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The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-

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Maurice Leblanc

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Title: The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar

Author: Maurice Leblanc

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Maurice Leblanc

The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar

Table of Contents:

I. The Arrest of Arsene Lupin

II. Arsene Lupin in Prison

III. The Escape of Arsene Lupin

IV. The Mysterious Traveller

V. The Queen's Necklace

VI. The Seven of Hearts

VII. Madame Imbert's Safe

VIII. The Black Pearl

IX. Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late

I. The Arrest of Arsene Lupin

It was a strange ending to a voyage that had commenced in a most

auspicious manner. The transatlantic steamship `La Provence' was

a swift and comfortable vessel, under the command of a most

affable man. The passengers constituted a select and delightful

society. The charm of new acquaintances and improvised amusements

served to make the time pass agreeably. We enjoyed the pleasant

sensation of being separated from the world, living, as it were,

upon an unknown island, and consequently obliged to be sociable

with each other.

Have you ever stopped to consider how much originality and

spontaneity emanate from these various individuals who, on the

preceding evening, did not even know each other, and who are now,

for several days, condemned to lead a life of extreme intimacy,

jointly defying the anger of the ocean, the terrible onslaught of

the waves, the violence of the tempest and the agonizing monotony

of the calm and sleepy water? Such a life becomes a sort of

tragic existence, with its storms and its grandeurs, its monotony

and its diversity; and that is why, perhaps, we embark upon that

short voyage with mingled feelings of pleasure and fear.

But, during the past few years, a new sensation had been added to

the life of the transatlantic traveler. The little floating

island is now attached to the world from which it was once quite

free. A bond united them, even in the very heart of the watery

wastes of the Atlantic. That bond is the wireless telegraph, by

means of which we receive news in the most mysterious manner. We

know full well that the message is not transported by the medium

of a hollow wire. No, the mystery is even more inexplicable, more

romantic, and we must have recourse to the wings of the air in

order to explain this new miracle. During the first day of the

ads:

voyage, we felt that we were being followed, escorted, preceded

even, by that distant voice, which, from time to time, whispered

to one of us a few words from the receding world. Two friends

spoke to me. Ten, twenty others sent gay or somber words of

parting to other passengers.

On the second day, at a distance of five hundred miles from the

French coast, in the midst of a violent storm, we received the

following message by means of the wireless telegraph:

"Arsene Lupin is on your vessel, first cabin, blonde hair, wound

right fore-arm, traveling alone under name of R........"

At that moment, a terrible flash of lightning rent the stormy

skies. The electric waves were interrupted. The remainder of the

dispatch never reached us. Of the name under Arsene Lupin was

concealing himself, we knew only the initial.

If the news had been of some other character, I have no doubt that

the secret would have been carefully guarded by the telegraphic

operator as well as by the officers of the vessel. But it was one

of those events calculated to escape from the most rigorous

discretion. The same day, no one knew how, the incident became a

matter of current gossip and every passenger was aware that the

famous Arsene Lupin was hiding in our midst.

Arsene Lupin in our midst! the irresponsible burglar whose

exploits had been narrated in all the newspapers during the past

few months! the mysterious individual with whom Ganimard, our

shrewdest detective, had been engaged in an implacable conflict

amidst interesting and picturesque surroundings. Arsene Lupin,

the eccentric gentleman who operates only in the chateaux and

salons, and who, one night, entered the residence of Baron

Schormann, but emerged empty-handed, leaving, however, his card on

which he had scribbled these words: "Arsene Lupin, gentleman-

burglar, will return when the furniture is genuine." Arsene

Lupin, the man of a thousand disguises: in turn a chauffer,

detective, bookmaker, Russian physician, Spanish bull-fighter,

commercial traveler, robust youth, or decrepit old man.

Then consider this startling situation: Arsene Lupin was wandering

about within the limited bounds of a transatlantic steamer; in

that very small corner of the world, in that dining saloon, in

that smoking room, in that music room! Arsene Lupin was, perhaps,

this gentleman....or that one....my neighbor at the table....

the sharer of my stateroom....

"And this condition of affairs will last for five days!" exclaimed

Miss Nelly Underdown, next morning. "It is unbearable! I hope he

will be arrested."

Then, addressing me, she added:

"And you, Monsieur d'Andrezy, you are on intimate terms with the

captain; surely you know something?"

I should have been delighted had I possessed any information that

would interest Miss Nelly. She was one of those magnificent

creatures who inevitably attract attention in every assembly.

Wealth and beauty form an irresistible combination, and Nelly

possessed both.

Educated in Paris under the care of a French mother, she was now

going to visit her father, the millionaire Underdown of Chicago.

She was accompanied by one of her friends, Lady Jerland.

At first, I had decided to open a flirtation with her; but, in the

rapidly growing intimacy of the voyage, I was soon impressed by

her charming manner and my feelings became too deep and

reverential for a mere flirtation. Moreover, she accepted my

attentions with a certain degree of favor. She condescended to

laugh at my witticisms and display an interest in my stories. Yet

I felt that I had a rival in the person of a young man with quiet

and refined tastes; and it struck me, at times, that she preferred

his taciturn humor to my Parisian frivolity. He formed one in the

circle of admirers that surrounded Miss Nelly at the time she

addressed to me the foregoing question. We were all comfortably

seated in out deck-chairs. The storm of the preceding evening had

cleared the sky. The weather was now delightful.

"I have no definite knowledge, mademoiselle," I replied, "but can

not we, ourselves, investigate the mystery quite as well as the

detective Ganimard, the personal enemy of Arsene Lupin?"

"Oh! oh! you are progressing very fast, monsieur."

"Not at all, mademoiselle. In the first place, let me ask, do you

find the problem a complicated one?"

"Very complicated."

"Have you forgotten the key we hold for the solution to the

problem?"

"What key?"

"In the first place, Lupin calls himself Monsieur R-------."

"Rather vague information," she replied.

"Secondly, he is traveling alone."

"Does that help you?" she asked.

"Thirdly, he is blonde."

"Well?"

"Then we have only to peruse the passenger-list, and proceed by

process of elimination."

I had that list in my pocket. I took it out and glanced through

it. Then I remarked:

"I find that there are only thirteen men on the passenger-list

whose names begin with the letter R."

"Only thirteen?"

"Yes, in the first cabin. And of those thirteen, I find that nine

of them are accompanied by women, children or servants. That

leaves only four who are traveling alone. First, the Marquis de

Raverdan----"

"Secretary to the American Ambassador," interrupted Miss Nelly.

"I know him."

"Major Rawson," I continued.

"He is my uncle," some one said.

"Mon. Rivolta."

"Here!" exclaimed an Italian, whose face was concealed beneath a

heavy black beard.

Miss Nelly burst into laughter, and exclaimed: "That gentleman can

scarcely be called a blonde."

"Very well, then," I said, "we are forced to the conclusion that

the guilty party is the last one on the list."

"What is his name?"

"Mon. Rozaine. Does anyone know him?"

No one answered. But Miss Nelly turned to the taciturn young man,

whose attentions to her had annoyed me, and said:

"Well, Monsieur Rozaine, why do you not answer?"

All eyes were now turned upon him. He was a blonde. I must

confess that I myself felt a shock of surprise, and the profound

silence that followed her question indicated that the others

present also viewed the situation with a feeling of sudden alarm.

However, the idea was an absurd one, because the gentleman in

question presented an air of the most perfect innocence.

"Why do I not answer?" he said. "Because, considering my name, my

position as a solitary traveler and the color of my hair, I have

already reached the same conclusion, and now think that I should

be arrested."

He presented a strange appearance as he uttered these words. His

thin lips were drawn closer than usual and his face was ghastly

pale, whilst his eyes were streaked with blood. Of course, he was

joking, yet his appearance and attitude impressed us strangely.

"But you have not the wound?" said Miss Nelly, naively.

"That is true," he replied, "I lack the wound."

Then he pulled up his sleeve, removing his cuff, and showed us his

arm. But that action did not deceive me. He had shown us his

left arm, and I was on the point of calling his attention to the

fact, when another incident diverted our attention. Lady Jerland,

Miss Nelly's friend, came running towards us in a state of great

excitement, exclaiming:

"My jewels, my pearls! Some one has stolen them all!"

No, they were not all gone, as we soon found out. The thief had

taken only part of them; a very curious thing. Of the diamond

sunbursts, jeweled pendants, bracelets and necklaces, the thief

had taken, not the largest but the finest and most valuable

stones. The mountings were lying upon the table. I saw them

there, despoiled of their jewels, like flowers from which the

beautiful colored petals had been ruthlessly plucked. And this

theft must have been committed at the time Lady Jerland was taking

her tea; in broad daylight, in stateroom opening on a much

frequented corridor; moreover, the thief had been obliged to force

open the door of the stateroom, search for the jewel-case, which

was hidden at the bottom of a hat-box, open it, select his booty

and remove it from the mountings.

Of course, all the passengers instantly reached the same

conclusion; it was the work of Arsene Lupin.

That day, at the dinner table, the seats to the right and left of

Rozaine remained vacant; and, during the evening, it was rumored

that the captain had placed him under arrest, which information

produced a feeling of safety and relief. We breathed once more.

That evening, we resumed our games and dances. Miss Nelly,

especially, displayed a spirit of thoughtless gayety which

convinced me that if Rozaine's attentions had been agreeable to

her in the beginning, she had already forgotten them. Her charm

and good-humor completed my conquest. At midnight, under a bright

moon, I declared my devotion with an ardor that did not seem to

displease her.

But, next day, to our general amazement, Rozaine was at liberty.

We learned that the evidence against him was not sufficient. He

had produced documents that were perfectly regular, which showed

that he was the son of a wealthy merchant of Bordeaux. Besides,

his arms did not bear the slightest trace of a wound.

"Documents! Certificates of birth!" exclaimed the enemies of

Rozaine, "of course, Arsene Lupin will furnish you as many as you

desire. And as to the wound, he never had it, or he has removed

it."

Then it was proven that, at the time of the theft, Rozaine was

promenading on the deck. To which fact, his enemies replied that

a man like Arsene Lupin could commit a crime without being

actually present. And then, apart from all other circumstances,

there remained one point which even the most skeptical could not

answer: Who except Rozaine, was traveling alone, was a blonde, and

bore a name beginning with R? To whom did the telegram point, if

it were not Rozaine?

And when Rozaine, a few minutes before breakfast, came boldly

toward our group, Miss Nelly and Lady Jerland arose and walked

away.

An hour later, a manuscript circular was passed from hand to hand

amongst the sailors, the stewards, and the passengers of all

classes. It announced that Mon. Louis Rozaine offered a reward of

ten thousand francs for the discovery of Arsene Lupin or other

person in possession of the stolen jewels.

"And if no one assists me, I will unmask the scoundrel myself,"

declared Rozaine.

Rozaine against Arsene Lupin, or rather, according to current

opinion, Arsene Lupin himself against Arsene Lupin; the contest

promised to be interesting.

Nothing developed during the next two days. We saw Rozaine

wandering about, day and night, searching, questioning,

investigating. The captain, also, displayed commendable activity.

He caused the vessel to be searched from stern to stern; ransacked

every stateroom under the plausible theory that the jewels might

be concealed anywhere, except in the thief's own room.

"I suppose they will find out something soon," remarked Miss Nelly

to me. "He may be a wizard, but he cannot make diamonds and

pearls become invisible."

"Certainly not," I replied, "but he should examine the lining of

our hats and vests and everything we carry with us."

Then, exhibiting my Kodak, a 9x12 with which I had been

photographing her in various poses, I added: "In an apparatus no

larger than that, a person could hide all of Lady Jerland's

jewels. He could pretend to take pictures and no one would

suspect the game."

"But I have heard it said that every thief leaves some clue behind

him."

"That may be generally true," I replied, "but there is one

exception: Arsene Lupin."

"Why?"

"Because he concentrates his thoughts not only on the theft, but

on all the circumstances connected with it that could serve as a

clue to his identity."

"A few days ago, you were more confident."

"Yes, but since I have seen him at work."

"And what do you think about it now?" she asked.

"Well, in my opinion, we are wasting our time."

And, as a matter of fact, the investigation had produced no

result. But, in the meantime, the captain's watch had been

stolen. He was furious. He quickened his efforts and watched

Rozaine more closely than before. But, on the following day, the

watch was found in the second officer's collar box.

This incident caused considerable astonishment, and displayed the

humorous side of Arsene Lupin, burglar though he was, but

dilettante as well. He combined business with pleasure. He

reminded us of the author who almost died in a fit of laughter

provoked by his own play. Certainly, he was an artist in his

particular line of work, and whenever I saw Rozaine, gloomy and

reserved, and thought of the double role that he was playing, I

accorded him a certain measure of admiration.

On the following evening, the officer on deck duty heard groans

emanating from the darkest corner of the ship. He approached and

found a man lying there, his head enveloped in a thick gray scarf

and his hands tied together with a heavy cord. It was Rozaine.

He had been assaulted, thrown down and robbed. A card, pinned to

his coat, bore these words: "Arsene Lupin accepts with pleasure

the ten thousand francs offered by Mon. Rozaine." As a matter of

fact, the stolen pocket-book contained twenty thousand francs.

Of course, some accused the unfortunate man of having simulated

this attack on himself. But, apart from the fact that he could

not have bound himself in that manner, it was established that the

writing on the card was entirely different from that of Rozaine,

but, on the contrary, resembled the handwriting of Arsene Lupin as

it was reproduced in an old newspaper found on board.

Thus it appeared that Rozaine was not Arsene Lupin; but was

Rozaine, the son of a Bordeaux merchant. And the presence of

Arsene Lupin was once more affirmed, and that in a most alarming

manner.

Such was the state of terror amongst the passengers that none

would remain alone in a stateroom or wander singly in unfrequented

parts of the vessel. We clung together as a matter of safety.

And yet the most intimate acquaintances were estranged by a mutual

feeling of distrust. Arsene Lupin was, now, anybody and

everybody. Our excited imaginations attributed to him miraculous

and unlimited power. We supposed him capable of assuming the most

unexpected disguises; of being, by turns, the highly respectable

Major Rawson or the noble Marquis de Raverdan, or even--for we no

longer stopped with the accusing letter of R--or even such or such

a person well known to all of us, and having wife, children and

servants.

The first wireless dispatches from America brought no news; at

least, the captain did not communicate any to us. The silence was

not reassuring.

Our last day on the steamer seemed interminable. We lived in

constant fear of some disaster. This time, it would not be a

simple theft or a comparatively harmless assault; it would be a

crime, a murder. No one imagined that Arsene Lupin would confine

himself to those two trifling offenses. Absolute master of the

ship, the authorities powerless, he could do whatever he pleased;

our property and lives were at his mercy.

Yet those were delightful hours for me, since they secured to me

the confidence of Miss Nelly. Deeply moved by those startling

events and being of a highly nervous nature, she spontaneously

sought at my side a protection and security that I was pleased to

give her. Inwardly, I blessed Arsene Lupin. Had he not been the

means of bringing me and Miss Nelly closer to each other? Thanks

to him, I could now indulge in delicious dreams of love and

happiness--dreams that, I felt, were not unwelcome to Miss Nelly.

Her smiling eyes authorized me to make them; the softness of her

voice bade me hope.

As we approached the American shore, the active search for the

thief was apparently abandoned, and we were anxiously awaiting the

supreme moment in which the mysterious enigma would be explained.

Who was Arsene Lupin? Under what name, under what disguise was

the famous Arsene Lupin concealing himself? And, at last, that

supreme moment arrived. If I live one hundred years, I shall not

forget the slightest details of it.

"How pale you are, Miss Nelly," I said to my companion, as she

leaned upon my arm, almost fainting.

"And you!" she replied, "ah! you are so changed."

"Just think! this is a most exciting moment, and I am delighted to

spend it with you, Miss Nelly. I hope that your memory will

sometimes revert---"

But she was not listening. She was nervous and excited. The

gangway was placed in position, but, before we could use it, the

uniformed customs officers came on board. Miss Nelly murmured:

"I shouldn't be surprised to hear that Arsene Lupin escaped from

the vessel during the voyage."

"Perhaps he preferred death to dishonor, and plunged into the

Atlantic rather than be arrested."

"Oh, do not laugh," she said.

Suddenly I started, and, in answer to her question, I said:

"Do you see that little old man standing at the bottom of the

gangway?"

"With an umbrella and an olive-green coat?"

"It is Ganimard."

"Ganimard?"

"Yes, the celebrated detective who has sworn to capture Arsene

Lupin. Ah! I can understand now why we did not receive any news

from this side of the Atlantic. Ganimard was here! and he always

keeps his business secret."

"Then you think he will arrest Arsene Lupin?"

"Who can tell? The unexpected always happens when Arsene Lupin is

concerned in the affair."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, with that morbid curiosity peculiar to women,

"I should like to see him arrested."

"You will have to be patient. No doubt, Arsene Lupin has already

seen his enemy and will not be in a hurry to leave the steamer."

The passengers were now leaving the steamer. Leaning on his

umbrella, with an air of careless indifference, Ganimard appeared

to be paying no attention to the crowd that was hurrying down the

gangway. The Marquis de Raverdan, Major Rawson, the Italian

Rivolta, and many others had already left the vessel before

Rozaine appeared. Poor Rozaine!

"Perhaps it is he, after all," said Miss Nelly to me. "What do

you think?"

"I think it would be very interesting to have Ganimard and Rozaine

in the same picture. You take the camera. I am loaded down."

I gave her the camera, but too late for her to use it. Rozaine

was already passing the detective. An American officer, standing

behind Ganimard, leaned forward and whispered in his ear. The

French detective shrugged his shoulders and Rozaine passed on.

Then, my God, who was Arsene Lupin?

"Yes," said Miss Nelly, aloud, "who can it be?"

Not more than twenty people now remained on board. She

scrutinized them one by one, fearful that Arsene Lupin was not

amongst them.

"We cannot wait much longer," I said to her.

She started toward the gangway. I followed. But we had not taken

ten steps when Ganimard barred out passage.

"Well, what is it?" I exclaimed.

"One moment, monsieur. What's your hurry?"

"I am escorting mademoiselle."

"One moment," he repeated, in a tone of authority. Then, gazing

into my eyes, he said:

"Arsene Lupin, is it not?"

I laughed, and replied: "No, simply Bernard d'Andrezy."

"Bernard d'Andrezy died in Macedonia three years ago."

"If Bernard d'Andrezy were dead, I should not be here. But you

are mistaken. Here are my papers."

"They are his; and I can tell you exactly how they cam into your

possession."

"You are a fool!" I exclaimed. "Arsene Lupin sailed under the

name of R---"

"Yes, another of your tricks; a false scent that deceived them at

Havre. You play a good game, my boy, but this time luck is

against you."

I hesitated a moment. Then he hit me a sharp blow on the right

arm, which caused me to utter a cry of pain. He had struck the

wound, yet unhealed, referred to in the telegram.

I was obliged to surrender. There was no alternative. I turned

to Miss Nelly, who had heard everything. Our eyes met; then she

glanced at the Kodak I had placed in her hands, and made a gesture

that conveyed to me the impression that she understood everything.

Yes, there, between the narrow folds of black leather, in the

hollow centre of the small object that I had taken the precaution

to place in her hands before Ganimard arrested me, it was there I

had deposited Rozaine's twenty thousand francs and Lady Jerland's

pearls and diamonds.

Oh! I pledge my oath that, at that solemn moment, when I was in

the grasp of Ganimard and his two assistants, I was perfectly

indifferent to everything, to my arrest, the hostility of the

people, everything except this one question: what will Miss Nelly

do with the things I had confided to her?

In the absence of that material and conclusive proof, I had

nothing to fear; but would Miss Nelly decide to furnish that

proof? Would she betray me? Would she act the part of an enemy

who cannot forgive, or that of a woman whose scorn is softened by

feelings of indulgence and involuntary sympathy?

She passed in front of me. I said nothing, but bowed very low.

Mingled with the other passengers, she advanced to the gangway

with my kodak in her hand. It occurred to me that she would not

dare to expose me publicly, but she might do so when she reached a

more private place. However, when she had passed only a few feet

down the gangway, with a movement of simulated awkwardness, she

let the camera fall into the water between the vessel and the

pier. Then she walked down the gangway, and was quickly lost to

sight in the crowd. She had passed out of my life forever.

For a moment, I stood motionless. Then, to Ganimard's great

astonishment, I muttered:

"What a pity that I am not an honest man!"

Such was the story of his arrest as narrated to me by Arsene Lupin

himself. The various incidents, which I shall record in writing

at a later day, have established between us certain ties....shall

I say of friendship? Yes, I venture to believe that Arsene Lupin

honors me with his friendship, and that it is through friendship

that he occasionally calls on me, and brings, into the silence of

my library, his youthful exuberance of spirits, the contagion of

his enthusiasm, and the mirth of a man for whom destiny has naught

but favors and smiles.

His portrait? How can I describe him? I have seen him twenty

times and each time he was a different person; even he himself

said to me on one occasion: "I no longer know who I am. I cannot

recognize myself in the mirror." Certainly, he was a great actor,

and possessed a marvelous faculty for disguising himself. Without

the slightest effort, he could adopt the voice, gestures and

mannerisms of another person.

"Why," said he, "why should I retain a definite form and feature?

Why not avoid the danger of a personality that is ever the same?

My actions will serve to identify me."

Then he added, with a touch of pride:

"So much the better if no one can ever say with absolute

certainty: There is Arsene Lupin! The essential point is that the

public may be able to refer to my work and say, without fear of

mistake: Arsene Lupin did that!"

II. Arsene Lupin in Prison

There is no tourist worthy of the name who does not know the banks

of the Seine, and has not noticed, in passing, the little feudal

castle of the Malaquis, built upon a rock in the centre of the

river. An arched bridge connects it with the shore. All around

it, the calm waters of the great river play peacefully amongst the

reeds, and the wagtails flutter over the moist crests of the

stones.

The history of the Malaquis castle is stormy like its name, harsh

like its outlines. It has passed through a long series of

combats, sieges, assaults, rapines and massacres. A recital of

the crimes that have been committed there would cause the stoutest

heart to tremble. There are many mysterious legends connected

with the castle, and they tell us of a famous subterranean tunnel

that formerly led to the abbey of Jumieges and to the manor of

Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII.

In that ancient habitation of heroes and brigands, the Baron

Nathan Cahorn now lived; or Baron Satan as he was formerly called

on the Bourse, where he had acquired a fortune with incredible

rapidity. The lords of Malaquis, absolutely ruined, had been

obliged to sell the ancient castle at a great sacrifice. It

contained an admirable collection of furniture, pictures, wood

carvings, and faience. The Baron lived there alone, attended by

three old servants. No one ever enters the place. No one had

ever beheld the three Rubens that he possessed, his two Watteau,

his Jean Goujon pulpit, and the many other treasures that he had

acquired by a vast expenditure of money at public sales.

Baron Satan lived in constant fear, not for himself, but for the

treasures that he had accumulated with such an earnest devotion

and with so much perspicacity that the shrewdest merchant could

not say that the Baron had ever erred in his taste or judgment.

He loved them--his bibelots. He loved them intensely, like a

miser; jealously, like a lover. Every day, at sunset, the iron

gates at either end of the bridge and at the entrance to the court

of honor are closed and barred. At the least touch on these

gates, electric bells will ring throughout the castle.

One Thursday in September, a letter-carrier presented himself at

the gate at the head of the bridge, and, as usual, it was the

Baron himself who partially opened the heavy portal. He

scrutinized the man as minutely as if he were a stranger, although

the honest face and twinkling eyes of the postman had been

familiar to the Baron for many years. The man laughed, as he

said:

"It is only I, Monsieur le Baron. It is not another man wearing

my cap and blouse."

"One can never tell," muttered the Baron.

The man handed him a number of newspapers, and then said:

"And now, Monsieur le Baron, here is something new."

"Something new?"

"Yes, a letter. A registered letter."

Living as a recluse, without friends or business relations, the

baron never received any letters, and the one now presented to him

immediately aroused within him a feeling of suspicion and

distrust. It was like an evil omen. Who was this mysterious

correspondent that dared to disturb the tranquility of his

retreat?

"You must sign for it, Monsieur le Baron."

He signed; then took the letter, waited until the postman had

disappeared beyond the bend in the road, and, after walking

nervously to and fro for a few minutes, he leaned against the

parapet of the bridge and opened the envelope. It contained a

sheet of paper, bearing this heading: Prison de la Sante, Paris.

He looked at the signature: Arsene Lupin. Then he read:

"Monsieur le Baron:

"There is, in the gallery in your castle, a picture of Philippe

de Champaigne, of exquisite finish, which pleases me beyond

measure. Your Rubens are also to my taste, as well as your

smallest Watteau. In the salon to the right, I have noticed the

Louis XIII cadence-table, the tapestries of Beauvais, the Empire

gueridon signed `Jacob,' and the Renaissance chest. In the salon

to the left, all the cabinet full of jewels and miniatures.

"For the present, I will content myself with those articles that

can be conveniently removed. I will therefore ask you to pack

them carefully and ship them to me, charges prepaid, to the

station at Batignolles, within eight days, otherwise I shall be

obliged to remove them myself during the night of 27 September;

but, under those circumstances, I shall not content myself with

the articles above mentioned.

"Accept my apologies for any inconvenience I may cause you, and

believe me to be your humble servant,

"Arsene Lupin."

"P. S.--Please do not send the largest Watteau. Although you

paid thirty thousand francs for it, it is only a copy, the

original having been burned, under the Directoire by Barras,

during a night of debauchery. Consult the memoirs of Garat.

"I do not care for the Louis XV chatelaine, as I doubt its

authenticity."

That letter completely upset the baron. Had it borne any other

signature, he would have been greatly alarmed--but signed by Arsene

Lupin!

As an habitual reader of the newspapers, he was versed in the

history of recent crimes, and was therefore well acquainted with

the exploits of the mysterious burglar. Of course, he knew that

Lupin had been arrested in America by his enemy Ganimard and was

at present incarcerated in the Prison de la Sante. But he knew

also that any miracle might be expected from Arsene Lupin.

Moreover, that exact knowledge of the castle, the location of the

pictures and furniture, gave the affair an alarming aspect. How

could he have acquired that information concerning things that no

one had ever seen?

The baron raised his eyes and contemplated the stern outlines of

the castle, its steep rocky pedestal, the depth of the surrounding

water, and shrugged his shoulders. Certainly, there was no

danger. No one in the world could force an entrance to the

sanctuary that contained his priceless treasures.

No one, perhaps, but Arsene Lupin! For him, gates, walls and

drawbridges did not exist. What use were the most formidable

obstacles or the most careful precautions, if Arsene Lupin had

decided to effect an entrance?

That evening, he wrote to the Procurer of the Republique at Rouen.

He enclosed the threatening letter and solicited aid and

protection.

The reply cam at once to the effect that Arsene Lupin was in

custody in the Prison de la Sante, under close surveillance, with

no opportunity to write such a letter, which was, no doubt, the

work of some imposter. But, as an act of precaution, the Procurer

had submitted the letter to an expert in handwriting, who declared

that, in spite of certain resemblances, the writing was not that

of the prisoner.

But the words "in spite of certain resemblances" caught the

attention of the baron; in them, he read the possibility of a

doubt which appeared to him quite sufficient to warrant the

intervention of the law. His fears increased. He read Lupin's

letter over and over again. "I shall be obliged to remove them

myself." And then there was the fixed date: the night of 27

September.

To confide in his servants was a proceeding repugnant to his

nature; but now, for the first time in many years, he experienced

the necessity of seeking counsel with some one. Abandoned by the

legal official of his own district, and feeling unable to defend

himself with his own resources, he was on the point of going to

Paris to engage the services of a detective.

Two days passed; on the third day, he was filled with hope and joy

as he read the following item in the `Reveil de Caudebec', a

newspaper published in a neighboring town:

"We have the pleasure of entertaining in our city, at the present

time, the veteran detective Mon. Ganimard who acquired a world-

wide reputation by his clever capture of Arsene Lupin. He has

come here for rest and recreation, and, being an enthusiastic

fisherman, he threatens to capture all the fish in our river."

Ganimard! Ah, here is the assistance desired by Baron Cahorn!

Who could baffle the schemes of Arsene Lupin better than Ganimard,

the patient and astute detective? He was the man for the place.

The baron did not hesitate. The town of Caudebec was only six

kilometers from the castle, a short distance to a man whose step

was accelerated by the hope of safety.

After several fruitless attempts to ascertain the detective's

address, the baron visited the office of the `Reveil,' situated on

the quai. There he found the writer of the article who,

approaching the window, exclaimed:

"Ganimard? Why, you are sure to see him somewhere on the quai

with his fishing-pole. I met him there and chanced to read his

name engraved on his rod. Ah, there he is now, under the trees."

"That little man, wearing a straw hat?"

"Exactly. He is a gruff fellow, with little to say."

Five minutes later, the baron approached the celebrated Ganimard,

introduced himself, and sought to commence a conversation, but

that was a failure. Then he broached the real object of his

interview, and briefly stated his case. The other listened,

motionless, with his attention riveted on his fishing-rod. When

the baron had finished his story, the fisherman turned, with an

air of profound pity, and said:

"Monsieur, it is not customary for thieves to warn people they are

about to rob. Arsene Lupin, especially, would not commit such a

folly."

"But---"

"Monsieur, if I had the least doubt, believe me, the pleasure of

again capturing Arsene Lupin would place me at your disposal.

But, unfortunately, that young man is already under lock and key."

"He may have escaped."

"No one ever escaped from the Sante."

"But, he---"

"He, no more than any other."

"Yet---"

"Well, if he escapes, so much the better. I will catch him again.

Meanwhile, you go home and sleep soundly. That will do for the

present. You frighten the fish."

The conversation was ended. The baron returned to the castle,

reassured to some extent by Ganimard's indifference. He examined

the bolts, watched the servants, and, during the next forty-eight

hours, he became almost persuaded that his fears were groundless.

Certainly, as Ganimard had said, thieves do not warn people they

are about to rob.

The fateful day was close at hand. It was now the twenty-sixth of

September and nothing had happened. But at three o'clock the bell

rang. A boy brought this telegram:

"No goods at Batignolles station. Prepare everything for tomorrow

night. Arsene."

This telegram threw the baron into such a state of excitement that

he even considered the advisability of yielding to Lupin's

demands.

However, he hastened to Caudebec. Ganimard was fishing at the

same place, seated on a campstool. Without a word, he handed him

the telegram.

"Well, what of it?" said the detective.

"What of it? But it is tomorrow."

"What is tomorrow?"

"The robbery! The pillage of my collections!"

Ganimard laid down his fishing-rod, turned to the baron, and

exclaimed, in a tone of impatience:

"Ah! Do you think I am going to bother myself about such a silly

story as that!"

"How much do you ask to pass tomorrow night in the castle?"

"Not a sou. Now, leave me alone."

"Name your own price. I am rich and can pay it."

This offer disconcerted Ganimard, who replied, calmly:

"I am here on a vacation. I have no right to undertake such

work."

"No one will know. I promise to keep it secret."

"Oh! nothing will happen."

"Come! three thousand francs. Will that be enough?"

The detective, after a moment's reflection, said:

"Very well. But I must warn you that you are throwing your money

out of the window."

"I do not care."

"In that case...but, after all, what do we know about this devil

Lupin! He may have quite a numerous band of robbers with him.

Are you sure of your servants?"

"My faith---"

"Better not count on them. I will telegraph for two of my men to

help me. And now, go! It is better for us not to be seen

together. Tomorrow evening about nine o'clock."

* * * * *

The following day--the date fixed by Arsene Lupin--Baron Cahorn

arranged all his panoply of war, furbished his weapons, and, like

a sentinel, paced to and fro in front of the castle. He saw

nothing, heard nothing. At half-past eight o'clock in the

evening, he dismissed his servants. They occupied rooms in a wing

of the building, in a retired spot, well removed from the main

portion of the castle. Shortly thereafter, the baron heard the

sound of approaching footsteps. It was Ganimard and his two

assistants--great, powerful fellows with immense hands, and necks

like bulls. After asking a few questions relating to the location

of the various entrances and rooms, Ganimard carefully closed and

barricaded all the doors and windows through which one could gain

access to the threatened rooms. He inspected the walls, raised

the tapestries, and finally installed his assistants in the

central gallery which was located between the two salons.

"No nonsense! We are not here to sleep. At the slightest sound,

open the windows of the court and call me. Pay attention also to

the water-side. Ten metres of perpendicular rock is no obstacle

to those devils."

Ganimard locked his assistants in the gallery, carried away the

keys, and said to the baron:

"And now, to our post."

He had chosen for himself a small room located in the thick outer

wall, between the two principal doors, and which, in former years,

had been the watchman's quarters. A peep-hole opened upon the

bridge; another on the court. In one corner, there was an opening

to a tunnel.

"I believe you told me, Monsieur le Baron, that this tunnel is the

only subterranean entrance to the castle and that it has been

closed up for time immemorial?"

"Yes."

"Then, unless there is some other entrance, known only to Arsene

Lupin, we are quite safe."

He placed three chairs together, stretched himself upon them,

lighted his pipe and sighed:

"Really, Monsieur le Baron, I feel ashamed to accept your money

for such a sinecure as this. I will tell the story to my friend

Lupin. He will enjoy it immensely."

The baron did not laugh. He was anxiously listening, but heard

nothing save the beating of his own heart. From time to time, he

leaned over the tunnel and cast a fearful eye into its depths. He

heard the clock strike eleven, twelve, one.

Suddenly, he seized Ganimard's arm. The latter leaped up,

awakened from his sleep.

"Do you hear?" asked the baron, in a whisper.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"I was snoring, I suppose."

"No, no, listen."

"Ah! yes, it is the horn of an automobile."

"Well?"

"Well! it is very improbable that Lupin would use an automobile

like a battering-ram to demolish your castle. Come, Monsieur le

Baron, return to your post. I am going to sleep. Good-night."

That was the only alarm. Ganimard resumed his interrupted

slumbers, and the baron heard nothing except the regular snoring

of his companion. At break of day, they left the room. The

castle was enveloped in a profound calm; it was a peaceful dawn on

the bosom of a tranquil river. They mounted the stairs, Cahorn

radiant with joy, Ganimard calm as usual. They heard no sound;

they saw nothing to arouse suspicion.

"What did I tell you, Monsieur le Baron? Really, I should not

have accepted your offer. I am ashamed."

He unlocked the door and entered the gallery. Upon two chairs,

with drooping heads and pendent arms, the detective's two

assistants were asleep.

"Tonnerre de nom d'un chien!" exclaimed Ganimard. At the same

moment, the baron cried out:

"The pictures! The credence!"

He stammered, choked, with arms outstretched toward the empty

places, toward the denuded walls where naught remained but the

useless nails and cords. The Watteau, disappeared! The Rubens,

carried away! The tapestries taken down! The cabinets, despoiled

of their jewels!

"And my Louis XVI candelabra! And the Regent chandelier!...And

my twelfth-century Virgin!"

He ran from one spot to another in wildest despair. He recalled

the purchase price of each article, added up the figures, counted

his losses, pell-mell, in confused words and unfinished phrases.

He stamped with rage; he groaned with grief. He acted like a

ruined man whose only hope is suicide.

If anything could have consoled him, it would have been the

stupefaction displayed by Ganimard. The famous detective did not

move. He appeared to be petrified; he examined the room in a

listless manner. The windows?....closed. The locks on the

doors?....intact. Not a break in the ceiling; not a hole in the

floor. Everything was in perfect order. The theft had been

carried out methodically, according to a logical and inexorable

plan.

"Arsene Lupin....Arsene Lupin," he muttered.

Suddenly, as if moved by anger, he rushed upon his two assistants

and shook them violently. They did not awaken.

"The devil!" he cried. "Can it be possible?"

He leaned over them and, in turn, examined them closely. They

were asleep; but their response was unnatural.

"They have been drugged," he said to the baron.

"By whom?"

"By him, of course, or his men under his discretion. That work

bears his stamp."

"In that case, I am lost--nothing can be done."

"Nothing," assented Ganimard.

"It is dreadful; it is monstrous."

"Lodge a complaint."

"What good will that do?"

"Oh; it is well to try it. The law has some resources."

"The law! Bah! it is useless. You represent the law, and, at

this moment, when you should be looking for a clue and trying to

discover something, you do not even stir."

"Discover something with Arsene Lupin! Why, my dear monsieur,

Arsene Lupin never leaves any clue behind him. He leaves nothing

to chance. Sometimes I think he put himself in my way and simply

allowed me to arrest him in America."

"Then, I must renounce my pictures! He has taken the gems of my

collection. I would give a fortune to recover them. If there is

no other way, let him name his own price."

Ganimard regarded the baron attentively, as he said:

"Now, that is sensible. Will you stick to it?"

"Yes, yes. But why?"

"An idea that I have."

"What is it?"

"We will discuss it later--if the official examination does not

succeed. But, not one word about me, if you wish my assistance."

He added, between his teeth:

"It is true I have nothing to boast of in this affair."

The assistants were gradually regaining consciousness with the

bewildered air of people who come out of an hypnotic sleep. They

opened their eyes and looked about them in astonishment. Ganimard

questioned them; they remembered nothing.

"But you must have seen some one?"

"No."

"Can't you remember?"

"No, no."

"Did you drink anything?"

They considered a moment, and then one of them replied:

"Yes, I drank a little water."

"Out of that carafe?"

"Yes."

"So did I," declared the other.

Ganimard smelled and tasted it. It had no particular taste and no

odor.

"Come," he said, "we are wasting our time here. One can't decide

an Arsene Lupin problem in five minutes. But, morbleau! I swear

I will catch him again."

The same day, a charge of burglary was duly performed by Baron

Cahorn against Arsene Lupin, a prisoner in the Prison de la Sante.

* * * * *

The baron afterwards regretted making the charge against Lupin

when he saw his castle delivered over to the gendarmes, the

procureur, the judge d'instruction, the newspaper reporters and

photographers, and a throng of idle curiosity-seekers.

The affair soon became a topic of general discussion, and the name

of Arsene Lupin excited the public imagination to such an extent

that the newspapers filled their columns with the most fantastic

stories of his exploits which found ready credence amongst their

readers.

But the letter of Arsene Lupin that was published in the `Echo de

France' (no once ever knew how the newspaper obtained it), that

letter in which Baron Cahorn was impudently warned of the coming

theft, caused considerable excitement. The most fabulous theories

were advanced. Some recalled the existence of the famous

subterranean tunnels, and that was the line of research pursued by

the officers of the law, who searched the house from top to

bottom, questioned every stone, studied the wainscoting and the

chimneys, the window-frames and the girders in the ceilings. By

the light of torches, they examined the immense cellars where the

lords of Malaquis were wont to store their munitions and

provisions. They sounded the rocky foundation to its very centre.

But it was all in vain. They discovered no trace of a subterranean

tunnel. No secret passage existed.

But the eager public declared that the pictures and furniture

could not vanish like so many ghosts. They are substantial,

material things and require doors and windows for their exits and

their entrances, and so do the people that remove them. Who were

those people? How did they gain access to the castle? And how

did they leave it?

The police officers of Rouen, convinced of their own impotence,

solicited the assistance of the Parisian detective force. Mon.

Dudouis, chief of the Surete, sent the best sleuths of the iron

brigade. He himself spent forty-eight hours at the castle, but

met with no success. Then he sent for Ganimard, whose past

services had proved so useful when all else failed.

Ganimard listened, in silence, to the instructions of his

superior; then, shaking his head, he said:

"In my opinion, it is useless to ransack the castle. The solution

of the problem lies elsewhere."

"Where, then?"

"With Arsene Lupin."

"With Arsene Lupin! To support that theory, we must admit his

intervention."

"I do admit it. In fact, I consider it quite certain."

"Come, Ganimard, that is absurd. Arsene Lupin is in prison."

"I grant you that Arsene Lupin is in prison, closely guarded; but

he must have fetters on his feet, manacles on his wrists, and gag

in his mouth before I change my opinion."

"Why so obstinate, Ganimard?"

"Because Arsene Lupin is the only man in France of sufficient

calibre to invent and carry out a scheme of that magnitude."

"Mere words, Ganimard."

"But true ones. Look! What are they doing? Searching for

subterranean passages, stones swinging on pivots, and other nonsense

of that kind. But Lupin doesn't employ such old-fashioned methods.

He is a modern cracksman, right up to date."

"And how would you proceed?"

"I should ask your permission to spend an hour with him."

"In his cell?"

"Yes. During the return trip from America we became very

friendly, and I venture to say that if he can give me any

information without compromising himself he will not hesitate to

save me from incurring useless trouble."

It was shortly after noon when Ganimard entered the cell of Arsene

Lupin. The latter, who was lying on his bed, raised his head and

uttered a cry of apparent joy.

"Ah! This is a real surprise. My dear Ganimard, here!"

"Ganimard himself."

"In my chosen retreat, I have felt a desire for many things, but

my fondest wish was to receive you here."

"Very kind of you, I am sure."

"Not at all. You know I hold you in the highest regard."

"I am proud of it."

"I have always said: Ganimard is our best detective. He is

almost,--you see how candid I am!--he is almost as clever as

Sherlock Holmes. But I am sorry that I cannot offer you anything

better than this hard stool. And no refreshments! Not even a

glass of beer! Of course, you will excuse me, as I am here only

temporarily."

Ganimard smiled, and accepted the proffered seat. Then the

prisoner continued:

"Mon Dieu, how pleased I am to see the face of an honest man. I

am so tired of those devils of spies who come here ten times a day

to ransack my pockets and my cell to satisfy themselves that I am

not preparing to escape. The government is very solicitous on my

account."

"It is quite right."

"Why so? I should be quite contented if they would allow me to

live in my own quiet way."

"On other people's money."

"Quite so. That would be so simple. But here, I am joking, and

you are, no doubt, in a hurry. So let us come to business,

Ganimard. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?

"The Cahorn affair," declared Ganimard, frankly.

"Ah! Wait, one moment. You see I have had so many affairs!

First, let me fix in my mind the circumstances of this particular

case....Ah! yes, now I have it. The Cahorn affair, Malaquis

castle, Seine-Inferieure....Two Rubens, a Watteau, and a few

trifling articles."

"Trifling!"

"Oh! ma foi, all that is of slight importance. But it suffices to

know that the affair interests you. How can I serve you,

Ganimard?"

"Must I explain to you what steps the authorities have taken in

the matter?"

"Not at all. I have read the newspapers and I will frankly state

that you have made very little progress."

"And that is the reason I have come to see you."

"I am entirely at your service."

"In the first place, the Cahorn affair was managed by you?"

"From A to Z."

"The letter of warning? the telegram?"

"All mine. I ought to have the receipts somewhere."

Arsene opened the drawer of a small table of plain white wood

which, with the bed and stool, constituted all the furniture in

his cell, and took therefrom two scraps of paper which he handed

to Ganimard.

"Ah!" exclaimed the detective, in surprise, "I though you were

closely guarded and searched, and I find that you read the

newspapers and collect postal receipts."

"Bah! these people are so stupid! They open the lining of my

vest, they examine the soles of my shoes, they sound the walls of

my cell, but they never imagine that Arsene Lupin would be foolish

enough to choose such a simple hiding place."

Ganimard laughed, as he said:

"What a droll fellow you are! Really, you bewilder me. But, come

now, tell me about the Cahorn affair."

"Oh! oh! not quite so fast! You would rob me of all my secrets;

expose all my little tricks. That is a very serious matter."

"Was I wrong to count on your complaisance?"

"No, Ganimard, and since you insist---"

Arsene Lupin paced his cell two or three times, then, stopping

before Ganimard, he asked:

"What do you think of my letter to the baron?"

"I think you were amusing yourself by playing to the gallery."

"Ah! playing to the gallery! Come, Ganimard, I thought you knew

me better. Do I, Arsene Lupin, ever waste my time on such

puerilities? Would I have written that letter if I could have

robbed the baron without writing to him? I want you to understand

that the letter was indispensable; it was the motor that set the

whole machine in motion. Now, let us discuss together a scheme

for the robbery of the Malaquis castle. Are you willing?"

"Yes, proceed."

"Well, let us suppose a castle carefully closed and barricaded

like that of the Baron Cahorn. Am I to abandon my scheme and

renounce the treasures that I covet, upon the pretext that the

castle which holds them is inaccessible?"

"Evidently not."

"Should I make an assault upon the castle at the head of a band of

adventurers as they did in ancient times?"

"That would be foolish."

"Can I gain admittance by stealth or cunning?"

"Impossible."

"Then there is only one way open to me. I must have the owner of

the castle invite me to it."

"That is surely an original method."

"And how easy! Let us suppose that one day the owner receives a

letter warning him that a notorious burglar known as Arsene Lupin

is plotting to rob him. What will he do?"

"Send a letter to the Procureur."

"Who will laugh at him, *because the said Arsene Lupin is actually

in prison.* Then, in his anxiety and fear, the simple man will

ask the assistance of the first-comer, will he not?"

"Very likely."

"And if he happens to read in a country newspaper that a

celebrated detective is spending his vacation in a neighboring

town---"

"He will seek that detective."

"Of course. But, on the other hand, let us presume that, having

foreseen that state of affairs, the said Arsene Lupin has

requested one of his friends to visit Caudebec, make the

acquaintance of the editor of the `Reveil,' a newspaper to which

the baron is a subscriber, and let said editor understand that

such person is the celebrated detective--then, what will happen?"

"The editor will announce in the `Reveil' the presence in Caudebec

of said detective."

"Exactly; and one of two things will happen: either the fish--I

mean Cahorn--will not bite, and nothing will happen; or, what is

more likely, he will run and greedily swallow the bait. Thus,

behold my Baron Cahorn imploring the assistance of one of my

friends against me."

"Original, indeed!"

"Of course, the pseudo-detective at first refuses to give any

assistance. On top of that comes the telegram from Arsene Lupin.

The frightened baron rushes once more to my friend and offers him

a definite sum of money for his services. My friend accepts and

summons two members of our band, who, during the night, whilst

Cahorn is under the watchful eye of his protector, removes certain

articles by way of the window and lowers them with ropes into a

nice little launch chartered for the occasion. Simple, isn't it?"

"Marvelous! Marvelous!" exclaimed Ganimard. "The boldness of the

scheme and the ingenuity of all its details are beyond criticism.

But who is the detective whose name and fame served as a magnet to

attract the baron and draw him into your net?"

"There is only one name could do it--only one."

"And that is?"

"Arsene Lupin's personal enemy--the most illustrious Ganimard."

"I?"

"Yourself, Ganimard. And, really, it is very funny. If you go

there, and the baron decides to talk, you will find that it will

be your duty to arrest yourself, just as you arrested me in

America. Hein! the revenge is really amusing: I cause Ganimard to

arrest Ganimard."

Arsene Lupin laughed heartily. The detective, greatly vexed, bit

his lips; to him the joke was quite devoid of humor. The arrival

of a prison guard gave Ganimard an opportunity to recover himself.

The man brought Arsene Lupin's luncheon, furnished by a

neighboring restaurant. After depositing the tray upon the table,

the guard retired. Lupin broke his bread, ate a few morsels, and

continued:

"But, rest easy, my dear Ganimard, you will not go to Malaquis. I

can tell you something that will astonish you: the Cahorn affair

is on the point of being settled."

"Excuse me; I have just seen the Chief of the Surete."

"What of that? Does Mon. Dudouis know my business better than I

do myself? You will learn that Ganimard--excuse me--that the

pseudo-Ganimard still remains on very good terms with the baron.

The latter has authorized him to negotiate a very delicate

transaction with me, and, at the present moment, in consideration

of a certain sum, it is probable that the baron has recovered

possession of his pictures and other treasures. And on their

return, he will withdraw his complaint. Thus, there is no longer

any theft, and the law must abandon the case."

Ganimard regarded the prisoner with a bewildered air.

"And how do you know all that?"

"I have just received the telegram I was expecting."

"You have just received a telegram?"

"This very moment, my dear friend. Out of politeness, I did not

wish to read it in your presence. But if you will permit me---"

"You are joking, Lupin."

"My dear friend, if you will be so kind as to break that egg, you

will learn for yourself that I am not joking."

Mechanically, Ganimard obeyed, and cracked the egg-shell with the

blade of a knife. He uttered a cry of surprise. The shell

contained nothing but a small piece of blue paper. At the request

of Arsene he unfolded it. It was a telegram, or rather a portion

of a telegram from which the post-marks had been removed. It read

as follows:

"Contract closed. Hundred thousand balls delivered. All well."

"One hundred thousand balls?" said Ganimard.

"Yes, one hundred thousand francs. Very little, but then, you

know, these are hard times....And I have some heavy bills to meet.

If you only knew my budget....living in the city comes very high."

Ganimard arose. His ill humor had disappeared. He reflected for

a moment, glancing over the whole affair in an effort to discover

a weak point; then, in a tone and manner that betrayed his

admiration of the prisoner, he said:

"Fortunately, we do not have a dozen such as you to deal with; if

we did, we would have to close up shop."

Arsene Lupin assumed a modest air, as he replied:

"Bah! a person must have some diversion to occupy his leisure

hours, especially when he is in prison."

"What!" exclaimed Ganimard, "your trial, your defense, the

examination--isn't that sufficient to occupy your mind?"

"No, because I have decided not to be present at my trial."

"Oh! oh!"

Arsene Lupin repeated, positively:

"I shall not be present at my trial."

"Really!"

"Ah! my dear monsieur, do you suppose I am going to rot upon the

wet straw? You insult me. Arsene Lupin remains in prison just as

long as it pleases him, and not one minute more."

"Perhaps it would have been more prudent if you had avoided

getting there," said the detective, ironically.

"Ah! monsieur jests? Monsieur must remember that he had the honor

to effect my arrest. Know then, my worthy friend, that no one,

not even you, could have placed a hand upon me if a much more

important event had occupied my attention at that critical

moment."

"You astonish me."

"A woman was looking at me, Ganimard, and I loved her. Do you

fully understand what that means: to be under the eyes of a woman

that one loves? I cared for nothing in the world but that. And

that is why I am here."

"Permit me to say: you have been here a long time."

"In the first place, I wished to forget. Do not laugh; it was a

delightful adventure and it is still a tender memory. Besides, I

have been suffering from neurasthenia. Life is so feverish these

days that it is necessary to take the `rest cure' occasionally,

and I find this spot a sovereign remedy for my tired nerves."

"Arsene Lupin, you are not a bad fellow, after all."

"Thank you," said Lupin. "Ganimard, this is Friday. On Wednesday

next, at four o'clock in the afternoon, I will smoke my cigar at

your house in the rue Pergolese."

"Arsene Lupin, I will expect you."

They shook hands like two old friends who valued each other at

their true worth; then the detective stepped to the door.

"Ganimard!"

"What is it?" asked Ganimard, as he turned back.

"You have forgotten your watch."

"My watch?"

"Yes, it strayed into my pocket."

He returned the watch, excusing himself.

"Pardon me....a bad habit. Because they have taken mine is nor

reason why I should take yours. Besides, I have a chronometer

here that satisfies me fairly well."

He took from the drawer a large gold watch and heavy chain.

"From whose pocket did that come?" asked Ganimard.

Arsene Lupin gave a hasty glance at the initials engraved on the

watch.

"J.B.....Who the devil can that be?....Ah! yes, I remember. Jules

Bouvier, the judge who conducted my examination. A charming

fellow!...."

III. The Escape of Arsene Lupin

Arsene Lupin had just finished his repast and taken from his

pocket and excellent cigar, with a gold band, which he was

examining with unusual care, when the door of his cell was opened.

He had barely time to throw the cigar into the drawer and move

away from the table. The guard entered. It was the hour for

exercise.

"I was waiting for you, my dear boy," exclaimed Lupin, in his

accustomed good humor.

They went out together. As soon as they had disappeared at a turn

in the corridor, two men entered the cell and commenced a minute

examination of it. One was Inspector Dieuzy; the other was

Inspector Folenfant. They wished to verify their suspicion that

Arsene Lupin was in communication with his accomplices outside of

the prison. On the preceding evening, the `Grand Journal' had

published these lines addressed to its court reporter:

"Monsieur:

"In a recent article you referred to me in most unjustifiable

terms. Some days before the opening of my trial I will call you

to account. Arsene Lupin."

The handwriting was certainly that of Arsene Lupin. Consequently,

he sent letters; and, no doubt, received letters. It was certain

that he was preparing for that escape thus arrogantly announced by

him.

The situation had become intolerable. Acting in conjunction with

the examining judge, the chief of the Surete, Mon. Dudouis, had

visited the prison and instructed the gaoler in regard to the

precautions necessary to insure Lupin's safety. At the same time,

he sent the two men to examine the prisoner's cell. They raised

every stone, ransacked the bed, did everything customary in such a

case, but they discovered nothing, and were about to abandon their

investigation when the guard entered hastily and said:

"The drawer....look in the table-drawer. When I entered just now

he was closing it."

They opened the drawer, and Dieuzy exclaimed:

"Ah! we have him this time."

Folenfant stopped him.

"Wait a moment. The chief will want to make an inventory."

"This is a very choice cigar."

"Leave it there, and notify the chief."

Two minutes later Mon. Dudouis examined the contents of the

drawer. First he discovered a bundle of newspaper clippings

relating to Arsene Lupin taken from the `Argus de la Presse,' then

a tobacco-box, a pipe, some paper called "onion-peel," and two

books. He read the titles of the books. One was an English

edition of Carlyle's "Hero-worship"; the other was a charming

elzevir, in modern binding, the "Manual of Epictetus," a German

translation published at Leyden in 1634. On examining the books,

he found that all the pages were underlined and annotated. Were

they prepared as a code for correspondence, or did they simply

express the studious character of the reader? Then he examined

the tobacco-box and the pipe. Finally, he took up the famous

cigar with its gold band.

"Fichtre!" he exclaimed. "Our friend smokes a good cigar. It's a

Henry Clay."

With the mechanical action of an habitual smoker, he placed the

cigar close to his ear and squeezed it to make it crack.

Immediately he uttered a cry of surprise. The cigar had yielded

under the pressure of his fingers. He examined it more closely,

and quickly discovered something white between the leaves of

tobacco. Delicately, with the aid of a pin, he withdrew a roll of

very thin paper, scarcely larger than a toothpick. It was a

letter. He unrolled it, and found these words, written in a

feminine handwriting:

"The basket has taken the place of the others. Eight out of ten

are ready. On pressing the outer foot the plate goes downward.

From twelve to sixteen every day, H-P will wait. But where?

Reply at once. Rest easy; your friend is watching over you."

Mon. Dudouis reflected a moment, then said:

"It is quite clear....the basket....the eight compartments....

From twelve to sixteen mean from twelve to four o'clock."

"But this H-P, that will wait?"

"H-P must mean automobile. H-P, horsepower, is the way they

indicate strength of the motor. A twenty-four H-P is an

automobile of twenty-four horsepower."

Then he rose, and asked:

"Had the prisoner finished his breakfast?"

"Yes."

"And as he has not yet read the message, which is proved by the

condition of the cigar, it is probable that he had just received

it."

"How?"

"In his food. Concealed in his bread of in a potato, perhaps."

"Impossible. His food was allowed to be brought in simply to trap

him, but we have never found anything in it."

"We will look for Lupin's reply this evening. Detain him outside

for a few minutes. I shall take this to the examining judge, and,

if he agrees with me, we will have the letter photographed at

once, and in an hour you can replace the letter in the drawer in a

cigar similar to this. The prisoner must have no cause for

suspicion."

It was not without a certain curiosity that Mon. Dudouis returned

to the prison in the evening, accompanied by Inspector Dieuzy.

Three empty plates were sitting on the stove in the corner.

"He has eaten?"

"Yes," replied the guard.

"Dieuzy, please cut that macaroni into very small pieces, and open

that bread-roll....Nothing?"

"No, chief."

Mon. Dudouis examined the plates, the fork, the spoon, and the

knife--an ordinary knife with a rounded blade. He turned the

handle to the left; then to the right. It yielded and unscrewed.

The knife was hollow, and served as a hiding-place for a sheet of

paper.

"Peuh!" he said, "that is not very clever for a man like Arsene.

But we mustn't lose any time. You, Dieuzy, go and search the

restaurant."

Then he read the note:

"I trust to you, H-P will follow at a distance every day. I will

go ahead. Au revoir, dear friend."

"At last," cried Mon. Dudouis, rubbing his hands gleefully, "I

think we have the affair in our own hands. A little strategy on

our part, and the escape will be a success in so far as the arrest

of his confederates are concerned."

"But if Arsene Lupin slips through your fingers?" suggested the

guard.

"We will have a sufficient number of men to prevent that. If,

however, he displays too much cleverness, ma foi, so much the

worse for him! As to his band of robbers, since the chief refuses

to speak, the others must."

* * * * *

And, as a matter of fact, Arsene Lupin had very little to say.

For several months, Mon. Jules Bouvier, the examining judge, had

exerted himself in vain. The investigation had been reduced to a

few uninteresting arguments between the judge and the advocate,

Maitre Danval, one of the leaders of the bar. From time to time,

through courtesy, Arsene Lupin would speak. One day he said:

"Yes, monsieur, le judge, I quite agree with you: the robbery of

the Credit Lyonnais, the theft in the rue de Babylone, the issue

of the counterfeit bank-notes, the burglaries at the various

chateaux, Armesnil, Gouret, Imblevain, Groseillers, Malaquis, all

my work, monsieur, I did it all."

"Then will you explain to me---"

"It is useless. I confess everything in a lump, everything and

even ten times more than you know nothing about."

Wearied by his fruitless task, the judge had suspended his

examinations, but he resumed them after the two intercepted

messages were brought to his attention; and regularly, at mid-day,

Arsene Lupin was taken from the prison to the Depot in the

prison-van with a certain number of other prisoners. They

returned about three or four o'clock.

Now, one afternoon, this return trip was made under unusual

conditions. The other prisoners not having been examined, it was

decided to take back Arsene Lupin first, thus he found himself

alone in the vehicle.

These prison-vans, vulgarly called "panniers a salade"--or salad-

baskets--are divided lengthwise by a central corridor from which

open ten compartments, five on either side. Each compartment is

so arranged that the occupant must assume and retain a sitting

posture, and, consequently, the five prisoners are seated one upon

the other, and yet separated one from the other by partitions. A

municipal guard, standing at one end, watches over the corridor.

Arsene was placed in the third cell on the right, and the heavy

vehicle started. He carefully calculated when they left the quai

de l'Horloge, and when they passed the Palais de Justice. Then,

about the centre of the bridge Saint Michel, with his outer foot,

that is to say, his right foot, he pressed upon the metal place

that closed his cell. Immediately something clicked, and the

metal plate moved. He was able to ascertain that he was located

between the two wheels.

He waited, keeping a sharp look-out. The vehicle was proceeding

slowly along the boulevard Saint Michel. At the corner of Saint

Germain it stopped. A truck horse had fallen. The traffic having

been interrupted, a cast throng of fiacres and omnibuses had

gathered there. Arsene Lupin looked out. Another prison-van had

stopped close to the one he occupied. He moved the plate still

farther, put his foot on one of the spokes of the wheel and leaped

to the ground. A coachman saw him, roared with laughter, then

tried to raise an outcry, but his voice was lost in the noise of

the traffic that had commenced to move again. Moreover, Arsene

Lupin was already far away.

He had run for a few steps; but, once upon the sidewalk, he turned

and looked around; he seemed to scent the wind like a person who

is uncertain which direction to take. Then, having decided, he

put his hands in his pockets, and, with the careless air of an

idle stroller, he proceeded up the boulevard. It was a warm,

bright autumn day, and the cafes were full. He took a seat on the

terrace of one of them. He ordered a bock and a package of

cigarettes. He emptied his glass slowly, smoked one cigarette and

lighted a second. Then he asked the waiter to send the proprietor

to him. When the proprietor came, Arsene spoke to him in a voice

loud enough to be heard by everyone:

"I regret to say, monsieur, I have forgotten my pocketbook.

Perhaps, on the strength of my name, you will be pleased to give

me credit for a few days. I am Arsene Lupin."

The proprietor looked at him, thinking he was joking. But Arsene

repeated:

"Lupin, prisoner at the Sante, but now a fugitive. I venture to

assume that the name inspires you with perfect confidence in me."

And he walked away, amidst shouts of laughter, whilst the

proprietor stood amazed.

Lupin strolled along the rue Soufflot, and turned into the rue

Saint Jacques. He pursued his way slowly, smoking his cigarettes

and looking into the shop-windows. At the Boulevard de Port Royal

he took his bearings, discovered where he was, and then walked in

the direction of the rue de la Sante. The high forbidding walls

of the prison were now before him. He pulled his hat forward to

shape his face; then, approaching the sentinel, he asked:

"It this the prison de la Sante?"

"Yes."

"I wish to regain my cell. The van left me on the way, and I

would not abuse--"

"Now, young man, move along--quick!" growled the sentinel.

"Pardon me, but I must pass through that gate. And if you prevent

Arsene Lupin from entering the prison it will cost you dear, my

friend."

"Arsene Lupin! What are you talking about!"

"I am sorry I haven't a card with me," said Arsene, fumbling in

his pockets.

The sentinel eyed him from head to foot, in astonishment. Then,

without a word, he rang a bell. The iron gate was partly opened,

and Arsene stepped inside. Almost immediately he encountered the

keeper of the prison, gesticulating and feigning a violent anger.

Arsene smiled and said:

"Come, monsieur, don't play that game with me. What! they take

the precaution to carry me alone in the van, prepare a nice little

obstruction, and imagine I am going to take to my heels and rejoin

my friends. Well, and what about the twenty agents of the Surete

who accompanied us on foot, in fiacres and on bicycles? No, the

arrangement did not please me. I should not have got away alive.

Tell me, monsieur, did they count on that?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and added:

"I beg of you, monsieur, not to worry about me. When I wish to

escape I shall not require any assistance."

On the second day thereafter, the `Echo de France,' which had

apparently become the official reporter of the exploits of Arsene

Lupin, it was said that he was one of its principal shareholders--

published a most complete account of this attempted escape. The

exact wording of the messages exchanged between the prisoner and

his mysterious friend, the means by which correspondence was

constructed, the complicity of the police, the promenade on the

Boulevard Saint Michel, the incident at the cafe Soufflot,

everything was disclosed. It was known that the search of the

restaurant and its waiters by Inspector Dieuzy had been fruitless.

And the public also learned an extraordinary thing which

demonstrated the infinite variety of resources that Lupin

possessed: the prison-van, in which he was being carried, was

prepared for the occasion and substituted by his accomplices for

one of the six vans which did service at the prison.

The next escape of Arsene Lupin was not doubted by anyone. He

announced it himself, in categorical terms, in a reply to Mon.

Bouvier on the day following his attempted escape. The judge

having made a jest about the affair, Arsene was annoyed, and,

firmly eyeing the judge, he said, emphatically:

"Listen to me, monsieur! I give you my word of honor that this

attempted flight was simply preliminary to my general plan of

escape."

"I do not understand," said the judge.

"It is not necessary that you should understand."

And when the judge, in the course of that examination which was

reported at length in the columns of the `Echo de France,' when

the judge sought to resume his investigation, Arsene Lupin

exclaimed, with an assumed air of lassitude:

"Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu, what's the use! All these questions are of

no importance!"

"What! No importance?" cried the judge.

"No; because I shall not be present at the trial."

"You will not be present?"

"No; I have fully decided on that, and nothing will change my

mind."

Such assurance combined with the inexplicable indiscretions that

Arsene committed every day served to annoy and mystify the

officers of the law. There were secrets known only to Arsene

Lupin; secrets that he alone could divulge. But for what purpose

did he reveal them? And how?

Arsene Lupin was changed to another cell. The judge closed his

preliminary investigation. No further proceedings were taken in

his case for a period of two months, during which time Arsene was

seen almost constantly lying on his bed with his face turned

toward the wall. The changing of his cell seemed to discourage

him. He refused to see his advocate. He exchanged only a few

necessary words with his keepers.

During the fortnight preceding his trial, he resumed his vigorous

life. He complained of want of air. Consequently, early every

morning he was allowed to exercise in the courtyard, guarded by

two men.

Public curiosity had not died out; every day it expected to be

regaled with news of his escape; and, it is true, he had gained a

considerable amount of public sympathy by reason of his verve, his

gayety, his diversity, his inventive genius and the mystery of his

life. Arsene Lupin must escape. It was his inevitable fate. The

public expected it, and was surprised that the event had been

delayed so long. Every morning the Prefect of Police asked his

secretary:

"Well, has he escaped yet?"

"No, Monsieur le Prefect."

"To-morrow, probably."

And, on the day before the trial, a gentleman called at the office

of the `Grand Journal,' asked to see the court reporter, threw his

card in the reporter's face, and walked rapidly away. These words

were written on the card: "Arsene Lupin always keeps his

promises."

* * * * *

It was under these conditions that the trial commenced. An

enormous crowd gathered at the court. Everybody wished to see the

famous Arsene Lupin. They had a gleeful anticipation that the

prisoner would play some audacious pranks upon the judge.

Advocates and magistrates, reporters and men of the world,

actresses and society women were crowded together on the benches

provided for the public.

It was a dark, sombre day, with a steady downpour of rain. Only a

dim light pervaded the courtroom, and the spectators caught a very

indistinct view of the prisoner when the guards brought him in.

But his heavy, shambling walk, the manner in which he dropped into

his seat, and his passive, stupid appearance were not at all

prepossessing. Several times his advocate--one of Mon. Danval's

assistants--spoke to him, but he simply shook his head and said

nothing.

The clerk read the indictment, then the judge spoke:

"Prisoner at the bar, stand up. Your name, age, and occupation?"

Not receiving any reply, the judge repeated:

"Your name? I ask you your name?"

A thick, slow voice muttered:

"Baudru, Desire."

A murmur of surprise pervaded the courtroom. But the judge

proceeded:

"Baudru, Desire? Ah! a new alias! Well, as you have already

assumed a dozen different names and this one is, no doubt, as

imaginary as the others, we will adhere to the name of Arsene

Lupin, by which you are more generally known."

The judge referred to his notes, and continued:

"For, despite the most diligent search, your past history remains

unknown. Your case is unique in the annals of crime. We know not

whom you are, whence you came, your birth and breeding--all is a

mystery to us. Three years ago you appeared in our midst as

Arsene Lupin, presenting to us a strange combination of

intelligence and perversion, immorality and generosity.

Our knowledge of your life prior to that date is vague and

problematical. It may be that the man called Rostat who, eight

years ago, worked with Dickson, the prestidigitator, was none

other than Arsene Lupin. It is probably that the Russian student

who, six years ago, attended the laboratory of Doctor Altier at

the Saint Louis Hospital, and who often astonished the doctor by

his ingenuity of his hypotheses on subjects of bacteriology and

the boldness of his experiments in diseases of the skin, was none

other than Arsene Lupin. It is probable, also, that Arsene Lupin

was the professor who introduced the Japanese art of jiu-jitsu to

the Parisian public. We have some reason to believe that Arsene

Lupin was the bicyclist who won the Grand Prix de l'Exposition,

received his ten thousand francs, and was never heard of again.

Arsene Lupin may have been, also, the person who saved so many

lives through the little dormer-window at the Charity Bazaar;

and, at the same time, picked their pockets."

The judge paused for a moment, then continued:

"Such is that epoch which seems to have been utilized by you in a

thorough preparation for the warfare you have since waged against

society; a methodical apprenticeship in which you developed your

strength, energy and skill to the highest point possible. Do you

acknowledge the accuracy of these facts?"

During this discourse the prisoner had stood balancing himself,

first on one foot, then on the other, with shoulders stooped and

arms inert. Under the strongest light one could observe his

extreme thinness, his hollow cheeks, his projecting cheek-bones,

his earthen-colored face dotted with small red spots and framed in

a rough, straggling beard. Prison life had caused him to age and

wither. He had lost the youthful face and elegant figure we had

seen portrayed so often in the newspapers.

It appeared as if he had not heard the question propounded by the

judge. Twice it was repeated to him. Then he raised his eyes,

seemed to reflect, then, making a desperate effort, he murmured:

"Baudru, Desire."

The judge smiled, as he said:

"I do not understand the theory of your defense, Arsene Lupin. If

you are seeking to avoid responsibility for your crimes on the

ground of imbecility, such a line of defense is open to you. But

I shall proceed with the trial and pay no heed to your vagaries."

He then narrated at length the various thefts, swindles and

forgeries charged against Lupin. Sometimes he questioned the

prisoner, but the latter simply grunted or remained silent. The

examination of witnesses commenced. Some of the evidence given

was immaterial; other portions of it seemed more important, but

through all of it there ran a vein of contradictions and

inconsistencies. A wearisome obscurity enveloped the proceedings,

until Detective Ganimard was called as a witness; then interest

was revived.

From the beginning the actions of the veteran detective appeared

strange and unaccountable. He was nervous and ill at ease.

Several times he looked at the prisoner, with obvious doubt and

anxiety. Then, with his hands resting on the rail in front of

him, he recounted the events in which he had participated,

including his pursuit of the prisoner across Europe and his

arrival in America. He was listened to with great avidity, as his

capture of Arsene Lupin was well known to everyone through the

medium of the press. Toward the close of his testimony, after

referring to his conversations with Arsene Lupin, he stopped,

twice, embarrassed and undecided. It was apparent that he was

possessed of some thought which he feared to utter. The judge

said to him, sympathetically:

"If you are ill, you may retire for the present."

"No, no, but---"

He stopped, looked sharply at the prisoner, and said:

"I ask permission to scrutinize the prisoner at closer range.

There is some mystery about him that I must solve."

He approached the accused man, examined him attentively for

several minutes, then returned to the witness-stand, and, in an

almost solemn voice, he said:

"I declare, on oath, that the prisoner now before me is not Arsene

Lupin."

A profound silence followed the statement. The judge, nonplused

for a moment, exclaimed:

"Ah! What do you mean? That is absurd!"

The detective continued:

"At first sight there is a certain resemblance, but if you

carefully consider the nose, the mouth, the hair, the color of

skin, you will see that it is not Arsene Lupin. And the eyes!

Did he ever have those alcoholic eyes!"

"Come, come, witness! What do you mean? Do you pretend to say

that we are trying the wrong man?"

"In my opinion, yes. Arsene Lupin has, in some manner, contrived

to put this poor devil in his place, unless this man is a willing

accomplice."

This dramatic denouement caused much laughter and excitement

amongst the spectators. The judge adjourned the trial, and sent

for Mon. Bouvier, the gaoler, and guards employed in the prison.

When the trial was resumed, Mon. Bouvier and the gaoler examined

the accused and declared that there was only a very slight

resemblance between the prisoner and Arsene Lupin.

"Well, then!" exclaimed the judge, "who is this man? Where does

he come from? What is he in prison for?"

Two of the prison-guards were called and both of them declared

that the prisoner was Arsene Lupin. The judged breathed once

more.

But one of the guards then said:

"Yes, yes, I think it is he."

"What!" cried the judge, impatiently, "you *think* it is he! What

do you mean by that?"

"Well, I saw very little of the prisoner. He was placed in my

charge in the evening and, for two months, he seldom stirred, but

laid on his bed with his face to the wall."

"What about the time prior to those two months?"

"Before that he occupied a cell in another part of the prison. He

was not in cell 24."

Here the head gaoler interrupted, and said:

"We changed him to another cell after his attempted escape."

"But you, monsieur, you have seen him during those two months?"

"I had no occasion to see him. He was always quiet and orderly."

"And this prisoner is not Arsene Lupin?"

"No."

"Then who is he?" demanded the judge.

"I do not know."

"Then we have before us a man who was substituted for Arsene

Lupin, two months ago. How do you explain that?"

"I cannot."

In absolute despair, the judge turned to the accused and addressed

him in a conciliatory tone:

"Prisoner, can you tell me how, and since when, you became an

inmate of the Prison de la Sante?"

The engaging manner of the judge was calculated to disarm the

mistrust and awaken the understanding of the accused man. He

tried to reply. Finally, under clever and gentle questioning, he

succeeded in framing a few phrases from which the following story

was gleaned: Two months ago he had been taken to the Depot,

examined and released. As he was leaving the building, a free

man, he was seized by two guards and placed in the prison-van.

Since then he had occupied cell 24. He was contented there,

plenty to eat, and he slept well--so he did not complain.

All that seemed probable; and, amidst the mirth and excitement of

the spectators, the judge adjourned the trial until the story

could be investigated and verified.

* * * * *

The following facts were at once established by an examination of

the prison records: Eight weeks before a man named Baudru Desire

had slept at the Depot. He was released the next day, and left

the Depot at two o'clock in the afternoon. On the same day at two

o'clock, having been examined for the last time, Arsene Lupin left

the Depot in a prison-van.

Had the guards made a mistake? Had then been deceived by the

resemblance and carelessly substituted this man for their

prisoner?

Another question suggested itself: Had the substitution been

arranged in advance? In that event Baudru must have been an

accomplice and must have caused his own arrest for the express

purpose of taking Lupin's place. But then, by what miracle had

such a plan, based on a series of improbable chances, been carried

to success?

Baudru Desire was turned over to the anthropological service; they

had never seen anything like him. However, they easily traced his

past history. He was known at Courbevois, at Asnieres and at

Levallois. He lived on alms and slept in one of those rag-picker's

huts near the barrier de Ternes. He had disappeared from there a

year ago.

Had he been enticed away by Arsene Lupin? There was no evidence to

that effect. And even if that was so, it did not explain the

flight of the prisoner. That still remained a mystery. Amongst

twenty theories which sought to explain it, not one was

satisfactory. Of the escape itself, there was no doubt; an escape

that was incomprehensible, sensational, in which the public, as

well as the officers of the law, could detect a carefully prepared

plan, a combination of circumstances marvelously dove-tailed,

whereof the denouement fully justified the confident prediction of

Arsene Lupin: "I shall not be present at my trial."

After a month of patient investigation, the problem remained

unsolved. The poor devil of a Baudru could not be kept in prison

indefinitely, and to place him on trial would be ridiculous. There

was no charge against him. Consequently, he was released; but the

chief of the Surete resolved to keep him under surveillance. This

idea originated with Ganimard. From his point of view there was

neither complicity nor chance. Baudru was an instrument upon which

Arsene Lupin had played with his extraordinary skill. Baudru, when

set at liberty, would lead them to Arsene Lupin or, at least, to

some of his accomplices. The two inspectors, Folenfant and Dieuzy,

were assigned to assist Ganimard.

One foggy morning in January the prison gates opened and Baudru

Desire stepped forth--a free man. At first he appeared to be quite

embarrassed, and walked like a person who has no precise idea

whither he is going. He followed the rue de la Sante and the rue

Saint Jacques. He stopped in front of an old-clothes shop, removed

his jacket and his vest, sold his vest on which he realized a few

sous; then, replacing his jacket, he proceeded on his way. He

crossed the Seine. At the Chatelet an omnibus passed him. He

wished to enter it, but there was no place. The controller advised

him to secure a number, so he entered the waiting-room.

Ganimard called to his two assistants, and, without removing his

eyes from the waiting room, he said to them:

"Stop a carriage....no, two. That will be better. I will go with

one of you, and we will follow him."

The men obeyed. Yet Baudru did not appear. Ganimard entered the

waiting-room. It was empty.

"Idiot that I am!" he muttered, "I forgot there was another exit."

There was an interior corridor extending from the waiting-room to

the rue Saint Martin. Ganimard rushed through it and arrived just

in time to observe Baudru upon the top of the Batignolles-Jardin de

Plates omnibus as it was turning the corner of the rue de Rivoli.

He ran and caught the omnibus. But he had lost his two assistants.

He must continue the pursuit alone. In his anger he was inclined

to seize the man by the collar without ceremony. Was it not with

premeditation and by means of an ingenious ruse that his pretended

imbecile had separated him from his assistants?

He looked at Baudru. The latter was asleep on the bench, his head

rolling from side to side, his mouth half-opened, and an incredible

expression of stupidity on his blotched face. No, such an

adversary was incapable of deceiving old Ganimard. It was a stroke

of luck--nothing more.

At the Galleries-Lafayette, the man leaped from the omnibus and

took the La Muette tramway, following the boulevard Haussmann and

the avenue Victor Hugo. Baudru alighted at La Muette station; and,

with a nonchalant air, strolled into the Bois de Boulogne.

He wandered through one path after another, and sometimes retraced

his steps. What was he seeking? Had he any definite object? At

the end of an hour, he appeared to be faint from fatigue, and,

noticing a bench, he sat down. The spot, not far from Auteuil, on

the edge of a pond hidden amongst the trees, was absolutely

deserted. After the lapse of another half-hour, Ganimard became

impatient and resolved to speak to the man. He approached and took

a seat beside Baudru, lighted a cigarette, traced some figures in

the sand with the end of his cane, and said:

"It's a pleasant day."

No response. But, suddenly the man burst into laughter, a happy,

mirthful laugh, spontaneous and irresistible. Ganimard felt his

hair stand on end in horror and surprise. It was that laugh, that

infernal laugh he knew so well!

With a sudden movement, he seized the man by the collar and looked

at him with a keen, penetrating gaze; and found that he no longer

saw the man Baudru. To be sure, he saw Baudru; but, at the same

time, he saw the other, the real man, Lupin. He discovered the

intense life in the eyes, he filled up the shrunken features, he

perceived the real flesh beneath the flabby skin, the real mouth

through the grimaces that deformed it. Those were the eyes and

mouth of the other, and especially his keen, alert, mocking

expression, so clear and youthful!

"Arsene Lupin, Arsene Lupin," he stammered.

Then, in a sudden fit of rage, he seized Lupin by the throat and

tried to hold him down. In spite of his fifty years, he still

possessed unusual strength, whilst his adversary was apparently in

a weak condition. But the struggle was a brief one. Arsene Lupin

made only a slight movement, and, as suddenly as he had made the

attack, Ganimard released his hold. His right arm fell inert,

useless.

"If you had taken lessons in jiu-jitsu at the quai des Orfevres,"

said Lupin, "you would know that that blow is called udi-shi-ghi in

Japanese. A second more, and I would have broken your arm and that

would have been just what you deserve. I am surprised that you, an

old friend whom I respect and before whom I voluntarily expose my

incognito, should abuse my confidence in that violent manner. It

is unworthy--Ah! What's the matter?"

Ganimard did not reply. That escape for which he deemed himself

responsible--was it not he, Ganimard, who, by his sensational

evidence, had led the court into serious error? That escape

appeared to him like a dark cloud on his professional career. A

tear rolled down his cheek to his gray moustache.

"Oh! mon Dieu, Ganimard, don't take it to heart. If you had not

spoken, I would have arranged for some one else to do it. I

couldn't allow poor Baudru Desire to be convicted."

"Then," murmured Ganimard, "it was you that was there? And now you

are here?"

"It is I, always I, only I."

"Can it be possible?"

"Oh, it is not the work of a sorcerer. Simply, as the judge

remarked at the trial, the apprenticeship of a dozen years that

equips a man to cope successfully with all the obstacles in life."

"But your face? Your eyes?"

"You can understand that if I worked eighteen months with Doctor

Altier at the Saint-Louis hospital, it was not out of love for the

work. I considered that he, who would one day have the honor of

calling himself Arsene Lupin, ought to be exempt from the ordinary

laws governing appearance and identity. Appearance? That can be

modified at will. For instance, a hypodermic injection of

paraffine will puff up the skin at the desired spot. Pyrogallic

acid will change your skin to that of an Indian. The juice of the

greater celandine will adorn you with the most beautiful eruptions

and tumors. Another chemical affects the growth of your beard and

hair; another changes the tone of your voice. Add to that two

months of dieting in cell 24; exercises repeated a thousand times

to enable me to hold my features in a certain grimace, to carry my

head at a certain inclination, and adapt my back and shoulders to a

stopping posture. Then five drops of atropine in the eyes to make

them haggard and wild, and the trick is done."

"I do not understand how you deceived the guards."

"The change was progressive. The evolution was so gradual that

they failed to notice it."

"But Baudru Desire?"

"Baudru exists. He is a poor, harmless fellow whom I met last

year; and, really, he bears a certain resemblance to me.

Considering my arrest as a possible event, I took charge of Baudru

and studied the points wherein we differed in appearance with a

view to correct them in my own person. My friends caused him to

remain at the Depot overnight, and to leave there next day about

the same hour as I did--a coincidence easily arranged. Of course,

it was necessary to have a record of his detention at the Depot in

order to establish the fact that such a person was a reality;

otherwise, the police would have sought elsewhere to find out my

identity. But, in offering to them this excellent Baudru, it was

inevitable, you understand, inevitable that they would seize

upon him, and, despite the insurmountable difficulties of a

substitution, they would prefer to believe in a substitution than

confess their ignorance."

"Yes, yes, of course," said Ganimard.

"And then," exclaimed Arsene Lupin, "I held in my hands a trump-

card: an anxious public watching and waiting for my escape. And

that is the fatal error into which you fell, you and the others, in

the course of that fascinating game pending between me and the

officers of the law wherein the stake was my liberty. And you

supposed that I was playing to the gallery; that I was intoxicated

with my success. I, Arsene Lupin, guilty of such weakness! Oh,

no! And, no longer ago than the Cahorn affair, you said: "When

Arsene Lupin cries from the housetops that he will escape, he has

some object in view." But, sapristi, you must understand that in

order to escape I must create, in advance, a public belief that

escape, a belief amounting to an article of faith, an absolute

conviction, a reality as glittering as the sun. And I did create

that belief that Arsene Lupin would escape, that Arsene Lupin would

not be present at his trial. And when you gave your evidence and

said: "That man is not Arsene Lupin," everybody was prepared to

believe you. Had one person doubted it, had any one uttered this

simple restriction: Suppose it is Arsene Lupin?--from that moment, I

was lost. If anyone had scrutinized my face, not imbued with the

idea that I was not Arsene Lupin, as you and the others did at my

trial, but with the idea that I might be Arsene Lupin; then,

despite all my precautions, I should have been recognized. But I

had no fear. Logically, psychologically, no once could entertain

the idea that I was Arsene Lupin."

He grasped Ganimard's hand.

"Come, Ganimard, confess that on the Wednesday after our

conversation in the prison de la Sante, you expected me at your

house at four o'clock, exactly as I said I would go."

"And your prison-van?" said Ganimard, evading the question.

"A bluff! Some of my friends secured that old unused van and wished

to make the attempt. But I considered it impractical without the

concurrence of a number of unusual circumstances. However, I found

it useful to carry out that attempted escape and give it the widest

publicity. An audaciously planned escape, though not completed,

gave to the succeeding one the character of reality simply by

anticipation."

"So that the cigar...."

"Hollowed by myself, as well as the knife."

"And the letters?"

"Written by me."

"And the mysterious correspondent?"

"Did not exist."

Ganimard reflected a moment, then said:

"When the anthropological service had Baudru's case under

consideration, why did they not perceive that his measurements

coincided with those of Arsene Lupin?"

"My measurements are not in existence."

"Indeed!"

"At least, they are false. I have given considerable attention to

that question. In the first place, the Bertillon system of records

the visible marks of identification--and you have seen that they are

not infallible--and, after that, the measurements of the head, the

fingers, the ears, etc. Of course, such measurements are more or

less infallible."

"Absolutely."

"No; but it costs money to get around them. Before we left

America, one of the employees of the service there accepted so much

money to insert false figures in my measurements. Consequently,

Baudru's measurements should not agree with those of Arsene Lupin."

After a short silence, Ganimard asked:

"What are you going to do now?"

"Now," replied Lupin, "I am going to take a rest, enjoy the best of

food and drink and gradually recover my former healthy condition.

It is all very well to become Baudru or some other person, on

occasion, and to change your personality as you do your shirt, but

you soon grow weary of the change. I feel exactly as I imagine the

man who lost his shadow must have felt, and I shall be glad to be

Arsene Lupin once more."

He walked to and fro for a few minutes, then, stopping in front of

Ganimard, he said:

"You have nothing more to say, I suppose?"

"Yes. I should like to know if you intend to reveal the true state

of facts connected with your escape. The mistake that I made---"

"Oh! no one will ever know that it was Arsene Lupin who was

discharged. It is to my own interest to surround myself with

mystery, and therefore I shall permit my escape to retain its

almost miraculous character. So, have no fear on that score, my

dear friend. I shall say nothing. And now, good-bye. I am going

out to dinner this evening, and have only sufficient time to

dress."

"I though you wanted a rest."

"Ah! there are duties to society that one cannot avoid. To-morrow,

I shall rest."

"Where do you dine to-night?"

"With the British Ambassador!"

IV. The Mysterious Traveller

The evening before, I had sent my automobile to Rouen by the

highway. I was to travel to Rouen by rail, on my way to visit some

friends that live on the banks of the Seine.

At Paris, a few minutes before the train started, seven gentlemen

entered my compartment; five of them were smoking. No matter that

the journey was a short one, the thought of traveling with such a

company was not agreeable to me, especially as the car was built

on the old model, without a corridor. I picked up my overcoat, my

newspapers and my time-table, and sought refuge in a neighboring

compartment.

It was occupied by a lady, who, at sight of me, made a gesture of

annoyance that did not escape my notice, and she leaned toward a

gentleman who was standing on the step and was, no doubt, her

husband. The gentleman scrutinized me closely, and, apparently, my

appearance did not displease him, for he smiled as he spoke to his

wife with the air of one who reassures a frightened child. She

smiled also, and gave me a friendly glance as if she now

understood that I was one of those gallant men with whom a woman

can remain shut up for two hours in a little box, six feet square,

and have nothing to fear.

Her husband said to her:

"I have an important appointment, my dear, and cannot wait any

longer. Adieu."

He kissed her affectionately and went away. His wife threw him a

few kisses and waved her handkerchief. The whistle sounded, and

the train started.

At that precise moment, and despite the protests of the guards,

the door was opened, and a man rushed into our compartment. My

companion, who was standing and arranging her luggage, uttered a

cry of terror and fell upon the seat. I am not a coward--far from

it--but I confess that such intrusions at the last minute are

always disconcerting. They have a suspicious, unnatural aspect.

However, the appearance of the new arrival greatly modified the

unfavorable impression produced by his precipitant action. He was

correctly and elegantly dressed, wore a tasteful cravat, correct

gloves, and his face was refined and intelligent. But, where the

devil had I seen that face before? Because, beyond all possible

doubt, I had seen it. And yet the memory of it was so vague and

indistinct that I felt it would be useless to try to recall it at

that time.

Then, directing my attention to the lady, I was amazed at the

pallor and anxiety I saw in her face. She was looking at her

neighbor--they occupied seats on the same side of the compartment--

with an expression of intense alarm, and I perceived that one of

her trembling hands was slowly gliding toward a little traveling

bag that was lying on the seat about twenty inches from her. She

finished by seizing it and nervously drawing it to her. Our eyes

met, and I read in hers so much anxiety and fear that I could not

refrain from speaking to her:

"Are you ill, madame? Shall I open the window?"

Her only reply was a gesture indicating that she was afraid of our

companion. I smiled, as her husband had done, shrugged my

shoulders, and explained to her, in pantomime, that she had

nothing to fear, that I was there, and, besides, the gentleman

appeared to be a very harmless individual. At that moment, he

turned toward us, scrutinized both of us from head to foot, then

settled down in his corner and paid us no more attention.

After a short silence, the lady, as if she had mustered all her

energy to perform a desperate act, said to me, in an almost

inaudible voice:

"Do you know who is on our train?"

"Who?"

"He....he....I assure you...."

"Who is he?"

"Arsene Lupin!"

She had not taken her eyes off our companion, and it was to him

rather than to me that she uttered the syllables of that

disquieting name. He drew his hat over his face. Was that to

conceal his agitation or, simply, to arrange himself for sleep?

Then I said to her:

"Yesterday, through contumacy, Arsene Lupin was sentenced to

twenty years' imprisonment at hard labor. Therefore it is

improbable that he would be so imprudent, to-day, as to show

himself in public. Moreover, the newspapers have announced his

appearance in Turkey since his escape from the Sante."

"But he is on this train at the present moment," the lady

proclaimed, with the obvious intention of being heard by our

companion; "my husband is one of the directors in the penitentiary

service, and it was the stationmaster himself who told us that a

search was being made for Arsene Lupin."

"They may have been mistaken---"

"No; he was seen in the waiting-room. He bought a first-class

ticket for Rouen."

"He has disappeared. The guard at the waiting-room door did not

see him pass, and it is supposed that he had got into the express

that leaves ten minutes after us."

"In that case, they will be sure to catch him."

"Unless, at the last moment, he leaped from that train to come

here, into our train....which is quite probable....which is

almost certain."

"If so, he will be arrested just the same; for the employees and

guards would no doubt observe his passage from one train to the

other, and, when we arrive at Rouen, they will arrest him there."

"Him--never! He will find some means of escape."

"In that case, I wish him 'bon voyage.'"

"But, in the meantime, think what he may do!"

"What?"

"I don't know. He may do anything."

She was greatly agitated, and, truly, the situation justified, to

some extent, her nervous excitement. I was impelled to say to her:

"Of course, there are many strange coincidences, but you need have

no fear. Admitting that Arsene Lupin is on this train, he will not

commit any indiscretion; he will be only too happy to escape the

peril that already threatens him."

My words did not reassure her, but she remained silent for a time.

I unfolded my newspapers and read reports of Arsene Lupin's trial,

but, as they contained nothing that was new to me, I was not

greatly interested. Moreover, I was tired and sleepy. I felt my

eyelids close and my head drop.

"But, monsieur, you are not going to sleep!"

She seized my newspaper, and looked at me with indignation.

"Certainly not," I said.

"That would be very imprudent."

"Of course," I assented.

I struggled to keep awake. I looked through the window at the

landscape and the fleeting clouds, but in a short time all that

became confused and indistinct; the image of the nervous lady and

the drowsy gentleman were effaced from my memory, and I was buried

in the soothing depths of a profound sleep. The tranquility of my

response was soon disturbed by disquieting dreams, wherein a

creature that had played the part and bore the name of Arsene

Lupin held an important place. He appeared to me with his black

laden with articles of value; he leaped over walls, and plundered

castles. But the outlines of that creature, who was no longer

Arsene Lupin, assumed a more definite form. He came toward me,

growing larger and larger, leaped into the compartment with

incredible agility, and landed squarely on my chest. With a cry of

fright and pain, I awoke. The man, the traveller, our companion,

with his knee on my breast, held me by the throat.

My sight was very indistinct, for my eyes were suffused with

blood. I could see the lady, in a corner of the compartment,

convulsed with fright. I tried even not to resist. Besides, I did

not have the strength. My temples throbbed; I was almost

strangled. One minute more, and I would have breathed my last. The

man must have realized it, for he relaxed his grip, but did not

remove his had. Then he took a cord, in which he had prepared a

slip-knot, and tied my wrists together. In an instant, I was

bound, gagged, and helpless.

Certainly, he accomplished the trick with an ease and skill that

revealed the hand of a master; he was, no doubt, a professional

thief. Not a word, not a nervous movement; only coolness and

audacity. And I was there, lying on the bench, bound like a mummy,

I--Arsene Lupin!

It was anything but a laughing matter, and yet, despite the

gravity of the situation, I keenly appreciated the humor and irony

that it involved. Arsene Lupin seized and bound like a novice!

robbed as if I were an unsophisticated rustic--for, you must

understand, the scoundrel had deprived me of my purse and wallet!

Arsene Lupin, a victim, duped, vanquished....What an adventure!

The lady did not move. He did not even notice her. He contented

himself with picking up her traveling-bag that had fallen to the

floor and taking from it the jewels, purse, and gold and silver

trinkets that it contained. The lady opened her eyes, trembled

with fear, drew the rings from her fingers and handed them to the

man as if she wished to spare him unnecessary trouble. He took the

rings and looked at her. She swooned.

Then, quite unruffled, he resumed his seat, lighted a cigarette,

and proceeded to examine the treasure that he had acquired. The

examination appeared to give him perfect satisfaction.

But I was not so well satisfied. I do not speak of the twelve

thousand francs of which I had been unduly deprived: that was only

a temporary loss, because I was certain that I would recover

possession of that money after a very brief delay, together with

the important papers contained in my wallet: plans, specifications,

addresses, lists of correspondents, and compromising letters.

But, for the moment, a more immediate and more serious question

troubled me: How would this affair end? What would be the outcome

of this adventure?

As you can imagine, the disturbance created by my passage through

the Saint-Lazare station has not escaped my notice. Going to visit

friends who knew me under the name of Guillaume Berlat, and

amongst whom my resemblance to Arsene Lupin was a subject of many

innocent jests, I could not assume a disguise, and my presence had

been remarked. So, beyond question, the commissary of police at

Rouen, notified by telegraph, and assisted by numerous agents,

would be awaiting the train, would question all suspicious

passengers, and proceed to search the cars.

Of course, I had foreseen all that, but it had not disturbed me,

as I was certain that the police of Rouen would not be any

shrewder than the police of Paris and that I could escape

recognition; would it not be sufficient for me to carelessly

display my card as "depute," thanks to which I had inspired

complete confidence in the gate-keeper at Saint-Lazare?--But the

situation was greatly changed. I was no longer free. It was

impossible to attempt one of my usual tricks. In one of the

compartments, the commissary of police would find Mon. Arsene

Lupin, bound hand and foot, as docile as a lamb, packed up, all

ready to be dumped into a prison-van. He would have simply to

accept delivery of the parcel, the same as if it were so much

merchandise or a basket of fruit and vegetables. Yet, to avoid

that shameful denouement, what could I do?--bound and gagged, as I

was? And the train was rushing on toward Rouen, the next and only

station.

Another problem was presented, in which I was less interested, but

the solution of which aroused my professional curiosity. What were

the intentions of my rascally companion? Of course, if I had been

alone, he could, on our arrival at Rouen, leave the car slowly and

fearlessly. But the lady? As soon as the door of the compartment

should be opened, the lady, now so quiet and humble, would scream

and call for help. That was the dilemma that perplexed me! Why had

he not reduced her to a helpless condition similar to mine? That

would have given him ample time to disappear before his double

crime was discovered.

He was still smoking, with his eyes fixed upon the window that was

now being streaked with drops of rain. Once he turned, picked up

my time-table, and consulted it.

The lady had to feign a continued lack of consciousness in order

to deceive the enemy. But fits of coughing, provoked by the smoke,

exposed her true condition. As to me, I was very uncomfortable,

and very tired. And I meditated; I plotted.

The train was rushing on, joyously, intoxicated with its own

speed.

Saint Etienne!....At that moment, the man arose and took two steps

toward us, which caused the lady to utter a cry of alarm and fall

into a genuine swoon. What was the man about to do? He lowered the

window on our side. A heavy rain was now falling, and, by a

gesture, the man expressed his annoyance at his not having an

umbrella or an overcoat. He glanced at the rack. The lady's

umbrella was there. He took it. He also took my overcoat and put

it on.

We were now crossing the Seine. He turned up the bottoms of his

trousers, then leaned over and raised the exterior latch of the

door. Was he going to throw himself upon the track? At that speed,

it would have been instant death. We now entered a tunnel. The man

opened the door half-way and stood on the upper step. What folly!

The darkness, the smoke, the noise, all gave a fantastic

appearance to his actions. But suddenly, the train diminished its

speed. A moment later it increased its speed, then slowed up

again. Probably, some repairs were being made in that part of the

tunnel which obliged the trains to diminish their speed, and the

man was aware of the fact. He immediately stepped down to the

lower step, closed the door behind him, and leaped to the ground.

He was gone.

The lady immediately recovered her wits, and her first act was to

lament the loss of her jewels. I gave her an imploring look. She

understood, and quickly removed the gag that stifled me. She

wished to untie the cords that bound me, but I prevented her.

"No, no, the police must see everything exactly as it stands. I

want them to see what the rascal did to us."

"Suppose I pull the alarm-bell?"

"Too late. You should have done that when he made the attack on

me."

"But he would have killed me. Ah! monsieur, didn't I tell you that

he was on this train. I recognized him from his portrait. And now

he has gone off with my jewels."

"Don't worry. The police will catch him."

"Catch Arsene Lupin! Never."

"That depends on you, madame. Listen. When we arrive at Rouen, be

at the door and call. Make a noise. The police and the railway

employees will come. Tell what you have seen: the assault made on

me and the flight of Arsene Lupin. Give a description of him--soft

hat, umbrella--yours--gray overcoat...."

"Yours," said she.

"What! mine? Not at all. It was his. I didn't have any."

"It seems to me he didn't have one when he came in."

"Yes, yes....unless the coat was one that some one had forgotten

and left in the rack. At all events, he had it when he went away,

and that is the essential point. A gray overcoat--remember!....Ah!

I forgot. You must tell your name, first thing you do. Your

husband's official position will stimulate the zeal of the

police."

We arrived at the station. I gave her some further instructions in

a rather imperious tone:

"Tell them my name--Guillaume Berlat. If necessary, say that you

know me. That will save time. We must expedite the preliminary

investigation. The important thing is the pursuit of Arsene Lupin.

Your jewels, remember! Let there be no mistake. Guillaume Berlat,

a friend of your husband."

"I understand....Guillaume Berlat."

She was already calling and gesticulating. As soon as the train

stopped, several men entered the compartment. The critical moment

had come.

Panting for breath, the lady exclaimed:

"Arsene Lupin....he attacked us....he stole my jewels....I am

Madame Renaud....my husband is a director of the penitentiary

service....Ah! here is my brother, Georges Ardelle, director of

the Credit Rouennais....you must know...."

She embraced a young man who had just joined us, and whom the

commissary saluted. Then she continued, weeping:

"Yes, Arsene Lupin....while monsieur was sleeping, he seized him

by the throat....Mon. Berlat, a friend of my husband."

The commissary asked:

"But where is Arsene Lupin?"

"He leaped from the train, when passing through the tunnel."

"Are you sure that it was he?"

"Am I sure! I recognized him perfectly. Besides, he was seen at

the Saint-Lazare station. He wore a soft hat---"

"No, a hard felt, like that," said the commissary, pointing to my

hat.

"He had a soft hat, I am sure," repeated Madame Renaud, "and a

gray overcoat."

"Yes, that is right," replied the commissary, "the telegram says

he wore a gray overcoat with a black velvet collar."

"Exactly, a black velvet collar," exclaimed Madame Renaud,

triumphantly.

I breathed freely. Ah! the excellent friend I had in that little

woman.

The police agents had now released me. I bit my lips until they

ran blood. Stooping over, with my handkerchief over my mouth, an

attitude quite natural in a person who has remained for a long

time in an uncomfortable position, and whose mouth shows the

bloody marks of the gag, I addressed the commissary, in a weak

voice:

"Monsieur, it was Arsene Lupin. There is no doubt about that. If

we make haste, he can be caught yet. I think I may be of some

service to you."

The railway car, in which the crime occurred, was detached from

the train to serve as a mute witness at the official investigation.

The train continued on its way to Havre. We were then conducted to

the station-master's office through a crowd of curious spectators.

Then, I had a sudden access of doubt and discretion. Under some

pretext or other, I must gain my automobile, and escape. To remain

there was dangerous. Something might happen; for instance, a

telegram from Paris, and I would be lost.

Yes, but what about my thief? Abandoned to my own resources, in an

unfamiliar country, I could not hope to catch him.

"Bah! I must make the attempt," I said to myself. "It may be a

difficult game, but an amusing one, and the stake is well worth

the trouble."

And when the commissary asked us to repeat the story of the

robbery, I exclaimed:

"Monsieur, really, Arsene Lupin is getting the start of us. My

automobile is waiting in the courtyard. If you will be so kind as

to use it, we can try...."

The commissary smiled, and replied:

"The idea is a good one; so good, indeed, that it is already being

carried out. Two of my men have set out on bicycles. They have

been gone for some time."

"Where did they go?"

"To the entrance of the tunnel. There, they will gather evidence,

secure witnesses, and follow on the track of Arsene Lupin."

I could not refrain from shrugging my shoulders, as I replied:

"Your men will not secure any evidence or any witnesses."

"Really!"

"Arsene Lupin will not allow anyone to see him emerge from the

tunnel. He will take the first road---"

"To Rouen, where we will arrest him."

"He will not go to Rouen."

"Then he will remain in the vicinity, where his capture will be

even more certain."

"He will not remain in the vicinity."

"Oh! oh! And where will he hide?"

I looked at my watch, and said:

"At the present moment, Arsene Lupin is prowling around the

station at Darnetal. At ten fifty, that is, in twenty-two minutes

from now, he will take the train that goes from Rouen to Amiens."

"Do you think so? How do you know it?"

"Oh! it is quite simple. While we were in the car, Arsene Lupin

consulted my railway guide. Why did he do it? Was there, not far

from the spot where he disappeared, another line of railway, a

station upon that line, and a train stopping at that station? On

consulting my railway guide, I found such to be the case."

"Really, monsieur," said the commissary, "that is a marvelous

deduction. I congratulate you on your skill."

I was now convinced that I had made a mistake in displaying so

much cleverness. The commissary regarded me with astonishment, and

I though a slight suspicion entered his official mind....Oh!

scarcely that, for the photographs distributed broadcast by the

police department were too imperfect; they presented an Arsene

Lupin so different from the one he had before him, that he could

not possibly recognize me by it. But, all the same, he was

troubled, confused and ill-at-ease.

"Mon Dieu! nothing stimulates the comprehension so much as the

loss of a pocketbook and the desire to recover it. And it seems to

me that if you will give me two of your men, we may be able...."

"Oh! I beg of you, monsieur le commissaire," cried Madame Renaud,

"listen to Mon. Berlat."

The intervention of my excellent friend was decisive. Pronounced

by her, the wife of an influential official, the name of Berlat

became really my own, and gave me an identity that no mere

suspicion could affect. The commissary arose, and said:

"Believe me, Monsieur Berlat, I shall be delighted to see you

succeed. I am as much interested as you are in the arrest of

Arsene Lupin."

He accompanied me to the automobile, and introduced two of his men,

Honore Massol and Gaston Delivet, who were assigned to assist me.

My chauffer cranked up the car and I took my place at the wheel. A

few seconds later, we left the station. I was saved.

Ah! I must confess that in rolling over the boulevards that

surrounded the old Norman city, in my swift thirty-five horse-power

Moreau-Lepton, I experienced a deep feeling of pride, and the motor

responded, sympathetically to my desires. At right and left, the

trees flew past us with startling rapidity, and I, free, out of

danger, had simply to arrange my little personal affairs with the

two honest representatives of the Rouen police who were sitting

behind me. Arsene Lupin was going in search of Arsene Lupin!

Modest guardians of social order--Gaston Delivet and Honore Massol--

how valuable was your assistance! What would I have done without

you? Without you, many times, at the cross-roads, I might have

taken the wrong route! Without you, Arsene Lupin would have made a

mistake, and the other would have escaped!

But the end was not yet. Far from it. I had yet to capture the

thief and recover the stolen papers. Under no circumstances must

my two acolytes be permitted to see those papers, much less to

seize them. That was a point that might give me some difficulty.

We arrived at Darnetal three minutes after the departure of the

train. True, I had the consolation of learning that a man wearing

a gray overcoat with a black velvet collar had taken the train at

the station. He had bought a second-class ticket for Amiens.

Certainly, my debut as detective was a promising one.

Delivet said to me:

"The train is express, and the next stop is Monterolier-Buchy in

nineteen minutes. If we do not reach there before Arsene Lupin, he

can proceed to Amiens, or change for the train going to Cleres,

and, from that point, reach Dieppe or Paris."

"How far to Monterolier?"

"Twenty-three kilometres."

"Twenty-three kilometres in nineteen minutes....We will be there

ahead of him."

We were off again! Never had my faithful Moreau-Repton responded

to my impatience with such ardor and regularity. It participated

in my anxiety. It indorsed my determination. It comprehended my

animosity against that rascally Arsene Lupin. The knave! The

traitor!

"Turn to the right," cried Delivet, "then to the left."

We fairly flew, scarcely touching the ground. The mile-stones

looked like little timid beasts that vanished at our approach.

Suddenly, at a turn of the road, we saw a vortex of smoke. It was

the Northern Express. For a kilometre, it was a struggle, side by

side, but an unequal struggle in which the issue was certain. We

won the race by twenty lengths.

In three seconds we were on the platform standing before the

second-class carriages. The doors were opened, and some passengers

alighted, but not my thief. We made a search through the

compartments. No sign of Arsene Lupin.

"Sapristi!" I cried, "he must have recognized me in the automobile

as we were racing, side by side, and he leaped from the train."

"Ah! there he is now! crossing the track."

I started in pursuit of the man, followed by my two acolytes, or

rather followed by one of them, for the other, Massol, proved

himself to be a runner of exceptional speed and endurance. In a

few moments, he had made an appreciable gain upon the fugitive.

The man noticed it, leaped over a hedge, scampered across a meadow,

and entered a thick grove. When we reached this grove, Massol was

waiting for us. He went no farther, for fear of losing us.

"Quite right, my dear friend," I said. "After such a run, our

victim must be out of wind. We will catch him now."

I examined the surroundings with the idea of proceeding alone in

the arrest of the fugitive, in order to recover my papers,

concerning which the authorities would doubtless ask many

disagreeable questions. Then I returned to my companions, and

said:

"It is all quite easy. You, Massol, take your place at the left;

you, Delivet, at the right. From there, you can observe the entire

posterior line of the bush, and he cannot escape without you seeing

him, except by that ravine, and I shall watch it. If he does not

come out voluntarily, I will enter and drive him out toward one or

the other of you. You have simply to wait. Ah! I forgot: in case

I need you, a pistol shot."

Massol and Delivet walked away to their respective posts. As soon

as they had disappeared, I entered the grove with the greatest

precaution so as to be neither seen nor heard. I encountered dense

thickets, trough which narrow paths had been cut, but the

overhanging boughs compelled me to adopt a stooping posture. One

of these paths led to a clearing in which I found footsteps upon

the wet grass. I followed them; they led me to the foot of a mound

which was surmounted by a deserted, dilapidated hovel.

"He must be there," I said to myself. "It is a well-chosen

retreat."

I crept cautiously to the side of the building. A slight noise

informed me that he was there; and, then, through an opening, I saw

him. His back was turned toward me. In two bounds, I was upon

him. He tried to fire a revolver that he held in his hand. But he

had no time. I threw him to the ground, in such a manner that his

arms were beneath him, twisted and helpless, whilst I held him down

with my knee on his breast.

"Listen, my boy," I whispered in his ear. "I am Arsene Lupin. You

are to deliver over to me, immediately and gracefully, my

pocketbook and the lady's jewels, and, in return therefore, I will

save you from the police and enroll you amongst my friends. One

word: yes or no?"

"Yes," he murmured.

"Very good. Your escape, this morning, was well planned. I

congratulate you."

I arose. He fumbled in his pocket, drew out a large knife and

tried to strike me with it.

"Imbecile!" I exclaimed.

With one hand, I parried the attack; with the other, I gave him a

sharp blow on the carotid artery. He fell--stunned!

In my pocketbook, I recovered my papers and bank-notes. Out of

curiosity, I took his. Upon an envelope, addressed to him, I read

his name: Pierre Onfrey. It startled me. Pierre Onfrey, the

assassin of the rue Lafontaine at Auteuil! Pierre Onfrey, he who

had cut the throats of Madame Delbois and her two daughters. I

leaned over him. Yes, those were the features which, in the

compartment, had evoked in me the memory of a face I could not then

recall.

But time was passing. I placed in an envelope two bank-notes of

one hundred francs each, with a card bearing these words: "Arsene

Lupin to his worthy colleagues Honore Massol and Gaston Delivet, as

a slight token of his gratitude." I placed it in a prominent spot

in the room, where they would be sure to find it. Beside it, I

placed Madame Renaud's handbag. Why could I not return it to the

lady who had befriended me? I must confess that I had taken from

it everything that possessed any interest or value, leaving there

only a shell comb, a stick of rouge Dorin for the lips, and an

empty purse. But, you know, business is business. And then,

really, her husband is engaged in such a dishonorable vocation!

The man was becoming conscious. What was I to do? I was unable to

save him or condemn him. So I took his revolver and fired a shot

in the air.

"My two acolytes will come and attend to his case," I said to

myself, as I hastened away by the road through the ravine. Twenty

minutes later, I was seated in my automobile.

At four o'clock, I telegraphed to my friends at Rouen that an

unexpected event would prevent me from making my promised visit.

Between ourselves, considering what my friends must now know, my

visit is postponed indefinitely. A cruel disillusion for them!

At six o'clock I was in Paris. The evening newspapers informed me

that Pierre Onfrey had been captured at last.

Next day,--let us not despise the advantages of judicious

advertising,--the `Echo de France' published this sensational item:

"Yesterday, near Buchy, after numerous exciting incidents, Arsene

Lupin effected the arrest of Pierre Onfrey. The assassin of the

rue Lafontaine had robbed Madame Renaud, wife of the director in

the penitentiary service, in a railway carriage on the Paris-Havre

line. Arsene Lupin restored to Madame Renaud the hand-bag that

contained her jewels, and gave a generous recompense to the two

detectives who had assisted him in making that dramatic arrest."

V. The Queen's Necklace

Two or three times each year, on occasions of unusual importance,

such as the balls at the Austrian Embassy or the soirees of Lady

Billingstone, the Countess de Dreux-Soubise wore upon her white

shoulders "The Queen's Necklace."

It was, indeed, the famous necklace, the legendary necklace that

Bohmer and Bassenge, court jewelers, had made for Madame Du Barry;

the veritable necklace that the Cardinal de Rohan-Soubise intended

to give to Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France; and the same that the

adventuress Jeanne de Valois, Countess de la Motte, had pulled to

pieces one evening in February, 1785, with the aid of her husband

and their accomplice, Retaux de Villette.

To tell the truth, the mounting alone was genuine. Retaux de

Villette had kept it, whilst the Count de la Motte and his wife

scattered to the four winds of heaven the beautiful stones so

carefully chosen by Bohmer. Later, he sold the mounting to Gaston

de Dreux-Soubise, nephew and heir of the Cardinal, who re-purchased

the few diamonds that remained in the possession of the English

jeweler, Jeffreys; supplemented them with other stones of the same

size but of much inferior quality, and thus restored the marvelous

necklace to the form in which it had come from the hands of Bohmer

and Bassenge.

For nearly a century, the house of Dreux-Soubise had prided itself

upon the possession of this historic jewel. Although adverse

circumstances had greatly reduced their fortune, they preferred to

curtail their household expenses rather than part with this relic

of royalty. More particularly, the present count clung to it as a

man clings to the home of his ancestors. As a matter of prudence,

he had rented a safety-deposit box at the Credit Lyonnais in which

to keep it. He went for it himself on the afternoon of the day on

which his wife wished to wear it, and he, himself, carried it back

next morning.

On this particular evening, at the reception given at the Palais de

Castille, the Countess achieved a remarkable success; and King

Christian, in whose honor the fete was given, commented on her

grace and beauty. The thousand facets of the diamond sparkled and

shone like flames of fire about her shapely neck and shoulders, and

it is safe to say that none but she could have borne the weight of

such an ornament with so much ease and grace.

This was a double triumph, and the Count de Dreux was highly elated

when they returned to their chamber in the old house of the

faubourg Saint-Germain. He was proud of his wife, and quite as

proud, perhaps, of the necklace that had conferred added luster to

his noble house for generations. His wife, also, regarded the

necklace with an almost childish vanity, and it was not without

regret that she removed it from her shoulders and handed it to her

husband who admired it as passionately as if he had never seen it

before. Then, having placed it in its case of red leather, stamped

with the Cardinal's arms, he passed into an adjoining room which

was simply an alcove or cabinet that had been cut off from their

chamber, and which could be entered only by means of a door at the

foot of their bed. As he had done on previous occasions, he hid it

on a high shelf amongst hat-boxes and piles of linen. He closed

the door, and retired.

Next morning, he arose about nine o'clock, intending to go to the

Credit Lyonnais before breakfast. He dressed, drank a cup of

coffee, and went to the stables to give his orders. The condition

of one of the horses worried him. He caused it to be exercised in

his presence. Then he returned to his wife, who had not yet left

the chamber. Her maid was dressing her hair. When her husband

entered, she asked:

"Are you going out?"

"Yes, as far as the bank."

"Of course. That is wise."

He entered the cabinet; but, after a few seconds, and without any

sign of astonishment, he asked:

"Did you take it, my dear?"

"What?....No, I have not taken anything."

"You must have moved it."

"Not at all. I have not even opened that door."

He appeared at the door, disconcerted, and stammered, in a scarcely

intelligible voice:

"You haven't....It wasn't you?....Then...."

She hastened to his assistance, and, together, they made a thorough

search, throwing the boxes to the floor and overturning the piles

of linen. Then the count said, quite discouraged:

"It is useless to look any more. I put it here, on this shelf."

"You must be mistaken."

"No, no, it was on this shelf--nowhere else."

They lighted a candle, as the room was quite dark, and then carried

out all the linen and other articles that the room contained. And,

when the room was emptied, they confessed, in despair, that the

famous necklace had disappeared. Without losing time in vain

lamentations, the countess notified the commissary of police, Mon.

Valorbe, who came at once, and, after hearing their story, inquired

of the count:

"Are you sure that no one passed through your chamber during the

night?"

"Absolutely sure, as I am a very light sleeper. Besides, the

chamber door was bolted, and I remember unbolting it this morning

when my wife rang for her maid."

"And there is no other entrance to the cabinet?"

"None."

"No windows?"

"Yes, but it is closed up."

"I will look at it."

Candles were lighted, and Mon. Valorbe observed at once that the

lower half of the window was covered by a large press which was,

however, so narrow that it did not touch the casement on either

side.

"On what does this window open?"

"A small inner court."

"And you have a floor above this?"

"Two; but, on a level with the servant's floor, there is a close

grating over the court. That is why this room is so dark."

When the press was moved, they found that the window was fastened,

which would not have been the case if anyone had entered that way.

"Unless," said the count, "they went out through our chamber."

"In that case, you would have found the door unbolted."

The commissary considered the situation for a moment, then asked

the countess:

"Did any of your servants know that you wore the necklace last

evening?"

"Certainly; I didn't conceal the fact. But nobody knew that it was

hidden in that cabinet."

"No one?"

"No one....unless...."

"Be quite sure, madam, as it is a very important point."

She turned to her husband, and said:

"I was thinking of Henriette."

"Henriette? She didn't know where we kept it."

"Are you sure?"

"Who is this woman Henriette?" asked Mon. Valorbe.

"A school-mate, who was disowned by her family for marrying beneath

her. After her husband's death, I furnished an apartment in this

house for her and her son. She is clever with her needle and has

done some work for me."

"What floor is she on?"

"Same as ours....at the end of the corridor....and I think....

the window of her kitchen...."

"Opens on this little court, does it not?"

"Yes, just opposite ours."

Mon. Valorbe then asked to see Henriette. They went to her

apartment; she was sewing, whilst her son Raoul, about six years

old, was sitting beside her, reading. The commissary was surprised

to see the wretched apartment that had been provided for the woman.

It consisted of one room without a fireplace, and a very small room

that served as a kitchen. The commissary proceeded to question

her. She appeared to be overwhelmed on learning of the theft.

Last evening she had herself dressed the countess and placed the

necklace upon her shoulders.

"Good God!" she exclaimed, "it can't be possible!"

"And you have no idea? Not the least suspicion? Is it possible

that the thief may have passed through your room?"

She laughed heartily, never supposing that she could be an object

of suspicion.

"But I have not left my room. I never go out. And, perhaps, you

have not seen?"

She opened the kitchen window, and said:

"See, it is at least three metres to the ledge of the opposite

window."

"Who told you that we supposed the theft might have been committed

in that way?"

"But....the necklace was in the cabinet, wasn't it?"

"How do you know that?"

"Why, I have always known that it was kept there at night. It had

been mentioned in my presence."

Her face, though still young, bore unmistakable traces of sorrow

and resignation. And it now assumed an expression of anxiety as if

some danger threatened her. She drew her son toward her. The

child took her hand, and kissed it affectionately.

When they were alone again, the count said to the commissary:

"I do not suppose you suspect Henriette. I can answer for her.

She is honesty itself."

"I quite agree with you," replied Mon. Valorbe. "At most, I

thought there might have been an unconscious complicity. But I

confess that even that theory must be abandoned, as it does not

help solve the problem now before us."

The commissary of police abandoned the investigation, which was now

taken up and completed by the examining judge. He questioned the

servants, examined the condition of the bolt, experimented with the

opening and closing of the cabinet window, and explored the little

court from top to bottom. All was in vain. The bolt was intact.

The window could not be opened or closed from the outside.

The inquiries especially concerned Henriette, for, in spite of

everything, they always turned in her direction. They made a

thorough investigation of her past life, and ascertained that,

during the last three years, she had left the house only four

times, and her business, on those occasions, was satisfactorily

explained. As a matter of fact, she acted as chambermaid and

seamstress to the countess, who treated her with great strictness

and even severity.

At the end of a week, the examining judge had secured no more

definite information than the commissary of police. The judge

said:

"Admitting that we know the guilty party, which we do not, we are

confronted by the fact that we do not know hoe the theft was

committed. We are brought face to face with two obstacles: a door

and a window--both closed and fastened. It is thus a double

mystery. How could anyone enter, and, moreover, how could any one

escape, leaving behind him a bolted door and a fastened window?"

At the end of four months, the secret opinion of the judge was that

the count and countess, being hard pressed for money, which was

their normal condition, had sold the Queen's Necklace. He closed

the investigation.

The loss of the famous jewel was a severe blow to the Dreux-

Soubise. Their credit being no longer propped up by the reserve

fund that such a treasure constituted, they found themselves

confronted by more exacting creditors and money-lenders. They were

obliged to cut down to the quick, to sell or mortgage every article

that possessed any commercial value. In brief, it would have been

their ruin, if two large legacies from some distant relatives had

not saved them.

Their pride also suffered a downfall, as if they had lost a

quartering from their escutcheon. And, strange to relate, it was

upon her former schoolmate, Henriette, that the countess vented her

spleen. Toward her, the countess displayed the most spiteful

feelings, and even openly accused her. First, Henriette was

relegated to the servants' quarters, and, next day, discharged.

For some time, the count and countess passed an uneventful life.

They traveled a great deal. Only one incident of record occurred

during that period. Some months after the departure of Henriette,

the countess was surprised when she received and read the following

letter, signed by Henriette:

"Madame,"

"I do not know how to thank you; for it was you, was it not, who

sent me that? It could not have been anyone else. No one but you

knows where I live. If I am wrong, excuse me, and accept my

sincere thanks for your past favors...."

What did the letter mean? The present or past favors of the

countess consisted principally of injustice and neglect. Why,

then, this letter of thanks?

When asked for an explanation, Henriette replied that she had

received a letter, through the mails, enclosing two bank-notes of

one thousand francs each. The envelope, which she enclosed with

her reply, bore the Paris post-mark, and was addressed in a

handwriting that was obviously disguised. Now, whence came those

two thousand francs? Who had sent them? And why had they sent

them?

Henriette received a similar letter and a like sum of money twelve

months later. And a third time; and a fourth; and each year for a

period of six years, with this difference, that in the fifth and

sixth years the sum was doubled. There was another difference:

the post-office authorities having seized one of the letters under

the pretext that it was not registered, the last two letters were

duly sent according to the postal regulations, the first dated from

Saint-Germain, the other from Suresnes. The writer signed the

first one, "Anquety"; and the other, "Pechard." The addresses that

he gave were false.

At the end of six years, Henriette dies, and the mystery remained

unsolved.

* * * * *

All these events are known to the public. The case was one of

those which excite public interest, and it was a strange

coincidence that this necklace, which had caused such a great

commotion in France at the close of the eighteenth century, should

create a similar commotion a century later. But what I am about to

relate is known only to the parties directly interested and a few

others from whom the count exacted a promise of secrecy. As it is

probable that some day or other that promise will be broken, I have

no hesitation in rending the veil and thus disclosing the key to

the mystery, the explanation of the letter published in the morning

papers two days ago; an extraordinary letter which increased, if

possible, the mists and shadows that envelope this inscrutable

drama.

Five days ago, a number of guests were dining with the Count de

Dreux-Soubise. There were several ladies present, including his

two nieces and his cousin, and the following gentlemen: the

president of Essaville, the deputy Bochas, the chevalier Floriani,

whom the count had known in Sicily, and General Marquis de

Rouzieres, and old club friend.

After the repast, coffee was served by the ladies, who gave the

gentlemen permission to smoke their cigarettes, provided they would

not desert the salon. The conversation was general, and finally

one of the guests chanced to speak of celebrated crimes. And that

gave the Marquis de Rouzieres, who delighted to tease the count, an

opportunity to mention the affair of the Queen's Necklace, a

subject that the count detested.

Each one expressed hi own opinion of the affair; and, of course,

their various theories were not only contradictory but impossible.

"And you, monsieur," said the countess to the chevalier Floriani,

"what is your opinion?"

"Oh! I--I have no opinion, madame."

All the guests protested; for the chevalier had just related in an

entertaining manner various adventures in which he had participated

with his father, a magistrate at Palermo, and which established his

judgment and taste in such manners.

"I confess," said he, "I have sometimes succeeded in unraveling

mysteries that the cleverest detectives have renounced; yet I do

not claim to be Sherlock Holmes. Moreover, I know very little

about the affair of the Queen's Necklace."

Everybody now turned to the count, who was thus obliged, quite

unwillingly, to narrate all the circumstances connected with the

theft. The chevalier listened, reflected, asked a few questions,

and said:

"It is very strange....at first sight, the problem appears to be a

very simple one."

The count shrugged his shoulders. The others drew closer to the

chevalier, who continued, in a dogmatic tone:

"As a general rule, in order to find the author of a crime or a

theft, it is necessary to determine how that crime or theft was

committed, or, at least, how it could have been committed. In the

present case, nothing is more simple, because we are face to face,

not with several theories, but with one positive fact, that is to

say: the thief could only enter by the chamber door or the window

of the cabinet. Now, a person cannot open a bolted door from the

outside. Therefore, he must have entered through the window."

"But it was closed and fastened, and we fount it fastened

afterward," declared the count.

"In order to do that," continued Floriani, without heeding the

interruption, "he had simply to construct a bridge, a plank or a

ladder, between the balcony of the kitchen and the ledge of the

window, and as the jewel-case---"

"But I repeat that the window was fastened," exclaimed the count,

impatiently.

This time, Floriani was obliged to reply. He did so with

the greatest tranquility, as if the objection was the most

insignificant affair in the world.

"I will admit that it was; but is there not a transom in the upper

part of the window?"

"How do you know that?"

"In the first place, that was customary in houses of that date;

and, in the second place, without such a transom, the theft cannot

be explained."

"Yes, there is one, but it was closed, the same as the window.

Consequently, we did not pay attention to it."

"That was a mistake; for, if you had examined it, you would have

found that it had been opened."

"But how?"

"I presume that, like all others, it opens by means of a wire with

a ring on the lower end."

"Yes, but I do not see---"

"Now, through a hole in the window, a person could, by the aid of

some instrument, let us say a poker with a hook at the end, grip

the ring, pull down, and open the transom."

The count laughed and said:

"Excellent! excellent! Your scheme is very cleverly constructed,

but you overlook one thing, monsieur, there is no hole in the

window."

"There was a hole."

"Nonsense, we would have seen it."

"In order to see it, you must look for it, and no one has looked.

The hole is there; it must be there, at the side of the window, in

the putty. In a vertical direction, of course."

The count arose. He was greatly excited. He paced up and down the

room, two or three times, in a nervous manner; then, approaching

Floriani, said:

"Nobody has been in that room since; nothing has been changed."

"Very well, monsieur, you can easily satisfy yourself that my

explanation is correct."

"It does not agree with the facts established by the examining

judge. You have seen nothing, and yet you contradict all that we

have seen and all that we know."

Floriani paid no attention to the count's petulance. He simply

smiled and said:

"Mon Dieu, monsieur, I submit my theory; that is all. If I am

mistaken, you can easily prove it."

"I will do so at once....I confess that you assurance---"

The count muttered a few more words; then suddenly rushed to the

door and passed out. Not a word was uttered in his absence; and

this profound silence gave the situation an air of almost tragic

importance. Finally, the count returned. He was pale and nervous.

He said to his friends, in a trembling voice:

"I beg your pardon....the revelations of the chevalier were so

unexpected....I should never have thought...."

His wife questioned him, eagerly:

"Speak....what is it?"

He stammered: "The hole is there, at the very spot, at the side of

the window---"

He seized the chevalier's arm, and said to him in an imperious

tone:

"Now, monsieur, proceed. I admit that you are right so far, but

now....that is not all....go on....tell us the rest of it."

Floriani disengaged his arm gently, and, after a moment, continued:

"Well, in my opinion, this is what happened. The thief, knowing

that the countess was going to wear the necklace that evening, had

prepared his gangway or bridge during you absence. He watched you

through the window and saw you hide the necklace. Afterward, he

cut the glass and pulled the ring."

"Ah! but the distance was so great that it would be impossible for

him to reach the window-fastening through the transom."

"Well, then, if he could not open the window by reaching through

the transom, he must have crawled through the transom."

"Impossible; it is too small. No man could crawl through it."

"Then it was not a man," declared Floriani.

"What!"

"If the transom is too small to admit a man, it must have been a

child."

"A child!"

"Did you not say that your friend Henriette had a son?"

"Yes; a son named Raoul."

"Then, in all probability, it was Raoul who committed the theft."

"What proof have you of that?"

"What proof! Plenty of it....For instance---"

He stopped, and reflected for a moment, then continued:

"For instance, that gangway or bridge. It is improbable that the

child could have brought it in from outside the house and carried

it away again without being observed. He must have used something

close at hand. In the little room used by Henriette as a kitchen,

were there not some shelves against the wall on which she placed

her pans and dishes?"

"Two shelves, to the best of my memory."

"Are you sure that those shelves are really fastened to the wooden

brackets that support them? For, if they are nor, we could be

justified in presuming that the child removed them, fastened them

together, and thus formed his bridge. Perhaps, also, since there

was a stove, we might find the bent poker that he used to open the

transom."

Without saying a word, the count left the room; and, this time,

those present did not feel the nervous anxiety they had experienced

the first time. They were confident that Floriani was right, and

no one was surprised when the count returned and declared:

"It was the child. Everything proves it."

"You have seen the shelves and the poker?"

"Yes. The shelves have been unnailed, and the poker is there yet."

But the countess exclaimed:

"You had better say it was his mother. Henriette is the guilty

party. She must have compelled her son---"

"No," declared the chevalier, "the mother had nothing to do with

it."

"Nonsense! they occupied the same room. The child could not have

done it without the mother's knowledge."

"True, they lived in the same room, but all this happened in the

adjoining room, during the night, while the mother was asleep."

"And the necklace?" said the count. "It would have been found

amongst the child's things."

"Pardon me! He had been out. That morning, on which you found him

reading, he had just come from school, and perhaps the commissary

of police, instead of wasting his time on the innocent mother,

would have been better employed in searching the child's desk

amongst his school-books."

"But how do you explain those two thousand francs that Henriette

received each year? Are they not evidence of her complicity?"

"If she had been an accomplice, would she have thanked you for that

money? And then, was she not closely watched? But the child,

being free, could easily go to a neighboring city, negotiate with

some dealer and sell him one diamond or two diamonds, as he might

wish, upon condition that the money should be sent from Paris, and

that proceeding could be repeated from year to year."

An indescribable anxiety oppressed the Dreux-Soubise and their

guests. There was something in the tone and attitude of Floriani--

something more that the chevalier's assurance which, from the

beginning, had so annoyed the count. There was a touch of irony,

that seemed rather hostile than sympathetic. But the count

affected to laugh, as he said:

"All that is very ingenious and interesting, and I congratulate you

upon your vivid imagination."

"No, not at all," replied Floriani, with the utmost gravity, "I

imagine nothing. I simply describe the events as they must have

occurred."

"But what do you know about them?"

"What you yourself have told me. I picture to myself the life of

the mother and child down there in the country; the illness of the

mother, the schemes of and inventions of the child sell the

precious stones in order to save his mother's life, or, at least,

soothe her dying moments. Her illness overcomes her. She dies.

Years roll on. The child becomes a man; and then--and now I will

give my imagination a free rein--let us suppose that the man feels a

desire to return to the home of his childhood, that he does so, and

that he meets there certain people who suspect and accuse his

mother....do you realize the sorrow and anguish of such an

interview in the very house wherein the original drama was played?"

His words seemed to echo for a few seconds in the ensuing silence,

and one could read upon the faces of the Count and Countess de

Dreux a bewildered effort to comprehend his meaning and, at the

same time, the fear and anguish of such a comprehension. The count

spoke at last, and said:

"Who are you, monsieur?"

"I? The chevalier Floriani, whom you met at Palermo, and whom you

have been gracious enough to invite to your house on several

occasions."

"Then what does this story mean?"

"Oh! nothing at all! It is simply a pastime, so far as I am

concerned. I endeavor to depict the pleasure that Henriette's son,

if he still lives, would have in telling you that he was the guilty

party, and that he did it because his mother was unhappy, as she

was on the point of losing the place of a....servant, by which she

lived, and because the child suffered at sight of his mother's

sorrow."

He spoke with suppressed emotion, rose partially and inclined

toward the countess. There could be no doubt that the chevalier

Floriani was Henriette's son. His attitude and words proclaimed

it. Besides, was it not his obvious intention and desire to be

recognized as such?

The count hesitated. What action would he take against the

audacious guest? Ring? Provoke a scandal? Unmask the man who had

once robbed him? But that was a long time ago! And who would

believe that absurd story about the guilty child? No; better far

to accept the situation, and pretend not to comprehend the true

meaning of it. So the count, turning to Floriani, exclaimed:

"Your story is very curious, very entertaining; I enjoyed it much.

But what do you think has become of this young man, this model son?

I hope he has not abandoned the career in which he made such a

brilliant debut."

"Oh! certainly not."

"After such a debut! To steal the Queen's Necklace at six years of

age; the celebrated necklace that was coveted by Marie-Antoinette!"

"And to steal it," remarked Floriani, falling in with the count's

mood, "without costing him the slightest trouble, without anyone

thinking to examine the condition of the window, or to observe that

the window-sill was too clean--that window-sill which he had wiped

in order to efface the marks he had made in the thick dust. We

must admit that it was sufficient to turn the head of a boy at that

age. It was all so easy. He had simply to desire the thing, and

reach out his hand to get it."

"And he reached out his hand."

"Both hands," replied the chevalier, laughing.

His companions received a shock. What mystery surrounded the life

of the so-called Floriani? How wonderful must have been the life

of that adventurer, a thief at six years of age, and who, to-day,

in search of excitement or, at most, to gratify a feeling of

resentment, had come to brave his victim in her own house,

audaciously, foolishly, and yet with all the grace and delicacy of

a courteous guest!

He arose and approached the countess to bid her adieu. She

recoiled, unconsciously. He smiled.

"Oh! Madame, you are afraid of me! Did I pursue my role of parlor-

magician a step too far?"

She controlled herself, and replied, with her accustomed ease:

"Not at all, monsieur. The legend of that dutiful son interested

me very much, and I am pleased to know that my necklace had such a

brilliant destiny. But do you not think that the son of that

woman, that Henriette, was the victim of hereditary influence in

the choice of his vocation?"

He shuddered, feeling the point, and replied:

"I am sure of it; and, moreover, his natural tendency to crime must

have been very strong or he would have been discouraged."

"Why so?"

"Because, as you must know, the majority of the diamonds were

false. The only genuine stones were the few purchased from the

English jeweler, the others having been sold, one by one, to meet

the cruel necessities of life."

"It was still the Queen's Necklace, monsieur," replied the

countess, haughtily, "and that is something that he, Henriette's

son, could not appreciate."

"He was able to appreciate, madame, that, whether true or false,

the necklace was nothing more that an object of parade, an emblem

of senseless pride."

The count made a threatening gesture, but his wife stopped him.

"Monsieur," she said, "if the man to whom you allude has the

slightest sense of honor---"

She stopped, intimidated by Floriani's cool manner.

"If that man has the slightest sense of honor," he repeated.

She felt that she would not gain anything by speaking to him in

that manner, and in spite of her anger and indignation, trembling

as she was from humiliated pride, she said to him, almost politely:

"Monsieur, the legend says that Retaux de Villette, when in

possession of the Queen's Necklace, did not disfigure the mounting.

He understood that the diamonds were simply the ornament, the

accessory, and that the mounting was the essential work, the

creation of the artist, and he respected it accordingly. Do you

think that this man had the same feeling?"

"I have no doubt that the mounting still exists. The child

respected it."

"Well, monsieur, if you should happen to meet him, will you tell

him that he unjustly keeps possession of a relic that is the

property and pride of a certain family, and that, although the

stones have been removed, the Queen's necklace still belongs to the

house of Dreux-Soubise. It belongs to us as much as our name or

our honor."

The chevalier replied, simply:

"I shall tell him, madame."

He bowed to her, saluted the count and the other guests, and

departed.

* * * * *

Four days later, the countess de Dreux found upon the table in her

chamber a red leather case bearing the cardinal's arms. She opened

it, and found the Queen's Necklace.

But as all things must, in the life of a man who strives for unity

and logic, converge toward the same goal--and as a little

advertising never does any harm--on the following day, the `Echo de

France' published these sensational lines:

"The Queen's Necklace, the famous historical jewelry stolen from

the family of Dreux-Soubise, has been recovered by Arsene Lupin,

who hastened to restore it to its rightful owner. We cannot too

highly commend such a delicate and chivalrous act."

VI. The Seven of Hearts

I am frequently asked this question: "How did you make the

acquaintance of Arsene Lupin?"

My connection with Arsene Lupin was well known. The details that I

gather concerning that mysterious man, the irrefutable facts that I

present, the new evidence that I produce, the interpretation that I

place on certain acts of which the public has seen only the

exterior manifestations without being able to discover the secret

reasons or the invisible mechanism, all establish, if not an

intimacy, at least amicable relations and regular confidences.

But how did I make his acquaintance? Why was I selected to be his

historiographer? Why I, and not some one else?

The answer is simple: chance alone presided over my choice; my

merit was not considered. It was chance that put me in his way.

It was by chance that I was participant in one of his strangest and

most mysterious adventures; and by chance that I was an actor in a

drama of which he was the marvelous stage director; an obscure and

intricate drama, bristling with such thrilling events that I feel a

certain embarrassment in undertaking to describe it.

The first act takes place during that memorable night of 22 June,

of which so much has already been said. And, for my part, I

attribute the anomalous conduct of which I was guilty on that

occasion to the unusual from of mind in which I found myself on my

return home. I had dined with some friends at the Cascade

restaurant, and, the entire evening, whilst we smoked and the

orchestra played melancholy waltzes, we talked only of crimes and

thefts, and dark and frightful intrigues. That is always a poor

overture to a night's sleep.

The Saint-Martins went away in an automobile. Jean Daspry--that

delightful, heedless Daspry who, six months later, was killed in

such a tragic manner on the frontier of Morocco--Jean Daspry and I

returned on foot through the dark, warm night. When we arrived in

front of the little house in which I had lived for a year at

Neuilly, on the boulevard Maillot, he said to me:

"Are you afraid?"

"What an idea!"

"But this house is so isolated....no neighbors....vacant

lots....Really, I am not a coward, and yet---"

"Well, you are very cheering, I must say."

"Oh! I say that as I would say anything else. The Saint-Martins

have impressed me with their stories of brigands and thieves."

We shook hands and said good-night. I took out my key and opened

the door.

"Well, that is good," I murmured, "Antoine has forgotten to light a

candle."

Then I recalled the fact that Antoine was away; I had given him a

short leave of absence. Forthwith, I was disagreeably oppressed by

the darkness and silence of the night. I ascended the stairs on

tiptoe, and reached my room as quickly as possible; then, contrary

to my usual habit, I turned the key and pushed the bolt.

The light of my candle restored my courage. Yet I was careful to

take my revolver from its case--a large, powerful weapon--and place

it beside my bed. That precaution completed my reassurance. I

laid down and, as usual, took a book from my night-table to read

myself to sleep. Then I received a great surprise. Instead of the

paper-knife with which I had marked my place on the preceding, I

found an envelope, closed with five seals of red wax. I seized it

eagerly. It was addressed to me, and marked: "Urgent."

A letter! A letter addressed to me! Who could have put it in that

place? Nervously, I tore open the envelope, and read:

"From the moment you open this letter, whatever happens, whatever

you may hear, do not move, do not utter one cry. Otherwise you are

doomed."

I am not a coward, and, quite as well as another, I can face real

danger, or smile at the visionary perils of imagination. But, let

me repeat, I was in an anomalous condition of mind, with my nerves

set on edge by the events of the evening. Besides, was there not,

in my present situation, something startling and mysterious,

calculated to disturb the most courageous spirit?

My feverish fingers clutched the sheet of paper, and I read and re-

read those threatening words: "Do not move, do not utter one cry.

Otherwise, you are doomed."

"Nonsense!" I thought. "It is a joke; the work of some cheerful

idiot."

I was about to laugh--a good loud laugh. Who prevented me? What

haunting fear compressed my throat?

At least, I would blow out the candle. No, I could not do it. "Do

not move, or you are doomed," were the words he had written.

These auto-suggestions are frequently more imperious than the most

positive realities; but why should I struggle against them? I had

simply to close my eyes. I did so.

At that moment, I heard a slight noise, followed by crackling

sounds, proceeding from a large room used by me as a library. A

small room or antechamber was situated between the library and my

bedchamber.

The approach of an actual danger greatly excited me, and I felt a

desire to get up, seize my revolver, and rush into the library. I

did not rise; I saw one of the curtains of the left window move.

There was no doubt about it: the curtain had moved. It was still

moving. And I saw--oh! I saw quite distinctly--in the narrow space

between the curtains and the window, a human form; a bulky mass

that prevented the curtains from hanging straight. And it is

equally certain that the man saw me through the large meshes of the

curtain. Then, I understood the situation. His mission was to

guard me while the others carried away their booty. Should I rise

and seize my revolver? Impossible! He was there! At the least

movement, at the least cry, I was doomed.

Then came a terrific noise that shook the house; this was followed

by lighter sounds, two or three together, like those of a hammer

that rebounded. At least, that was the impression formed in my

confused brain. These were mingled with other sounds, thus

creating a veritable uproar which proved that the intruders were

not only bold, but felt themselves secure from interruption.

They were right. I did not move. Was it cowardice? No, rather

weakness, a total inability to move any portion of my body,

combined with discretion; for why should I struggle? Behind that

man, there were ten others who would come to his assistance.

Should I risk my life to save a few tapestries and bibelots?

Throughout the night, my torture endured. Insufferable torture,

terrible anguish! The noises had stopped, but I was in constant

fear of their renewal. And the man! The man who was guarding me,

weapon in hand. My fearful eyes remained cast in his direction.

And my heart beat! And a profuse perspiration oozed from every

pore of my body!

Suddenly, I experienced an immense relief; a milk-wagon, whose

sound was familiar to me, passed along the boulevard; and, at the

same time, I had an impression that the light of a new day was

trying to steal through the closed window-blinds.

At last, daylight penetrated the room; other vehicles passed along

the boulevard; and all the phantoms of the night vanished. Then I

put one arm out of the bed, slowly and cautiously. My eyes were

fixed upon the curtain, locating the exact spot at which I must

fire; I made an exact calculation of the movements I must make;

then, quickly, I seized my revolver and fired.

I leaped from my bed with a cry of deliverance, and rushed to the

window. The bullet had passed through the curtain and the window-

glass, but it had not touched the man--for the very good reason that

there was none there. Nobody! Thus, during the entire night, I

had been hypnotized by a fold of the curtain. And, during that

time, the malefactors....Furiously, with an enthusiasm that nothing

could have stopped, I turned the key, opened the door, crossed the

antechamber, opened another door, and rushed into the library. But

amazement stopped me on the threshold, panting, astounded, more

astonished than I had been by the absence of the man. All the

things that I supposed had been stolen, furniture, books, pictures,

old tapestries, everything was in its proper place.

It was incredible. I could not believe my eyes. Notwithstanding

that uproar, those noises of removal....I made a tour, I inspected

the walls, I made a mental inventory of all the familiar objects.

Nothing was missing. And, what was more disconcerting, there was

no clue to the intruders, not a sign, not a chair disturbed, not

the trace of a footstep.

"Well! Well!" I said to myself, pressing my hands on my bewildered

head, "surely I am not crazy! I hear something!"

Inch by inch, I made a careful examination of the room. It was in

vain. Unless I could consider this as a discovery: Under a small

Persian rug, I found a card--an ordinary playing card. It was the

seven of hearts; it was like any other seven of hearts in French

playing-cards, with this slight but curious exception: The extreme

point of each of the seven red spots or hearts was pierced by a

hole, round and regular as if made with the point of an awl.

Nothing more. A card and a letter found in a book. But was not

that sufficient to affirm that I had not been the plaything of a

dream?

* * * * *

Throughout the day, I continued my searches in the library. It was

a large room, much too large for the requirements of such a house,

and the decoration of which attested the bizarre taste of its

founder. The floor was a mosaic of multicolored stones, formed

into large symmetrical designs. The walls were covered with a

similar mosaic, arranged in panels, Pompeiian allegories, Byzantine

compositions, frescoes of the Middle Ages. A Bacchus bestriding a

cask. An emperor wearing a gold crown, a flowing beard, and

holding a sword in his right hand.

Quite high, after the style of an artist's studio, there was a

large window--the only one in the room. That window being always

open at night, it was probable that the men had entered through it,

by the aid of a ladder. But, again, there was no evidence. The

bottom of the ladder would have left some marks in the soft earth

beneath the window; but there were none. Nor were there any traces

of footsteps in any part of the yard.

I had no idea of informing the police, because the facts I had

before me were so absurd and inconsistent. They would laugh at me.

However, as I was then a reporter on the staff of the `Gil Blas,' I

wrote a lengthy account of my adventure and it was published in the

paper on the second day thereafter. The article attracted some

attention, but no one took it seriously. They regarded it as a

work of fiction rather than a story of real life. The Saint-

Martins rallied me. But Daspry, who took an interest in such

matters, came to see me, made a study of the affair, but reached no

conclusion.

A few mornings later, the door-bell rang, and Antoine came to

inform me that a gentleman desired to see me. He would not give

his name. I directed Antoine to show him up. He was a man of

about forty years of age with a very dark complexion, lively

features, and whose correct dress, slightly frayed, proclaimed a

taste that contrasted strangely with his rather vulgar manners.

Without any preamble, he said to me--in a rough voice that confirmed

my suspicion as to his social position:

"Monsieur, whilst in a cafe, I picked up a copy of the `Gil Blas,'

and read your article. It interested me very much.

"Thank you."

"And here I am."

"Ah!"

"Yes, to talk to you. Are all the facts related by you quite

correct?"

"Absolutely so."

"Well, in that case, I can, perhaps, give you some information."

"Very well; proceed."

"No, not yet. First, I must be sure that the facts are exactly as

you have related them."

"I have given you my word. What further proof do you want?"

"I must remain alone in this room."

"I do not understand," I said, with surprise.

"It's an idea that occurred to me when reading your article.

Certain details established an extraordinary coincidence with

another case that came under my notice. If I am mistaken, I shall

say nothing more. And the only means of ascertaining the truth is

by my remaining in the room alone."

What was at the bottom of this proposition? Later, I recalled that

the man was exceedingly nervous; but, at the same time, although

somewhat astonished, I found nothing particularly abnormal about

the man or the request he had made. Moreover, my curiosity was

aroused; so I replied:

"Very well. How much time do you require?"

"Oh! three minutes--not longer. Three minutes, from now, I will

rejoin you."

I left the room, and went downstairs. I took out my watch. One

minute passed. Two minutes. Why did I feel so depressed? Why did

those moments seem so solemn and weird? Two minutes and a

half....Two minutes and three quarters. Then I heard a pistol

shot.

I bounded up the stairs and entered the room. A cry of horror

escaped me. In the middle of the room, the man was lying on his

left side, motionless. Blood was flowing from a wound in his

forehead. Near his hand was a revolver, still smoking.

But, in addition to this frightful spectacle, my attention was

attracted by another object. At two feet from the body, upon the

floor, I saw a playing-card. It was the seven of hearts. I picked

it up. The lower extremity of each of the seven spots was pierced

with a small round hole.

* * * * *

A half-hour later, the commissary of police arrived, then the

coroner and the chief of the Surete, Mon. Dudouis. I had been

careful not to touch the corpse. The preliminary inquiry was very

brief, and disclosed nothing. There were no papers in the pockets

of the deceased; no name upon his clothes; no initial upon his

linen; nothing to give any clue to his identity. The room was in

the same perfect order as before. The furniture had not been

disturbed. Yet this man had not come to my house solely for the

purpose of killing himself, or because he considered my place the

most convenient one for his suicide! There must have been a motive

for his act of despair, and that motive was, no doubt, the result

of some new fact ascertained by him during the three minutes he was

alone.

What was that fact? What had he seen? What frightful secret had

been revealed to him? There was no answer to these questions.

But, at the last moment, an incident occurred that appeared to us

of considerable importance. As two policemen were raising the body

to place it on a stretcher, the left hand thus being disturbed, a

crumpled card fell from it. The card bore these words: "Georges

Andermatt, 37 Rue de Berry."

What did that mean? Georges Andermatt was a rich banker in Paris,

the founder and president of the Metal Exchange which had given

such an impulse to the metallic industries in France. He lived in

princely style; was the possessor of numerous automobiles, coaches,

and an expensive racing-stable. His social affairs were very

select, and Madame Andermatt was noted for her grace and beauty.

"Can that be the man's name?" I asked.

---------------

The chief of the Surete leaned over him.

"It is not he. Mon. Andermatt is a thin man, and slightly grey."

"But why this card?"

"Have you a telephone, monsieur?"

"Yes, in the vestibule. Come with me."

He looked in the directory, and then asked for number 415.21.

"Is Mon. Andermatt at home?....Please tell him that Mon. Dudouis

wished him to come at once to 102 Boulevard Maillot. Very

important."

Twenty minutes later, Mon. Andermatt arrived in his automobile.

After the circumstances had been explained to him, he was taken in

to see the corpse. He displayed considerable emotion, and spoke,

in a low tone, and apparently unwillingly:

"Etienne Varin," he said.

"You know him?"

"No....or, at least, yes....by sight only. His brother...."

"Ah! he has a brother?"

"Yes, Alfred Varin. He came to see me once on some matter of

business....I forget what it was."

"Where does he live?"

"The two brothers live together--rue de Provence, I think."

"Do you know any reason why he should commit suicide?"

"None."

"He held a card in his hand. It was your card with your address."

"I do not understand that. It must have been there by some chance

that will be disclosed by the investigation."

A very strange chance, I thought; and I felt that the others

entertained the same impression.

I discovered the same impression in the papers next day, and

amongst all my friends with whom I discussed the affair. Amid the

mysteries that enveloped it, after the double discovery of the

seven of hearts pierced with seven holes, after the two inscrutable

events that had happened in my house, that visiting card promised

to throw some light on the affair. Through it, the truth may be

revealed. But, contrary to our expectations, Mon. Andermatt

furnished no explanation. He said:

"I have told you all I know. What more can I do? I am greatly

surprised that my card should be found in such a place, and I

sincerely hope the point will be cleared up."

It was not. The official investigation established that the Varin

brothers were of Swiss origin, had led a shifting life under

various names, frequenting gambling resorts, associating with a

band of foreigners who had been dispersed by the police after a

series of robberies in which their participation was established

only by their flight. At number 24 rue de Provence, where the

Varin brothers had lived six years before, no one knew what had

become of them.

I confess that, for my part, the case seemed to me so complicated

and so mysterious that I did not think the problem would ever be

solved, so I concluded to waste no more time upon it. But Jean

Daspry, whom I frequently met at that period, became more and more

interested in it each day. It was he who pointed out to me that

item from a foreign newspaper which was reproduced and commented

upon by the entire press. It was as follows:

"The first trial of a new model of submarine boat, which is

expected to revolutionize naval warfare, will be given in presence

of the former Emperor at a place that will be kept secret until the

last minute. An indiscretion has revealed its name; it is called

`The Seven-of-Hearts.'"

The Seven-of-Hearts! That presented a new problem. Could a

connection be established between the name of the sub-marine and

the incidents which we have related? But a connection of what

nature? What had happened here could have no possible relation

with the sub-marine.

"What do you know about it?" said Daspry to me. "The most diverse

effects often proceed from the same cause."

Two days later, the following foreign news item was received and

published:

"It is said that the plans of the new sub-marine `Seven-of-Hearts'

were prepared by French engineers, who, having sought, in vain, the

support of their compatriots, subsequently entered into

negotiations with the British Admiralty, without success."

I do not wish to give undue publicity to certain delicate matters

which once provoked considerable excitement. Yet, since all danger

of injury therefrom has now come to an end, I must speak of the

article that appeared in the `Echo de France,' which aroused so

much comment at that time, and which threw considerable light upon

the mystery of the Seven-of-Hearts. This is the article as it was

published over the signature of Salvator:

"THE AFFAIR OF THE SEVEN-OF-HEARTS.

"A CORNER OF THE VEIL RAISED.

"We will be brief. Ten years ago, a young mining engineer, Louis

Lacombe, wishing to devote his time and fortune to certain studies,

resigned his position he then held, and rented number 102 boulevard

Maillot, a small house that had been recently built and decorated

for an Italian count. Through the agency of the Varin brothers of

Lausanne, one of whom assisted in the preliminary experiments and

the other acted as financial agent, the young engineer was

introduced to Georges Andermatt, the founder of the Metal Exchange.

"After several interviews, he succeeded in interesting the banker

in a sub-marine boat on which he was working, and it was agreed

that as soon as the invention was perfected, Mon. Andermatt would

use his influence with the Minister of Marine to obtain a series of

trials under the direction of the government. For two years, Louis

Lacombe was a frequent visitor at Andermatt's house, and he

submitted to the banker the various improvements he made upon his

original plans, until one day, being satisfied with the perfection

of his work, he asked Mon. Andermatt to communicate with the

Minister of Marine. That day, Louis Lacombe dined at Mon.

Andermatt's house. He left there about half-past eleven at night.

He has not been seen since.

"A perusal of the newspapers of that date will show that the

young man's family caused every possible inquiry to be made, but

without success; and it was the general opinion that Louis Lacombe--

who was known as an original and visionary youth--had quietly left

for parts unknown.

"Let us accept that theory--improbable, though it be,--and let us

consider another question, which is a most important one for our

country: What has become of the plans of the sub-marine? Did Louis

Lacombe carry them away? Are they destroyed?

"After making a thorough investigation, we are able to assert,

positively, that the plans are in existence, and are now in the

possession of the two brothers Varin. How did they acquire such a

possession? That is a question not yet determined; nor do we know

why they have not tried to sell them at an earlier date. Did they

fear that their title to them would be called in question? If so,

they have lost that fear, and we can announce definitely, that the

plans of Louis Lacombe are now the property of foreign power, and

we are in a position to publish the correspondence that passed

between the Varin brothers and the representative of that power.

The `Seven-of-Hearts' invented by Louis Lacombe has been actually

constructed by our neighbor.

"Will the invention fulfill the optimistic expectations of those

who were concerned in that treacherous act?"

And a post-script adds:

"Later.--Our special correspondent informs us that the preliminary

trial of the `Seven-of-Hearts' has not been satisfactory. It is

quite likely that the plans sold and delivered by the Varin

brothers did not include the final document carried by Louis

Lacombe to Mon. Andermatt on the day of his disappearance, a

document that was indispensable to a thorough understanding of the

invention. It contained a summary of the final conclusions of the

inventor, and estimates and figures not contained in the other

papers. Without this document, the plans are incomplete; on the

other hand, without the plans, the document is worthless.

"Now is the time to act and recover what belongs to us. It may

be a difficult matter, but we rely upon the assistance of Mon.

Andermatt. It will be to his interest to explain his conduct which

has hitherto been so strange and inscrutable. He will explain not

only why he concealed these facts at the time of the suicide of

Etienne Varin, but also why he has never revealed the disappearance

of the paper--a fact well known to him. He will tell why, during

the last six years, he paid spies to watch the movements of the

Varin brothers. We expect from him, not only words, but acts. And

at once. Otherwise---"

The threat was plainly expressed. But of what did it consist?

What whip was Salvator, the anonymous writer of the article,

holding over the head of Mon. Andermatt?

An army of reporters attacked the banker, and ten interviewers

announced the scornful manner in which they were treated.

Thereupon, the `Echo de France' announced its position in these

words:

"Whether Mon. Andermatt is willing or not, he will be, henceforth,

our collaborator in the work we have undertaken."

* * * * *

Daspry and I were dining together on the day on which that

announcement appeared. That evening, with the newspapers spread

over my table, we discussed the affair and examined it from every

point of view with that exasperation that a person feels when

walking in the dark and finding himself constantly falling over the

same obstacles. Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, the door

opened and a lady entered. Her face was hidden behind a think

veil. I rose at once and approached her.

"Is it you, monsieur, who lives here?" she asked.

"Yes, madame, but I do not understand---"

"The gate was not locked," she explained.

"But the vestibule door?"

She did not reply, and it occurred to me that she had used the

servants' entrance. How did she know the way? Then there was a

silence that was quite embarrassing. She looked at Daspry, and I

was obliged to introduce him. I asked her to be seated and explain

the object of her visit. She raised her veil, and I saw that she

was a brunette with regular features and, though not handsome, she

was attractive--principally, on account of her sad, dark eyes.

"I am Madame Andermatt," she said.

"Madame Andermatt!" I repeated, with astonishment.

After a brief pause, she continued with a voice and manner that

were quite easy and natural:

"I have come to see you about that affair--you know. I thought I

might be able to obtain some information---"

"Mon Dieu, madame, I know nothing but what has already appeared in

the papers. But if you will point out in what way I can help you. ..."

"I do not know....I do not know."

Not until then did I suspect that her calm demeanor was assumed,

and that some poignant grief was concealed beneath that air of

tranquility. For a moment, we were silent and embarrassed. Then

Daspry stepped forward, and said:

"Will you permit me to ask you a few questions?"

"Yes, yes," she cried. "I will answer."

"You will answer....whatever those questions may be?"

"Yes."

"Did you know Louis Lacombe?" he asked.

"Yes, through my husband."

"When did you see him for the last time?"

"The evening he dined with us."

"At that time, was there anything to lead you to believe that you

would never see him again?"

"No. But he had spoken of a trip to Russia--in a vague way."

"Then you expected to see him again?"

"Yes. He was to dine with us, two days later."

"How do you explain his disappearance?"

"I cannot explain it."

"And Mon. Andermatt?"

"I do not know."

"Yet the article published in the `Echo de France' indicates---"

"Yes, that the Varin brothers had something to do with his

disappearance."

"Is that your opinion?"

"Yes."

"On what do you base your opinion?"

"When he left our house, Louis Lacombe carried a satchel containing

all the papers relating to his invention. Two days later, my

husband, in a conversation with one of the Varin brothers, learned

that the papers were in their possession."

"And he did not denounce them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because there was something else in the satchel--something besides

the papers of Louis Lacombe."

"What was it?"

She hesitated; was on the point of speaking, but, finally, remained

silent. Daspry continued:

"I presume that is why your husband has kept a close watch over

their movements instead of informing the police. He hoped to

recover the papers and, at the same time, that compromising article

which has enabled the two brothers to hold over him threats of

exposure and blackmail."

"Over him, and over me."

"Ah! over you, also?"

"Over me, in particular."

She uttered the last words in a hollow voice. Daspry observed it;

he paced to and fro for a moment, then, turning to her, asked:

"Had you written to Louis Lacombe?"

"Of course. My husband had business with him--"

"Apart from those business letters, had you written to Louis

Lacombe....other letters? Excuse my insistence, but it is

absolutely necessary that I should know the truth. Did you write

other letters?"

"Yes," she replied, blushing.

"And those letters came into the possession of the Varin brothers?"

"Yes."

"Does Mon. Andermatt know it?"

"He has not seen them, but Alfred Varin has told him of their

existence and threatened to publish them if my husband should take

any steps against him. My husband was afraid....of a scandal."

"But he has tried to recover the letters?"

"I think so; but I do not know. You see, after that last interview

with Alfred Varin, and after some harsh words between me and my

husband in which he called me to account--we live as strangers."

"In that case, as you have nothing to lose, what do you fear?"

"I may be indifferent to him now, but I am the woman that he has

loved, the one he would still love--oh! I am quite sure of that,"

she murmured, in a fervent voice, "he would still love me if he had

not got hold of those cursed letters----"

"What! Did he succeed?....But the two brothers still defied

him?"

"Yes, and they boasted of having a secure hiding-place."

"Well?"

"I believe my husband discovered that hiding-place."

"Well?"

"I believe my husband has discovered that hiding-place."

"Ah! where was it?"

"Here."

"Here!" I cried in alarm.

"Yes. I always had that suspicion. Louis Lacombe was very

ingenious and amused himself in his leisure hours, by making safes

and locks. No doubt, the Varin brothers were aware of that fact

and utilized one of Lacombe's safes in which to conceal the

letters....and other things, perhaps."

"But they did not live here," I said.

"Before you came, four months ago, the house had been vacant for

some time. And they may have thought that your presence here would

not interfere with them when they wanted to get the papers. But

they did not count on my husband, who came here on the night of 22

June, forced the safe, took what he was seeking, and left his card

to inform the two brothers that he feared them no more, and that

their positions were now reversed. Two days later, after reading

the article in the `Gil Blas,' Etienne Varin came here, remained

alone in this room, found the safe empty, and....killed

himself."

After a moment, Daspry said:

"A very simple theory....Has Mon. Andermatt spoken to you since

then?"

"No."

"Has his attitude toward you changed in any way? Does he appear

more gloomy, more anxious?"

"No, I haven't noticed any change."

"And yet you think he has secured the letters. Now, in my opinion,

he has not got those letters, and it was not he who came here on

the night of 22 June."

"Who was it, then?"

"The mysterious individual who is managing this affair, who holds

all the threads in his hands, and whose invisible but far-reaching

power we have felt from the beginning. It was he and his friends

who entered this house on 22 June; it was he who discovered the

hiding-place of the papers; it was he who left Mon. Andermatt's

card; it is he who now holds the correspondence and the evidence of

the treachery of the Varin brothers."

"Who is he?" I asked, impatiently.

"The man who writes letters to the `Echo de France'....

Salvator! Have not convincing evidence of that fact? Does he not

mention in his letters certain details that no one could know,

except the man who had thus discovered the secrets of the two

brothers?"

"Well, then," stammered Madame Andermatt, in great alarm, "he has

my letters also, and it is he who now threatens my husband. Mon

Dieu! What am I to do?"

"Write to him," declared Daspry. "Confide in him without reserve.

Tell him all you know and all you may hereafter learn. Your

interest and his interest are the same. He is not working against

Mon. Andermatt, but against Alfred Varin. Help him."

"How?"

"Has your husband the document that completes the plans of Louis

Lacombe?"

"Yes."

"Tell that to Salvator, and, if possible, procure the document for

him. Write to him at once. You risk nothing."

The advice was bold, dangerous even at first sight, but Madame

Andermatt had no choice. Besides, as Daspry had said, she ran no

risk. If the unknown writer were an enemy, that step would not

aggravate the situation. If he were a stranger seeking to

accomplish a particular purpose, he would attach to those letters

only a secondary importance. Whatever might happen, it was the

only solution offered to her, and she, in her anxiety, was only too

glad to act on it. She thanked us effusively, and promised to keep

us informed.

In fact, two days later, she sent us the following letter that she

had received from Salvator:

"Have not found the letter, but I will get them. Rest easy. I am

watching everything. S."

I looked at the letter. It was in the same handwriting as the note

I found in my book on the night of 22 June.

Daspry was right. Salvator was, indeed, the originator of that

affair.

* * * * *

We were beginning to see a little light coming out of the darkness

that surrounded us, and an unexpected light was thrown on certain

points; but other points yet remained obscure--for instance, the

finding of the two seven-of-hearts. Perhaps I was unnecessarily

concerned about those two cards whose seven punctured spots had

appeared to me under such startling circumstances! Yet I could not

refrain from asking myself: What role will they play in the drama?

What importance do they bear? What conclusion must be drawn from

the fact that the submarine constructed from the plans of Louis

Lacombe bore the name of `Seven-of-Hearts'?

Daspry gave little thought to the other two cards; he devoted all

his attention to another problem which he considered more urgent;

he was seeking the famous hiding-place.

"And who know," said he, "I may find the letters that Salvator did

not find--by inadvertence, perhaps. It is improbable that the Varin

brothers would have removed from a spot, which they deemed

inaccessible, the weapon which was so valuable to them."

And he continued to search. In a short time, the large room held

no more secrets for him, so he extended his investigations to the

other rooms. He examined the interior and the exterior, the stones

of the foundation, the bricks in the walls; he raised the slates of

the roof.

One day, he came with a pickaxe and a spade, gave me the spade,

kept the pickaxe, pointed to the adjacent vacant lots, and said:

"Come."

I followed him, but I lacked his enthusiasm. He divided the vacant

land into several sections which he examined in turn. At last, in

a corner, at the angle formed by the walls of two neighboring

proprietors, a small pile of earth and gravel, covered with briers

and grass, attracted his attention. He attacked it. I was obliged

to help him. For an hour, under a hot sun, we labored without

success. I was discouraged, but Daspry urged me on. His ardor was

as strong as ever.

At last, Daspry's pickaxe unearthed some bones--the remains of a

skeleton to which some scraps of clothing still hung. Suddenly, I

turned pale. I had discovered, sticking in the earth, a small

piece of iron cut in the form of a rectangle, on which I thought I

could see red spots. I stooped and picked it up. That little iron

plate was the exact size of a playing-card, and the red spots, made

with red lead, were arranged upon it in a manner similar to the

seven-of-hearts, and each spot was pierced with a round hole

similar to the perforations in the two playing cards.

"Listen, Daspry, I have had enough of this. You can stay if it

interests you. But I am going."

Was that simply the expression of my excited nerves? Or was it the

result of a laborious task executed under a burning sun? I know

that I trembled as I walked away, and that I went to bed, where I

remained forty-eight hours, restless and feverish, haunted by

skeletons that danced around me and threw their bleeding hearts at

my head.

Daspry was faithful to me. He came to my house every day, and

remained three or four hours, which he spent in the large room,

ferreting, thumping, tapping.

"The letters are here, in this room," he said, from time to time,

"they are here. I will stake my life on it."

On the morning of the third day I arose--feeble yet, but cured. A

substantial breakfast cheered me up. But a letter that I received

that afternoon contributed, more than anything else, to my complete

recovery, and aroused in me a lively curiosity. This was the

letter:

"Monsieur,

"The drama, the first act of which transpired on the night of 22

June, is now drawing to a close. Force of circumstances compel me

to bring the two principal actors in that drama face to face, and I

wish that meeting to take place in your house, if you will be so

kind as to give me the use of it for this evening from nine o'clock

to eleven. It will be advisable to give your servant leave of

absence for the evening, and, perhaps, you will be so kind as to

leave the field open to the two adversaries. You will remember

that when I visited your house on the night of 22 June, I took

excellent care of your property. I feel that I would do you an

injustice if I should doubt, for one moment, your absolute

discretion in this affair. Your devoted,

"SALVATOR."

I was amused at the facetious tone of his letter and also at the

whimsical nature of his request. There was a charming display of

confidence and candor in his language, and nothing in the world

could have induced me to deceive him or repay his confidence with

ingratitude.

I gave my servant a theatre ticket, and he left the house at eight

o'clock. A few minutes later, Daspry arrived. I showed him the

letter.

"Well?" said he.

"Well, I have left the garden gate unlocked, so anyone can enter."

"And you--are you going away?"

"Not at all. I intend to stay right here."

"But he asks you to go---"

"But I am not going. I will be discreet, but I am resolved to see

what takes place."

"Ma foi!" exclaimed Daspry, laughing, "you are right, and I shall

stay with you. I shouldn't like to miss it."

We were interrupted by the sound of the door-bell.

"Here already?" said Daspry, "twenty minutes ahead of time!

Incredible!"

I went to the door and ushered in the visitor. It was Madame

Andermatt. She was faint and nervous, and in a stammering voice,

she ejaculated:

"My husband....is coming....he has an appointment....

they intend to give him the letters...."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"By chance. A message came for my husband while we were at dinner.

The servant gave it to me by mistake. My husband grabbed it

quickly, but he was too late. I had read it."

"You read it?"

"Yes. It was something like this: `At nine o'clock this evening,

be at Boulevard Maillot with the papers connected with the affair.

In exchange, the letters.' So, after dinner, I hastened here."

"Unknown to your husband?"

"Yes."

"What do you think about it?" asked Daspry, turning to me.

"I think as you do, that Mon. Andermatt is one of the invited

guests."

"Yes, but for what purpose?"

"That is what we are going to find out."

I led the men to a large room. The three of us could hide

comfortably behind the velvet chimney-mantle, and observe all that

should happen in the room. We seated ourselves there, with Madame

Andermatt in the centre.

The clock struck nine. A few minutes later, the garden gate

creaked upon its hinges. I confess that I was greatly agitated. I

was about to learn the key to the mystery. The startling events of

the last few weeks were about to be explained, and, under my eyes,

the last battle was going to be fought. Daspry seized the hand of

Madame Andermatt, and said to her:

"Not a word, not a movement! Whatever you may see or hear, keep

quiet!"

Some one entered. It was Alfred Varin. I recognized him at once,

owing to the close resemblance he bore to his brother Etienne.

There was the same slouching gait; the same cadaverous face covered

with a black beard.

He entered with the nervous air of a man who is accustomed to fear

the presence of traps and ambushes; who scents and avoids them. He

glanced about the room, and I had the impression that the chimney,

masked with a velvet portiere, did not please him. He took three

steps in our direction, when something caused him to turn and walk

toward the old mosaic king, with the flowing beard and flamboyant

sword, which he examined minutely, mounting on a chair and

following with his fingers the outlines of the shoulders and head

and feeling certain parts of the face. Suddenly, he leaped from

the chair and walked away from it. He had heard the sound of

approaching footsteps. Mon. Andermatt appeared at the door.

"You! You!" exclaimed the banker. "Was it you who brought me

here?"

"I? By no means," protested Varin, in a rough, jerky voice that

reminded me of his brother, "on the contrary, it was your letter

that brought me here."

"My letter?"

"A letter signed by you, in which you offered---"

"I never wrote to you," declared Mon. Andermatt.

"You did not write to me!"

Instinctively, Varin was put on his guard, not against the banker,

but against the unknown enemy who had drawn him into this trap. A

second time, he looked in our direction, then walked toward the

door. But Mon. Andermatt barred his passage.

"Well, where are you going, Varin?"

"There is something about this affair I don't like. I am going

home. Good evening."

"One moment!"

"No need of that, Mon. Andermatt. I have nothing to say to you."

"But I have something to say to you, and this is a good time to say

it."

"Let me pass."

"No, you will not pass."

Varin recoiled before the resolute attitude of the banker, as he

muttered:

"Well, then, be quick about it."

One thing astonished me; and I have no doubt my two companions

experienced a similar feeling. Why was Salvator not there? Was he

not a necessary party at this conference? Or was he satisfied to

let these two adversaries fight it out between themselves? At all

events, his absence was a great disappointment, although it did not

detract from the dramatic strength of the situation.

After a moment, Mon. Andermatt approached Varin and, face to face,

eye to eye, said:

"Now, after all these years and when you have nothing more to fear,

you can answer me candidly: What have you done with Louis Lacombe?"

"What a question! AS if I knew anything about him!"

"You do know! You and your brother were his constant companions,

almost lived with him in this very house. You knew all about his

plans and his work. And the last night I ever saw Louis Lacombe,

when I parted with him at my door, I saw two men slinking away in

the shadows of the trees. That, I am ready to swear to."

"Well, what has that to do with me?"

"The two men were you and your brother."

"Prove it."

"The best proof is that, two days later, you yourself showed me the

papers and the plans that belonged to Lacombe and offered to sell

them. How did these papers come into your possession?"

"I have already told you, Mon. Andermatt, that we found them on

Louis Lacombe's table, the morning after his disappearance."

"That is a lie!"

"Prove it."

"The law will prove it."

"Why did you not appeal to the law?"

"Why? Ah! Why---," stammered the banker, with a slight display of

emotion.

"You know very well, Mon. Andermatt, if you had the least certainty

of our guilt, our little threat would not have stopped you."

"What threat? Those letters? Do you suppose I ever gave those

letters a moment's thought?"

"If you did not care for the letters, why did you offer me

thousands of francs for their return? And why did you have my

brother and me tracked like wild beasts?"

"To recover the plans."

"Nonsense! You wanted the letters. You knew that as soon as you

had the letters in your possession, you could denounce us. Oh! no,

I couldn't part with them!"

He laughed heartily, but stopped suddenly, and said:

"But, enough of this! We are merely going over old ground. We

make no headway. We had better let things stand as they are."

"We will not let them stand as they are," said the banker, "and

since you have referred to the letters, let me tell you that you

will not leave this house until you deliver up those letters."

"I shall go when I please."

"You will not."

"Be careful, Mon. Andermatt. I warn you---"

"I say, you shall not go."

"We will see about that," cried Varin, in such a rage that Madame

Andermatt could not suppress a cry of fear. Varin must have heard

it, for he now tried to force his way out. Mon. Andermatt pushed

him back. Then I saw him put his hand into his coat pocket.

"For the last time, let me pass," he cried.

"The letters, first!"

Varin drew a revolver and, pointing it at Mon. Andermatt, said:

"Yes or no?"

The banker stooped quickly. There was the sound of a pistol-shot.

The weapon fell from Varin's hand. I was amazed. The shot was

fired close to me. It was Daspry who had fired it at Varin,

causing him to drop the revolver. In a moment, Daspry was standing

between the two men, facing Varin; he said to him, with a sneer:

"You were lucky, my friend, very lucky. I fired at your hand and

struck only the revolver."

Both of them looked at him, surprised. Then he turned to the

banker, and said:

"I beg your pardon, monsieur, for meddling in your business; but,

really, you play a very poor game. Let me hold the cards."

Turning again to Varin, Daspry said:

"It's between us two, comrade, and play fair, if you please.

Hearts are trumps, and I play the seven."

Then Daspry held up, before Varin's bewildered eyes, the little

iron plate, marked with the seven red spots. It was a terrible

shock to Varin. With livid features, staring eyes, and an air of

intense agony, the man seemed to be hypnotized at the sight of it.

"Who are you?" he gasped.

"One who meddles in other people's business, down to the very

bottom."

"What do you want?"

"What you brought here tonight."

"I brought nothing."

"Yes, you did, or you wouldn't have come. This morning, you

received an invitation to come here at nine o'clock, and bring with

you all the papers held by you. You are here. Where are the

papers?"

There was in Daspry's voice and manner a tone of authority that I

did not understand; his manner was usually quite mild and

conciliatory. Absolutely conquered, Varin placed his hand on one

of his pockets, and said:

"The papers are here."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"All that you took from Louis Lacombe and afterwards sold to Major

von Lieben?"

"Yes."

"Are these the copies or the originals?"

"I have the originals."

"How much do you want for them?"

"One hundred thousand francs."

"You are crazy," said Daspry. "Why, the major gave you only twenty

thousand, and that was like money thrown into the sea, as the boat

was a failure at the preliminary trials."

"They didn't understand the plans."

"The plans are not complete."

"Then, why do you ask me for them?"

"Because I want them. I offer you five thousand francs--not a sou

more."

"Ten thousand. Not a sou less."

"Agreed," said Daspry, who now turned to Mon. Andermatt, and said:

"Monsieur will kindly sign a check for the amount."

"But....I haven't got---"

"Your check-book? Here it is."

Astounded, Mon. Andermatt examined the check-book that Daspry

handed to him.

"It is mine," he gasped. "How does that happen?"

"No idle words, monsieur, if you please. You have merely to sign."

The banker took out his fountain pen, filled out the check and

signed it. Varin held out his hand for it.

"Put down your hand," said Daspry, "there is something more."

Then, to the banker, he said: "You asked for some letters, did you

not?"

"Yes, a package of letters."

"Where are they, Varin?"

"I haven't got them."

------------------

"Where are they, Varin?"

"I don't know. My brother had charge of them."

"They are hidden in this room."

"In that case, you know where they are."

"How should I know?"

"Was it not you who found the hiding-place? You appear to be as

well informed....as Salvator."

"The letters are not in the hiding-place."

"They are."

"Open it."

Varin looked at him, defiantly. Were not Daspry and Salvator the

same person? Everything pointed to that conclusion. If so, Varin

risked nothing in disclosing a hiding-place already known.

"Open it," repeated Daspry.

"I have not got the seven of hearts."

"Yes, here it is," said Daspry, handing him the iron plate. Varin

recoiled in terror, and cried:

"No, no, I will not."

"Never mind," replied Daspry, as he walked toward the bearded king,

climbed on a chair and applied the seven of hearts to the lower

part of the sword in such a manner that the edges of the iron plate

coincided exactly with the two edges of the sword. Then, with the

assistance of an awl which he introduced alternately into each of

the seven holes, he pressed upon seven of the little mosaic stones.

As he pressed upon the seventh one, a clicking sound was heard, and

the entire bust of the King turned upon a pivot, disclosing a large

opening lined with steel. It was really a fire-proof safe.

"You can see, Varin, the safe is empty."

"So I see. Then, my brother has taken out the letters."

Daspry stepped down from the chair, approached Varin, and said:

"Now, no more nonsense with me. There is another hiding-place.

Where is it?"

"There is none."

"Is it money you want? How much?"

"Ten thousand."

"Monsieur Andermatt, are those letters worth then thousand francs

to you?"

"Yes," said the banker, firmly.

Varin closed the safe, took the seven of hearts and placed it again

on the sword at the same spot. He thrust the awl into each of the

seven holes. There was the same clicking sound, but this time,

strange to relate, it was only a portion of the safe that revolved

on the pivot, disclosing quite a small safe that was built within

the door of the larger one. The packet of letters was here, tied

with a tape, and sealed. Varin handed the packet to Daspry. The

latter turned to the banker, and asked:

"Is the check ready, Monsieur Andermatt?"

"Yes."

"And you have also the last document that you received from Louis

Lacombe--the one that completes the plans of the sub-marine?"

"Yes."

The exchange was made. Daspry pocketed the document and the

checks, and offered the packet of letters to Mon. Andermatt.

"This is what you wanted, Monsieur."

The banker hesitated a moment, as if he were afraid to touch those

cursed letters that he had sought so eagerly. Then, with a nervous

movement, he took them. Close to me, I heard a moan. I grasped

Madame Andermatt's hand. It was cold.

"I believe, monsieur," said Daspry to the banker, "that our

business is ended. Oh! no thanks. It was only by a mere chance

that I have been able to do you a good turn. Good-night."

Mon. Andermatt retired. He carried with him the letters written by

his wife to Louis Lacombe.

"Marvelous!" exclaimed Daspry, delighted. "Everything is coming

our way. Now, we have only to close our little affair, comrade.

You have the papers?"

"Here they are--all of them."

Daspry examined them carefully, and then placed them in his pocket.

"Quite right. You have kept your word," he said.

"But---"

"But what?"

"The two checks? The money?" said Varin, eagerly.

"Well, you have a great deal of assurance, my man. How dare you

ask such a thing?"

"I ask only what is due to me."

"Can you ask pay for returning papers that you stole? Well, I

think not!"

Varin was beside himself. He trembled with rage; his eyes were

bloodshot.

"The money....the twenty thousand...." he stammered.

"Impossible! I need it myself."

"The money!"

"Come, be reasonable, and don't get excited. It won't do you any

good."

Daspry seized his arm so forcibly, that Varin uttered a cry of

pain. Daspry continued:

"Now, you can go. The air will do you good. Perhaps you want me

to show you the way. Ah! yes, we will go together to the vacant lot

near here, and I will show you a little mound of earth and stones

and under it---"

"That is false! That is false!"

"Oh! no, it is true. That little iron plate with the seven spots

on it came from there. Louis Lacombe always carried it, and you

buried it with the body--and with some other things that will prove

very interesting to a judge and jury."

Varin covered his face with his hands, and muttered:

"All right, I am beaten. Say no more. But I want to ask you one

question. I should like to know---"

"What is it?"

"Was there a little casket in the large safe?"

"Yes."

"Was it there on the night of 22 June?"

"Yes."

"What did it contain?"

"Everything that the Varin brothers had put in it--a very pretty

collection of diamonds and pearls picked up here and there by the

said brothers."

"And did you take it?"

"Of course I did. Do you blame me?"

"I understand....it was the disappearance of that casket that

caused my brother to kill himself."

"Probably. The disappearance of your correspondence was not a

sufficient motive. But the disappearance of the casket....Is

that all you wish to ask me?"

"One thing more: your name?"

"You ask that with an idea of seeking revenge."

"Parbleu! The tables may be turned. Today, you are on top.

To-morrow---"

"It will be you."

"I hope so. Your name?"

"Arsene Lupin."

"Arsene Lupin!"

The man staggered, as though stunned by a heavy blow. Those two

words had deprived him of all hope.

Daspry laughed, and said:

"Ah! did you imagine that a Monsieur Durand or Dupont could manage

an affair like this? No, it required the skill and cunning of

Arsene Lupin. And now that you have my name, go and prepare your

revenge. Arsene Lupin will wait for you."

Then he pushed the bewildered Varin through the door.

"Daspry! Daspry!" I cried, pushing aside the curtain. He ran to

me.

"What? What's the matter?"

"Madame Andermatt is ill."

He hastened to her, caused her to inhale some salts, and, while

caring for her, questioned me:

"Well, what did it?"

"The letters of Louis Lacombe that you gave to her husband."

He struck his forehead and said:

"Did she think that I could do such a thing!...But, of course

she would. Imbecile that I am!"

Madame Andermatt was now revived. Daspry took from his pocket a

small package exactly similar to the one that Mon. Andermatt had

carried away.

"Here are your letters, Madame. These are the genuine letters."

"But....the others?"

"The others are the same, rewritten by me and carefully worded.

Your husband will not find anything objectionable in them, and will

never suspect the substitution since they were taken from the safe

in his presence."

"But the handwriting---"

"There is no handwriting that cannot be imitated."

She thanked him in the same words she might have used to a man in

her own social circle, so I concluded that she had not witnessed

the final scene between Varin and Arsene Lupin. But the surprising

revelation caused me considerable embarrassment. Lupin! My club

companion was none other than Arsene Lupin. I could not realize

it. But he said, quite at his ease:

"You can say farewell to Jean Daspry."

"Ah!"

"Yes, Jean Daspry is going on a long journey. I shall send him to

Morocco. There, he may find a death worth of him. I may say that

that is his expectation."

"But Arsene Lupin will remain?"

"Oh! Decidedly. Arsene Lupin is simply at the threshold of his

career, and he expects---"

I was impelled by curiosity to interrupt him, and, leading him away

from the hearing of Madame Andermatt, I asked:

"Did you discover the smaller safe yourself--the one that held the

letters?"

"Yes, after a great deal of trouble. I found it yesterday

afternoon while you were asleep. And yet, God knows it was simple

enough! But the simplest things are the ones that usually escape

our notice." Then, showing me the seven-of-hearts, he added: "Of

course I had guessed that, in order to open the larger safe, this

card must be placed on the sword of the mosaic king."

"How did you guess that?"

"Quite easily. Through private information, I knew that fact when

I came here on the evening of 22 June---"

"After you left me---"

"Yes, after turning the subject of our conversation to stories of

crime and robbery which were sure to reduce you to such a nervous

condition that you would not leave your bed, but would allow me to

complete my search uninterrupted."

"The scheme worked perfectly."

"Well, I knew when I came here that there was a casket concealed in

a safe with a secret lock, and that the seven-of-hearts was the key

to that lock. I had merely to place the card upon the spot that

was obviously intended for it. An hour's examination showed me

where the spot was."

"One hour!"

"Observe the fellow in mosaic."

"The old emperor?"

"That old emperor is an exact representation of the king of hearts

on all playing cards."

"That's right. But how does the seven of hearts open the larger

safe at one time and the smaller safe at another time? And why did

you open only the larger safe in the first instance? I mean on the

night of 22 June."

"Why? Because I always placed the seven of hearts in the same way.

I never changed the position. But, yesterday, I observed that by

reversing the card, by turning it upside down, the arrangement of

the seven spots on the mosaic was changed."

"Parbleu!"

"Of course, parbleu! But a person has to think of those things."

"There is something else: you did not know the history of those

letters until Madame Andermatt---"

"Spoke of them before me? No. Because I found in the safe, besides

the casket, nothing but the correspondence of the two brothers

which disclosed their treachery in regard to the plans."

"Then it was by chance that you were led, first, to investigate the

history of the two brothers, and then to search for the plans and

documents relating to the sub-marine?"

"Simply by chance."

"For what purpose did you make the search?"

"Mon Dieu!" exclaimed Daspry, laughing, "how deeply interested you

are!"

"The subject fascinates me."

"Very well, presently, after I have escorted Madame Andermatt to a

carriage, and dispatched a short story to the `Echo de France,' I

will return and tell you all about it."

He sat down and wrote one of those short, clear-cut articles which

served to amuse and mystify the public. Who does not recall the

sensation that followed that article produced throughout the entire

world?

"Arsene Lupin has solved the problem recently submitted by

Salvator. Having acquired possession of all the documents and

original plans of the engineer Louis Lacombe, he has placed them in

the hands of the Minister of Marine, and he has headed a

subscription list for the purpose of presenting to the nation the

first submarine constructed from those plans. His subscription is

twenty thousand francs."

"Twenty thousand francs! The checks of Mon. Andermatt?" I

exclaimed, when he had given me the paper to read.

"Exactly. It was quite right that Varin should redeem his

treachery."

* * * * *

And that is how I made the acquaintance of Arsene Lupin. That is

how I learned that Jean Daspry, a member of my club, was none other

than Arsene Lupin, gentleman-thief. That is how I formed very

agreeable ties of friendship with that famous man, and, thanks to

the confidence with which he honored me, how I became his very

humble and faithful historiographer.

VII. MADAME IMBERT'S SAFE

At three o'clock in the morning, there were still half a dozen

carriages in front of one of those small houses which form only the

side of the boulevard Berthier. The door of that house opened, and

a number of guests, male and female, emerged. The majority of them

entered their carriages and were quickly driven away, leaving

behind only two men who walked down Courcelles, where they parted,

as one of them lived in that street. The other decided to return

on foot as far as the Porte-Maillot. It was a beautiful winter's

night, clear and cold; a night on which a brisk walk is agreeable

and refreshing.

But, at the end of a few minutes, he had the disagreeable

impression that he was being followed. Turning around, he saw a

man sulking amongst the trees. He was not a coward; yet he felt it

advisable to increase his speed. Then his pursuer commenced to

run; and he deemed it prudent to draw his revolver and face him.

But he had no time. The man rushed at him and attacked him

violently. Immediately, they were engaged in a desperate struggle,

wherein he felt that his unknown assailant had the advantage. He

called for help, struggled, and was thrown down on a pile of

gravel, seized by the throat, and gagged with a handkerchief that

his assailant forced into his mouth. His eyes closed, and the man

who was smothering him with his weight arose to defend himself

against an unexpected attack. A blow from a cane and a kick from a

boot; the man uttered two cries of pain, and fled, limping and

cursing. Without deigning to pursue the fugitive, the new arrival

stooped over the prostrate man and inquired:

"Are you hurt, monsieur?"

He was not injured, but he was dazed and unable to stand. His

rescuer procured a carriage, placed him in it, and accompanied him

to his house on the avenue de la Grande-Armee. On his arrival

there, quite recovered, he overwhelmed his saviour with thanks.

"I owe you my life, monsieur, and I shall not forget it. I do not

wish to alarm my wife at this time of night, but, to-morrow, she

will be pleased to thank you personally. Come and breakfast with

us. My name is Ludovic Imbert. May I ask yours?"

"Certainly, monsieur."

And he handed Mon. Imbert a card bearing the name: "Arsene Lupin."

* * * * *

At that time, Arsene Lupin did not enjoy the celebrity which the

Cahorn affair, his escape from the Prison de la Sante, and other

brilliant exploits, afterwards gained for him. He had not even

used the name of Arsene Lupin. The name was specially invented to

designate the rescuer of Mon. Imbert; that is to say, it was in

that affair that Arsene Lupin was baptized. Fully armed and ready

for the fray, it is true, but lacking the resources and authority

which command success, Arsene Lupin was then merely an apprentice

in a profession wherein he soon became a master.

With what a thrill of joy he recalled the invitation he received

that night! At last, he had reached his goal! At last, he had

undertaken a task worth of his strength and skill! The Imbert

millions! What a magnificent feast for an appetite like his!

He prepared a special toilet for the occasion; a shabby frock-coat,

baggy trousers, a frayed silk hat, well-worn collar and cuffs, all

quite correct in form, but bearing the unmistakable stamp of

poverty. His cravat was a black ribbon pinned with a false

diamond. Thus accoutred, he descended the stairs of the house in

which he lived at Montmartre. At the third floor, without

stopping, he rapped on a closed door with the head of his cane. He

walked to the exterior boulevards. A tram-car was passing. He

boarded it, and some one who had been following him took a seat

beside him. It was the lodger who occupied the room on the third

floor. A moment later, this man said to Lupin:

"Well, governor?"

"Well, it is all fixed."

"How?"

"I am going there to breakfast."

"You breakfast--there!"

"Certainly. Why not? I rescued Mon. Ludovic Imbert from certain

death at your hands. Mon. Imbert is not devoid of gratitude. He

invited me to breakfast."

There was a brief silence. Then the other said:

"But you are not going to throw up the scheme?"

"My dear boy," said Lupin, "When I arranged that little case of

assault at battery, when I took the trouble at three o'clock in the

morning, to rap you with my cane and tap you with my boot at the

risk of injuring my only friend, it was not my intention to forego

the advantages to be gained from a rescue so well arranged and

executed. Oh! no, not at all."

"But the strange rumors we hear about their fortune?"

"Never mind about that. For six months, I have worked on this

affair, investigated it, studied it, questioned the servants, the

money-lenders and men of straw; for six months, I have shadowed the

husband and wife. Consequently, I know what I am talking about.

Whether the fortune came to them from old Brawford, as they

pretend, or from some other source, I do not care. I know that it

is a reality; that it exists. And some day it will be mine."

"Bigre! One hundred millions!"

"Let us say ten, or even five--that is enough! They have a safe

full of bonds, and there will be the devil to pay if I can't get my

hands on them."

The tram-car stopped at the Place de l'Etoile. The man whispered

to Lupin:

"What am I to do now?"

"Nothing, at present. You will hear from me. There is no hurry."

Five minutes later, Arsene Lupin was ascending the magnificent

flight of stairs in the Imbert mansion, and Mon. Imbert introduced

him to his wife. Madame Gervaise Imbert was a short plump woman,

and very talkative. She gave Lupin a cordial welcome.

"I desired that we should be alone to entertain our saviour," she

said.

From the outset, they treated "our saviour" as an old and valued

friend. By the time dessert was served, their friendship was well

cemented, and private confidences were being exchanged. Arsene

related the story of his life, the life of his father as a

magistrate, the sorrows of his childhood, and his present

difficulties. Gervaise, in turn, spoke of her youth, her marriage,

the kindness of the aged Brawford, the hundred millions that she

had inherited, the obstacles that prevented her from obtaining the

enjoyment of her inheritance, the moneys she had been obliged to

borrow at an exorbitant rate of interest, here endless contentions

with Brawford's nephews, and the litigation! the injunctions! in

fact, everything!

"Just think of it, Monsieur Lupin, the bonds are there, in my

husband's office, and if we detach a single coupon, we lose

everything! They are there, in our safe, and we dare not touch

them."

Monsieur Lupin shivered at the bare idea of his proximity to so

much wealth. Yet he felt quite certain that Monsieur Lupin would

never suffer from the same difficulty as his fair hostess who

declared she dare not touch the money.

"Ah! they are there!" he repeated, to himself; "they are there!"

A friendship formed under such circumstances soon led to closer

relations. When discreetly questioned, Arsene Lupin confessed his

poverty and distress. Immediately, the unfortunate young man was

appointed private secretary to the Imberts, husband and wife, at a

salary of one hundred francs a month. He was to come to the house

every day and receive orders for his work, and a room on the second

floor was set apart as his office. This room was directly over

Mon. Imbert's office.

Arsene soon realized that his position as secretary was essentially

a sinecure. During the first two months, he had only four

important letters to recopy, and was called only once to Mon.

Imbert's office; consequently, he had only one opportunity to

contemplate, officially, the Imbert safe. Moreover, he noticed

that the secretary was not invited to the social functions of the

employer. But he did not complain, as he preferred to remain,

modestly, in the shade and maintain his peace and freedom.

However, he was not wasting any time. From the beginning, he made

clandestine visits to Mon. Imbert's office, and paid his respects

to the safe, which was hermetically closed. It was an immense

block of iron and steel, cold and stern in appearance, which could

not be forced open by the ordinary tools of the burglar's trade.

But Arsene Lupin was not discouraged.

"Where force fails, cunning prevails," he said to himself. "The

essential thing is to be on the spot when the opportunity occurs.

In the meantime, I must watch and wait."

He made immediately some preliminary preparations. After careful

soundings made upon the floor of his room, he introduced a lead

pipe which penetrated the ceiling of Mon. Imbert's office at a

point between the two screeds of the cornice. By means of this

pipe, he hoped to see and hear what transpired in the room below.

Henceforth, he passed his days stretched at full length upon the

floor. He frequently saw the Imberts holding a consultation in

front of the safe, investigating books and papers. When they

turned the combination lock, he tried to learn the figures and the

number of turns they made to the right and left. He watched their

movements; he sought to catch their words. There was also a key

necessary to complete the opening of the safe. What did they do

with it? Did they hide it?

One day, he saw them leave the room without locking the safe. He

descended the stairs quickly, and boldly entered the room. But

they had returned.

"Oh! excuse me," said, "I made a mistake in the door."

"Come in, Monsieur Lupin, come in," cried Madame Imbert, "are you

not at home here? We want your advice. What bonds should we sell?

The foreign securities or the government annuities?"

"But the injunction?" said Lupin, with surprise.

"Oh! it doesn't cover all the bonds."

She opened the door of the safe and withdrew a package of bonds.

But her husband protested.

"No, no, Gervaise, it would be foolish to sell the foreign bonds.

They are going up, whilst the annuities are as high as they ever

will be. What do you think, my dear friend?"

The dear friend had no opinion; yet he advised the sacrifice of the

annuities. Then she withdrew another package and, from it, she

took a paper at random. It proved to be a three-per-cent annuity

worth two thousand francs. Ludovic placed the package of bonds in

his pocket. That afternoon, accompanied by his secretary, he sold

the annuities to a stock-broker and realized forty-six thousand

francs.

Whatever Madame Imbert might have said about it, Arsene Lupin did

not feel at home in the Imbert house. On the contrary, his

position there was a peculiar one. He learned that the servants

did not even know his name. They called him "monsieur." Ludovic

always spoke of him in the same way: "You will tell monsieur. Has

monsieur arrived?" Why that mysterious appellation?

Moreover, after their first outburst of enthusiasm, the Imberts

seldom spoke to him, and, although treating him with the

consideration due to a benefactor, they gave him little or no

attention. They appeared to regard him as an eccentric character

who did not like to be disturbed, and they respected his isolation

as if it were a stringent rule on his part. On one occasion, while

passing through the vestibule, he heard Madame Imbert say to the

two gentlemen:

"He is such a barbarian!"

"Very well," he said to himself, "I am a barbarian."

And, without seeking to solve the question of their strange

conduct, he proceeded with the execution of his own plans. He had

decided that he could not depend on chance, nor on the negligence

of Madame Imbert, who carried the key of the safe, and who, on

locking the safe, invariably scattered the letters forming the

combination of the lock. Consequently, he must act for himself.

Finally, and incident precipitated matters; it was the vehement

campaign instituted against the Imberts by certain newspapers that

accused the Imberts of swindling. Arsene Lupin was present at

certain family conferences when this new vicissitude was discussed.

He decided that if he waited much longer, he would lose everything.

During the next five days, instead of leaving the house about six

o'clock, according to his usual habit, he locked himself in his

room. It was supposed that he had gone out. But he was lying on

the floor surveying the office of Mon. Imbert. During those five

evenings, the favorable opportunity that he awaited did not take

place. He left the house about midnight by a side door to which he

held the key.

But on the sixth day, he learned that the Imberts, actuated by the

malevolent insinuations of their enemies, proposed to make an

inventory of the contents of the safe.

"They will do it to-night," thought Lupin.

And truly, after dinner, Imbert and his wife retired to the office

and commenced to examine the books of account and the securities

contained in the safe. Thus, one hour after another passed away.

He heard the servants go upstairs to their rooms. No one now

remained on the first floor. Midnight! The Imberts were still at

work.

"I must get to work," murmured Lupin.

He opened his window. It opened on a court. Outside, everything

was dark and quiet. He took from his desk a knotted rope, fastened

it to the balcony in front of his window, and quietly descended as

far as the window below, which was that of the of Imbert's office.

He stood upon the balcony for a moment, motionless, with attentive

ear and watchful eye, but the heavy curtains effectually concealed

the interior of the room. He cautiously pushed on the double

window. If no one had examined it, it ought to yield to the

slightest pressure, for, during the afternoon, he had so fixed the

bolt that it would not enter the staple.

The window yielded to his touch. Then, with infinite care, he

pushed it open sufficiently to admit his head. He parted the

curtains a few inches, looked in, and saw Mon. Imbert and his wife

sitting in front of the safe, deeply absorbed in their work and

speaking softly to each other at rare intervals.

He calculated the distance between him and them, considered the

exact movements he would require to make in order to overcome them,

one after the other, before they could call for help, and he was

about to rush upon them, when Madame Imbert said:

"Ah! the room is getting quite cold. I am going to bed. And you,

my dear?"

He calculated the distance between him and them, considered the

exact movements he would require to make in order to overcome them,

one after the other, before they could call for help, and he was

about to rush upon them, when Madame Imbert said:

"Ah! the room is getting quite cold. I am going to bed. And you,

my dear?"

"I shall stay and finish."

"Finish! Why, that will take you all night."

"Not at all. An hour, at the most."

She retired. Twenty minutes, thirty minutes passed. Arsene pushed

the window a little farther open. The curtains shook. He pushed

once more. Mon. Imbert turned, and, seeing the curtains blown by

the wind, he rose to close the window.

There was not a cry, not the trace of struggle. With a few precise

moments, and without causing him the least injury, Arsene stunned

him, wrapped the curtain about his head, bound him hand and foot,

and did it all in such a manner that Mon. Imbert had no opportunity

to recognize his assailant.

Quickly, he approached the safe, seized two packages that he placed

under his arm, left the office, and opened the servants' gate. A

carriage was stationed in the street.

"Take that, first--and follow me," he said to the coachman. He

returned to the office, and, in two trips, they emptied the safe.

Then Arsene went to his own room, removed the rope, and all other

traces of his clandestine work.

A few hours later, Arsene Lupin and his assistant examined the

stolen goods. Lupin was not disappointed, as he had foreseen that

the wealth of the Imberts had been greatly exaggerated. It did not

consist of hundreds of millions, nor even tens of millions. Yet it

amounted to a very respectable sum, and Lupin expressed his

satisfaction.

"Of course," he said, "there will be a considerable loss when we

come to sell the bonds, as we will have to dispose of them

surreptitiously at reduced prices. In the meantime, they will rest

quietly in my desk awaiting a propitious moment."

Arsene saw no reason why he should not go to the Imbert house the

next day. But a perusal of the morning papers revealed this

startling fact: Ludovic and Gervaise Imbert had disappeared.

When the officers of the law seized the safe and opened it, they

found there what Arsene Lupin had left--nothing.

* * * * *

Such are the facts; and I learned the sequel to them, one day, when

Arsene Lupin was in a confidential mood. He was pacing to and fro

in my room, with a nervous step and a feverish eye that were

unusual to him.

"After all," I said to him, "it was your most successful venture."

Without making a direct reply, he said:

"There are some impenetrable secrets connected with that affair;

some obscure points that escape my comprehension. For instance:

What caused their flight? Why did they not take advantage of the

help I unconsciously gave them? It would have been so simple to

say: `The hundred millions were in the safe. They are no longer

there, because they have been stolen.'"

"They lost their nerve."

"Yes, that is it--they lost their nerve...On the other hand, it

is true---"

"What is true?"

"Oh! nothing."

What was the meaning of Lupin's reticence? It was quite obvious

that he had not told me everything; there was something he was

loath to tell. His conduct puzzled me. It must indeed be a very

serious matter to cause such a man as Arsene Lupin even a momentary

hesitation. I threw out a few questions at random.

"Have you seen them since?"

"No."

"And have you never experienced the slightest degree of pity for

those unfortunate people?"

"I!" he exclaimed, with a start.

His sudden excitement astonished me. Had I touched him on a sore

spot? I continued:

"Of course. If you had not left them alone, they might have been

able to face the danger, or, at least, made their escape with full

pockets."

"What do you mean?" he said, indignantly. "I suppose you have an

idea that my soul should be filled with remorse?"

"Call it remorse or regrets--anything you like---"

"They are not worth it."

"Have you no regrets or remorse for having stolen their fortune?"

"What fortune?"

"The packages of bonds you took from their safe."

"Oh! I stole their bonds, did I? I deprived them of a portion of

their wealth? Is that my crime? Ah! my dear boy, you do not know

the truth. You never imagined that those bonds were not worth the

paper they were written on. Those bonds were false--they were

counterfeit--every one of them--do you understand? THEY WERE

COUNTERFEIT!"

I looked at him, astounded.

"Counterfeit! The four or five millions?"

"Yes, counterfeit!" he exclaimed, in a fit of rage. "Only so many

scraps of paper! I couldn't raise a sou on the whole of them! And

you ask me if I have any remorse. THEY are the ones who should

have remorse and pity. They played me for a simpleton; and I fell

into their trap. I was their latest victim, their most stupid

gull!"

He was affected by genuine anger--the result of malice and wounded

pride. He continued:

"From start to finish, I got the worst of it. Do you know the part

I played in that affair, or rather the part they made me play?

That of Andre Brawford! Yes, my boy, that is the truth, and I

never suspected it. It was not until afterwards, on reading the

newspapers, that the light finally dawned in my stupid brain.

Whilst I was posing as his "saviour," as the gentleman who had

risked his life to rescue Mon. Imbert from the clutches of an

assassin, they were passing me off as Brawford. Wasn't that

splendid? That eccentric individual who had a room on the second

floor, that barbarian that was exhibited only at a distance, was

Brawford, and Brawford was I! Thanks to me, and to the confidence

that I inspired under the name of Brawford, they were enabled to

borrow money from the bankers and other money-lenders. Ha! what an

experience for a novice! And I swear to you that I shall profit by

the lesson!"

He stopped, seized my arm, and said to me, in a tone of

exasperation:

"My dear fellow, at this very moment, Gervaise Imbert owes me

fifteen hundred francs."

I could not refrain from laughter, his rage was so grotesque. He

was making a mountain out of a molehill. In a moment, he laughed

himself, and said:

"Yes, my boy, fifteen hundred francs. You must know that I had not

received one sou of my promised salary, and, more than that, she

had borrowed from me the sum of fifteen hundred francs. All my

youthful savings! And do you know why? To devote the money to

charity! I am giving you a straight story. She wanted it for some

poor people she was assisting--unknown to her husband. And my hard-

earned money was wormed out of me by that silly pretense! Isn't it

amusing, hein? Arsene Lupin done out of fifteen hundred francs by

the fair lady from whom he stole four millions in counterfeit

bonds! And what a vast amount of time and patience and cunning I

expended to achieve that result! It was the first time in my life

that I was played for a fool, and I frankly confess that I was

fooled that time to the queen's taste!"

VIII. THE BLACK PEARL

A violent ringing of the bell awakened the concierge of number

nine, avenue Hoche. She pulled the doorstring, grumbling:

"I thought everybody was in. It must be three o'clock!"

"Perhaps it is some one for the doctor," muttered her husband.

"Third floor, left. But the doctor won't go out at night."

"He must go to-night."

The visitor entered the vestibule, ascended to the first floor, the

second, the third, and, without stopping at the doctor's door, he

continued to the fifth floor. There, he tried two keys. One of

them fitted the lock.

"Ah! good!" he murmured, "that simplifies the business wonderfully.

But before I commence work I had better arrange for my retreat.

Let me see....have I had sufficient time to rouse the doctor

and be dismissed by him? Not yet....a few minutes more."

At the end of ten minutes, he descended the stairs, grumbling

noisily about the doctor. The concierge opened the door for him

and heard it click behind him. But the door did not lock, as the

man had quickly inserted a piece of iron in the lock in such a

manner that the bolt could not enter. Then, quietly, he entered

the house again, unknown to the concierge. In case of alarm, his

retreat was assured. Noiselessly, he ascended to the fifth floor

once more. In the antechamber, by the light of his electric

lantern, he placed his hat and overcoat on one of the chairs, took

a seat on another, and covered his heavy shows with felt slippers.

"Ouf! Here I am--and how simple it was! I wonder why more people do

not adopt the profitable and pleasant occupation of burglar. With

a little care and reflection, it becomes a most delightful

profession. Not too quiet and monotonous, of course, as it would

then become wearisome."

He unfolded a detailed plan of the apartment.

"Let me commence by locating myself. Here, I see the vestibule in

which I am sitting. On the street front, the drawing-room, the

boudoir and dinning-room. Useless to waste any time there, as it

appears that the countess has a deplorable taste....not a

bibelot of any value!...Now, let's get down to business!...

Ah! here is a corridor; it must lead to the bed chambers. At a

distance of three metres, I should come to the door of the

wardrobe-closet which connects with the chamber of the countess."

He folded his plan, extinguished his lantern, and proceeded down

the corridor, counting his distance, thus:

"One metre....two metres....three metres....Here is

the door....Mon Dieu, how easy it is! Only a small, simple bolt

now separates me from the chamber, and I know that the bolt is

located exactly one metre, forty-three centimeters, from the floor.

So that, thanks to a small incision I am about to make, I can soon

get rid of the bolt."

He drew from his pocket the necessary instruments. Then the

following idea occurred to him:

"Suppose, by chance, the door is not bolted. I will try it first."

He turned the knob, and the door opened.

"My brave Lupin, surely fortune favors you....What's to be

done now? You know the situation of the rooms; you know the place

in which the countess hides the black pearl. Therefore, in order

to secure the black pearl, you have simply to be more silent than

silence, more invisible than darkness itself."

Arsene Lupin was employed fully a half-hour in opening the second

door--a glass door that led to the countess' bedchamber. But he

accomplished it with so much skill and precaution, that even had

had the countess been awake, she would not have heard the slightest

sound. According to the plan of the rooms, that he holds, he has

merely to pass around a reclining chair and, beyond that, a small

table close to the bed. On the table, there was a box of letter-

paper, and the black pearl was concealed in that box. He stooped

and crept cautiously over the carpet, following the outlines of the

reclining-chair. When he reached the extremity of it, he stopped

in order to repress the throbbing of his heart. Although he was

not moved by any sense of fear, he found it impossible to overcome

the nervous anxiety that one usually feels in the midst of profound

silence. That circumstance astonished him, because he had passed

through many more solemn moments without the slightest trace of

emotion. No danger threatened him. Then why did his heart throb

like an alarm-bell? Was it that sleeping woman who affected him?

Was it the proximity of another pulsating heart?

He listened, and thought he could discern the rhythmical breathing

of a person asleep. It gave him confidence, like the presence of a

friend. He sought and found the armchair; then, by slow, cautious

movements, advanced toward the table, feeling ahead of him with

outstretched arm. His right had touched one of the feet of the

table. Ah! now, he had simply to rise, take the pearl, and escape.

That was fortunate, as his heart was leaping in his breast like a

wild beast, and made so much noise that he feared it would waken

the countess. By a powerful effort of the will, he subdued the

wild throbbing of his heart, and was about to rise from the floor

when his left hand encountered, lying on the floor, an object which

he recognized as a candlestick--an overturned candlestick. A moment

later, his hand encountered another object: a clock--one of those

small traveling clocks, covered with leather.

-------

Well! What had happened? He could not understand. That

candlestick, that clock; why were those articles not in their

accustomed placed? Ah! what had happened in the dread silence of

the night?

Suddenly a cry escaped him. He had touched--oh! some strange,

unutterable thing! "No! no!" he thought, "it cannot be. It is

some fantasy of my excited brain." For twenty seconds, thirty

seconds, he remained motionless, terrified, his forehead bathed

with perspiration, and his fingers still retained the sensation of

that dreadful contact.

Making a desperate effort, he ventured to extend his arm again.

Once more, his hand encountered that strange, unutterable thing.

He felt it. He must feel it and find out what it is. He found

that it was hair, human hair, and a human face; and that face was

cold, almost icy.

However frightful the circumstances may be, a man like Arsene Lupin

controls himself and commands the situation as soon as he learns

what it is. So, Arsene Lupin quickly brought his lantern into use.

A woman was lying before him, covered with blood. Her neck and

shoulders were covered with gaping wounds. He leaned over her and

made a closer examination. She was dead.

"Dead! Dead!" he repeated, with a bewildered air.

He stared at those fixed eyes, that grim mouth, that livid flesh,

and that blood--all that blood which had flowed over the carpet and

congealed there in thick, black spots. He arose and turned on the

electric lights. Then he beheld all the marks of a desperate

struggle. The bed was in a state of great disorder. One the

floor, the candlestick, and the clock, with the hands pointing to

twenty minutes after eleven; then, further away, an overturned

chair; and, everywhere, there was blood, spots of blood and pools

of blood.

"And the black pearl?" he murmured.

The box of letter-paper was in its place. He opened it, eagerly.

The jewel-case was there, but it was empty.

"Fichtre!" he muttered. "You boasted of your good fortune much too

soon, my friend Lupin. With the countess lying cold and dead, and

the black pearl vanished, the situation is anything but pleasant.

Get out of here as soon as you can, or you may get into serious

trouble."

Yet, he did not move.

"Get out of here? Yes, of course. Any person would, except Arsene

Lupin. He has something better to do. Now, to proceed in an

orderly way. At all events, you have a clear conscience. Let us

suppose that you are the commissary of police and that you are

proceeding to make an inquiry concerning this affair----Yes, but

in order to do that, I require a clearer brain. Mine is muddled

like a ragout."

He tumbled into an armchair, with his clenched hands pressed

against his burning forehead.

* * * * *

The murder of the avenue Hoche is one of those which have recently

surprised and puzzled the Parisian public, and, certainly, I should

never have mentioned the affair if the veil of mystery had not been

removed by Arsene Lupin himself. No one knew the exact truth of

the case.

Who did not know--from having met her in the Bois--the fair Leotine

Zalti, the once-famous cantatrice, wife and widow of the Count

d'Andillot; the Zalti, whose luxury dazzled all Paris some twenty

years ago; the Zalti who acquired an European reputation for the

magnificence of her diamonds and pearls? It was said that she wore

upon her shoulders the capital of several banking houses and the

gold mines of numerous Australian companies. Skilful jewelers

worked for Zelti as they had formerly wrought for kings and queens.

And who does not remember the catastrophe in which all that wealth

was swallowed up? Of all that marvelous collection, nothing

remained except the famous black pearl. The black pearl! That is

to say a fortune, if she had wished to part with it.

But she preferred to keep it, to live in a commonplace apartment

with her companion, her cook, and a man-servant, rather than sell

that inestimable jewel. There was a reason for it; a reason she

was not afraid to disclose: the black pearl was the gift of an

emperor! Almost ruined, and reduced to the most mediocre

existence, she remained faithful to the companion of her happy and

brilliant youth. The black pearl never left her possession. She

wore it during the day, and, at night, concealed it in a place

known to her alone.

All these facts, being republished in the columns of the public

press, served to stimulate curiosity; and, strange to say, but

quite obvious to those who have the key to the mystery, the arrest

of the presumed assassin only complicated the question and

prolonged the excitement. Two days later, the newspapers published

the following item:

"Information has reached us of the arrest of Victor Danegre, the

servant of the Countess d'Andillot. The evidence against him is

clear and convincing. On the silken sleeve of his liveried

waistcoat, which chief detective Dudouis found in his garret

between the mattresses of his bed, several spots of blood were

discovered. In addition, a cloth-covered button was missing from

that garment, and this button was found beneath the bed of the

victim.

"It is supposed that, after dinner, in place of going to his own

room, Danegre slipped into the wardrobe-closet, and, through the

glass door, had seen the countess hide the precious black pearl.

This is simply a theory, as yet unverified by any evidence. There

is, also, another obscure point. At seven o'clock in the morning,

Danegre went to the tobacco-shop on the Boulevard de Courcelles;

the concierge and the shop-keeper both affirm this fact. On the

other hand, the countess' companion and cook, who sleep at the end

of the hall, both declare that, when they arose at eight o'clock,

the door of the antechamber and the door of the kitchen were

locked. These two persons have been in the service of the countess

for twenty years, and are above suspicion. The question is: How

did Danegre leave the apartment? Did he have another key? These

are matters that the police will investigate."

As a matter of fact, the police investigation threw no light on the

mystery. It was learned that Victor Danegre was a dangerous

criminal, a drunkard and a debauchee. But, as they proceeded with

the investigation, the mystery deepened and new complications

arose. In the first place, a young woman, Mlle. De Sincleves, the

cousin and sole heiress of the countess, declared that the

countess, a month before her death, had written a letter to her and

in it described the manner in which the black pearl was concealed.

The letter disappeared the day after she received it. Who had

stolen it?

Again, the concierge related how she had opened the door for a

person who had inquired for Doctor Harel. On being questioned, the

doctor testified that no one had rung his bell. Then who was that

person? And accomplice?

The theory of an accomplice was thereupon adopted by the press and

public, and also by Ganimard, the famous detective.

"Lupin is at the bottom of this affair," he said to the judge.

"Bah!" exclaimed the judge, "you have Lupin on the brain. You see

him everywhere."

"I see him everywhere, because he is everywhere."

"Say rather that you see him every time you encounter something you

cannot explain. Besides, you overlook the fact that the crime was

committed at twenty minutes past eleven in the evening, as is shown

by the clock, while the nocturnal visit, mentioned by the

concierge, occurred at three o'clock in the morning."

Officers of the law frequently form a hasty conviction as to the

guilt of a suspected person, and then distort all subsequent

discoveries to conform to their established theory. The deplorable

antecedents of Victor Danegre, habitual criminal, drunkard and

rake, influenced the judge, and despite the fact that nothing new

was discovered in corroboration of the early clues, his official

opinion remained firm and unshaken. He closed his investigation,

and, a few weeks later, the trial commenced. It proved to be slow

and tedious. The judge was listless, and the public prosecutor

presented the case in a careless manner. Under those circumstances,

Danegre's counsel had an easy task. He pointed out the defects and

inconsistencies of the case for the prosecution, and argued that the

evidence was quite insufficient to convict the accused. Who had made

the key, the indispensable key without which Danegre, on leaving the

apartment, could not have locked the door behind him? Who had ever

seen such a key, and what had become of it? Who had seen the

assassin's knife, and where is it now?

"In any event," argued the prisoner's counsel, "the prosecution

must prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the prisoner

committed the murder. The prosecution must show that the

mysterious individual who entered the house at three o'clock in the

morning is not the guilty party. To be sure, the clock indicated

eleven o'clock. But what of that? I contend, that proves nothing.

The assassin could turn the hands of the clock to any hour he

pleased, and thus deceive us in regard to the exact hour of the

crime."

Victor Danegre was acquitted.

He left the prison on Friday about dusk in the evening, weak and

depressed by his six months' imprisonment. The inquisition, the

solitude, the trial, the deliberations of the jury, combined to

fill him with a nervous fear. At night, he had been afflicted with

terrible nightmares and haunted by weird visions of the scaffold.

He was a mental and physical wreck.

Under the assumed name of Anatole Dufour, he rented a small room on

the heights of Montmartre, and lived by doing odd jobs wherever he

could find them. He led a pitiful existence. Three times, he

obtained regular employment, only to be recognized and then

discharged. Sometimes, he had an idea that men were following him--

detectives, no doubt, who were seeking to trap and denounce him.

He could almost feel the strong hand of the law clutching him by

the collar.

One evening, as he was eating his dinner at a neighboring

restaurant, a man entered and took a seat at the same table. He

was a person about forty years of age, and wore a frock-coat of

doubtful cleanliness. He ordered soup, vegetables, and a bottle of

wine. After he had finished his soup, he turned his eyes on

Danegre, and gazed at him intently. Danegre winced. He was

certain that this was one of the men who had been following him for

several weeks. What did he want? Danegre tried to rise, but

failed. His limbs refused to support him. The man poured himself

a glass of wine, and then filled Danegre's glass. The man raised

his glass, and said:

"To your health, Victor Danegre."

Victor started in alarm, and stammered:

"I!....I!....no, no....I sweat to you...."

"You will swear what? That you are not yourself? The servant of

the countess?"

"What servant? My name is Dufour. Ask the proprietor."

"Yes, Anatole Dufour to the proprietor of this restaurant, but

Victor Danegre to the officers of the law."

"That's not true! Some one has lied to you."

The new-comer took a card from his pocket and handed it to Victor,

who read on it: "Grimaudan, ex-inspector of the detective force.

Private business transacted." Victor shuddered as he said:

"You are connected with the police?"

"No, not now, but I have a liking for the business and I continue

to work at it in a manner more--profitable. From time to time I

strike upon a golden opportunity--such as your case presents."

"My case?"

"Yes, yours. I assure you it is a most promising affair, provided

you are inclined to be reasonable."

"But if I am not reasonable?"

"Oh! my good fellow, you are not in a position to refuse me

anything I may ask."

"What is it....you want?" stammered Victor, fearfully.

"Well, I will inform you in a few words. I am sent by Mademoiselle

de Sincleves, the heiress of the Countess d'Andillot."

"What for?"

"To recover the black pearl."

"Black pearl?"

"That you stole."

"But I haven't got it."

"You have it."

"If I had, then I would be the assassin."

"You are the assassin."

Danegre showed a forced smile.

"Fortunately for me, monsieur, the Assizecourt was not of your

opinion. The jury returned an unanimous verdict of acquittal. And

when a man had a clear conscience and twelve good men in his favor--"

The ex-inspector seized him by the arm and said:

"No fine phrases, my boy. Now, listen to me and weigh my words

carefully. You will find they are worthy of your consideration.

Now, Danegre, three weeks before the murder, you abstracted the

cook's key to the servants' door, and had a duplicate key made by a

locksmith named Outard, 244 rue Oberkampf."

"It's a lie--it's a lie!" growled Victor. "No person has seen that

key. There is no such key."

"Here it is."

After a silence, Grimaudan continued:

"You killed the countess with a knife purchased by you at the Bazar

de la Republique on the same day as you ordered the duplicate key.

It has a triangular blade with a groove running from end to end."

"That is all nonsense. You are simply guessing at something you

don't know. No one ever saw the knife."

"Here it is."

Victor Danegre recoiled. The ex-inspector continued:

"There are some spots of rust upon it. Shall I tell you how they

came there?"

"Well!....you have a key and a knife. Who can prove that they

belong to me?"

"The locksmith, and the clerk from whom you bought the knife. I

have already refreshed their memories, and, when you confront them,

they cannot fail to recognize you."

His speech was dry and hard, with a tone of firmness and precision.

Danegre was trembling with fear, and yet he struggled desperately

to maintain an air of indifference.

"Is that all the evidence you have?"

"Oh! no, not at all. I have plenty more. For instance, after the

crime, you went out the same way you had entered. But, in the

centre of the wardrobe-room, being seized by some sudden fear, you

leaned against the wall for support."

"How do you know that? No one could know such a thing," argues the

desperate man.

"The police know nothing about it, of course. They never think of

lighting a candle and examining the walls. But if they had done

so, they would have found on the white plaster a faint red spot,

quite distinct, however, to trace in it the imprint of your thumb

which you had pressed against the wall while it was wet with blood.

Now, as you are well aware, under the Bertillon system, thumb-marks

are one of the principal means of identification."

Victor Danegre was livid; great drops of perspiration rolled down

his face and fell upon the table. He gazed, with a wild look, at

the strange man who had narrated the story of his crime as

faithfully as if he had been an invisible witness to it. Overcome

and powerless, Victor bowed his head. He felt that it was useless

to struggle against this marvelous man. So he said:

"How much will you give me, if I give you the pearl?"

"Nothing."

"Oh! you are joking! Or do you mean that I should give you an

article worth thousands and hundreds of thousands and get nothing

in return?"

"You will get your life. Is that nothing?"

The unfortunate man shuddered. Then Grimaudan added, in a milder

tone:

"Come, Danegre, that pearl has no value in your hands. It is quite

impossible for you to sell it; so what is the use of your keeping

it?"

"There are pawnbrokers....and, some day, I will be able to get

something for it."

"But that day may be too late."

"Why?"

"Because by that time you may be in the hands of the police, and,

with the evidence that I can furnish--the knife, the key, the thumb-

mark--what will become of you?"

Victor rested his head on his hands and reflected. He felt that he

was lost, irremediably lost, and, at the same time, a sense of

weariness and depression overcame him. He murmured, faintly:

"When must I give it to you?"

"To-night---within an hour."

"If I refuse?"

"If you refuse, I shall post this letter to the Procureur of the

Republic; in which letter Mademoiselle de Sincleves denounces you

as the assassin."

Danegre poured out two glasses of wine which he drank in rapid

succession, then, rising, said:

"Pay the bill, and let us go. I have had enough of the cursed

affair."

Night had fallen. The two men walked down the rue Lepic and

followed the exterior boulevards in the direction of the Place de

l'Etoile. They pursued their way in silence; Victor had a stooping

carriage and a dejected face. When they reached the Parc Monceau,

he said:

"We are near the house."

"Parbleu! You only left the house once, before your arrest, and

that was to go to the tobacco-shop."

"Here it is," said Danegre, in a dull voice.

They passed along the garden wall of the countess' house, and

crossed a street on a corner of which stood the tobacco-shop. A

few steps further on, Danegre stopped; his limbs shook beneath him,

and he sank to a bench.

"Well! what now?" demanded his companion.

"It is there."

"Where? Come, now, no nonsense!"

"There--in front of us."

"Where?"

"Between two paving-stones."

"Which?"

"Look for it."

"Which stones?"

Victor made no reply.

"Ah; I see!" exclaimed Grimaudan, "you want me to pay for the

information."

"No....but....I am afraid I will starve to death."

"So! that is why you hesitate. Well, I'll not be hard on you. How

much do you want?"

"Enough to buy a steerage pass to America."

"All right."

"And a hundred francs to keep me until I get work there."

"You shall have two hundred. Now, speak."

"Count the paving-stones to the right from the sewer-hole. The

pearl is between the twelfth and thirteenth."

"In the gutter?"

"Yes, close to the sidewalk."

Grimaudan glanced around to see if anyone were looking. Some tram-

cars and pedestrians were passing. But, bah, they will not suspect

anything. He opened his pocketknife and thrust it between the

twelfth and thirteenth stones.

"And if it is not there?" he said to Victor.

"It must be there, unless someone saw me stoop down and hide it."

Could it be possible that the back pearl had been cast into the mud

and filth of the gutter to be picked up by the first comer? The

black pearl--a fortune!

"How far down?" he asked.

"About ten centimetres."

He dug up the wet earth. The point of his knife struck something.

He enlarged the hole with his finger. Then he abstracted the black

pearl from its filthy hiding-place.

"Good! Here are your two hundred francs. I will send you the

ticket for America."

On the following day, this article was published in the `Echo de

France,' and was copied by the leading newspapers throughout the

world:

"Yesterday, the famous black pearl came into the possession of

Arsene Lupin, who recovered it from the murderer of the Countess

d'Andillot. In a short time, fac-similes of that precious jewel

will be exhibited in London, St. Petersburg, Calcutta, Buenos Ayres

and New York.

"Arsene Lupin will be pleased to consider all propositions

submitted to him through his agents."

* * * * *

"And that is how crime is always punished and virtue rewarded,"

said Arsene Lupin, after he had told me the foregoing history of

the black pearl.

"And that is how you, under the assumed name of Grimaudan,

ex-inspector of detectives, were chosen by fate to deprive the

criminal of the benefit of his crime."

"Exactly. And I confess that the affair gives me infinite

satisfaction and pride. The forty minutes that I passed in the

apartment of the Countess d'Andillot, after learning of her death,

were the most thrilling and absorbing moments of my life. In those

forty minutes, involved as I was in a most dangerous plight, I

calmly studied the scene of the murder and reached the conclusion

that the crime must have been committed by one of the house

servants. I also decided that, in order to get the pearl, that

servant must be arrested, and so I left the wainscoat button; it

was necessary, also, for me to hold some convincing evidence of his

guilt, so I carried away the knife which I found upon the floor,

and the key which I found in the lock. I closed and locked the

door, and erased the finger-marks from the plaster in the wardrobe-

closet. In my opinion, that was one of those flashes--"

"Of genius," I said, interrupting.

"Of genius, if you wish. But, I flatter myself, it would not have

occurred to the average mortal. To frame, instantly, the two

elements of the problem--an arrest and an acquittal; to make use of

the formidable machinery of the law to crush and humble my victim,

and reduce him to a condition in which, when free, he would be

certain to fall into the trap I was laying for him!"

"Poor devil--"

"Poor devil, do you say? Victor Danegre, the assassin! He might

have descended to the lowest depths of vice and crime, if he had

retained the black pearl. Now, he lives! Think of that: Victor

Danegre is alive!"

"And you have the black pearl."

He took it out of one of the secret pockets of his wallet, examined

it, gazed at it tenderly, and caressed it with loving fingers, and

sighed, as he said:

"What cold Russian prince, what vain and foolish rajah may some day

possess this priceless treasure! Or, perhaps, some American

millionaire is destined to become the owner of this morsel of

exquisite beauty that once adorned the fair bosom of Leontine

Zalti, the Countess d'Andillot."

IX. SHERLOCK HOLMES ARRIVES TOO LATE

"It is really remarkable, Velmont, what a close resemblance you bear

to Arsene Lupin!"

"How do you know?"

"Oh! like everyone else, from photographs, no two of which are

alike, but each of them leaves the impression of a face....

something like yours."

Horace Velmont displayed some vexation.

"Quite so, my dear Devanne. And, believe me, you are not the first

one who has noticed it."

"It is so striking," persisted Devanne, "that if you had not been

recommended to me by my cousin d'Estevan, and if you were not the

celebrated artist whose beautiful marine views I so admire, I have

no doubt I should have warned the police of your presence in

Dieppe."

This sally was greeted with an outburst of laughter. The large

dining-hall of the Chateau de Thibermesnil contained on this

occasion, besides Valmont, the following guests: Father Gelis, the

parish priest, and a dozen officers whose regiments were quartered

in the vicinity and who had accepted the invitation of the banker

Georges Devanne and his mother. One of the officers then remarked:

"I understand that an exact description of Arsene Lupin has been

furnished to all the police along this coast since his daring

exploit on the Paris-Havre express."

"I suppose so," said Devanne. "That was three months ago; and a

week later, I made the acquaintance of our friend Velmont at the

casino, and, since then, he has honored me with several visits--an

agreeable preamble to a more serious visit that he will pay me one

of these days--or, rather, one of these nights."

This speech evoked another round of laughter, and the guests then

passed into the ancient "Hall of the Guards," a vast room with a

high ceiling, which occupied the entire lower part of the Tour

Guillaume--William's Tower--and wherein Georges Devanne had collected

the incomparable treasures which the lords of Thibermesnil had

accumulated through many centuries. It contained ancient chests,

credences, andirons and chandeliers. The stone walls were overhung

with magnificent tapestries. The deep embrasures of the four

windows were furnished with benches, and the Gothic windows were

composed of small panes of colored glass set in a leaden frame.

Between the door and the window to the left stood an immense

bookcase of Renaissance style, on the pediment of which, in letters

of gold, was the world "Thibermesnil," and, below it, the proud

family device: "Fais ce que veulx" (Do what thou wishest). When

the guests had lighted their cigars, Devanne resumed the

conversation.

"And remember, Velmont, you have no time to lose; in fact, to-night

is the last chance you will have."

"How so?" asked the painter, who appeared to regard the affair as a

joke. Devanne was about to reply, when his mother mentioned to him

to keep silent, but the excitement of the occasion and a desire to

interest his guests urged him to speak.

"Bah!" he murmured. "I can tell it now. It won't do any harm."

The guests drew closer, and he commenced to speak with the

satisfied air of a man who has an important announcement to make.

"To-morrow afternoon at four o'clock, Sherlock Holmes, the famous

English detective, for whom such a thing as mystery does not exist;

Sherlock Holmes, the most remarkable solver of enigmas the world

has ever known, that marvelous man who would seem to be the

creation of a romantic novelist--Sherlock Holmes will be my guest!"

Immediately, Devanne was the target of numerous eager questions.

"Is Sherlock Holmes really coming?" "Is it so serious as that?"

"Is Arsene Lupin really in this neighborhood?"

"Arsene Lupin ad his bad are not far away. Besides the robbery of

the Baron Cahorn, he is credited with the thefts at Montigny,

Gruchet and Crasville."

"Has he sent you a warning, as he did to Baron Cahorn?"

"No," replied Devanne, "he can't work the same trick twice."

"What then?"

"I will show you."

He rose, and pointing to a small empty space between the two

enormous folios on one of the shelves of the bookcase, he said:

"There used to be a book there--a book of the sixteenth century

entitled `Chronique de Thibermesnil,' which contained the history

of the castle since its construction by Duke Rollo on the site of a

former feudal fortress. There were three engraved plates in the

book; one of which was a general view of the whole estate; another,

the plan of the buildings; and the third--I call your attention to

it, particularly--the third was the sketch of a subterranean

passage, on entrance to which is outside the first line of

ramparts, while the other end of the passage is here, in this very

room. Well, that book disappeared a month ago."

"The deuce!" said Velmont, "that looks bad. But it doesn't seem to

be a sufficient reason for sending for Sherlock Holmes."

"Certainly, that was not sufficient in itself, but another incident

happened that gives the disappearance of the book a special

significance. There was another cop of this book in the National

Library at Paris, and the two books differed in certain details

relating to the subterranean passage; for instance, each of them

contained drawings and annotations, not printed, but written in ink

and more or less effaced. I knew those facts, and I knew that the

exact location of the passage could be determined only by a

comparison of the two books. Now, the day after my book

disappeared, the book was called for in the National Library by a

reader who carried it away, and no one knows how the theft was

effected."

The guests uttered many exclamations of surprise.

"Certainly, the affair looks serious," said one.

"Well, the police investigated the matter, and, as usual,

discovered no clue whatever."

"They never do, when Arsene Lupin is concerned in it."

"Exactly; and so I decided to ask the assistance of Sherlock

Holmes, who replied that he was ready and anxious to enter the

lists with Arsene Lupin."

"What glory for Arsene Lupin!" said Velmont. "But if our national

thief, as they call him, has no evil designs on your castle,

Sherlock Holmes will have his trip in vain."

"There are other things that will interest him, such as the

discovery of the subterranean passage."

"But you told us that one end of the passage was outside the

ramparts and the other was in this very room!"

"Yes, but in what part of the room? The line which represents the

passage on the charts ends here, with a small circle marked with

the letters `T.G.,' which no doubt stand for `Tour Guillaume.' But

the tower is round, and who can tell the exact spot at which the

passage touches the tower?"

Devanne lighted a second cigar and poured himself a glass of

Benedictine. His guests pressed him with questions and he was

pleased to observe the interest that his remarks had created. The

he continued:

"The secret is lost. No one knows it. The legend is to the effect

that the former lords of the castle transmitted the secret from

father to son on their deathbeds, until Geoffroy, the last of the

race, was beheaded during the Revolution in his nineteenth year."

"That is over a century ago. Surely, someone has looked for it

since that time?"

"Yes, but they failed to find it. After I purchased the castle, I

made a diligent search for it, but without success. You must

remember that this tower is surrounded by water and connected with

the castle only by a bridge; consequently, the passage must be

underneath the old moat. The plan that was in the book in the

National Library showed a series of stairs with a total of forty-

eight steps, which indicates a depth of more than ten meters. You

see, the mystery lies within the walls of this room, and yet I

dislike to tear them down."

"Is there nothing to show where it is?"

"Nothing."

"Mon. Devanne, we should turn our attention to the two quotations,"

suggested Father Gelis.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mon. Devanne, laughing, "our worthy father is fond

of reading memoirs and delving into the musty archives of the

castle. Everything relating to Thibermesnil interests him greatly.

But the quotations that he mentions only serve to complicate the

mystery. He has read somewhere that two kings of France have known

the key to the puzzle."

"Two kings of France! Who were they?"

"Henry the Fourth and Louis the Sixteenth. And the legend runs

like this: On the eve of the battle of Arques, Henry the Fourth

spent the night in this castle. At eleven o'clock in the evening,

Louise de Tancarville, the prettiest woman in Normandy, was brought

into the castle through the subterranean passage by Duke Edgard,

who, at the same time, informed the king of the secret passage.

Afterward, the king confided the secret to his minister Sully, who,

in turn, relates the story in his book, "Royales Economies d'Etat,"

without making any comment upon it, but linking with it this

incomprehensible sentence: `Turn one eye on the bee that shakes,

the other eye will lead to God!'"

After a brief silence, Velmont laughed and said:

"Certainly, it doesn't throw a dazzling light upon the subject."

"No; but Father Gelis claims that Sully concealed the key to the

mystery in this strange sentence in order to keep the secret from

the secretaries to whom he dictated his memoirs."

"That is an ingenious theory," said Velmont.

"Yes, and it may be nothing more; I cannot see that it throws any

light on the mysterious riddle."

"And was it also to receive the visit of a lady that Louis the

Sixteenth caused the passage to be opened?"

"I don't know," said Mon. Devanne. "All I can say is that the king

stopped here one night in 1784, and that the famous Iron Casket

found in the Louvre contained a paper bearing these words in the

king's own writing: `Thibermesnil 3-4-11.'"

Horace Velmont laughed heartily, and exclaimed:

"At last! And now that we have the magic key, where is the man who

can fit it to the invisible lock?"

"Laugh as much as you please, monsieur," said Father Gelis, "but I

am confident the solution is contained in those two sentences, and

some day we will find a man able to interpret them."

"Sherlock Holmes is the man," said Mon. Devanne, "unless Arsene

Lupin gets ahead of him. What is your opinion, Velmont?"

Velmont arose, placed his hand on Devanne's shoulder, and declared:

"I think that the information furnished by your book and the book

of the National Library was deficient in a very important detail

which you have now supplied. I thank you for it."

"What is it?"

"The missing key. Now that I have it, I can go to work at once,"

said Velmont.

"Of course; without losing a minute," said Devanne, smiling.

"Not even a second!" replied Velmont. "To-night, before the

arrival of Sherlock Holmes, I must plunder your castle."

"You have no time to lose. Oh! by the way, I can drive you over

this evening."

"To Dieppe?"

"Yes. I am going to meet Monsieur and Madame d'Androl and a young

lady of their acquaintance who are to arrive by the midnight

train."

Then addressing the officers, Devanne added:

"Gentlemen, I shall expect to see all of you at breakfast to-

morrow."

The invitation was accepted. The company dispersed, and a few

moments later Devanne and Velmont were speeding toward Dieppe in an

automobile. Devanne dropped the artist in front of the Casino, and

proceeded to the railway station. At twelve o'clock his friends

alighted from the train. A half hour later the automobile was at

the entrance to the castle. At one o'clock, after a light supper,

they retired. The lights were extinguished, and the castle was

enveloped in the darkness and silence of the night.

* * * * *

The moon appeared through a rift in the clouds, and filled the

drawing-room with its bright white light. But only for a moment.

Then the moon again retired behind its ethereal draperies, and

darkness and silence reigned supreme. No sound could be heard,

save the monotonous ticking of the clock. It struck two, and then

continued its endless repetitions of the seconds. Then, three

o'clock.

Suddenly, something clicked, like the opening and closing of a

signal-disc that warns the passing train. A thin stream of light

flashed to every corner of the room, like an arrow that leaved

behind it a trail of light. It shot forth from the central fluting

of a column that supported the pediment of the bookcase. It rested

for a moment on the panel opposite like a glittering circle of

burnished silver, then flashed in all directions like a guilty eye

that scrutinizes every shadow. It disappeared for a short time,

bur burst forth again as a whole section of the bookcase revolved

on a picot and disclosed a large opening like a vault.

A man entered, carrying an electric lantern. He was followed by a

second man, who carried a coil of rope and various tools. The

leader inspected the room, listened a moment, and said:

A man entered, carrying an electric lantern. He was followed by a

second man, who carried a coil of rope and various tools. The

leader inspected the room, listened a moment, and said:

"Call the others."

Then eight men, stout fellows with resolute faces, entered the

room, and immediately commenced to remove the furnishings. Arsene

Lupin passed quickly from one piece of furniture to another,

examined each, and, according to its size or artistic value, he

directed his men to take it or leave it. If ordered to be taken,

it was carried to the gaping mouth of the tunnel, and ruthlessly

thrust into the bowels of the earth. Such was the fate of six

armchairs, six small Louis XV chairs, a quantity of Aubusson

tapestries, some candelabra, paintings by Fragonard and Nattier, a

bust by Houdon, and some statuettes. Sometimes, Lupin would linger

before a beautiful chest or a superb picture, and sigh:

"That is too heavy....too large....what a pity!"

In forty minutes the room was dismantled; and it had been

accomplished in such an orderly manner and with as little noise as

if the various articles had been packed and wadded for the

occasion.

Lupin said to the last man who departed by way of the tunnel:

"You need not come back. You understand, that as soon as the auto-

van is loaded, you are to proceed to the grange at Roquefort."

"But you, patron?"

"Leave me the motor-cycle."

When the mad had disappeared, Arsene Lupin pushed the section of

the bookcase back into its place, carefully effaced the traces of

the men's footsteps, raised a portiere, and entered a gallery,

which was the only means of communication between the tower and the

castle. In the center of this gallery there was a glass cabinet

which had attracted Lupin's attentions. It contained a valuable

collection of watches, snuff-boxes, rings, chatelaines and

miniatures of rare and beautiful workmanship. He forced the lock

with a small jimmy, and experienced a great pleasure in handling

those gold and silver ornaments, those exquisite and delicate works

of art.

He carried a large linen bag, specially prepared for the removal of

such knick-knacks. He filled it. Then he filled the pockets of

his coat, waistcoat and trousers. And he was just placing over his

left arm a number of pearl reticules when he heard a slight sound.

He listened. No, he was not deceived. The noise continued. Then

he remembered that, at one end of the gallery, there was a stairway

leading to an unoccupied apartment, but which was probably occupied

that night by the young lady whom Mon. Devanne had brought from

Dieppe with his other visitors.

Immediately he extinguished his lantern, and had scarcely gained

the friendly shelter of a window-embrasure, when the door at the

top of the stairway was opened and a feeble light illuminated the

gallery. He could feel--for, concealed by a curtain, he could not

see--that a woman was cautiously descending the upper steps of the

stairs. He hoped she would come no closer. Yet, she continued to

descend, and even advanced some distance into the room. Then she

uttered a faint cry. No doubt she had discovered the broken and

dismantled cabinet.

She advanced again. Now he could smell the perfume, and hear the

throbbing of her heart as she drew closer to the window where he

was concealed. She passed so close that her skirt brushed against

the window-curtain, and Lupin felt that she suspected the presence

of another, behind her, in the shadow, within reach of her hand.

He thought: "She is afraid. She will go away." But she did not

go. The candle, that she carried in her trembling hand, grew

brighter. She turned, hesitated a moment, appeared to listen, then

suddenly drew aside the curtain.

They stood face to face. Arsene was astounded. He murmured,

involuntarily:

"You--you--mademoiselle."

It was Miss Nelly. Miss Nelly! his fellow passenger on the

transatlantic steamer, who had been the subject of his dreams on

that memorable voyage, who had been a witness to his arrest, and

who, rather than betray him, had dropped into the water the kodak

in which he had concealed the bank-notes and diamonds. Miss Nelly!

that charming creature, the memory of whose face has sometimes

sheered, sometimes saddened the long hours of imprisonment.

It was such an unexpected encounter that brought them face to face

in that castle at that hour of the night, that they could not move,

nor utter a word; they were amazed, hypnotized, each at the sudden

apparition of the other. Trembling with emotion, Miss Nelly

staggered to a seat. He remained standing in front of her.

Gradually, he realized the situation and conceived the impression

he must have produced at that moment with his arms laden with

knick-knacks, and his pockets and a linen sack overflowing with

plunder. He was overcome with confusion, and he actually blushed

to find himself in the position of a thief caught in the act. To

her, henceforth, he was a thief, a man who puts his hand in

another's pocket, who steals into houses and robs people while they

sleep.

A watch fell upon the floor; then another. These were followed by

other articles which slipped from his grasp one by one. Then,

actuated by a sudden decision, he dropped the other articles into

an armchair, emptied his pockets and unpacked his sack. He felt

very uncomfortable in Nelly's presence, and stepped toward her with

the intention of speaking to her, but she shuddered, rose quickly

and fled toward the salon. The portiere closed behind her. He

followed her. She was standing trembling and amazed at the sight

of the devastated room. He said to her, at once:

"To-morrow, at three o'clock, everything will be returned. The

furniture will be brought back."

She made no reply, so he repeated:

"I promise it. To-morrow, at three o'clock. Nothing in the world

could induce me to break that promise....To-morrow, at three

o'clock."

Then followed a long silence that he dared not break, whilst the

agitation of the young girl caused him a feeling of genuine regret.

Quietly, without a word, he turned away, thinking: "I hope she will

go away. I can't endure her presence." But the young girl

suddenly spoke, and stammered:

"Listen....footsteps....I hear someone...."

He looked at her with astonishment. She seemed to be overwhelmed

by the thought of approaching peril.

"I don't hear anything," he said.

"But you must go--you must escape!"

"Why should I go?"

"Because--you must. Oh! do not remain here another minute. Go!"

She ran, quickly, to the door leading to the gallery and listened.

No, there was no one there. Perhaps the noise was outside. She

waited a moment, then returned reassured.

But Arsene Lupin had disappeared.

* * * * *

As soon as Mon. Devanne was informed of the pillage of his castle,

he said to himself: It was Velmont who did it, and Velmont is

Arsene Lupin. That theory explained everything, and there was no

other plausible explanation. And yet the idea seemed preposterous.

It was ridiculous to suppose that Velmont was anyone else than

Velmont, the famous artist, and club-fellow of his cousin

d'Estevan. So, when the captain of the gendarmes arrived to

investigate the affair, Devanne did not even think of mentioning

his absurd theory.

Throughout the forenoon there was a lively commotion at the castle.

The gendarmes, the local police, the chief of police from Dieppe,

the villagers, all circulated to and fro in the halls, examining

every nook and corner that was open to their inspection. The

approach of the maneuvering troops, the rattling fire of the

musketry, added to the picturesque character of the scene.

The preliminary search furnished no clue. Neither the doors nor

windows showed any signs of having been disturbed. Consequently,

the removal of the goods must have been effected by means of the

secret passage. Yet, there were no indications of footsteps on the

floor, nor any unusual marks upon the walls.

Their investigations revealed, however, one curious fact that

denoted the whimsical character of Arsene Lupin: the famous

Chronique of the sixteenth century had been restored to its

accustomed place in the library and, beside it, there was a similar

book, which was none other than the volume stolen from the National

Library.

At eleven o'clock the military officers arrived. Devanne welcomed

them with his usual gayety; for, no matter how much chagrin he

might suffer from the loss of his artistic treasures, his great

wealth enabled him to bear his loss philosophically. His guests,

Monsieur and Madame d'Androl and Miss Nelly, were introduced; and

it was then noticed that one of the expected guests had not

arrived. It was Horace Velmont. Would he come? His absence had

awakened the suspicions of Mon. Devanne. But at twelve o'clock he

arrived. Devanne exclaimed:

"Ah! here you are!"

"Why, am I not punctual?" asked Velmont.

"Yes, and I am surprised that you are....after such a busy night!

I suppose you know the news?"

"What news?"

"You have robbed the castle."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Velmont, smiling.

"Exactly as I predicted. But, first escort Miss Underdown to the

dining-room. Mademoiselle, allow me--"

He stopped, as he remarked the extreme agitation of the young girl.

Then, recalling the incident, he said:

"Ah! of course, you met Arsene Lupin on the steamer, before his

arrest, and you are astonished at the resemblance. Is that it?"

She did not reply. Velmont stood before her, smiling. He bowed.

She took his proffered arm. He escorted her to her place, and took

his seat opposite her. During the breakfast, the conversation

related exclusively to Arsene Lupin, the stolen goods, the secret

passage, and Sherlock Holmes. It was only at the close of the

repast, when the conversation had drifted to other subjects, that

Velmont took any part in it. Then he was, by turns, amusing and

grave, talkative and pensive. And all his remarks seemed to be

directed to the young girl. But she, quite absorbed, did not

appear to hear them.

Coffee was served on the terrace overlooking the court of honor and

the flower garden in front of the principal facade. The regimental

band played on the lawn, and scores of soldiers and peasants

wandered through the park.

Miss Nelly had not forgotten, for one moment, Lupin's solemn

promise: "To-morrow, at three o'clock, everything will be

returned."

At three o'clock! And the hands of the great clock in the right

wing of the castle now marked twenty minutes to three. In spite of

herself, her eyes wandered to the clock every minute. She also

watched Velmont, who was calmly swinging to and fro in a

comfortable rocking chair.

Ten minutes to three!....Five minutes to three!....Nelly was

impatient and anxious. Was it possible that Arsene Lupin would

carry out his promise at the appointed hour, when the castle, the

courtyard, and the park were filled with people, and at the very

moment when the officers of the law were pursuing their

investigations? And yet....Arsene Lupin had given her his solemn

promise. "It will be exactly as he said," thought she, so deeply

was she impressed with the authority, energy and assurance of that

remarkable man. To her, it no longer assumed the form of a

miracle, but, on the contrary, a natural incident that must occur

in the ordinary course of events. She blushed, and turned her

head.

Three o'clock! The great clock struck slowly:

one....two....three....Horace Velmont took out his watch, glanced

at the clock, then returned the watch to his pocket. A few seconds

passed in silence; and then the crowd in the courtyard parted to

give passage to two wagons, that had just entered the park-gate,

each drawn by two horses. They were army-wagons, such as are used

for the transportation of provisions, tents, and other necessary

military stores. They stopped in front of the main entrance, and a

commissary-sergeant leaped from one of the wagons and inquired for

Mon. Devanne. A moment later, that gentleman emerged from the

house, descended the steps, and, under the canvas covers of the

wagons, beheld his furniture, pictures and ornaments carefully

packaged and arranged.

When questioned, the sergeant produced an order that he had

received from the officer of the day. By that order, the second

company of the fourth battalion were commanded to proceed to the

crossroads of Halleux in the forest of Arques, gather up the

furniture and other articles deposited there, and deliver same to

Monsieur Georges Devanne, owner of the Thibermesnil castle, at

three o'clock. Signed: Col. Beauvel.

"At the crossroads," explained the sergeant, "we found everything

ready, lying on the grass, guarded by some passers-by. It seemed

very strange, but the order was imperative."

One of the officers examined the signature. He declared it a

forgery; but a clever imitation. The wagons were unloaded, and the

goods restored to their proper placed in the castle.

During this commotion, Nelly had remained alone at the extreme end

of the terrace, absorbed by confused and distracted thoughts.

Suddenly, she observed Velmont approaching her. She would have

avoided him, but the balustrade that surrounded the terrace cut off

her retreat. She was cornered. She could not move. A gleam of

sunshine, passing through the scant foliage of a bamboo, lighted up

her beautiful golden hair. Some one spoke to her in a low voice:

"Have I not kept my promise?"

Arsene Lupin stood close to her. No one else was near. He

repeated, in a calm, soft voice:

"Have I not kept my promise?"

He expected a word of thanks, or at least some slight movement that

would betray her interest in the fulfillment of his promise. But

she remained silent.

Her scornful attitude annoyed Arsene Lupin; and he realized the

vast distance that separated him from Miss Nelly, now that she had

learned the truth. He would gladly have justified himself in her

eyes, or at least pleaded extenuating circumstances, but he

perceived the absurdity and futility of such an attempt. Finally,

dominated by a surging flood of memories, he murmured:

"Ah! how long ago that was! You remember the long hours on the

deck of the `Provence.' Then, you carried a rose in your hand, a

white rose like the one you carry to-day. I asked you for it. You

pretended you did not hear me. After you had gone away, I found

the rose--forgotten, no doubt--and I kept it."

She made no reply. She seemed to be far away. He continued:

"In memory of those happy hours, forget what you have learned

since. Separate the past from the present. Do not regard me as

the man you saw last night, but look at me, if only for a moment,

as you did in those far-off days when I was Bernard d'Andrezy, for

a short time. Will you, please?"

She raised her eyes and looked at him as he had requested. Then,

without saying a word, she pointed to a ring he was wearing on his

forefinger. Only the ring was visible; but the setting, which was

turned toward the palm of his hand, consisted of a magnificent

ruby. Arsene Lupin blushed. The ring belonged to Georges Devanne.

He smiled bitterly, and said:

"You are right. Nothing can be changed. Arsene Lupin is now and

always will be Arsene Lupin. To you, he cannot be even so much as

a memory. Pardon me....I should have known that any attention I

may now offer you is simply an insult. Forgive me."

He stepped aside, hat in hand. Nelly passed before him. He was

inclined to detain her and beseech her forgiveness. But his

courage failed, and he contented himself by following her with his

eyes, as he had done when she descended the gangway to the pier at

New York. She mounted the steps leading to the door, and

disappeared within the house. He saw her no more.

A cloud obscured the sun. Arsene Lupin stood watching the imprints

of her tiny feet in the sand. Suddenly, he gave a start. Upon the

box which contained the bamboo, beside which Nelly had been

standing, he saw the rose, the white rose which he had desired but

dared not ask for. Forgotten, no doubt--it, also! But how--

designedly or through distraction? He seized it eagerly. Some of

its petals fell to the ground. He picked them up, one by one, like

precious relics. 64-LUPIN-Mitchell.

"Come!" he said to himself, "I have nothing more to do here. I

must think of my safety, before Sherlock Holmes arrives."

* * * * *

The park was deserted, but some gendarmes were stationed at the

park-gate. He entered a grove of pine trees, leaped over the wall,

and, as a short cut to the railroad station, followed a path across

the fields. After walking about ten minutes, he arrived at a spot

where the road grew narrower and ran between two steep banks. In

this ravine, he met a man traveling in the opposite direction. It

was a man about fifty years of age, tall, smooth-shaven, and

wearing clothes of a foreign cut. He carried a heavy cane, and a

small satchel was strapped across his shoulder. When they met, the

stranger spoke, with a slight English accent:

"Excuse me, monsieur, is this the way to the castle?"

"Yes, monsieur, straight ahead, and turn to the left when you come

to the wall. They are expecting you."

"Ah!"

"Yes, my friend Devanne told us last night that you were coming,

and I am delighted to be the first to welcome you. Sherlock Holmes

has no more ardent admirer than....myself."

There was a touch of irony in his voice that he quickly regretted,

for Sherlock Holmes scrutinized him from head to foot with such a

keen, penetrating eye that Arsene Lupin experienced the sensation

of being seized, imprisoned and registered by that look more

thoroughly and precisely than he had ever been my a camera.

"My negative is taken now," he thought, "and it will be useless to

use a disguise with that man. He would look right through it.

But, I wonder, has he recognized me?"

They bowed to each other as if about to part. But, at that moment,

they heard a sound of horses' feet, accompanied by a clinking of

steel. It was the gendarmes. The two men were obliged to draw

back against the embankment, amongst the brushes, to avoid the

horses. The gendarmes passed by, but, as they followed each other

at a considerable distance, they were several minutes in doing so.

And Lupin was thinking:

"It all depends on that question: has he recognized me? If so, he

will probably take advantage of the opportunity. It is a trying

situation."

When the last horseman had passed, Sherlock Holmes stepped forth

and brushed the dust from his clothes. Then, for a moment, he and

Arsene Lupin gazed at each other; and, if a person could have seen

them at that moment, it would have been an interesting sight, and

memorable as the first meeting of two remarkable men, so strange,

so powerfully equipped, both of superior quality, and destined by

fate, through their peculiar attributes, to hurl themselves one at

the other like two equal forces that nature opposes, one against

the other, in the realms of space.

Then the Englishman said: "Thank you, monsieur."

They parted. Lupin went toward the railway station, and Sherlock

Holmes continued on his way to the castle.

The local officers had given up the investigation after several

hours of fruitless efforts, and the people at the castle were

awaiting the arrival of the English detective with a lively

curiosity. At first sight, they were a little disappointed on

account of his commonplace appearance, which differed so greatly

from the pictures they had formed of him in their own minds. He

did not in any way resemble the romantic hero, the mysterious and

diabolical personage that the name of Sherlock Holmes had evoked in

their imaginations. However, Mon. Devanne exclaimed with much

gusto:

"Ah! monsieur, you are here! I am delighted to see you. It is a

long-deferred pleasure. Really, I scarcely regret what has

happened, since it affords me the opportunity to meet you. But,

how did you come?"

"By the train."

"But I sent my automobile to meet you at the station."

"An official reception, eh? with music and fireworks! Oh! no, not

for me. That is not the way I do business," grumbled the

Englishman.

This speech disconcerted Devanne, who replied, with a forced smile:

"Fortunately, the business has been greatly simplified since I

wrote to you."

"In what way?"

"The robbery took place last night."

"If you had not announced my intended visit, it is probably the

robbery would not have been committed last night."

"When, then?"

"To-morrow, or some other day."

"And in that case?"

"Lupin would have been trapped," said the detective.

"And my furniture?"

"Would not have been carried away."

"Ah! but my goods are here. They were brought back at three

o'clock."

"By Lupin."

"By two army-wagons."

Sherlock Holmes put on his cap and adjusted his satchel. Devanne

exclaimed, anxiously:

"But, monsieur, what are you going to do?"

"I am going home."

"Why?"

"Your goods have been returned; Arsene Lupin is far away--there is

nothing for me to do."

"Yes, there is. I need your assistance. What happened yesterday,

may happen again to-morrow, as we do not know how he entered, or

how he escaped, or why, a few hours later, he returned the goods."

"Ah! you don't know--"

The idea of a problem to be solved quickened the interest of

Sherlock Holmes.

"Very well, let us make a search--at once--and alone, if possible."

Devanne understood, and conducted the Englishman to the salon. In

a dry, crisp voice, in sentences that seemed to have been prepared

in advance, Holmes asked a number of questions about the events of

the preceding evening, and enquired also concerning the guests and

the members of the household. Then he examined the two volumes of

the "Chronique," compared the plans of the subterranean passage,

requested a repetition of the sentences discovered by Father Gelis,

and then asked:

"Was yesterday the first time you have spoken hose two sentences to

any one?"

"Yes."

"You had never communicated then to Horace Velmont?"

"No."

"Well, order the automobile. I must leave in an hour."

"In an hour?"

"Yes; within that time, Arsene Lupin solved the problem that you

placed before him."

"I....placed before him--"

"Yes, Arsene Lupin or Horace Velmont--same thing."

"I thought so. Ah! the scoundrel!"

"Now, let us see," said Holmes, "last night at ten o'clock, you

furnished Lupin with the information that he lacked, and that he

had been seeking for many weeks. During the night, he found time

to solve the problem, collect his men, and rob the castle. I shall

be quite as expeditious."

He walked from end to end of the room, in deep thought, then sat

down, crossed his long legs and closed his eyes.

Devanne waited, quite embarrassed. Thought he: "Is the man asleep?

Or is he only meditating?" However, he left the room to give some

orders, and when he returned he found the detective on his knees

scrutinizing the carpet at the foot of the stairs in the gallery.

"What is it?" he enquired.

"Look....there....spots from a candle."

"You are right--and quite fresh."

"And you will also find them at the top of the stairs, and around

the cabinet that Arsene Lupin broke into, and from which he took

the bibelots that he afterward placed in this armchair."

"What do you conclude from that?"

"Nothing. These facts would doubtless explain the cause for the

restitution, but that is a side issue that I cannot wait to

investigate. The main question is the secret passage. First, tell

me, is there a chapel some two or three hundred metres from the

castle?"

"Yes, a ruined chapel, containing the tomb of Duke Rollo."

"Tell your chauffer to wait for us near that chapel."

"My chauffer hasn't returned. If he had, they would have informed

me. Do you think the secret passage runs to the chapel? What

reason have--"

"I would ask you, monsieur," interrupted the detective, "to furnish

me with a ladder and a lantern."

"What! do you require a ladder and a lantern?"

"Certainly, or I shouldn't have asked for them."

Devanne, somewhat disconcerted by this crude logic, rang the bell.

The two articles were given with the sternness and precision of

military commands.

"Place the ladder against the bookcase, to the left of the word

Thibermesnil."

Devanne placed the ladder as directed, and the Englishman

continued:

"More to the left....to the right....There!....Now, climb up....

All the letters are in relief, aren't they?"

"Yes."

"First, turn the letter I one way or the other."

"Which one? There are two of them."

"The first one."

Devanne took hold of the letter, and exclaimed:

"Ah! yes, it turns toward the right. Who told you that?"

Sherlock Holmes did not reply to the question, but continued his

directions:

"Now, take the letter B. Move it back and forth as you would a

bolt."

Devanne did so, and, to his great surprise, it produced a clicking

sound.

"Quite right," said Holmes. "Now, we will go to the other end of

the word Thibermesnil, try the letter I, and see if it will open

like a wicket."

With a certain degree of solemnity, Devanne seized the letter. It

opened, but Devanne fell from the ladder, for the entire section of

the bookcase, lying between the first and last letters of the

words, turned on a picot and disclosed the subterranean passage.

Sherlock Holmes said, coolly:

"You are not hurt?"

"No, no," said Devanne, as he rose to his feet, "not hurt, only

bewildered. I can't understand now....those letters turn....the

secret passage opens...."

"Certainly. Doesn't that agree exactly with the formula given by

Sully? Turn one eye on the bee that shakes, the other eye will

lead to God."

"But Louis the sixteenth?" asked Devanne.

"Louis the sixteenth was a clever locksmith. I have read a book he

wrote about combination locks. It was a good idea on the part of

the owner of Thibermesnil to show His Majesty a clever bit of

mechanism. As an aid to his memory, the king wrote: 3-4-11, that

is to say, the third, fourth and eleventh letters of the word."

"Exactly. I understand that. It explains how Lupin got out of the

room, but it does not explain how he entered. And it is certain he

came from the outside."

Sherlock Holmes lighted his lantern, and stepped into the passage.

"Look! All the mechanism is exposed here, like the works of a

clock, and the reverse side of the letters can be reached. Lupin

worked the combination from this side--that is all."

"What proof is there of that?"

"Proof? Why, look at that puddle of oil. Lupin foresaw that the

wheels would require oiling."

"Did he know about the other entrance?"

"As well as I know it," said Holmes. "Follow me."

"Into that dark passage?"

"Are you afraid?"

"No, but are you sure you can find the way out?"

"With my eyes closed."

At first, they descended twelve steps, then twelve more, and,

farther on, two other flights of twelve steps each. Then they

walked through a long passageway, the brick walls of which showed

the marks of successive restorations, and, in spots, were dripping

with water. The earth, also, was very damp.

"We are passing under the pond," said Devanne, somewhat nervously.

At last, they came to a stairway of twelve steps, followed by three

others of twelve steps each, which they mounted with difficulty,

and then found themselves in a small cavity cut in the rock. They

could go no further.

"The deuce!" muttered Holmes, "nothing but bare walls. This is

provoking."

"Let us go back," said Devanne. "I have seen enough to satisfy

me."

But the Englishman raised his eye and uttered a sigh of relief.

There, he saw the same mechanism and the same word as before. He

had merely to work the three letters. He did so, and a block of

granite swung out of place. On the other side, this granite block

formed the tombstone of Duke Rollo, and the word "Thibermesnil" was

engraved on it in relief. Now, they were in the little ruined

chapel, and the detective said:

"The other eye leads to God; that means, to the chapel."

"It is marvelous!" exclaimed Devanne, amazed at the clairvoyance

and vivacity of the Englishman. "Can it be possible that those few

words were sufficient for you?"

"Bah!" declared Holmes, "they weren't even necessary. In the chart

in the book of the National Library, the drawing terminates at the

left, as you know, in a circle, and at the right, as you do not

know, in a cross. Now, that cross must refer to the chapel in

which we now stand."

Poor Devanne could not believe his ears. It was all so new, so

novel to him. He exclaimed:

"It is incredible, miraculous, and yet of a childish simplicity!

How is it that no one has ever solved the mystery?"

"Because no one has ever united the essential elements, that is to

say, the two books and the two sentences. No one, but Arsene Lupin

and myself."

"But, Father Gelis and I knew all about those things, and,

likewise--"

Holmes smiled, and said:

"Monsieur Devanne, everybody cannot solve riddles."

"I have been trying for ten years to accomplish what you did in ten

minutes."

"Bah! I am used to it."

They emerged from the chapel, and found an automobile.

"Ah! there's an auto waiting for us."

"Yes, it is mine," said Devanne.

"Yours? You said your chauffeur hadn't returned."

They approached the machine, and Mon. Devanne questioned the

chauffer:

"Edouard, who gave you orders to come here?"

"Why, it was Monsieur Velmont."

"Mon. Velmont? Did you meet him?"

"Near the railway station, and he told me to come to the chapel."

"To come to the chapel! What for?"

"To wait for you, monsieur, and your friend."

Devanne and Holmes exchanged looks, and Mon. Devanne said:

"He knew the mystery would be a simple one for you. It is a

delicate compliment."

A smile of satisfaction lighted up the detective's serious features

for a moment. The compliment pleased him. He shook his head, as

he said:

"A clever man! I knew that when I saw him."

"Have you seen him?"

"I met him a short time ago--on my way from the station."

"And you knew it was Horace Velmont--I mean, Arsene Lupin?"

"That is right. I wonder how it came--"

"No, but I supposed it was--from a certain ironical speech he made."

"And you allowed him to escape?"

"Of course I did. And yet I had everything on my side, such as

give gendarmes who passed us."

"Sacrableu!" cried Devanne. "You should have taken advantage of

the opportunity."

"Really, monsieur," said the Englishman, haughtily, "when I

encounter an adversary like Arsene Lupin, I do not take advantage

of chance opportunities, I create them."

But time pressed, and since Lupin had been so kind as to send the

automobile, they resolved to profit by it. They seated themselves

in the comfortable limousine; Edouard took his place at the wheel,

and away they went toward the railway station. Suddenly, Devanne's

eyes fell upon a small package in one of the pockets of the

carriage.

"Ah! what is that? A package! Whose is it? Why, it is for you."

"For me?"

"Yes, it is addressed: Sherlock Holmes, from Arsene Lupin."

The Englishman took the package, opened it, and found that it

contained a watch.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, with an angry gesture.

"A watch," said Devanne. "How did it come there?"

The detective did not reply.

"Oh! it is your watch! Arsene Lupin returns your watch! But, in

order to return it, he must have taken it. Ah! I see! He took

your watch! That is a good one! Sherlock Holmes' watch stolen by

Arsene Lupin! Mon Dieu! that is funny! Really....you must excuse

me....I can't help it."

He roared with laughter, unable to control himself. After which,

he said, in a tone of earnest conviction:

"A clever man, indeed!"

The Englishman never moved a muscle. On the way to Dieppe, he

never spoke a word, but fixed his gaze on the flying landscape.

His silence was terrible, unfathomable, more violent than the

wildest rage. At the railway station, he spoke calmly, but in a

voice that impressed one with the vast energy and will power of

that famous man. He said:

"Yes, he is a clever man, but some day I shall have the pleasure of

placing on his shoulder the hand I now offer to you, Monsieur

Devanne. And I believe that Arsene Lupin and Sherlock Holmes will

meet again some day. Yes, the world is too small--we will meet--we

must meet--and then--"

--The further startling and thrilling adventures of Arsene Lupin

will be found in the book entitled "Arsene Lupin versus Herlock

Sholmes."--

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF

ARSENE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-BURGLAR ***

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