ClassicNovels

Castles in the Air guide

Baroness Orczy, 1921 · Begin reading

Summary

Hector Ratichon recounts his police work and schemes to make money, assisted and frequently outwitted by his clerk Theodore, whom he rescued from poverty. Across a series of cases, Ratichon pursues fees, rewards, and profitable secrets while struggling with rivals, deception, his own mistakes, and Theodore’s demands.

After missing a chance to earn twenty thousand francs over a secret naval treaty, Ratichon sells M. Geoffroy information that leads to Charles Saurez’s arrest. He earns a thousand francs but gives Theodore fifty after the clerk threatens to involve the police. Ratichon next helps Estelle Bachelier recover identification papers from Mr. Farewell, who threatens to destroy them unless she marries him. Estelle is already married to Adrien Cazalès and needs the papers to establish her claim to her father’s money. The couple pays Ratichon a thousand francs.

Ratichon then investigates the penniless Marquis de Firmin-Latour and his wealthy wife Rachel. Her father, M. Mosenstein, suppresses the affair and compels the Marquis to return half a million francs placed with Raynal Frères. Ratichon receives three hundred francs and a conditional yearly payment; Theodore goes to work at his mother’s fish stall.

Theodore subsequently arranges the theft of Madame de Nolé’s dog Carissimo with Madame Sand and her accomplices. Disguising himself and exploiting blood from a dog bite, he deceives Ratichon and the police. Once Ratichon learns the truth, fear of public ridicule prevents him from reporting Theodore. Instead, he beats the clerk and pays him fifty francs for silence.

Hypolite Leroux recruits Ratichon to catch smugglers importing prohibited English files. Madame Aristide Fournier explains that she concealed the files beneath a disguise as a fat mother while her husband and three servants distracted attention with harmless luggage. Ratichon leaves the Fourniers with ten thousand francs, but Leroux never speaks to him again. Another opportunity fails when Ratichon spends too much of Theodore’s five francs to redeem a pledged blouse containing Mlle. Mars’s missing bracelet. The tavern keeper Legros discovers the bracelet before a police inspector, and Ratichon and Theodore flee without the reward. Ratichon blames Theodore.

The final episode brings Ratichon the financial security his earlier schemes failed to secure. He recounts Fernand Rochez’s arrival at his office and his own marriage to Sarah Goldberg. When Leah marries Rochez without her father’s consent, her grandfather’s will transfers half her inheritance—a hundred thousand francs—to Sarah. Ratichon retires, buys a country property, and settles there with Sarah and Theodore.

The ending

Leah marries Fernand Rochez without her father’s consent, causing half her inheritance, a hundred thousand francs, to pass to Sarah Goldberg under her grandfather’s will. Ratichon marries Sarah, retires, and buys a country property. He ends the novel living there with Sarah and Theodore.

Characters

Also appearing

  • King Louis
  • Citizen Robespierre
  • Talleyrand
  • M. Lorraine
  • The Emperor
  • Jean Paul
  • Adrien Cazalès
  • Madame Dupont
  • Rachel
  • Comte de Nolé de St. Pris
  • Commissary of Police
  • Madame Sand
  • Mme. Bournon
  • Mars
  • Legros
  • Goldberg
  • Leah
  • Grandpapa Goldberg

Chapter by chapter

Chapter 1: A Roland for His Oliver

Hector Ratichon introduces his police work and his clerk Theodore, whom he rescued from poverty. After losing his chance at twenty thousand francs over a secret naval treaty, Ratichon sells M. Geoffroy information leading to the arrest of Charles Saurez. Ratichon receives a thousand francs and gives Theodore fifty francs after Theodore threatens him with the police.

Chapter 2: A Fool’s Paradise

Hector Ratichon helps Estelle Bachelier recover identification papers that Mr. Farewell has threatened to destroy unless she marries him. Estelle reveals that she has already married Adrien Cazalès and needed the papers to establish her claim to her father's money. Ratichon accepts a thousand francs from the couple and later visits Madame Dupont, who has left Farewell's service.

Chapter 3: On the Brink

Hector Ratichon investigates the affairs of the penniless Marquis de Firmin-Latour and his wealthy wife Rachel. Rachel's father, M. Mosenstein, has the affair hushed up and forces the Marquis to return the half-million francs he had placed with Raynal Frères. Ratichon receives three hundred francs and a conditional yearly payment, while Theodore goes to work at his mother's fish stall.

Chapter 4: Carissimo

Theodore arranges the theft of Madame de Nolé's dog Carissimo with help from Madame Sand and her accomplices. When Hector Ratichon approaches, Theodore disguises himself and uses blood from a dog bite to help deceive Ratichon and the police. After learning the truth, Ratichon fears making himself ridiculous by reporting Theodore, so he beats him and pays him fifty francs to keep quiet.

Chapter 5: The Toys

Hypolite Leroux recruits Hector Ratichon to help catch smugglers bringing prohibited English files into France. Madame Aristide Fournier reveals that she carried the files beneath a disguise as a fat mother while her husband and three servants diverted attention with harmless luggage. Ratichon leaves the Fourniers with ten thousand francs, but Leroux never speaks to him again.

Chapter 6: Honour Among

Hector Ratichon and Theodore lose the chance to collect a reward for recovering Mlle. Mars's bracelet, which is hidden in a blouse pledged to the tavern keeper Legros. Ratichon has spent too much of Theodore's five francs to redeem the blouse before the deadline. They flee when Legros discovers the bracelet in front of a police inspector, and Ratichon blames Theodore for their lost earnings.

Chapter 7: An Over-Sensitive Heart

Hector Ratichon recounts how Fernand Rochez came to his office and how he married Sarah Goldberg. When Leah marries Rochez without her father's consent, her grandfather's will gives half her inheritance, a hundred thousand francs, to Sarah. Ratichon retires, buys a country property, and lives there with Sarah and Theodore.

Storylines

  • Hector takes Theodore into his service in exchange for subsistence and a share of profits. Trust gives way to suspicion, paid informing and threatened police exposure; after extracting fifty francs, Theodore resumes friendly relations with Hector.

    • Their employment arrangement continues under reduced provision and persistent distrust. Theodore considers better-paid employment and attempts to pocket the client's advance; Hector recovers it and continues assigning him work.
    • Hector initially retains Theodore and later recruits him into the staged confinement, but Theodore supplies sworn testimony against him and leaves his service to work at his mother's fish stall. Their employment relationship ends.
    • Their resumed friendliness deteriorates through theft, insubordination and renewed payment demands. Hector discovers Theodore's criminal deception, thrashes him and again pays for silence; their service arrangement continues amid renewed distrust.
    • Paid cooperation gives way to restraint, distrust and explicit termination of their partnership. They subsequently cooperate over the pledged bracelet and flee together, without an established restoration of their employment arrangement.
    • Hector forgives and reinstates Theodore with board. Theodore guards him against unwanted visitors and remains in his service at the country property.

  • Saurez hires Hector to steal Marsan's document during a diversion and deliver it the following morning. Hector completes the theft and receives the advance, but the intended delivery ends with Saurez's arrest.

  • Hector conceals his responsibility for the document's disappearance from Madeleine and Arthur while posing as its prospective recoverer. Arthur traces the bogus delivery to Hector and exposes his involvement.

  • The stolen document contains a secret Franco-Prussian naval treaty, which Hector believes threatens Denmark and Russia. Marsan confides its loss to Madeleine and Arthur while withholding it from Chancellerie officials; Madeleine's refusal to disclose its contents prevents police assistance.

  • Hector copies the treaty and plans to obtain ten thousand francs from Madeleine for one document and another ten thousand from Saurez for the duplicate. Arthur learns the scheme and takes both papers, defeating the double sale.

  • Hector imagines using his anticipated windfall to expand his business, acquire a house near Chantilly, marry and found a family. His twenty-thousand-franc scheme fails, leaving these ambitions unrealized.

    • Reduced business and loneliness redirect Hector's hopes toward marrying the wealthy Estelle. Her existing marriage defeats this route to marriage and fortune; the thousand-franc reward does not establish fulfillment of his broader ambitions.
    • Marriage to Sarah and discovery of her 100,000-franc inheritance bring Hector the prosperity and country property he desired. He ends his former professional life rather than expanding the business; founding a family is not established.

  • Hector becomes attracted to Madeleine and jealous of men close to her. Learning Arthur is her brother briefly dispels his jealousy, but learning Marsan is her fiancé makes the recovery request a source of romantic rivalry as well as profit.

  • Madeleine and Arthur seek the document's recovery to protect Marsan, whose discovery of its loss has precipitated dangerous illness. Arthur obtains both the stolen document and Hector's duplicate; Marsan's recovery is not established.

  • Arthur recruits Theodore for information, engineers police confinement at the inn and arranges an apparently unguarded escape route to draw Hector out with the papers. Hector takes the route and is captured; Arthur secures both documents.

  • Hector resents Theodore's informing and attempts to attack him, then plans punishment and dismissal. Theodore's threat to expose Hector to the police checks dismissal and forces payment; their eventual friendliness leaves Theodore's leverage intact.

    • Professed forgiveness leaves Hector's distrust intact. Theodore's undisclosed aunt prompts renewed indignation and a resolve to rebuke him, followed by Hector catching him pocketing the client's hundred-franc note.
    • Hector chastises Theodore, who subsequently testifies against him. Hector alleges an alliance between Theodore and the Marquis to deprive him of payment and liberty; that allegation remains unconfirmed. Theodore's departure ends their daily association without establishing reconciliation.
    • Hector again considers dismissal and replacement, then discovers Theodore has deceived him as both dog thief and Nicolet. He abandons police denunciation, administers a beating and pays fifty francs for silence, renewing their conflict and Theodore's leverage.
    • Hector suspects Theodore of stealing the bracelet, takes his money, binds and gags him, and attempts to compel disclosure through food and surveillance. Theodore breaks with him, demands his money and attacks him before revealing the pledged blouse. Temporary cooperation leaves their antagonism unsettled.

  • Hector bargains for one thousand francs by revealing when and where Saurez will collect the document. Arthur arranges the interception, Saurez is arrested and Hector receives the full agreed payment.

  • Hector becomes captivated by Estelle and offers professional help while privately hoping to marry her for love and fortune. Her concealed marriage defeats his expectations, damages his trust and leads him to cease contact after accepting payment.

  • Hector plans to marry Estelle and travel with her to England. He obtains a licence, pays for a religious service and reserves coach seats, but discovering that she is already married to Adrien defeats the plan.

  • Estelle seeks to recover the identification papers and solicitors' address that Farewell withholds, secure access to her inheritance and escape his coercion. Hector recovers the packet and brings her to her former lodgings; receipt of the inheritance is not established.

  • Hector regards Farewell as a rival and intervenes against his control of Estelle. When Farewell discovers them together and learns Hector has frustrated him, he nearly strangles Hector; Dupont restrains Farewell and Hector escapes.

  • Farewell uses his purported guardianship and possession of Estelle's papers to restrict her freedom and compel marriage, threatening to destroy the evidence of her inheritance entitlement. Recovery of the papers and Estelle's escape defeat his immediate leverage.

  • Estelle and Adrien marry secretly despite Farewell's jealousy and exclusion of Adrien from his house. Once her papers are recovered, they disclose their marriage to Hector and jointly arrange his reward.

  • Hector undertakes to locate Estelle's solicitors and recover her papers. He diverts Farewell's odd-job man, takes his place, obtains a duplicate bureau key and incapacitates Dupont to gain access. He retrieves the papers and solicitors' address and hands the packet to Estelle.

  • Dupont's affection for Hector supplies him with food and an opportunity for feigned courtship. He exploits her affection to reach the study, but she subsequently saves his life; he feels remorse at leaving without thanks and later visits her repeatedly.

  • Estelle and Adrien conceal their marriage because Farewell threatens to destroy her identification papers. Hector helps without knowing she is married, then learns both the marriage and the reason for its concealment after recovering the documents.

  • Rachel marries Firmin-Latour after Naquet is declared legally dead. Her husband's apparent protection against Naquet's supposed return elicits her gratitude, although he secretly collaborates in the deception distressing her.

  • Hector seeks profit by making the financially dependent Marquis his client. His intervention produces an extortion scheme, but the promised hundred thousand francs never reaches him; he ultimately obtains three hundred francs and a conditional annuity from Mauruss.

  • Mauruss seeks his daughter's social advancement while protecting family capital from another spendthrift son-in-law. He finances the couple's establishment while retaining control, eventually recovers the pawn proceeds and tightens his restrictions.

  • Firmin-Latour resents dependence on his wife and father-in-law, incurs debts beyond his credit and seeks independent money. His attempt to evade their control through the emerald scheme ends with the money recovered and his dependence intensified.

  • Hector and Firmin-Latour form a paid criminal partnership that deteriorates over withheld proceeds and ends in the Marquis identifying Hector as his assailant. Hector interprets this as an attempt to evade his promised share, seeks revenge and continues watching the Marquis.

  • Hector and Firmin-Latour forge Naquet's return and marital demands to frighten Rachel into paying for silence. They escalate to half a million francs, arrange to pawn her emeralds and prepare a false guarantee; her insistence on meeting Naquet forces a replacement scheme. The Marquis obtains the proceeds temporarily, but Mauruss ultimately recovers them.

  • Rachel is deceived into believing Naquet has survived and threatens her present marriage. Hector forges the correspondence and Firmin-Latour knowingly plays her protector and intermediary; their collusion is concealed from her during the scheme.

  • Rachel seeks to preserve her marriage and prevent a public claim by the supposedly surviving Naquet. She accepts negotiation and the pawning of her emeralds, then insists on confronting and paying him herself; her fear later extends to the possibility that he has murdered her missing husband.

  • Hector, Firmin-Latour and Theodore arrange a staged assault and confinement, with the Marquis banking the pawn proceeds and later describing a fictitious assailant. Hector delays the agreed discovery, leaving the Marquis dangerously weakened; police recover him and arrest Hector.

  • Hector faces prosecution for the Marquis's confinement and alleged robbery and attempted murder. The Marquis's identification and Theodore's sworn account undermine his defence; possession of the pawn receipt and threatened publicity give him bargaining power, and the case is ultimately shelved.

  • Hector uses the emerald pawn receipt, knowledge of the bank deposit and the threat of family scandal to negotiate his release and compensation. Mauruss agrees to three hundred francs and an annual payment of two hundred francs conditional on silence; the immediate payment and shelving of the case occur.

  • Mauruss and Hector agree to suppress the affair involving the supposed first husband, the extortion and the Marquis's financial conduct. The criminal case is hushed up, and Hector's continuing annuity depends on maintaining silence.

  • Hector seeks to discover what has happened to the missing Theodore, eventually fearing murder. Theodore's return establishes his survival; discovery of his disguise and his explanation solve the disappearance.

  • Nolé seeks Carissimo's safe recovery without another ransom, since repeated payments have encouraged further theft. She commissions Hector and promises five thousand francs; Carissimo is recovered and returned to her.

  • Hector seeks the recovery reward, attempts to increase it to ten thousand francs and treats success as assured. Police custody defeats his attempt to claim the reward alone; he ultimately receives two thousand francs, then faces Theodore's demand for a share.

  • Hector accuses the supposed Nicolet of murdering Theodore and presses for punishment. The police detain the suspect but find no supporting evidence and decide to release him; Hector subsequently discovers that suspect and supposed victim were both Theodore.

  • Theodore enters the dog-theft business, arranging with Madame Sand to supply accomplices and divide the proceeds. They steal Carissimo through a crowd diversion and demand five thousand francs; Hector's pursuit and the dog's recovery defeat this ransom attempt.

  • Theodore conceals his dog theft and assumes the identity of Aristide Nicolet to escape recognition. His disguise, blood from Carissimo's bite and abandoned clothes lead Hector to suspect a separate man's murder of Theodore. Police abandon that theory without identifying the disguise; Hector later discovers it and learns the truth.

  • Theodore and Madame Sand form a criminal partnership: she supplies accomplices for a share of the proceeds, and he later asks her to obstruct Hector's pursuit.

  • After exposing Theodore's deception, Hector abandons denunciation because he expects disbelief and ridicule. He thrashes Theodore and pays fifty francs for his silence, leaving concealment dependent on Theodore's compliance.

  • Hector seeks five thousand francs from the smuggling investigation and negotiates an additional thousand before working. His unwitting carriage of the contraband defeats his expectation of the official reward, but Fournier pays him ten thousand francs for its safe delivery.

  • Hector and Leroux form an investigative partnership, reaffirm their friendship and coordinate an interception and supposed rescue. Hector's unwitting assistance to the smugglers ends their amicable relations; Leroux refuses forgiveness and stops speaking to him.

  • Leroux assigns Hector to pose as an interpreter in Gex, discover the next consignment's route and timing, and report daily. They arrange an armed interception at the rendezvous Hector obtains from Berty, but the intercepted party carries harmless luggage while the real contraband crosses elsewhere.

  • Fournier appears as Ernest Berty, while Angèle poses as his oppressed unmarried sister and presents a false account of danger and maternal escape. Hector believes these claims until he discovers that Angèle is Fournier's wife and impersonated the elderly mother while carrying concealed English files.

  • Berty hires Hector as an interpreter for five hundred francs, then offers ten thousand francs to escort an apparent consignment to St. Claude. Hector accepts the apparent escort assignment intending to betray it to Leroux; Fournier ultimately pays him because the actual contraband has arrived safely through Hector's supposed rescue.

  • Hector seeks to protect the apparently oppressed young woman and her mother while securing the smugglers' arrest. Finding only the supposed mother awaiting him, he conveys her to St. Claude and plans to return for Angèle; her appearance there and disclosure of the disguise reveal that the rescue was a deception.

  • Hector conceals his investigative purpose and intention to arrange Berty's arrest, appearing guileless and willing to interpret and escort the cargo. Fournier's later recognition of Hector's real name and explanation of the successful deception overturn Hector's belief that he has outwitted the household.

  • The Fourniers divert Hector and customs officials with servants posing as Englishmen and mules apparently carrying contraband, while Angèle disguises herself as an elderly mother needing rescue and carries the English files across the frontier with Hector. The diversion is detained and released; the real consignment reaches St. Claude.

  • Hector develops chivalrous and romantic hopes toward Angèle, anticipating her gratitude and fearing for her safety. Discovering her deception brings astonishment and admiration, but learning that she is Fournier's wife ends his romantic hopes.

  • The client requires the name Jean Duval and withholds his identity. Hector suspects he is a marquis; the client's claim to know about the stolen treaty and his threats enforce Hector's compliance without confirming that suspicion.

  • Jean hires Hector to steal Mars's bracelet using a duplicate safe key, ostensibly so he can replace an imitation with a precious copy. They agree on one thousand francs and delivery within fourteen days. Hector extracts the bracelet, but another thief takes it before he can deliver it.

  • Jean represents Mars's bracelet as worthless theatrical jewellery to procure its theft. The inspector's description reveals to Hector that it contains the valuable Maroni emerald, exposing the deception.

  • Hector seeks the bracelet's proceeds while limiting Theodore's share. After learning its value and the recovery reward, he demands three thousand francs from Jean and seeks to recover the bracelet from Theodore. Their inability to redeem Theodore's pledged blouse defeats their immediate prospect of payment.

  • Hector recruits Theodore to lure Mars's maid away with a false illness summons and delay her return while Hector opens the safe. Hector also intends to take other valuables. The diversion succeeds, but the bracelet is taken from under Hector's eyes and his substitute case proves empty.

  • Theodore conceals the bracelet in a blouse pledged to Legros for five francs. Hector initially has only circumstantial grounds for accusing him; Theodore eventually discloses the hiding place and redemption deadline. Legros subsequently discovers the case while his wife consults the police about the reward.

  • The police investigation into Mars's stolen bracelet threatens to connect Theodore and Hector to the theft. An inspector presses Legros to identify the person who pledged the blouse containing the bracelet, prompting both men to flee; identification or arrest is not established.

  • Hector's discovery of Jean's deception turns their commission into a struggle over price and exposure. Hector threatens to return the bracelet to Mars; Jean threatens violence and police denunciation, then leaves to fetch the demanded money. Hector still lacks the bracelet needed to fulfil the bargain.

  • Theodore and Hector attempt to recover the pledged blouse and share the bracelet reward. Hector has spent much of the money he took from Theodore, so they seek an extension. Seeing Legros discover the case under police scrutiny destroys their hope of recovery, and they flee.

  • Fernand seeks to marry Leah and obtain her fortune. Sarah initially obstructs his approaches, then assists him; Goldberg refuses consent. Fernand ultimately marries Leah without consent, costing her 100,000 francs of her expected inheritance.

  • Fernand hires Hector to occupy Sarah while he courts Leah, paying an advance and supplying a new suit. Hector successfully distracts Sarah and enables private exchanges, but Goldberg's opposition prevents the courtship from securing marriage consent.

  • Sarah interprets Hector's attentions as attraction and becomes attached to him. Hector rejects her after discovering he has abducted her, but marries her under threat of prosecution; learning of her inheritance reverses his rejection into an affectionate embrace.

  • Goldberg opposes Fernand's courtship and marriage to Leah. Sarah becomes their ally, and the couple marry despite his continuing refusal; Leah consequently loses half her expected inheritance to Sarah.

  • Fernand, Hector and Sarah arrange Leah's abduction to force Goldberg's marriage consent through her compromised reputation. Fernand funds the operation and prepares a carriage and hiding place, while Hector organizes garden access; the apparent joint undertaking conceals competing schemes.

  • Hector secretly abandons delivery of Leah to Fernand and plans to abduct and marry her himself for her fortune. He spends Fernand's advance on separate transport and accommodation, but carries off Sarah instead, defeating his intended marriage to Leah.

  • Leah originates a substitution scheme in which Sarah takes her place as Hector's captive, while Fernand arranges friends to impersonate gendarmes and obtain a witnessed marriage promise. Hector mistakes Sarah for Leah and the intervention for genuine policing until Sarah reveals the deception.

  • Hector seeks to evade marriage to Sarah after discovering the substitution, discouraging her and refusing her visits. Goldberg threatens denunciation for abduction unless Hector marries her; Hector submits and the marriage takes place.

  • Hector does not know that Leah's marriage without paternal consent transfers 100,000 francs of her expected inheritance to Sarah. Goldberg hints at Hector's improved circumstances, and a legal messenger discloses the condition and Sarah's resulting entitlement.

Places

France, Paris, Rue Daunou, Rue Blanche, Passy, New Caledonia, Chantilly, Rue St. Honoré, England, London, Cabaret du Chien Noir, 65 Rue des Pyramides, Rue de Grammont, Loire, Montmartre, Rue Lepic, Vichy, Neuilly, The Halles, Rue Guénégaud, Quai Voltaire, Suresnes, Café Bourbon, Faubourg St. Germain, Quai des Grands Augustins, The Morgue, Institut de France, Rue Beaune, Hôtel des Cadets, Rue St. Roch, St. Claude, Gex, Jura mountains, Valserine, Café du Crâne Chauve, Divonne, St. Cergues, Avenue du Jura, Hôtel des Moines, House in the Avenue du Jura, Theatre Royal, New Orleans, Rue des Pipots, Rue de Richelieu, Square Louvois, Luxembourg Gardens, Taverne des Trois Tigres, Rue des Médecins, Passage Corneille, Auteuil, Synagogue of the Rue des Halles, Bois de Boulogne, Mairie of the eighth arrondissement