Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius Read Online Free PDF Page B

would demonstrate their prowess on the heirloom pianoforte.
    Tonight, however, with grim-face and ill-temper, the lawyer chose Verne’s least favorite activity: a discussion of current events and local matters.   Pierre Verne held strong opinions; thus, the family did not have a dinner discussion so much as a lecture in which Pierre instructed his family on what they should think about the matters of the day.
    Before his father spoke, Verne already knew the issue that concerned him.   “Since the burning of the Cynthia , there’ll be work coming into the office.   When you get older, Jules, I intend to have you as my assistant, but for now I must hire help to draw up papers, submit forms and claims.   It is an unconscionable mess.”  
    The lawyer drew a deep breath as if this all made him very important.   He dabbed the corner of his mouth with a napkin.   “Lawsuits will be filed on the part of the ship’s investors.   The carpenter who caused the disaster lost his life in the explosion, unfortunately, so there can be no seeking restitution from him.”
    “And not against his family, I hope,” Verne’s mother, Sophie, said.
    “Family?”   The lawyer frowned.   “The man was a sailor and shipbuilder.”   He said, as if the profession were an insult.   “It hardly seemed worthwhile to go looking for any family.”   Jules was stung by his father’s callous dismissal of everyone like André Nemo, whose father had also died in the wreck.
    Reading her son’s distress, Sophie Verne looked at him with compassion and understanding.   “Do you know what your friend will do now, Jules?”
    He smiled at her in gratitude.   He hadn’t realized his mother knew the extent of his friendship with Nemo.   “I suppose he’ll be able to survive for a while.   André is a very resourceful young man.”
    “He’s going to have to be.”   Pierre Verne looked up in surprise, interrupted in his thoughts and puzzled for a moment.   “That young man’s father had no money.   He was bankrupt.   All wasted on gambling and liquor, no doubt.”
    “Pierre!” Sophie snapped, but her husband didn’t back down.
    “What do you mean he has no money?” Verne said.   “Monsieur Nemo just finished building a ship and had a bonus coming.   He worked every day.”
    “The man left no inheritance for his son, mark my words.   I’ve already seen repossession paperwork come through.   That young man is in trouble.”
    Verne could barely speak, daunted by his father’s lack of sympathy.   “But what . . . what is he going to do?”
    “He’ll be thrown into the streets, I expect.”
    Verne looked across his dinner plate and for the first time assessed Pierre Verne as a person, not simply as his ever-present father.   The man took care of local matters in his tedious law practice, though he had never set foot in court nor spoken with eloquence at a dramatic trial.   Pierre handled little more than property deeds and standard contracts.   Only at a time like this, after a horrible tragedy, did he show any excitement in picking up the pieces.
    “Perhaps André can go into an orphanage,” Sophie said.
    “Too old,” Pierre answered with a dismissive wave of his left hand, which still clutched the now-soiled napkin.   “No orphanage would take a young man of working age.   Maybe we should hope those idiots in Paris get us into another war, and then Nemo can join the fighting and take a soldier’s pay.”  
    Sophie spoke in an artificially sweet voice.   “And which idiots are those, dear?   The monarchists, the Republicans, or the Bonapartists?   I can’t remember from week to week.”
    “I shall let you know after I read tonight’s paper,” her husband said.   Then he looked over at his son, as if expecting his words to carry some kind of comfort.   “You’re lucky you aren’t in that young man’s situation, Jules.   You have prospects, a secure place in town, and a job with me in the law