horizon, to the right of the Boulogne coastline, and therefore directly above the glittering water of the Channel, was an immense dream-like landscape that went on for about a mile and created the illusion of a long valley in green and orange tones, covered in vines and densely wooded. I could see, scattered here and there on steep hillsides, the roofs and steeples of mythical towns peeping through the foliage of conifers and chestnut trees. Snaking through the middle of this panorama that had sprung from nowhere was a blue river as wide as the Thames, with what appeared to be paddle steamers plying its fast-flowing waters. Near the banks, solemn rocky peaks were shrouded in mist and, at the top, I could see the shadowy forms of medieval castles or small ruined forts. One of the castles in particular, which overlooked the river opposite a small island, commanded my attention: it was an eyrie composed of a tall square tower and another lower one with a pointed roof.

      What was this vision? Had I fallen into a rapturous sleep without realising it? Or was I fully aware of what was going on around me and witnessing one of those incredible mirages which are sometimes depicted in tales of expeditions to distant lands?

      ‘Fata Morgana!’ said a soft female voice nearby.

      ‘Fata Morgana!’ I repeated, astounded. I turned to the person who had spoken.

      In the deckchair to my right (which I could have sworn had been empty a few moments before) was a young woman with a grace as miraculous as the vision I had just witnessed. She was about twenty and impeccably dressed in a long white silk tunic. Barefoot, with a mane of soft blond hair falling over her shoulders, she continued to study the distant phenomenon. I, for my part, had almost forgotten its existence, so difficult was it for me to turn away from a profile worthy of the statues of Antiquity.

      ‘Do you believe in mirages?’ she asked, leaning towards me, her expression candid, her dark eyes sparkling like two uncut gems.

      ‘Well …’

      Deep down, I had the indefinable impression that I was experiencing something unique, almost supernatural. The fantastic spectacle in the sky, this mysterious stranger next to me, the intoxicating heat running through my veins, the distant buzzing in my ears …

      ‘Well, we’re

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