CHAPTER VI. THE DEATH-SENTENCE
Lupin's motor-car was not only an office, a writing-room furnishedwith books, stationery, pens and ink, but also a regular actor'sdressing-room, containing a complete make-up box, a trunk filledwith every variety of wearing-apparel, another crammed with"properties"--umbrellas, walking-sticks, scarves, eye-glasses and soon--in short, a complete set of paraphernalia which enabled him to alterhis appearance from top to toe in the course of a drive.
The man who rang at Daubrecq the deputy's gate, at six o-clock thatevening, was a stout, elderly gentleman, in a black frock-coat, a bowlerhat, spectacles and whiskers.
The portress took him to the front-door of the house and rang the bell.Victoire appeared.
Lupin asked:
"Can M. Daubrecq see Dr. Vernes?"
"M. Daubrecq is in his bedroom; and it is rather late..."
"Give him my card, please."
He wrote the words, "From Mme. Mergy," in the margin and added:
"There, he is sure to see me."
"But..." Victoire began.
"Oh, drop your buts, old dear, do as I say, and don't make such a fussabout it!"
She was utterly taken aback and stammered:
"You!... is it you?"
"No, it's Louis XIV!" And, pushing her into a corner of the hall,"Listen... The moment I'm done with him, go up to your room, put yourthings together anyhow and clear out."
"What!"
"Do as I tell you. You'll find my car waiting down the avenue. Come,stir your stumps! Announce me. I'll wait in the study."
"But it's dark in there."
"Turn on the light."
She switched on the electric light and left Lupin alone.
"It's here," he reflected, as he took a seat, "it's here that thecrystal stopper lives... Unless Daubrecq always keeps it by him... Butno, when people have a good hiding-place, they make use of it. And thisis a capital one; for none of us... so far..."
Concentrating all his attention, he examined the objects in the room;and he remembered the note which Daubrecq wrote to Prasville:
"Within reach of your hand, my dear Prasville!... You touched it! A little more and the trick was done..."
Nothing seemed to have moved since that day. The same things were lyingabout on the desk: books, account-books, a bottle of ink, a stamp-box,pipes, tobacco, things that had been searched and probed over and overagain.
"The bounder!" thought Lupin. "He's organized his business jollycleverly. It's all dove-tailed like a well-made play."
In his heart of hearts, though he knew exactly what he had come to doand how he meant to act, Lupin was thoroughly aware of the danger anduncertainty attending his visit to so powerful an adversary. It wasquite within the bounds of possibility that Daubrecq, armed as he was,would remain master of the field and that the conversation would take anabsolutely different turn from that which Lupin anticipated.
And this prospect angered him somewhat.
He drew himself up, as he heard a sound of footsteps approaching.
Daubrecq entered.
He entered without a word, made a sign to Lupin, who had risen fromhis chair, to resume his seat and himself sat down at the writing-desk.Glancing at the card which he held in his hand:
"Dr. Vernes?"
"Yes, monsieur le depute, Dr. Vernes, of Saint-Germain."
"And I see that you come from Mme. Mergy. A patient of yours?"
"A recent patient. I did not know her until I was called in to see her,the other day, in particularly tragic circumstances."
"Is she ill?"
"Mme. Mergy has taken poison."
"What!"
Daubrecq gave a start and he continued, without concealing his distress:
"What's that you say? Poison! Is she dead?"
"No, the dose was not large enough. If no complications ensue, Iconsider that Mme. Mergy's life is saved."
Daubrecq said nothing and sat silent, with his head turned to Lupin.
"Is he looking at me? Are his eyes open or shut?" Lupin asked himself.
It worried Lupin terribly not to see his adversary's eyes, those eyeshidden by the double obstacle of spectacles and black glasses: weak,bloodshot eyes, Mme. Mergy had told him. How could he follow the secrettrain of the man's thought without seeing the expression of his face? Itwas almost like fighting an enemy who wielded an invisible sword.
Presently, Daubrecq spoke:
"So Mme. Mergy's life is saved... And she has sent you to me... I don'tquite understand... I hardly know the lady."
"Now for the ticklish moment," thought Lupin. "Have at him!"
And, in a genial, good-natured and rather shy tone, he said:
"No, monsieur le depute, there are cases in which a doctor's dutybecomes very complex... very puzzling... And you may think that, intaking this step... However, to cut a long story short, while I wasattending Mme. Mergy, she made a second attempt to poison herself...Yes; the bottle, unfortunately, had been left within her reach. Isnatched it from her. We had a struggle. And, railing in her fever, shesaid to me, in broken words, 'He's the man... He's the man... Daubrecqthe deputy... Make him give me back my son. Tell him to... or elseI would rather die... Yes, now, to-night... I would rather die.'That's what she said, monsieur le depute... So I thought that I oughtto let you know. It is quite certain that, in the lady's highly nervousstate of mind... Of course, I don't know the exact meaning of herwords... I asked no questions of anybody... obeyed a spontaneous impulseand came straight to you."
Daubrecq reflected for a little while and said:
"It amounts to this, doctor, that you have come to ask me if I know thewhereabouts of this child whom I presume to have disappeared. Is thatit?"
"Yes."
"And, if I did happen to know, you would take him back to his mother?"
There was a longer pause. Lupin asked himself:
"Can he by chance have swallowed the story? Is the threat of that deathenough? Oh, nonsense it's out of the question!... And yet... and yet...he seems to be hesitating."
"Will you excuse me?" asked Daubrecq, drawing the telephone, on hiswriting-desk, toward him. "I have an urgent message."
"Certainly, monsieur le depute."
Daubrecq called out:
"Hullo!... 822.19, please, 822.19."
Having repeated the number, he sat without moving.
Lupin smiled:
"The headquarters of police, isn't it? The secretary-general'soffice..."
"Yes, doctor... How do you know?"
"Oh, as a divisional surgeon, I sometimes have to ring them up."
And, within himself, Lupin asked:
"What the devil does all this mean? The secretary-general isPrasville... Then, what?..."
Daubrecq put both receivers to his ears and said:
"Are you 822.19? I want to speak to M. Prasville, the secretary-general... Do you say he's not there?... Yes, yes, he is: he's always in hisoffice at this time... Tell him it's M. Daubrecq... M. Daubrecq thedeputy... a most important communication."
"Perhaps I'm in the way?" Lupin suggested.
"Not at all, doctor, not at all," said Daubrecq. "Besides, what I haveto say has a certain bearing on your errand." And, into the telephone,"Hullo! M. Prasville?... Ah, it's you, Prasville, old cock!... Why, youseem quite staggered! Yes, you're right, it's an age since you and Imet. But, after all, we've never been far away in thought... And I'vehad plenty of visits from you and your henchmen... In my absence, it'strue. Hullo!... What?... Oh, you're in a hurry? I beg your pardon!...So am I, for that matter... Well, to come to the point, there's a littleservice I want to do you... Wait, can't you, you brute?... You won'tregret it... It concerns your renown... Hullo!... Are you listening?...Well, take half-a-dozen men with you... plain-clothes detectives, bypreference: you'll find them at the night-office... Jump into a taxi,two taxis, and come along here as fast as you can... I've got a rarequarry for you, old chap. One of the upper ten... a lord, a marquisNapoleon himself... in a w
ord, Arsene Lupin!"
Lupin sprang to his feet. He was prepared for everything but this. Yetsomething within him stronger than astonishment, an impulse of his wholenature, made him say, with a laugh:
"Oh, well done, well done!"
Daubrecq bowed his head, by way of thanks, and muttered:
"I haven't quite finished... A little patience, if you don't mind."And he continued, "Hullo! Prasville!... No, no, old chap, I'm nothumbugging... You'll find Lupin here, with me, in my study... Lupin,who's worrying me like the rest of you... Oh, one more or less makes nodifference to me! But, all the same, this one's a bit too pushing. AndI am appealing to your sense of kindness. Rid me of the fellow, do...Half-a-dozen of your satellites and the two who are pacing up and downoutside my house will be enough... Oh, while you're about it, go upto the third floor and rope in my cook as well... She's the famousVictoire: you know, Master Lupin's old nurse... And, look here, onemore tip, to show you how I love you: send a squad of men to the RueChateaubriand, at the corner of the Rue Balzac... That's where ournational hero lives, under the name of Michel Beaumont... Do you twig,old cockalorum? And now to business. Hustle!"
When Daubrecq turned his head, Lupin was standing up, with clenchedfists. His burst of admiration had not survived the rest of the speechand the revelations which Daubrecq had made about Victoire and the flatin the Rue Chateaubriand. The humiliation was too great; and Lupin nolonger bothered to play the part of the small general practitioner. Hehad but one idea in his head: not to give way to the tremendous fit ofrage that was urging him to rush at Daubrecq like a bull.
Daubrecq gave the sort of little cluck which, with him, did duty for alaugh. He came waddling up, with his hands in his trouser-pockets, andsaid, incisively:
"Don't you think that this is all for the best? I've cleared the ground,relieved the situation... At least, we now know where we stand. Lupinversus Daubrecq; and that's all about it. Besides, think of the timesaved! Dr. Vernes, the divisional surgeon, would have taken two hours tospin his yarn! Whereas, like this, Master Lupin will be compelled toget his little story told in thirty minutes... unless he wants to gethimself collared and his accomplices nabbed. What a shock! What a boltfrom the blue! Thirty minutes and not a minute more. In thirty minutesfrom now, you'll have to clear out, scud away like a hare and beat adisordered retreat. Ha, ha, ha, what fun! I say, Polonius, you reallyare unlucky, each time you come up against Bibi Daubrecq! For it wasyou who were hiding behind that curtain, wasn't it, my ill-starredPolonius?"
Lupin did not stir a muscle. The one and only solution that would havecalmed his feelings, that is to say, for him to throttle his adversarythen and there, was so absurd that he preferred to accept Daubrecq'sgibes without attempting to retort, though each of them cut him like thelash of a whip. It was the second time, in the same room and in similarcircumstances, that he had to bow before that Daubrecq of misfortune andmaintain the most ridiculous attitude in silence. And he felt convincedin his innermost being that, if he opened his mouth, it would be to spitwords of anger and insult in his victor's face. What was the good? Wasit not essential that he should keep cool and do the things which thenew situation called for?
"Well, M. Lupin, well?" resumed the deputy. "You look as if your nosewere out of joint. Come, console yourself and admit that one sometimescomes across a joker who's not quite such a mug as his fellows. So youthought that, because I wear spectacles and eye-glasses, I was blind?Bless my soul, I don't say that I at once suspected Lupin behindPolonius and Polonius behind the gentleman who came and bored me in thebox at the Vaudeville. No, no! But, all the same, it worried me. I couldsee that, between the police and Mme. Mergy, there was a third boundertrying to get a finger in the pie. And, gradually, what with the wordslet fall by the portress, what with watching the movements of mycook and making inquiries about her in the proper quarter, I began tounderstand. Then, the other night, came the lightning-flash. I heard therow in the house, in spite of my being asleep. I managed to reconstructthe incident, to follow up Mme. Mergy's traces, first, to the RueChateaubriand and, afterward, to Saint-Germain... And then... whatthen? I put different facts together: the Enghien burglary... Gilbert'sarrest... the inevitable treaty of alliance between the weeping motherand the leader of the gang... the old nurse installed as cook...all these people entering my house through the doors or through thewindows... And I knew what I had to do. Master Lupin was sniffing at thesecret. The scent of the Twenty-seven attracted him. I had only to waitfor his visit. The hour has arrived. Good-evening, Master Lupin."
Daubrecq paused. He had delivered his speech with the evidentsatisfaction of a man entitled to claim the appreciation of the mostcaptious critics.
As Lupin did not speak, he took out his watch: "I say! Only twenty-threeminutes! How time flies! At this rate, we sha'n't have time to come toan explanation." And, stepping still closer to Lupin, "I'm bound tosay, I'm disappointed. I thought that Lupin was a different sort ofgentleman. So, the moment he meets a more or less serious adversary,the colossus falls to pieces? Poor young man! Have a glass of water, tobring you round!" Lupin did not utter a word, did not betray a gestureof irritation. With absolute composure, with a precision of movementthat showed his perfect self-control and the clear plan of conduct whichhe had adopted, he gently pushed Daubrecq aside, went to the table and,in his turn, took down the receiver of the telephone:
"I want 565.34, please," he said.
He waited until he was through; and then, speaking in a slow voice andpicking out every syllable, he said:
"Hullo!... Rue Chateaubriand?... Is that you, Achille?... Yes, it's thegovernor. Listen to me carefully, Achille... You must leave the flat!Hullo!... Yes, at once. The police are coming in a few minutes. No, no,don't lose your head... You've got time. Only, do what I tell you. Isyour bag still packed?... Good. And is one of the sides empty, as I toldyou?... Good. Well, go to my bedroom and stand with your face to thechimney-piece. Press with your left hand on the little carved rosette infront of the marble slab, in the middle, and with your right hand on thetop of the mantel-shelf. You'll see a sort of drawer, with two littleboxes in it. Be careful. One of them contains all our papers; the other,bank-notes and jewellery. Put them both in the empty compartment of thebag. Take the bag in your hand and go as fast as you can, on foot, tothe corner of the Avenue Victor-Hugo and the Avenue de Montespan. You'llfind the car waiting, with Victoire. I'll join you there... What?... Myclothes? My knickknacks?... Never mind about all that... You be off. Seeyou presently."
Lupin quietly pushed away the telephone. Then, taking Daubrecq by thearm, he made him sit in a chair by his side and said:
"And now listen to me, Daubrecq."
"Oho!" grinned the deputy. "Calling each other by our surnames, are we?"
"Yes," said Lupin, "I allowed you to." And, when Daubrecq released hisarm with a certain misgiving, he said, "No, don't be afraid. We sha'n'tcome to blows. Neither of us has anything to gain by doing away with theother. A stab with a knife? What's the good? No, sir! Words, nothing butwords. Words that strike home, though. Here are mine: they are plain andto the point. Answer me in the same way, without reflecting: that's farbetter. The boy?"
"I have him."
"Give him back."
"No."
"Mme. Mergy will kill herself."
"No, she won't."
"I tell you she will."
"And I tell you she will not."
"But she's tried to, once."
"That's just the reason why she won't try again."
"Well, then..."
"No."
Lupin, after a moment, went on:
"I expected that. Also, I thought, on my way here, that you would hardlytumble to the story of Dr. Vernes and that I should have to use othermethods."
"Lupin's methods."
"As you say. I had made up my mind to throw off the mask. You pulled itoff for me. Well done you! But that doesn't change my plans."
"Speak."
Lupin took from a pocketbook a
double sheet of foolscap paper, unfoldedit and handed it to Daubrecq, saying:
"Here is an exact, detailed inventory, with consecutive numbers, of thethings removed by my friends and myself from your Villa Marie-Therese onthe Lac d'Enghien. As you see, there are one hundred and thirteen items.Of those one hundred and thirteen items, sixty-eight, which have a redcross against them, have been sold and sent to America. The remainder,numbering forty-five, are in my possession... until further orders. Theyhappen to be the pick of the bunch. I offer you them in return for theimmediate surrender of the child."
Daubrecq could not suppress a movement of surprise:
"Oho!" he said. "You seem very much bent upon it."
"Infinitely," said Lupin, "for I am persuaded that a longer separationfrom her son will mean death to Mme. Mergy."
"And that upsets you, does it... Lothario?"
"What!"
Lupin planted himself in front of the other and repeated:
"What! What do you mean?"
"Nothing... Nothing... Something that crossed my mind... Clarisse Mergyis a young woman still and a pretty woman at that."
Lupin shrugged his shoulders:
"You brute!" he mumbled. "You imagine that everybody is like yourself,heartless and pitiless. It takes your breath away, what, to think that ashark like me can waste his time playing the Don Quixote? And you wonderwhat dirty motive I can have? Don't try to find out: it's beyond yourpowers of perception. Answer me, instead: do you accept?"
"So you're serious?" asked Daubrecq, who seemed but little disturbed byLupin's contemptuous tone.
"Absolutely. The forty-five pieces are in a shed, of which I will giveyou the address, and they will be handed over to you, if you call there,at nine o'clock this evening, with the child."
There was no doubt about Daubrecq's reply. To him, the kidnapping oflittle Jacques had represented only a means of working upon ClarisseMergy's feelings and perhaps also a warning for her to cease the contestupon which she had engaged. But the threat of a suicide must needs showDaubrecq that he was on the wrong track. That being so, why refuse thefavourable bargain which Arsene Lupin was now offering him?
"I accept," he said.
"Here's the address of my shed: 99, Rue Charles-Lafitte, Neuilly. Youhave only to ring the bell."
"And suppose I send Prasville, the secretary-general, instead?"
"If you send Prasville," Lupin declared, "the place is so arrangedthat I shall see him coming and that I shall have time to escape, aftersetting fire to the trusses of hay and straw which surround and concealyour credence-tables, clocks and Gothic virgins."
"But your shed will be burnt down..."
"I don't mind that: the police have their eye on it already. I amleaving it in any case."
"And how am I to know that this is not a trap?"
"Begin by receiving the goods and don't give up the child tillafterward. I trust you, you see."
"Good," said Daubrecq; "you've foreseen everything. Very well, you shallhave the nipper; the fair Clarisse shall live; and we will all be happy.And now, if I may give you a word of advice, it is to pack off as fastas you can."
"Not yet."
"Eh?"
"I said, not yet."
"But you're mad! Prasville's on his way!"
"He can wait. I've not done."
"Why, what more do you want? Clarisse shall have her brat. Isn't thatenough for you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"There is another son."
"Gilbert."
"Yes."
"Well?"
"I want you to save Gilbert."
"What are you saying? I save Gilbert!"
"You can, if you like; it only means taking a little trouble." Untilthat moment Daubrecq had remained quite calm. He now suddenly blazed outand, striking the table with his fist:
"No," he cried, "not that! Never! Don't reckon on me!... No, that wouldbe too idiotic!"
He walked up and down, in a state of intense excitement, with that queerstep of his, which swayed him from right to left on each of his legs,like a wild beast, a heavy, clumsy bear. And, with a hoarse voice anddistorted features, he shouted:
"Let her come here! Let her come and beg for her son's pardon! But lether come unarmed, not with criminal intentions, like last time! Lether come as a supplicant, as a tamed woman, as a submissive woman, whounderstands and accepts the situation... Gilbert? Gilbert's sentence?The scaffold? Why, that is where my strength lies! What! For more thantwenty years have I awaited my hour; and, when that hour strikes, whenfortune brings me this unhoped-for chance, when I am at last about toknow the joy of a full revenge--and such a revenge!--you think that Iwill give it up, give up the thing which I have been pursuing for twentyyears? I save Gilbert? I? For nothing? For love? I, Daubrecq?... No, no,you can't have studied my features!"
He laughed, with a fierce and hateful laugh. Visibly, he saw before him,within reach of his hand, the prey which he had been hunting down solong. And Lupin also summoned up the vision of Clarisse, as he had seenher several days before, fainting, already beaten, fatally conquered,because all the hostile powers were in league against her.
He contained himself and said:
"Listen to me."
And, when Daubrecq moved away impatiently, he took him by the twoshoulders, with that superhuman strength which Daubrecq knew, fromhaving felt it in the box at the Vaudeville, and, holding him motionlessin his grip, he said:
"One last word."
"You're wasting your breath," growled the deputy.
"One last word. Listen, Daubrecq: forget Mme. Mergy, give up all thenonsensical and imprudent acts which your pride and your passions aremaking you commit; put all that on one side and think only of yourinterest..."
"My interest," said Daubrecq, jestingly, "always coincides with my prideand with what you call my passions."
"Up to the present, perhaps. But not now, not now that I have taken ahand in the business. That constitutes a new factor, which you chooseto ignore. You are wrong. Gilbert is my pal. Gilbert is my chum. Gilberthas to be saved from the scaffold. Use your influence to that end, andI swear to you, do you hear, I swear that we will leave you in peace.Gilbert's safety, that's all I ask. You will have no more battles towage with Mme. Mergy, with me; there will be no more traps laid for you.You will be the master, free to act as you please. Gilbert's safety,Daubrecq! If you refuse..."
"What then?"
"If you refuse, it will be war, relentless war; in other words, acertain defeat for you."
"Meaning thereby..."
"Meaning thereby that I shall take the list of the Twenty-seven fromyou."
"Rot! You think so, do you?"
"I swear it."
"What Prasville and all his men, what Clarisse Mergy, what nobody hasbeen able to do, you think that you will do!"
"I shall!"
"And why? By favour of what saint will you succeed where everybody elsehas failed? There must be a reason?"
"There is."
"What is it?"
"My name is Arsene Lupin."
He had let go of Daubrecq, but held him for a time under the dominionof his authoritative glance and will. At last, Daubrecq drew himself up,gave him a couple of sharp taps on the shoulder and, with the same calm,the same intense obstinacy, said:
"And my name's Daubrecq. My whole life has been one desperate battle,one long series of catastrophes and routs in which I spent all myenergies until victory came: complete, decisive, crushing, irrevocablevictory. I have against me the police, the government, France, theworld. What difference do you expect it to make to me if I have M.Arsene Lupin against me into the bargain? I will go further: the morenumerous and skilful my enemies, the more cautiously I am obliged toplay. And that is why, my dear sir, instead of having you arrested, asI might have done--yes, as I might have done and very easily--I let youremain at large and beg charitably to remind you that you must quit inless than three minutes."
"Then the answer is no?"
"The answer is no."
"You won't do anything for Gilbert?"
"Yes, I shall continue to do what I have been doing since hisarrest--that is to say, to exercise indirect influence with the ministerof justice, so that the trial may be hurried on and end in the way inwhich I want to see it end."
"What!" cried Lupin, beside himself with indignation. "It's because ofyou, it's for you..."
"Yes, it's for me, Daubrecq; yes, by Jove! I have a trump card, theson's head, and I am playing it. When I have procured a nice littledeath-sentence for Gilbert, when the days go by and Gilbert's petitionfor a reprieve is rejected by my good offices, you shall see, M. Lupin,that his mummy will drop all her objections to calling herselfMme. Alexis Daubrecq and giving me an unexceptionable pledge of hergood-will. That fortunate issue is inevitable, whether you like it ornot. It is foredoomed. All I can do for you is to invite you to thewedding and the breakfast. Does that suit you? No? You persist in yoursinister designs? Well, good luck, lay your traps, spread your nets,rub up your weapons and grind away at the Complete Foreign-post-paperBurglar's Handbook. You'll need it. And now, good-night. The rules ofopen-handed and disinterested hospitality demand that I should turn youout of doors. Hop it!"
Lupin remained silent for some time. With his eyes fixed on Daubrecq, heseemed to be taking his adversary's size, gauging his weight, estimatinghis physical strength, discussing, in fine, in which exact part toattack him. Daubrecq clenched his fists and worked out his plan ofdefence to meet the attack when it came.
Half a minute passed. Lupin put his hand to his hip-pocket. Daubrecq didthe same and grasped the handle of his revolver.
A few seconds more. Coolly, Lupin produced a little gold box of the kindthat ladies use for holding sweets, opened it and handed it to Daubrecq:
"A lozenge?"
"What's that?" asked the other, in surprise.
"Cough-drops."
"What for?"
"For the draught you're going to feel!"
And, taking advantage of the momentary fluster into which Daubrecq wasthrown by his sally, he quickly took his hat and slipped away.
"Of course," he said, as he crossed the hall, "I am knocked into fits.But all the same, that bit of commercial-traveller's waggery was rathernovel, in the circumstances. To expect a pill and receive a cough-dropis by way of being a sort of disappointment. It left the old chimpanzeequite flummoxed."
As he closed the gate, a motor-car drove up and a man sprang outbriskly, followed by several others.
Lupin recognized Prasville:
"Monsieur le secretaire-general," he muttered, "your humble servant. Ihave an idea that, some day, fate will bring us face to face: and Iam sorry, for your sake; for you do not inspire me with any particularesteem and you have a bad time before you, on that day. Meanwhile, ifI were not in such a hurry, I should wait till you leave and I shouldfollow Daubrecq to find out in whose charge he has placed the child whomhe is going to hand back to me. But I am in a hurry. Besides, I can'ttell that Daubrecq won't act by telephone. So let us not waste ourselvesin vain efforts, but rather join Victoire, Achille and our preciousbag."
Two hours later, Lupin, after taking all his measures, was on thelookout in his shed at Neuilly and saw Daubrecq turn out of an adjoiningstreet and walk along with a distrustful air.
Lupin himself opened the double doors:
"Your things are in here, monsieur le depute," he said. "You can goround and look. There is a job-master's yard next door: you have only toask for a van and a few men. Where is the child?"
Daubrecq first inspected the articles and then took Lupin to the Avenuede Neuilly, where two closely veiled old ladies stood waiting withlittle Jacques.
Lupin carried the child to his car, where Victoire was waiting for him.
All this was done swiftly, without useless words and as though the partshad been got by heart and the various movements settled in advance, likeso many stage entrances and exits.
At ten o'clock in the evening Lupin kept his promise and handed littleJacques to his mother. But the doctor had to be hurriedly called in,for the child, upset by all those happenings, showed great signs ofexcitement and terror. It was more than a fortnight before he wassufficiently recovered to bear the strain of the removal which Lupinconsidered necessary. Mme. Mergy herself was only just fit to travelwhen the time came. The journey took place at night, with every possibleprecaution and under Lupin's escort.
He took the mother and son to a little seaside place in Brittany andentrusted them to Victoire's care and vigilance.
"At last," he reflected, when he had seen them settled, "there is no onebetween the Daubrecq bird and me. He can do nothing more to Mme. Mergyand the kid; and she no longer runs the risk of diverting the strugglethrough her intervention. By Jingo, we have made blunders enough! First,I have had to disclose myself to Daubrecq. Secondly, I have had tosurrender my share of the Enghien movables. True, I shall get thoseback, sooner or later; of that there is not the least doubt. But, allthe same, we are not getting on; and, in a week from now, Gilbert andVaucheray will be up for trial."
What Lupin felt most in the whole business was Daubrecq's revelation ofthe whereabouts of the flat. The police had entered his place in theRue Chateaubriand. The identity of Lupin and Michel Beaumont had beenrecognized and certain papers discovered; and Lupin, while pursuing hisaim, while, at the same time, managing various enterprises on whichhe had embarked, while avoiding the searches of the police, which werebecoming more zealous and persistent than ever, had to set to work andreorganize his affairs throughout on a fresh basis.
His rage with Daubrecq, therefore, increased in proportion to the worrywhich the deputy caused him. He had but one longing, to pocket him, ashe put it, to have him at his bidding by fair means or foul, to extracthis secret from him. He dreamt of tortures fit to unloose the tongueof the most silent of men. The boot, the rack, red-hot pincers, nailedplanks: no form of suffering, he thought, was more than the enemydeserved; and the end to be attained justified every means.
"Oh," he said to himself, "oh, for a decent bench of inquisitors and acouple of bold executioners!... What a time we should have!"
Every afternoon the Growler and the Masher watched the road whichDaubrecq took between the Square Lamartine, the Chamber of Deputies andhis club. Their instructions were to choose the most deserted streetand the most favourable moment and, one evening, to hustle him into amotor-car.
Lupin, on his side, got ready an old building, standing in the middleof a large garden, not far from Paris, which presented all the necessaryconditions of safety and isolation and which he called the Monkey'sCage.
Unfortunately, Daubrecq must have suspected something, for every time,so to speak, he changed his route, or took the underground or a tram;and the cage remained unoccupied.
Lupin devised another plan. He sent to Marseilles for one of hisassociates, an elderly retired grocer called Brindebois, who happenedto live in Daubrecq's electoral district and interested himself inpolitics. Old Brindebois wrote to Daubrecq from Marseilles, announcinghis visit. Daubrecq gave this important constituent a hearty welcome,and a dinner was arranged for the following week.
The elector suggested a little restaurant on the left bank of the Seine,where the food, he said, was something wonderful. Daubrecq accepted.
This was what Lupin wanted. The proprietor of the restaurant was oneof his friends. The attempt, which was to take place on the followingThursday, was this time bound to succeed.
Meanwhile, on the Monday of the same week, the trial of Gilbert andVaucheray opened.
The reader will remember--and the case took place too recently for me torecapitulate its details--the really incomprehensible partiality whichthe presiding judge showed in his cross-examination of Gilbert. Thething was noticed and severely criticised at the time. Lupin recognizedDaubrecq's hateful influence.
The attitude observed by the two prisoners differed greatly. Vaucheraywas gloomy, silent, hard-faced. He cynically
, in curt, sneering, almostdefiant phrases, admitted the crimes of which he had formerly beenguilty. But, with an inconsistency which puzzled everybody except Lupin,he denied any participation in the murder of Leonard the valet andviolently accused Gilbert. His object, in thus linking his fate withGilbert's, was to force Lupin to take identical measures for the rescueof both his accomplices.
Gilbert, on the other hand, whose frank countenance and dreamy,melancholy eyes won every sympathy, was unable to protect himselfagainst the traps laid for him by the judge or to counteract Vaucheray'slies. He burst into tears, talked too much, or else did not talk whenhe should have talked. Moreover, his counsel, one of the Leaders of thebar, was taken ill at the last moment--and here again Lupin saw the handof Daubrecq--and he was replaced by a junior who spoke badly, muddiedthe whole case, set the jury against him and failed to wipe out theimpression produced by the speeches of the advocate-general and ofVaucheray's counsel.
Lupin, who had the inconceivable audacity to be present on the last dayof the trial, the Thursday, had no doubt as to the result. A verdict ofguilty was certain in both cases.
It was certain because all the efforts of the prosecution, thussupporting Vaucheray's tactics, had tended to link the two prisonersclosely together. It was certain, also and above all, because itconcerned two of Lupin's accomplices. From the opening of the inquirybefore the magistrate until the delivery of the verdict, all theproceedings had been directed against Lupin; and this in spite of thefact that the prosecution, for want of sufficient evidence and also inorder not to scatter its efforts over too wide an area, had decided notto include Lupin in the indictment. He was the adversary aimed at, theleader who must be punished in the person of his friends, the famousand popular scoundrel whose fascination in the eyes of the crowd must bedestroyed for good and all. With Gilbert and Vaucheray executed, Lupin'shalo would fade away and the legend would be exploded.
Lupin... Lupin... Arsene Lupin: it was the one name heard throughoutthe four days. The advocate-general, the presiding judge, the jury, thecounsel, the witnesses had no other words on their lips. Every moment,Lupin was mentioned and cursed at, scoffed at, insulted and heldresponsible for all the crimes committed. It was as though Gilbertand Vaucheray figured only as supernumeraries, while the real criminalundergoing trial was he, Lupin, Master Lupin, Lupin the burglar, theleader of a gang of thieves, the forger, the incendiary, the hardenedoffender, the ex-convict, Lupin the murderer, Lupin stained with theblood of his victim, Lupin lurking in the shade, like a coward, aftersending his friends to the foot of the scaffold.
"Oh, the rascals know what they're about!" he muttered. "It's my debtwhich they are making my poor old Gilbert pay."
And the terrible tragedy went on.
At seven o'clock in the evening, after a long deliberation, the juryreturned to court and the foreman read out the answers to the questionsput from the bench. The answer was "Yes" to every count of theindictment, a verdict of guilty without extenuating circumstances.
The prisoners were brought in. Standing up, but staggering andwhite-faced, they received their sentence of death.
And, amid the great, solemn silence, in which the anxiety of theonlookers was mingled with pity, the assize-president asked:
"Have you anything more to say, Vaucheray?"
"Nothing, monsieur le president. Now that my mate is sentenced as wellas myself, I am easy... We are both on the same footing... The governormust find a way to save the two of us."
"The governor?"
"Yes, Arsene Lupin."
There was a laugh among the crowd.
The president asked:
"And you, Gilbert?"
Tears streamed down the poor lad's cheeks and he stammered a fewinarticulate sentences. But, when the judge repeated his question, hesucceeded in mastering himself and replied, in a trembling voice:
"I wish to say, monsieur le president, that I am guilty of many things,that's true... I have done a lot of harm... But, all the same, not this.No, I have not committed murder... I have never committed murder... AndI don't want to die... it would be too horrible..."
He swayed from side to side, supported by the warders, and he was heardto cry, like a child calling for help:
"Governor... save me!... Save me!... I don't want to die!"
Then, in the crowd, amid the general excitement, a voice rose above thesurrounding clamour:
"Don't be afraid, little 'un!... The governor's here!"
A tumult and hustling followed. The municipal guards and the policemenrushed into court and laid hold of a big, red-faced man, who was statedby his neighbours to be the author of that outburst and who struggledhand and foot.
Questioned without delay, he gave his name, Philippe Bonel, anundertaker's man, and declared that some one sitting beside him hadoffered him a hundred-franc note if he would consent, at the propermoment, to shout a few words which his neighbour scribbled on a bit ofpaper. How could he refuse?
In proof of his statements, he produced the hundred-franc note and thescrap of paper.
Philippe Bonel was let go.
Meanwhile, Lupin, who of course had assisted energetically in theindividual's arrest and handed him over to the guards, left thelaw-courts, his heart heavy with anguish. His car was waiting for him onthe quay. He flung himself into it, in despair, seized with so great asorrow that he had to make an effort to restrain his tears. Gilbert'scry, his voice wrung with affliction, his distorted features, histottering frame: all this haunted his brain; and he felt as if he wouldnever, for a single second, forget those impressions.
He drove home to the new place which he had selected among his differentresidences and which occupied a corner of the Place de Clichy. Heexpected to find the Growler and the Masher, with whom he was to kidnapDaubrecq that evening. But he had hardly opened the door of his flat,when a cry escaped him: Clarisse stood before him; Clarisse, who hadreturned from Brittany at the moment of the verdict.
He at once gathered from her attitude and her pallor that she knew. And,at once, recovering his courage in her presence, without giving her timeto speak, he exclaimed:
"Yes, yes, yes... but it doesn't matter. We foresaw that. We couldn'tprevent it. What we have to do is to stop the mischief. And to-night,you understand, to-night, the thing will be done."
Motionless and tragic in her sorrow, she stammered:
"To-night?"
"Yes. I have prepared everything. In two hours, Daubrecq will be in myhands. To-night, whatever means I have to employ, he shall speak."
"Do you mean that?" she asked, faintly, while a ray of hope began tolight up her face.
"He shall speak. I shall have his secret. I shall tear the list of theTwenty-seven from him. And that list will set your son free."
"Too late," Clarisse murmured.
"Too late? Why? Do you think that, in exchange for such a document, Ishall not obtain Gilbert's pretended escape?... Why, Gilbert will be atliberty in three days! In three days..."
He was interrupted by a ring at the bell:
"Listen, here are our friends. Trust me. Remember that I keep mypromises. I gave you back your little Jacques. I shall give you backGilbert."
He went to let the Growler and the Masher in and said:
"Is everything ready? Is old Brindebois at the restaurant? Quick, let usbe off!"
"It's no use, governor," replied the Masher.
"No use? What do you mean?"
"There's news."
"What news? Speak, man!"
"Daubrecq has disappeared."
"Eh? What's that? Daubrecq disappeared?"
"Yes, carried off from his house, in broad daylight."
"The devil! By whom?"
"Nobody knows... four men... there were pistols fired... The police areon the spot. Prasville is directing the investigations."
Lupin did not move a limb. He looked at Clarisse Mergy, who lay huddledin a chair.
He himself had to bow his head. Daubrecq carried off meant one morechance of success
lost...
The Crystal Stopper Page 6