Hello, this story is really Strange.
We are in Paris on June 2, 1925, it is 10 o'clock in the morning. A 24-year-old medical student, Jean Romier, sits on a bench in the Luxembourg garden when an old man, wearing an old coat, engages in conversation.
The two men come, by chance, to talk about music and the old man reveals himself a passionate Mozart. The student explains that the concert tickets are expensive when the old man offers, after sympathizing, to come and listen at home the small orchestra of chamber music he has created with friends and family. Jean Romier happily accepts the proposal of Alphonse Berruyer and they make an appointment the following Friday rue de Vaugirard, on the third floor left.
A few days pass and Jean Romier rings at the address indicated, Alphonse himself opens him. He invites her to come in and introduces him to the whole family.
- This is my little son André who is preparing to enter the Naval Academy. This is my other little son Marcel, who is doing his right. And my nephew, who will enter the orders.
Everyone is smiling and warm, yet the student has a very curious impression. The lighting is gas, the apartment is old and rococo style. In addition, the Berruyer family is dressed in a strangely old fashioned way. These charming people seem to belong to another era.
The concert takes place, these amateurs play admirably and Jean Romier delights in listening to Mozart. After a moment, Jean realizes that it is past midnight and he retires. He is hardly in the street that he wants to light a cigarette and realizes that he has forgotten his lighter at his new friends. He immediately regains the three floors and rings. No answer. He always rings without any result and is astonished:
- It is impossible that they are already in bed!
Alarmed the next door neighbor, in pajamas, shouts:
- So that's the end of it soon? what are you doing there ? Who you ask ?
- I ring with the Berruyer, Jean answers.
The other explodes and replies that Mr. Berruyer has been dead for almost twenty years and that this apartment is empty. The surprised young man answers him:
- But it's impossible, I spent the evening!
The neighbor repeats to him that there is nobody and starts to scream:
- The thief, the thief!
With all the fuss, the concierge wakes up, rushes in and asks for explanations. The tenant, who roused the building, explains that he has just got his hands on a burglar and everyone goes to the police station. There, Jean Romier states that he is not a thug, that he is a medical student and that his father is himself a doctor.
We therefore call Dr. Romier, who is surprised to learn that his son is in a police station:
- I know he was going to hear last night a concert of amateurs rue de Vaugirard and I do not understand your story of empty apartment. I am coming right now…
In the meantime, Jean tells his whole evening to the Commissioner. The caretaker intervenes and informs the police that the house belongs today to the great-great-grandson, Mr. Mauger, and gives his telephone number. The next morning, the Commissioner manages to reach Mr. Mauger, quickly explains the situation and gives him an appointment Vaugirard street.
Half an hour later, everyone is there, gathered on the landing, when Jean Romier begins to describe with precision the furniture as well as the trinkets and paintings which are behind this door. The owner opens and the student is seized: this place so alive the day before is, this morning, icy, covered with dust and smells musty. Suddenly, Jean sees several portraits on the wall and quotes in front of the witnesses the names of the characters represented as well as the nature of their studies. Monsieur Mauger turned pale, regarded the young man with astonishment, and indeed confirmed that the future pupil of the naval school had died admiral, that the one who was doing his right had become a lawyer and that the future seminarian had died a missionary in Africa. Then he begins to tremble and now remembers that his grandfather had told him about concerts organized here by his grandfather Alphonse Berruyer. An oppressive emotion wins the whole group when Jean, frozen, discovers his lighter deposited on a pedestal covered with dust ...
We are in Paris on June 2, 1925, it is 10 o'clock in the morning. A 24-year-old medical student, Jean Romier, sits on a bench in the Luxembourg garden when an old man, wearing an old coat, engages in conversation.
The two men come, by chance, to talk about music and the old man reveals himself a passionate Mozart. The student explains that the concert tickets are expensive when the old man offers, after sympathizing, to come and listen at home the small orchestra of chamber music he has created with friends and family. Jean Romier happily accepts the proposal of Alphonse Berruyer and they make an appointment the following Friday rue de Vaugirard, on the third floor left.
A few days pass and Jean Romier rings at the address indicated, Alphonse himself opens him. He invites her to come in and introduces him to the whole family.
- This is my little son André who is preparing to enter the Naval Academy. This is my other little son Marcel, who is doing his right. And my nephew, who will enter the orders.
Everyone is smiling and warm, yet the student has a very curious impression. The lighting is gas, the apartment is old and rococo style. In addition, the Berruyer family is dressed in a strangely old fashioned way. These charming people seem to belong to another era.
The concert takes place, these amateurs play admirably and Jean Romier delights in listening to Mozart. After a moment, Jean realizes that it is past midnight and he retires. He is hardly in the street that he wants to light a cigarette and realizes that he has forgotten his lighter at his new friends. He immediately regains the three floors and rings. No answer. He always rings without any result and is astonished:
- It is impossible that they are already in bed!
Alarmed the next door neighbor, in pajamas, shouts:
- So that's the end of it soon? what are you doing there ? Who you ask ?
- I ring with the Berruyer, Jean answers.
The other explodes and replies that Mr. Berruyer has been dead for almost twenty years and that this apartment is empty. The surprised young man answers him:
- But it's impossible, I spent the evening!
The neighbor repeats to him that there is nobody and starts to scream:
- The thief, the thief!
With all the fuss, the concierge wakes up, rushes in and asks for explanations. The tenant, who roused the building, explains that he has just got his hands on a burglar and everyone goes to the police station. There, Jean Romier states that he is not a thug, that he is a medical student and that his father is himself a doctor.
We therefore call Dr. Romier, who is surprised to learn that his son is in a police station:
- I know he was going to hear last night a concert of amateurs rue de Vaugirard and I do not understand your story of empty apartment. I am coming right now…
In the meantime, Jean tells his whole evening to the Commissioner. The caretaker intervenes and informs the police that the house belongs today to the great-great-grandson, Mr. Mauger, and gives his telephone number. The next morning, the Commissioner manages to reach Mr. Mauger, quickly explains the situation and gives him an appointment Vaugirard street.
Half an hour later, everyone is there, gathered on the landing, when Jean Romier begins to describe with precision the furniture as well as the trinkets and paintings which are behind this door. The owner opens and the student is seized: this place so alive the day before is, this morning, icy, covered with dust and smells musty. Suddenly, Jean sees several portraits on the wall and quotes in front of the witnesses the names of the characters represented as well as the nature of their studies. Monsieur Mauger turned pale, regarded the young man with astonishment, and indeed confirmed that the future pupil of the naval school had died admiral, that the one who was doing his right had become a lawyer and that the future seminarian had died a missionary in Africa. Then he begins to tremble and now remembers that his grandfather had told him about concerts organized here by his grandfather Alphonse Berruyer. An oppressive emotion wins the whole group when Jean, frozen, discovers his lighter deposited on a pedestal covered with dust ...
- Histoires magiques de l’histoire de France, Tome 1, page 68 à 75, Editions France Loisirs, 2000
- Dictionnaire de l’impossible, Tome 1, page 385 à 390, Editions Plon, 2013.
- Archives de la préfecture de police ; “Histoires magiques de l’histoire de France ” de Guy Breton et Louis Pauwels
