Beauty and the Beast

Gaston's Scheme

Back in the village, Gaston had grown accustomed to Belle's daily refusals. He found them irritating but not discouraging — Belle's resistance was, in his mind, simply part of the chase. A man of his magnificence was worth waiting for. She would come around.

But Belle had not come around. Belle had, in fact, disappeared entirely.

Maurice returned from the forest without her, babbling about a Beast in a castle, a dungeon, a bargain his daughter had made. The village listened politely and concluded, with the casual cruelty of small communities, that the old man had lost his mind.

Gaston listened more carefully than the rest. He sat with Maurice over mulled wine and let the inventor tell the whole story twice. He asked precise questions about the castle's location, its appearance, its gates. He noted that Maurice was not, despite appearances, entirely incoherent.

Then he sent the old man home and sat back, thinking.

His hunting companion LeFou appeared at his elbow. "What are you thinking?" LeFou asked nervously. LeFou had learned to be nervous when Gaston thought.

"I'm thinking," Gaston said slowly, "that a girl who runs off to a monster's castle clearly has no interest in the village's most eligible bachelor. And that a father who claims there is a monster in the woods can be made to look very, very unstable." He smiled — the cold, deliberate smile of a man who has never in his life been told he cannot have something. "Monsieur D'Arque runs the asylum at the edge of the valley. I believe it's time to pay him a visit."

LeFou's nervous expression deepened. "Gaston, you wouldn't—"

"Get Maurice committed," Gaston said pleasantly, "and Belle comes running home. She comes home, she finds her father locked away, and suddenly the man offering to save him starts looking considerably more attractive." He drained his cup. "Pour me another."

LeFou poured, and said nothing, because Gaston was not the sort of man whose plans one argued with.