Delphi Collected Works of Maurice Leblanc (Illustrated) (Delphi Series Nine Book 17)

by Maurice Leblanc

  “And which is so stimulating, Monsieur le Juge d’Instruction! I know nothing more exciting than to see all the facts coming up out of the shadow, clustering together, so to speak, and gradually forming the probable truth.”

  “The probable truth! You go pretty fast, young man! Do you suggest that you have your little solution of the riddle ready?”

  “Oh, no!” replied Beautrelet, with a laugh.

  “Only — it seems to me that there are certain points on which it is not impossible to form an opinion; and others, even, are so precise as to warrant — a conclusion.”

  “Oh, but this is becoming very curious and I shall get to know something at last! For I confess, to my great confusion, that I know nothing.”

  “That is because you have not had time to reflect, Monsieur le Juge d’Instruction. The great thing is to reflect. Facts very seldom fail to carry their own explanation!”

  “And, according to you, the facts which we have just ascertained carry their own explanation?”

  “Don’t you think so yourself? In any case, I have ascertained none besides those which are set down in the official report.”

  “Good! So that, if I were to ask you which were the objects stolen from this room—”

  “I should answer that I know.”

  “Bravo! My gentleman knows more about it than the owner himself. M. de Gesvres has everything accounted for: M. Isidore Beautrelet has not. He misses a bookcase in three sections and a life-size statue which nobody ever noticed. And, if I asked you the name of the murderer?”

  “I should again answer that I know it.”

  All present gave a start. The deputy and the journalist drew nearer. M. de Gesvres and the two girls, impressed by Beautrelet’s tranquil assurance, listened attentively.

  “You know the murderer’s name?”

  “Yes.”

  “And the place where he is concealed, perhaps?”

  “Yes.”

  M. Filleul rubbed his hands.

  “What a piece of luck! This capture will do honor to my career. And can you make me these startling revelations now?”

  “Yes, now — or rather, if you do not mind, in an hour or two, when I shall have assisted at your inquiry to the end.”

  “No, no, young man, here and now, please.” At that moment Raymonde de Saint-Veran, who had not taken her eyes from Isidore Beautrelet since the beginning of this scene, came up to M. Filleul:

  “Monsieur le Juge d’Instruction—”

  “Yes, mademoiselle?”

  She hesitated for two or three seconds, with her eyes fixed on Beautrelet, and then, addressing M. Filleul:

  “I should like you to ask monsieur the reason why he was walking yesterday in the sunk road which leads up to the little door.”

  It was an unexpected and dramatic stroke. Isidore Beautrelet appeared nonplussed:

  “I, mademoiselle? I? You saw me yesterday?”

  Raymonde remained thoughtful, with her eyes upon Beautrelet, as though she were trying to settle her own conviction, and then said, in a steady voice:

  “At four o’clock in the afternoon, as I was crossing the wood, I met in the sunk road a young man of monsieur’s height, dressed like him and wearing a beard cut in the same way — and I received a very clear impression that he was trying to hide.”

  “And it was I?”

  “I could not say that as an absolute certainty, for my recollection is a little vague. Still — still, I think so — if not, it would be an unusual resemblance—”

  M. Filleul was perplexed. Already taken in by one of the confederates, was he now going to let himself be tricked by this self-styled schoolboy? Certainly, the young man’s manner spoke in his favor; but one can never tell!

  “What have you to say, sir?”

  “That mademoiselle is mistaken, as I can easily show you with one word. Yesterday, at the time stated, I was at Veules.”

  “You will have to prove it, you will have to. In any case, the position is not what it was. Sergeant, one of your men will keep monsieur company.”

  Isidore Beautrelet’s face denoted a keen vexation.

  “Will it be for long?”

  “Long enough to collect the necessary information.”

  “Monsieur le Juge d’Instruction, I beseech you to collect it with all possible speed and discretion.”

  “Why?”

  “My father is an old man. We are very much attached to each other — and I would not have him suffer on my account.”

  The more or less pathetic note in his voice made a bad impression on M. Filleul. It suggested a scene in a melodrama. Nevertheless, he promised:

  “This evening — or to-morrow at latest, I shall know what to think.”

  The afternoon was wearing on. The examining magistrate returned to the ruins of the cloisters, after giving orders that no unauthorized persons were to be admitted, and patiently, methodically, dividing the ground into lots which were successively explored, himself directed the search. But at the end of the day he was no farther than at the start; and he declared, before an army of reporters who, during that time, had invaded the chateau:

  “Gentlemen, everything leads us to suppose that the wounded man is here, within our reach; everything, that is, except the reality, the fact. Therefore, in our humble opinion, he must have escaped and we shall find him outside.”

  By way of precaution, however, he arranged, with the sergeant of gendarmes, for a complete watch to be kept over the park and, after making a fresh examination of the two drawing rooms, visiting the whole of the chateau and surrounding himself with all the necessary information, he took the road back to Dieppe, accompanied by the deputy prosecutor.

  Night fell. As the boudoir was to remain locked, Jean Daval’s body had been moved to another room. Two women from the neighborhood sat up with it, assisted by Suzanne and Raymonde. Downstairs, young Isidore Beautrelet slept on the bench in the old oratory, under the watchful eye of the village policeman, who had been attached to his person. Outside, the gendarmes, the farmer and a dozen peasants had taken up their position among the ruins and along the walls.

  All was still until eleven o’clock; but, at ten minutes past eleven, a shot echoed from the other side of the house.

  “Attention!” roared the sergeant. “Two men remain here: you, Fossier — and you, Lecanu — The others at the double!”

  They all rushed forward and ran round the house on the left. A figure was seen to make away in the dark. Then, suddenly, a second shot drew them farther on, almost to the borders of the farm. And, all at once, as they arrived, in a band, at the hedge which lines the orchard, a flame burst out, to the right of the farmhouse, and other names also rose in a thick column. It was a barn burning, stuffed to the ridge with straw.

  “The scoundrels!” shouted the sergeant. “They’ve set fire to it. Have at them, lads! They can’t be far away!”

  But the wind was turning the flames toward the main building; and it became necessary, before all things, to ward off the danger. They all exerted themselves with the greater ardor inasmuch as M. de Gesvres, hurrying to the scene of the disaster, encouraged them with the promise of a reward. By the time that they had mastered the flames, it was two o’clock in the morning. All pursuit would have been vain.

  “We’ll look into it by daylight,” said the sergeant. “They are sure to have left traces: we shall find them.”

  “And I shall not be sorry,” added M. de Gesvres, “to learn the reason of this attack. To set fire to trusses of straw strikes me as a very useless proceeding.”

  “Come with me, Monsieur le Comte: I may be able to tell you the reason.”

  Together they reached the ruins of the cloisters. The sergeant called out:

  “Lecanu! — Fossier!”

  The other gendarmes were already hunting for their comrades whom they had left standing sentry. They ended by finding them at a few paces from the little door. The two men were lying full length on the ground, bound and gagged,
with bandages over their eyes.

  “Monsieur le Comte,” muttered the sergeant, while his men were being released; “Monsieur le Comte, we have been tricked like children.”

  “How so?”

  “The shots — the attack on the barn — the fire — all so much humbug to get us down there — a diversion. During that time they were tying up our two men and the business was done.”

  “What business?”

  “Carrying off the wounded man, of course!”

  “You don’t mean to say you think — ?”

  “Think? Why, it’s as plain as a pikestaff! The idea came to me ten minutes ago — but I’m a fool not to have thought of it earlier. We should have nabbed them all.” Quevillon stamped his foot on the ground, with a sudden attack of rage. “But where, confound it, where did they go through? Which way did they carry him off? For, dash it all, we beat the ground all day; and a man can’t hide in a tuft of grass, especially when he’s wounded! It’s witchcraft, that’s what it is!—”

  Nor was this the last surprise awaiting Sergeant Quevillon. At dawn, when they entered the oratory which had been used as a cell for young Isidore Beautrelet, they realized that young Isidore Beautrelet had vanished.

  On a chair slept the village policeman, bent in two. By his side stood a water-bottle and two tumblers. At the bottom of one of those tumblers a few grains of white powder.

  On examination, it was proved, first, that young Isidore Beautrelet had administered a sleeping draught to the village policeman; secondly, that he could only have escaped by a window situated at a height of seven or eight feet in the wall; and lastly — a charming detail, this — that he could only have reached this window by using the back of his warder as a footstool.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ISIDORE BEAUTRELET, SIXTH-FORM SCHOOLBOY

  FROM THE GRAND Journal.

  LATEST NEWS

  DOCTOR DELATTRE KIDNAPPED A MAD PIECE OF CRIMINAL DARING

  At the moment of going to press, we have received an item of news which we dare not guarantee as authentic, because of its very improbable character. We print it, therefore, with all reserve.

  Yesterday evening, Dr. Delattre, the well-known surgeon, was present, with his wife and daughter, at the performance of Hernani at the Comedie Francaise. At the commencement of the third act, that is to say, at about ten o’clock, the door of his box opened and a gentleman, accompanied by two others, leaned over to the doctor and said to him, in a low voice, but loud enough for Mme. Delattre to hear:

  “Doctor, I have a very painful task to fulfil and I shall be very grateful to you if you will make it as easy for me as you can.”

  “Who are you, sir?”

  “M. Thezard, commissary of police of the first district; and my instructions are to take you to M. Dudouis, at the prefecture.”

  “But—”

  “Not a word, doctor, I entreat you, not a movement — There is some regrettable mistake; and that is why we must act in silence and not attract anybody’s attention. You will be back, I have no doubt, before the end of the performance.”

  The doctor rose and went with the commissary. At the end of the performance, he had not returned. Mme. Delattre, greatly alarmed, drove to the office of the commissary of police. There she found the real M. Thezard and discovered, to her great terror, that the individual who had carried off her husband was an impostor.

  Inquiries made so far have revealed the fact that the doctor stepped into a motor car and that the car drove off in the direction of the Concorde.

  Readers will find further details of this incredible adventure in our second edition.

  Incredible though it might be, the adventure was perfectly true. Besides, the issue was not long delayed and the Grand Journal, while confirming the story in its midday edition, described in a few lines the dramatic ending with which it concluded:

  THE STORY ENDS

  AND

  GUESS-WORK BEGINS

  Dr. Delattre was brought back to 78, Rue Duret, at nine o’clock this morning, in a motor car which drove away immediately at full speed.

  No. 78, Rue Duret, is the address of Dr. Delattre’s clinical surgery, at which he arrives every morning at the same hour. When we sent in our card, the doctor, though closeted with the chief of the detective service, was good enough to consent to receive us.

  “All that I can tell you,” he said, in reply to our questions, “is that I was treated with the greatest consideration. My three companions were the most charming people I have ever met, exquisitely well-mannered and bright and witty talkers: a quality not to be despised, in view of the length of the journey.”

  “How long did it take?”

  “About four hours and as long returning.”

  “And what was the object of the journey?”

  “I was taken to see a patient whose condition rendered an immediate operation necessary.”

  “And was the operation successful?”

  “Yes, but the consequences may be dangerous. I would answer for the patient here. Down there — under his present conditions—”

  “Bad conditions?”

  “Execrable! — A room in an inn — and the practically absolute impossibility of being attended to.”

  “Then what can save him?”

  “A miracle — and his constitution, which is an exceptionally strong one.”

  “And can you say nothing more about this strange patient?”

  “No. In the first place, I have taken an oath; and, secondly, I have received a present of ten thousand francs for my free surgery. If I do not keep silence, this sum will be taken from me.”

  “You are joking! Do you believe that?”

  “Indeed I do. The men all struck me as being very much in earnest.”

  This is the statement made to us by Dr. Delattre. And we know, on the other hand, that the head of the detective service, in spite of all his insisting, has not yet succeeded in extracting any more precise particulars from him as to the operation which he performed, the patient whom he attended or the district traversed by the car. It is difficult, therefore, to arrive at the truth.

  This truth, which the writer of the interview confessed himself unable to discover, was guessed by the more or less clear-sighted minds that perceived a connection with the facts which had occurred the day before at the Chateau d’Ambrumesy, and which were reported, down to the smallest detail, in all the newspapers of that day. There was evidently a coincidence to be reckoned with in the disappearance of a wounded burglar and the kidnapping of a famous surgeon.

  The judicial inquiry, moreover, proved the correctness of the hypothesis. By following the track of the sham flyman, who had fled on a bicycle, they were able to show that he had reached the forest of Arques, at some ten miles’ distance, and that from there, after throwing his bicycle into a ditch, he had gone to the village of Saint-Nicolas, whence he had dispatched the following telegram:

  A. L. N., Post-office 45, Paris.

  Situation desperate. Operation urgently necessary.

  Send celebrity by national road fourteen.

  The evidence was undeniable. Once apprised the accomplices in Paris hastened to make their arrangements. At ten o’clock in the evening they sent their celebrity by National Road No. 14, which skirts the forest of Arques and ends at Dieppe. During this time, under cover of the fire which they themselves had caused, the gang of burglars carried off their leader and moved him to an inn, where the operation took place on the arrival of the surgeon, at two o’clock in the morning.

  About that there was no doubt. At Pontoise, at Gournay, at Forges, Chief-inspector Ganimard, who was sent specially from Paris, with Inspector Folenfant, as his assistant, ascertained that a motor car had passed in the course of the previous night. The same on the road from Dieppe to Ambrumesy. And, though the traces of the car were lost at about a mile and a half from the chateau, at least a number of footmarks were seen between the little door in the park wall and the abbey ruins. Besides, Ganimard
remarked that the lock of the little door had been forced.

  So all was explained. It remained to decide which inn the doctor had spoken of: an easy piece of work for a Ganimard, a professional ferret, a patient old stager of the police. The number of inns is limited and this one, given the condition of the wounded man, could only be one quite close to Ambrumesy. Ganimard and Sergeant Quevillon set to work. Within a circle of five hundred yards, of a thousand yards, of fifteen hundred yards, they visited and ransacked everything that could pass for an inn. But, against all expectation, the dying man persisted in remaining invisible.

  Ganimard became more resolved than ever. He came back to sleep at the chateau, on the Saturday night, with the intention of making his personal inquiry on the Sunday. On Sunday morning, he learned that, during the night, a posse of gendarmes had seen a figure gliding along the sunk road, outside the wall. Was it an accomplice who had come back to investigate? Were they to suppose that the leader of the gang had not left the cloisters or the neighborhood of the cloisters?

  That night, Ganimard openly sent the squad of gendarmes to the farm and posted himself and Folenfant outside the walls, near the little door.

  A little before midnight, a person passed out of the wood, slipped between them, went through the door and entered the park. For three hours, they saw him wander from side to side across the ruins, stooping, climbing up the old pillars, sometimes remaining for long minutes without moving. Then he went back to the door and again passed between the two inspectors.

  Ganimard caught him by the collar, while Folenfant seized him round the body. He made no resistance of any kind and, with the greatest docility, allowed them to bind his wrists and take him to the house. But, when they attempted to question him, he replied simply that he owed them no account of his doings and that he would wait for the arrival of the examining magistrate. Thereupon, they fastened him firmly to the foot of a bed, in one of the two adjoining rooms which they occupied.

  At nine o’clock on Monday morning, as soon as M. Filleul had arrived, Ganimard announced the capture which he had made. The prisoner was brought downstairs. It was Isidore Beautrelet.