“Grand-mama, how did you and Grand-papa meet?” asked Milka,
dreamily.
“Have you not heard that story, ma petite?” asked her grandmother,
in mild surprise.
The children all shook their heads.
“Tell us, tell us!”
“Hercule? I think
they are all old enough now, n’est-ce pas?
Your grandpere, he will tell it better,” she smiled. Six pairs of bright eyes turned to Monsieur
Chocolat. He cleared his throat, and put
his coffee cup down.
“Well, it was long ago,” he began, “when I lived in
Belgium.”
“Was that when you were a policeman, Grand-papa?” asked
Cadbury, interested.
“Oui, so it was. I
worked for the Belgian Police Federale, in La Division des Lapins.”
“What does ‘lapins’ mean?” asked Marzipan.
“It means ‘rabbits’,” said Freya, “Shhh.” Marzipan poked her tongue out at Freya, but
subsided to listen quietly.
“It happened that at that time, there was a famous jewel
thief at large in the great city of Brussels,” Hercule continued. “It was not widely known, but evidence had
been found that suggested this thief was a small animal, and most probably a
rabbit. The case was therefore given to
our Division, and we were hard at work upon it.
Now one day, I was sitting at my desk, and in came the most beautiful
young rabbit I had ever seen.” Here, Honey
noticed her grandfather glance at her grandmother, who gave a little smile.
“This young lady was distraught, as she had had stolen from
her a most beautiful necklace, which was not only very valuable, but was also a
most important family heirloom. The
details of the case you will not find very interesting, but suffice to say that
I was quite sure that this was the work of the Shadowy Paw, as we were calling
him. Naturally, I assured this lovely
creature that I would do all I could to bring the thief to justice and make him
pay for what he had done.
‘Oh monsieur,’ she said, ‘I cannot even think of that. All I want is for my family’s precious
necklace to be returned.’ Well, it was
all the same – to find the necklace, I must track down the culprit!
Now a few nights later, there was to be a ball, and all the
rich and fashionable society of the city would be in attendance. This, I knew, would be my chance! Surely the Shadowy Paw would be at this ball,
and would strike again! I laid my plans,
and on the night of the ball, myself and several of my colleagues attended in
disguise.”
“As I recall, you looked quite dashing in that tuxedo,”
Madame Chocolat interjected. The little
rabbits giggled.
“Go on, Grand-papa,” urged Cadbury. “Was the thief there? Did you catch him?”
“I had been keeping my eye upon a particular society lady
there that night – a Countess, in fact – who was wearing a tiara of simply
outrageous value.
I felt that on no
account could the Shadowy Paw possibly resist it. Sure enough, late in the evening, the lights went
suddenly out! There was great
confusion; everyone jostling about and
exclaiming in the dark. There was a scream! Then, just as suddenly, the lights came back
on again – but alas, the scream had come from the Countess, as her tiara had
been snatched from her head!”
“But who took it?!” breathed Milka. The children’s eyes were like saucers.
“I acted quickly,” Monsieur Chocolat continued. “I noticed a door ajar that had previously
been closed, and ran straight for it. I
could hear light paws pattering ahead – the thief was fast, but I felt sure I
could catch him.”
He noticed Duke
looking slightly sceptical, and pointed out, “I was a little fitter in those
days.” His wife gave a quiet
chuckle. He pretended not to notice, and
continued with the tale.
“The thief finally
left the building through a window, but I leaped out also, and collided with
him, almost knocking him to the ground!”
“Hooray!” the children cried. “Did he have the necklace?”
Monsieur Chocolat hesitated.
“Yes,” he replied slowly, “I got the necklace back - and the Countess' tiara, of course. But I had noticed something rather
unexpected. The rabbit I had collided
with, and who had certainly stolen the tiara, was not a ‘he’ at all – in fact,
it was a ‘she’. Dressed in black from
head to toe, this young rabbit took one look at me and dissolved into tearful
speech. The tale she told was a sorry
one. How, an orphaned rabbit of good
birth but no family, she had fallen in with the wrong sort of creatures, and
into bad habits. How a pretty smile and
a certain natural talent for thievery had been encouraged, and honed to a skill
unparalleled. How she longed to escape
from this dishonest life, to live among decent, quiet creatures, and to become
one of them herself.”
“Did you believe her?” asked Honey, bluntly.
“She was very persuasive,”
her grandfather replied. “I
agreed to give her a chance. She was
thankful for this, and a little shaken.
She did not expect it, I think.
But I made two conditions: that
she was to turn everything she had stolen over to me, so that it might all be
returned to its previous owners. And
that if she ever stole anything again, I would alert the authorities to all her
previous crimes.”
“You mean you let her get away?” Cadbury was incredulous. The other children stared, too.
“But you promised Gran – I mean, the beautiful lady – that
you would bring the thief to justice!” cried Honey. “Grand-mama, what did you think of this?”
“I thought he was very kind,” Madame Chocolat said
quietly.
“I know what you are thinking, children,” said Monsieur
Chocolat. “I am not sure, even now, that
it was the right thing to do. I simply
felt that there was something about this young rabbit – that she deserved a
second chance. And I have no
regrets. But the very next day, I
resigned my post with the Belgian Police force.
I felt that I could not ask them to trust my judgement in the future,
when I myself found this decision so questionable.” There was a silence, broken finally by Marzipan’s
voice.
“Did she give all the jewels back, Grand-papa?” she asked,
timidly.
“She did,” he answered with a smile. “And since then, she has done much charity
work, and raised a wonderful family.”
“None of which, of course, excuses the dreadful behaviour of
her youth,” his wife pointed out sternly.
“She was extremely lucky not to spend many years in prison. It is perhaps what she deserved. And your grand-pere would have gained much
prestige in his career for tracking her down.”
Then she relented, looking fondly at her husband. “But I for one, am thankful that he acted as
he did. He showed a great kindness and
selflessness that day.”
“Well, at least you got your necklace back, I suppose,” said
Honey.
“The necklace? Oh, ma
petite, the lady with the necklace – that was not me!” Madame Chocolat
exclaimed.
“What? But I thought
– “
“I still can’t believe you didn’t capture the thief,
Grand-papa,” said Freya, perplexed.
“Ah, but ma chere, who says that I did not?” replied her
grandfather, his eyes twinkling. He took
his wife’s paw, and they exchanged a loving smile.
Freya stared at them for a moment, and then started to
laugh.
