Fantômas

by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

  X. PRINCESS SONIA'S BATH

  Four months had passed since Etienne Rambert had been acquitted at theCahors Assizes, and the world was beginning to forget the Beaulieutragedy as it had already almost forgotten the mysterious murder of LordBeltham. Juve alone did not allow his daily occupation to put the twocases out of his mind. True, he had ceased to make any direct enquiries,and gave no sign that he still had any interest in those crimes; but thedetective knew very well that in both of them he had to contend with noordinary murderer and he was content to remain in the shadow, waitingand watching, in seeming inactivity, for some slip which should betraythe person or persons who had perpetrated two of the most puzzlingmurders that he had ever had to deal with.

  It was the end of June, and Paris was beginning to empty. But the springhad been late and cold that year, and although it was within a couple ofdays of July society had lingered on in the capital; luxuriouslyappointed carriages still swept along the Champs Elysees when theaudiences poured out of theatres and concert rooms, and fashionablyattired people still thronged the broad pavements and gathered beforethe brilliantly lighted cafes on the Rond-Point; even at that late hourthe Champs Elysees were as animated as in the busiest hours of the day.

  At the Royal Palace Hotel the greatest animation prevailed. The entirestaff was hurrying about the vast entrance halls and the palatial roomson the ground floor; for it was the hour when the guests of the RoyalPalace Hotel were returning from their evening's amusements, and thespacious vestibules of the immense hotel were crowded with men inevening dress, young fellows in dinner jackets, and women in low-cutgowns.

  A young and fashionable woman got out of a perfectly appointed victoria,and M. Louis, the manager of the staff, came forward and bowed low, ashe only did to clients of the very highest distinction. The ladyresponded with a gracious smile, and the manager called a servant.

  "The lift for Mme. la Princesse Sonia Danidoff," and the next moment thebeautiful vision, who had created quite a sensation merely in passingthrough the hall, had disappeared within the lift and was borne up toher apartments.

  Princess Sonia was one of the most important clients that the RoyalPalace Hotel possessed. She belonged to one of the greatest families inthe world, being, by her marriage with Prince Danidoff, cousin to theEmperor of Russia and, so, connected with many royal personages. Stillbarely thirty years of age, she was not pretty but remarkably lovely,with wonderful blue eyes which formed a strange and most bewitchingcontrast to the heavy masses of black hair that framed her face. A womanof immense wealth, and typically a woman of the world, the Princessspent six months of the year in Paris, where she was a well-known andmuch-liked figure in the most exclusive circles; she was clever andcultivated, a first-rate musician, and her reputation was spotless,although it was very seldom that she was accompanied by her husband,whose duties as Grand Chamberlain to the Tsar kept him almostcontinuously in Russia. When in Paris she occupied a suite of four roomson the third floor of the Royal Palace Hotel, a suite identical in planand in luxury with that reserved for sovereigns who came thereincognito.

  The Princess passed through her drawing-room, a vast, round room, with asuperb view over the Arc de Triomphe, and went into her bedroom whereshe switched on the electric light.

  "Nadine," she called, in her grave, melodious voice, and a young girl,almost a child, sprang from a low divan hidden in a corner. "Nadine,take off my cloak and unfasten my hair. Then you can leave me: it islate, and I am tired."

  The little maid obeyed, helped her mistress to put on a silken dressinggown, and loosened the masses of her hair. The Princess passed a handacross her brow, as if to brush away a headache.

  "Before you go, get a bath ready for me; I think that would rest me."

  Ten minutes later Nadine crept back like a shadow, and found thePrincess standing dreamily on the balcony, inhaling deep breaths of thepure night air. The child kissed the tips of her mistress's fingers."Your bath is quite ready," she said, and then withdrew.

  A few more minutes passed, and Princess Sonia, half undressed, was justgoing into her dressing-room when suddenly she turned and went back tothe middle of the bedroom which she had been on the point of leaving.

  "Nadine," she called, "are you still there?" No answer came. "I musthave been dreaming," the Princess murmured, "but I thought I heardsomeone moving about."

  Sonia Danidoff was not unduly nervous, but like most people who livemuch alone and in large hotels, she was wont to be careful, and wishedto make sure that no suspicious person had made his way into her rooms.She made a rapid survey of her bedroom, glanced into the brilliantlylighted drawing-room, and then moved to her bed and saw that theelectric bell board, which enabled her to summon any of her own or ofthe hotel's servants, was in perfect order. Then, satisfied, she wentinto her dressing-room, quickly slipped off the rest of her clothes, andplunged into the perfumed water in her bath.

  She thrilled with pleasure as her limbs, so tired after a long evening,relaxed in the warm water. On a table close to the bath she had placed avolume of old Muscovite folk tales, and she was glancing through theseby the shaded light from a lamp above her, when a fresh sound made herstart. She sat up quickly in the water and looked around her. There wasnothing there. Then a little shiver shook her and she sank down again inthe warm bath with a laugh at her own nervousness. And she was justbeginning to read once more, when suddenly a strange voice, with a ringof malice in it, sounded in her ear. Someone was looking over hershoulder, and reading aloud the words she had just begun!

  Before Sonia Danidoff had time to utter a cry or make a movement, astrong hand was over her lips, and another gripped her wrist, preventingher from reaching the button of the electric bell that was fixed amongthe taps. The Princess was almost fainting. She was expecting somehorrible shock, expecting to feel some horrible weapon that would takeher life, when the pressure on her lips and the grip upon her wristgradually relaxed; and at the same moment, the mysterious individual whohad thus taken her by surprise, moved round the bath and stood in frontof her.

  He was a man of about forty years of age, and extremely well dressed. Aperfectly cut dinner jacket proved that the strange visitor was nounclean dweller in the Paris slums: no apache such as the Princess hadread terrifying descriptions of in luridly illustrated newspapers. Thehands which had held her motionless, and which now restored her libertyof movement to her, were white and well manicured and adorned with a fewplain rings. The man's face was a distinguished one, and he wore a veryfine black beard; slight baldness added to the height of a foreheadnaturally large. But what struck the Princess most, although she hadlittle heart to observe the man very closely, was the abnormal size ofhis head and the number of wrinkles that ran right across his temples,following the line of the eyebrows.

  In silence and with trembling lips Sonia Danidoff made an instinctiveeffort again to reach the electric bell, but with a quick movement theman caught her shoulder and prevented her from doing so. There was acryptic smile upon the stranger's lips, and with a furious blush SoniaDanidoff dived back again into the milky water in the bath.

  The man still stood in perfect silence, and at length the Princessmastered her emotion and spoke to him.

  "Who are you? What do you want? Go at once or I will call for help."

  "Above all things, do not call out, or you are a dead woman!" said thestranger harshly. Then he gave a little ironical shrug of hisshoulders. "As for ringing--that would not be easy: you would have toleave the water to do so! And, besides, I object."

  "If it is money, or rings you want," said the Princess between clenchedteeth, "take them! But go!"

  The Princess had laid several rings and bracelets on the table by herside, and the man glanced at them now, but without paying much attentionto what the Princess said.

  "Those trinkets are not bad," he said, "but your signet ring is muchfiner," and he calmly took the Princess's hand in his and examined thering that she had kept on her third finger. "Don't be frightened," headded as he f
elt her hand trembling. "Let us have a chat, if you don'tmind! There is nothing especially tempting about jewels apart from theirpersonality," he said after a little pause, "apart, I mean, from theperson who habitually wears them. But the bracelet on a wrist, or thenecklace round a neck, or the ring upon a finger is another matter!"

  Princess Sonia was as pale as death and utterly at a loss to understandwhat this extraordinary visitor was driving at. She held up her ringfinger, and made a frightened little apology.

  "I cannot take this ring off: it fits too tight."

  The man laughed grimly.

  "That does not matter in the least, Princess. Anyone who wanted to get aring like that could do it quite simply." He felt negligently in hiswaistcoat pocket and produced a miniature razor, which he opened. Heflashed the blade before the terrified eyes of the Princess. "With asharp blade like this a skilful man could cut off the finger that hadsuch a splendid jewel on it, in a couple of seconds," and then, seeingthat the Princess, in fresh panic, was on the very point of screaming,quick as a flash he laid the palm of his hand over her lips, while stillspeaking in gentle tones to her. "Please do not be so terrified; Isuppose you take me for some common hotel thief, or highway robber, but,Princess, can you really believe that I am anything of the kind?"

  The man's tone was so earnest, and there was so deferent a look in hiseyes, that the Princess recovered some of her courage.

  "But I do not know who you are," she said half questioningly.

  "So much the better," the man replied; "there is still time to make oneanother's acquaintance. I know who you are, and that is the main thing.You do not know me, Princess? Well, I assure you that on very many anoccasion I have mingled with the blessed company of your adorers!"

  The Princess's anger rose steadily with her courage.

  "Sir," she said, "I do not know if you are joking, or if you are talkingseriously, but your behaviour is extraordinary, hateful, abominable----"

  "It is merely original, Princess, and it pleases me to reflect that if Ihad been content to be presented to you in the ordinary way, in one orother of the many drawing-rooms we both frequent, you would certainlyhave taken much less notice of me than you have taken to-night; from thepersistence of your gaze I can see that from this day onwards, not asingle feature of my face will be unfamiliar to you, and I am convincedthat, whatever happens, you will remember it for a very long time."

  Princess Sonia tried to force a smile. She had recovered herself-possession, and was wondering what kind of man she had to dealwith. If she was still not quite persuaded that this was not a vulgarthief, and if she had but little faith in his professions of admirationof herself, she was considerably exercised by the idea that she wasalone with a lunatic. The man seemed to read her thoughts for he, too,smiled a little.

  "I am glad to see, Princess, that you have a little more confidence now:we shall be able to arrange things ever so much better. You arecertainly much more calm, much less uneasy now. Oh, yes, you are!" headded, checking her protest. "Why, it is quite five minutes since youlast tried to ring for help. We are getting on. Besides, I somehow can'tpicture the Princess Sonia Danidoff, wife of the Grand Chamberlain andcousin of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, allowing herselfto be surprised alone with a man whom she did not know. If she were toring, and someone came, how would the Princess account for the gentlemanto whom she had accorded an audience in the most delightful, butcertainly the most private of all her apartments?"

  "But tell me," pleaded the unhappy woman, "how did you get in here?"

  "That is not the question," the stranger replied. "The problem actuallybefore us is, how am I to get out? For, of course, Princess, I shall notbe so indelicate as to prolong my visit unduly, too happy only if youwill permit me to repeat it on some other evening soon." He turned hishead, and plunging his hand into the bath in the most natural mannerpossible, took out the thermometer which was floating on the perfumedwater. "Thirty degrees, centigrade, Princess! Your bath is getting cold:you must get out!"

  In her blank astonishment Princess Sonia did not know whether to laughor cry. Was she alone with a monster who, after having played with heras a cat plays with a mouse, would suddenly turn and kill her? Or wasthis merely some irresponsible lunatic, whom chance alone had enabled toget into her rooms? Whatever the fact might be, the man's last words hadmade her aware that her bath really was getting cold. A shiver shook herwhole frame, and yet----

  "Oh, go, please go!" she implored him.

  He shook his head, an ironical smile in his eyes.

  "For pity's sake," she entreated him again, "have mercy on a woman--agood woman!"

  The man appeared to be considering.

  "It is very embarrassing," he murmured, "and yet we must decide uponsomething soon, for I am most anxious you should not take a chill. Oh,it is very simple, Princess: of course you know the arrangement ofeverything here so well that you could find your dressing-gown at once,by merely feeling your way? We will put out the light, and then you willbe able to get out of the bath in the dark without the least fear." Hewas on the very point of turning off the switch of the lamp, when hestopped abruptly and came back to the bath. "I was forgetting thatexasperating bell," he said. "A movement is so very easily made: supposeyou were to ring, by mere inadvertence, and regret it afterwards?"Putting his idea into action, the man made a quick cut with his razorand severed the two electric wires several feet above the ground. "Thatis excellent," he said. "By the way, I don't know where these other twowires go that run along the wall, but it is best to be on the safe side.Suppose there were another bell?" He lifted his razor once more and wastrying to sever the electric wires when the steel blade cut theinsulator and an alarming flash of light resulted. The man leaped intothe air, and dropped his razor. "Good Lord!" he growled, "I suppose thatwill make you happy, madame: I have burnt my hand most horribly! Thesemust be wires for the light! But no matter: I have still got one soundhand, and that will be enough for me to secure the darkness that youwant. And anyhow, you can press the button of your bell as much as youlike: it won't ring. So I am sure of a few more minutes in yourcompany."

  Sudden darkness fell upon the room. Sonia Danidoff hesitated for amoment and then half rose in the bath. All her pride as a great lady wasin revolt. If she must defend her honour and her life, she was ready todo so, and despair would give her strength; but in any event she wouldbe better out of the water, and on her feet, prepared. The darkness wascomplete, both in the bathroom and in the adjacent bedroom, and thesilence was absolute. Standing up in the bath, Sonia Danidoff swept herarms round in a circle to feel for any obstacle. Her touch met nothing.She drew out one foot, and then the other, sprang towards the chair onwhich she had left her dressing-gown, slipped into it with feverishhaste, slid her feet into her slippers, stood motionless for just asecond and then, with sudden decision, moved to the switch by the doorand turned on the light.

  The man had gone from the bathroom, but taking two steps towards herbedroom Sonia Danidoff saw him smiling at her from the far end of thatroom.

  "Sir," she said, "this--pleasantry--has lasted long enough. You must go.You shall, you shall!"

  "Shall?" the stranger echoed. "That is a word that is not often used tome. But you are forgiven for not knowing that, Princess. I forgot forthe moment that I have not been presented to you. But what is in yourmind now?"

  Between them was a little escritoire, on the top of which was lying thetiny inlaid revolver that Sonia Danidoff always carried when she wentout at night. Could she but get that into her hands it would be a potentargument to induce this stranger to obey her. The Princess also knewthat in the drawer of that escritoire which she could actually see halfopen, she had placed, only a few minutes before going in to her bath, apocket-book filled with bank-notes for a hundred and twenty thousandfrancs, money she had withdrawn from the strong-room of the hotel thatvery morning in order to meet some bills next day. She looked at thedrawer and wondered if the pocket-book was still there, or if thismysterio
us admirer of hers was only a vulgar hotel thief after all. Theman had followed her eyes to the revolver.

  "That is an unusual knick-knack to find in a lady's room, Princess," andhe sprang in front of her as she was taking a step towards theescritoire, and took possession of the revolver. "Do not be alarmed," headded, noticing her little gesture of terror. "I would not do you aninjury for anything in the world. I shall be delighted to give this backto you in a minute, but first let me render it harmless." He deftlyslipped the six cartridges out of the barrel and then handed the nowuseless weapon to the Princess with a gallant little bow. "Do not laughat my excess of caution: but accidents happen so easily!"

  It was in vain that the Princess tried to get near her escritoire toascertain if the drawer had been tampered with: the man kept between herand it all the time, still smiling, still polite, but watching everymovement that she made. Suddenly he took his watch from his pocket.

  "Two o'clock! Already! Princess, you will be vexed with me for havingabused your hospitality to such an extent. I must go!" He appeared notto notice the sigh of relief that broke from her, but went on in amelodramatic tone. "I shall take my departure, not through the windowlike a lover, nor up the chimney like a thief, nor yet through a secretdoor behind the arras like a brigand of romance, but like a gentlemanwho has come to pay his tribute of homage and respect to the mostenchanting woman in the world--through the door!" He made a movement asif to go, and came back. "And what do you think of doing now, Princess?Perhaps you will be angry with me? Possibly some unpleasant discovery,made after my departure, will raise some animosity in your breastagainst me? You might even ring, directly my back is turned, and alarmthe staff, merely to embarrass me in my exit, and without paying anyattention to the subsequent possible scandal. That is a complicatedarrangement of bells and telephones beside your bed! It would be a pityto spoil such a pretty thing, and besides, I hate doing unnecessarydamage!" The Princess's eyes turned once more to the drawer: it waspractically certain that her money was not there now! But the man brokein again upon her thoughts. "What can I be thinking of? Just fancy mynot having presented myself to you even yet! But as a matter of fact Ido not want to tell you my name out loud: it is a romantic one, utterlyout of keeping with the typically modern environment in which we arenow. Ah, if we were only on the steep side of some mountain with themoon like a great lamp above us, or by the shore of some wild ocean,there would be some fascination in the proclamation of my identity inthe silence of the night, or in the midst of lightning and thunder asthe hurricane swept the seas! But here--in a third-floor suite of theRoyal Palace Hotel, surrounded by telephones and electric light, andstanding by a window overlooking the Champs Elysees--it would be apositive anachronism!" He took a card out of his pocket and drew nearthe little escritoire. "Allow me, Princess, to slip my card into thisdrawer, left open on purpose, it would seem," and while the Princessuttered an exclamation she could not repress, he suited the action tothe word. "And now, Princess," he went on, compelling her to retreatbefore him right to the door of the anteroom opening on to the corridor,"you are too well bred, I am sure, not to wish to conduct your visitorto the door of your suite." His tone altered abruptly, and in a deepimperious voice that made the Princess quake he ordered her: "And now,not a word, not a cry, not a movement until I am outside, or I will killyou!"

  Clenching her fists, and summoning all her strength to prevent herselffrom swooning, Sonia Danidoff led the man to the anteroom door. Slowlyshe unlocked the door and held it open, and the man stepped quietlythrough. The next second he was gone!

  Leaping back into her bedroom Sonia Danidoff set every bell a-ringing;with great presence of mind she telephoned down to the hall porter:"Don't let anybody go out! I have been robbed!" and she pressed hardupon the special button that set the great alarm bell clanging.Footsteps and voices resounded in the corridor: the Princess knew thathelp was coming and ran to open her door. The night watchman, and themanager of the third floor came running up and waiters appeared innumbers at the end of the corridor.

  "Stop him! Stop him!" the Princess shouted. "He has only just gone out:a man in a dinner jacket, with a great black beard!"

  * * * * *

  A lad came hurrying out of the lift.

  "Where are you going? What is the matter?" enquired the hall porter,whose lodge was at the far end of the hall, next to the courtyard of thehotel, the door into which he had just closed.

  "I don't know," he answered. "There is a thief in the hotel! They arecalling from the other side."

  "It's not in your set, then? By the way, what floor are you on?"

  "The second."

  "All right," said the hall porter, "it's the third floor that they arecalling from. Go up and see what is wrong."

  The lad turned on his heel, and disregarding the notice forbiddingservants to use the passenger lift, hurried back into it and upstairsagain. He was a stoutly built fellow, with a smooth face and red hair.On the third floor he stopped, immediately opposite Sonia Danidoff'ssuite. The Princess was standing at her door, taking no notice of thewatchman Muller's efforts to soothe her excitement, and mechanicallytwisting between her fingers the blank visiting card which her strangevisitor had left in place of her pocket-book and the hundred and twentythousand francs. There was no name whatever on the card.

  "Well," said Muller, to the red-headed lad, "where do you come from?"

  "I'm the new man on the second floor," the fellow answered. "The hallporter sent me up to find out what was the matter."

  "Matter!" said Muller. "Somebody has robbed the Princess. Here, sendsomeone for the police at once."

  "I'll run, sir," and as the lift, instead of being sent down, hadcarelessly been sent up to the top floor, the young fellow ran down thestaircase at full speed.

  Through the telephone, Muller was just ordering the hall porter to sendfor the police, when the second-floor servant rushed up and caught himby the arm, dragging him away from the instrument.

  "Open the door for the Lord's sake! I'm off to the police station," andthe hall porter made haste to facilitate his departure.

  * * * * *

  On the top floor cries of astonishment re-echoed. The servants had beenalarmed by the uproar and, surprised to see the lift stop and nobody getout of it, they opened the door and found a heap of clothing, a falsebeard, and a wig. Two housemaids and a valet gazed in amazement at theseextraordinary properties, and never thought of informing the manager, M.Louis. Meantime, however, that gentleman had hurried through the mazesof the hotel, and had just reached the third floor when he was stoppedby the Baronne Van den Rosen, one of the hotel's oldest patronesses.

  "M. Louis!" she exclaimed, bursting into sobs. "I have just been robbedof my diamond necklace. I left it in a jewel-case on my table beforegoing down to dinner. When I heard the noise just now, I got up andlooked through my jewel-case, and the necklace is not there."

  M. Louis was too dazed to reply. Muller ran up to him.

  "Princess Sonia Danidoff's pocket-book has been stolen," he announced;"but I have had the hotel doors shut and we shall be sure to catch thethief."

  The Princess came near to explain matters, but at that moment theservants came down from upstairs, bringing with them the make-uparticles which they had found in the lift. They laid these on theground without a word and M. Louis was staring at them when Muller had asudden inspiration.

  "M. Louis, what is the new man on the second floor like?"

  Just at that instant a servant appeared at the end of the corridor, amiddle-aged man with white whiskers and a bald head.

  "There he is, coming towards us," M. Louis replied. "His name isArnold."

  "Good God!" cried Muller; "and the red-headed fellow: the carroty chap?"M. Louis shook his head, not understanding, and Muller tore himself awayand rushed down to the hall porter. "Has he gone out? Has anyone goneout?"

  "No one," said the porter, "except, of course, the servant from thesecond fl
oor, whom you sent for the police."

  "The carroty chap?" Muller enquired.

  "Yes, the carroty chap."

  Princess Sonia Danidoff lay back in an easy chair, receiving the anxiousattentions of Nadine, her Circassian maid. M. Louis was holding salts toher nostrils. The Princess still held in her hands the card left by themysterious stranger who had just robbed her so cleverly of a hundred andtwenty thousand francs. As she slowly came to herself the Princess gazedat the card as if fascinated, and this time her haggard eyes grew widewith astonishment. For upon the card, which hitherto had appearedimmaculately white, marks and letters were gradually becoming visible,and the Princess read:

  "Fan--to--mas!"