The Crystal Stopper Page 3

  CHAPTER III. THE HOME LIFE OF ALEXIS DAUBRECQ

  When Daubrecq the deputy came in from lunch on the day after the policehad searched his house he was stopped by Clemence, his portress, whotold him that she had found a cook who could be thoroughly relied on.

  The cook arrived a few minutes later and produced first-rate characters,signed by people with whom it was easy to take up her references. Shewas a very active woman, although of a certain age, and agreed to do thework of the house by herself, without the help of a man-servant, thisbeing a condition upon which Daubrecq insisted.

  Her last place was with a member of the Chamber of Deputies, ComteSaulevat, to whom Daubrecq at once telephoned. The count's steward gaveher a perfect character, and she was engaged.

  As soon as she had fetched her trunk, she set to work and cleaned andscrubbed until it was time to cook the dinner.

  Daubrecq dined and went out.

  At eleven o'clock, after the portress had gone to bed, the cookcautiously opened the garden-gate. A man came up.

  "Is that you?" she asked.

  "Yes, it's I, Lupin."

  She took him to her bedroom on the third floor, overlooking the garden,and at once burst into lamentations:

  "More of your tricks and nothing but tricks! Why can't you leave mealone, instead of sending me to do your dirty work?"

  "How can I help it, you dear old Victoire? [*] When I want a person ofrespectable appearance and incorruptible morals, I think of you. Youought to be flattered."

  * See The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, and later volumes of the Lupin series.

  "That's all you care about me!" she cried. "You run me into danger oncemore; and you think it's funny!"

  "What are you risking?"

  "How do you mean, what am I risking? All my characters are false."

  "Characters are always false."

  "And suppose M. Daubrecq finds out? Suppose he makes inquiries?"

  "He has made inquiries."

  "Eh? What's that?"

  "He has telephoned to the steward of Comte Saulevat, in whose serviceyou say that you have had the honour of being."

  "There, you see, I'm done for!"

  "The count's steward could not say enough in your praise."

  "He does not know me."

  "But I know him. I got him his situation with Comte Saulevat. So youunderstand..."

  Victoire seemed to calm down a little:

  "Well," she said, "God's will be done... or rather yours. And what doyou expect me to do in all this?"

  "First, to put me up. You were my wet-nurse once. You can very well giveme half your room now. I'll sleep in the armchair."

  "And next?"

  "Next? To supply me with such food as I want."

  "And next?"

  "Next? To undertake, with me and under my direction, a regular series ofsearches with a view..."

  "To what?"

  "To discovering the precious object of which I spoke to you."

  "What's that?"

  "A crystal stopper."

  "A crystal stopper... Saints above! A nice business! And, if we don'tfind your confounded stopper, what then?"

  Lupin took her gently by the arm and, in a serious voice:

  "If we don't find it, Gilbert, young Gilbert whom you know and love,will stand every chance of losing his head; and so will Vaucheray."

  "Vaucheray I don't mind... a dirty rascal like him! But Gilbert..."

  "Have you seen the papers this evening? Things are looking worse thanever. Vaucheray, as might be expected, accuses Gilbert of stabbing thevalet; and it so happens that the knife which Vaucheray used belongedto Gilbert. That came out this morning. Whereupon Gilbert, who isintelligent in his way, but easily frightened, blithered and launchedforth into stories and lies which will end in his undoing. That's howthe matter stands. Will you help me?"

  Thenceforth, for several days, Lupin moulded his existence uponDaubrecq's, beginning his investigations the moment the deputy left thehouse. He pursued them methodically, dividing each room into sectionswhich he did not abandon until he had been through the tiniest nooks andcorners and, so to speak, exhausted every possible device.

  Victoire searched also. And nothing was forgotten. Table-legs,chair-rungs, floor-boards, mouldings, mirror- and picture-frames,clocks, plinths, curtain-borders, telephone-holders and electricfittings: everything that an ingenious imagination could have selectedas a hiding-place was overhauled.

  And they also watched the deputy's least actions, his most unconsciousmovements, the expression of his face, the books which he read and theletters which he wrote.

  It was easy enough. He seemed to live his life in the light of day. Nodoor was ever shut. He received no visits. And his existence worked withmechanical regularity. He went to the Chamber in the afternoon, to theclub in the evening.

  "Still," said Lupin, "there must be something that's not orthodox behindall this."

  "There's nothing of the sort," moaned Victoire. "You're wasting yourtime and we shall be bowled out."

  The presence of the detectives and their habit of walking up and downoutside the windows drove her mad. She refused to admit that they werethere for any other purpose than to trap her, Victoire. And, each timethat she went shopping, she was quite surprised that one of those mendid not lay his hand upon her shoulder.

  One day she returned all upset. Her basket of provisions was shaking onher arm.

  "What's the matter, my dear Victoire?" said Lupin. "You're lookinggreen."

  "Green? I dare say I do. So would you look green..."

  She had to sit down and it was only after making repeated efforts thatshe succeeded in stuttering:

  "A man... a man spoke to me... at the fruiterer's."

  "By jingo! Did he want you to run away with him?"

  "No, he gave me a letter..."

  "Then what are you complaining about? It was a love-letter, of course!"

  "No. 'It's for your governor,' said he. 'My governor?' I said. 'Yes,' hesaid, 'for the gentleman who's staying in your room.'"

  "What's that?"

  This time, Lupin had started:

  "Give it here," he said, snatching the letter from her. The envelopebore no address. But there was another, inside it, on which he read:

  "Monsieur Arsene Lupin, c/o Victoire."

  "The devil!" he said. "This is a bit thick!" He tore open the secondenvelope. It contained a sheet of paper with the following words,written in large capitals:

  "Everything you are doing is useless and dangerous... Give it up."

  Victoire uttered one moan and fainted. As for Lupin, he felt himselfblush up to his eyes, as though he had been grossly insulted. Heexperienced all the humiliation which a duellist would undergo if heheard the most secret advice which he had received from his secondsrepeated aloud by a mocking adversary.

  However, he held his tongue. Victoire went back to her work. As for him,he remained in his room all day, thinking.

  That night he did not sleep.

  And he kept saying to himself:

  "What is the good of thinking? I am up against one of those problemswhich are not solved by any amount of thought. It is certain that I amnot alone in the matter and that, between Daubrecq and the police, thereis, in addition to the third thief that I am, a fourth thief who isworking on his own account, who knows me and who reads my game clearly.But who is this fourth thief? And am I mistaken, by any chance? And...oh, rot!... Let's get to sleep!..."

  But he could not sleep; and a good part of the night went in this way.

  At four o'clock in the morning he seemed to hear a noise in the house.He jumped up quickly and, from the top of the staircase, saw Daubrecq godown the first flight and turn toward the garden.

  A minute later, after opening the gate, the deputy returned with a manwhose head was buried in an enormous fur collar and showed him into hisstudy.

  Lupin had taken his precautions in view of
any such contingency. As thewindows of the study and those of his bedroom, both of which were at theback of the house, overlooked the garden, he fastened a rope-ladder tohis balcony, unrolled it softly and let himself down by it until it waslevel with the top of the study windows.

  These windows were closed by shutters; but, as they were bowed, thereremained a semi-circular space at the top; and Lupin, though he couldnot hear, was able to see all that went on inside.

  He then realized that the person whom he had taken for a man was awoman: a woman who was still young, though her dark hair was mingledwith gray; a tall woman, elegantly but quite unobtrusively dressed,whose handsome features bore the expression of weariness and melancholywhich long suffering gives.

  "Where the deuce have I seen her before?" Lupin asked himself. "For Icertainly know that face, that look, that expression."

  She stood leaning against the table, listening impassively to Daubrecq,who was also standing and who was talking very excitedly. He had hisback turned to Lupin; but Lupin, leaning forward, caught sight of aglass in which the deputy's image was reflected. And he was startled tosee the strange look in his eyes, the air of fierce and brutal desirewith which Daubrecq was staring at his visitor.

  It seemed to embarrass her too, for she sat down with lowered lids. ThenDaubrecq leant over her and it appeared as though he were ready to flinghis long arms, with their huge hands, around her. And, suddenly, Lupinperceived great tears rolling down the woman's sad face.

  Whether or not it was the sight of those tears that made Daubrecq losehis head, with a brusque movement he clutched the woman and drew herto him. She repelled him, with a violence full of hatred. And, after abrief struggle, during which Lupin caught a glimpse of the man's bestialand contorted features, the two of them stood face to face, railing ateach other like mortal enemies.

  Then they stopped. Daubrecq sat down. There was mischief in his face,and sarcasm as well. And he began to talk again, with sharp taps on thetable, as though he were dictating terms.

  She no longer stirred. She sat haughtily in her chair and toweredover him, absent-minded, with roaming eyes. Lupin, captivated by thatpowerful and sorrowful countenance, continued to watch her; and he wasvainly seeking to remember of what or of whom she reminded him, whenhe noticed that she had turned her head slightly and that she wasimperceptibly moving her arm.

  And her arm strayed farther and farther and her hand crept alongthe table and Lupin saw that, at the end of the table, there stooda water-bottle with a gold-topped stopper. The hand reached thewater-bottle, felt it, rose gently and seized the stopper. A quickmovement of the head, a glance, and the stopper was put back in itsplace. Obviously, it was not what the woman hoped to find.

  "Dash it!" said Lupin. "She's after the crystal stopper too! The matteris becoming more complicated daily; there's no doubt about it."

  But, on renewing his observation of the visitor, he was astoundedto note the sudden and unexpected expression of her countenance, aterrible, implacable, ferocious expression. And he saw that her handwas continuing its stealthy progress round the table and that, with anuninterrupted and crafty sliding movement, it was pushing back booksand, slowly and surely, approaching a dagger whose blade gleamed amongthe scattered papers.

  It gripped the handle.

  Daubrecq went on talking. Behind his back, the hand rose steadily,little by little; and Lupin saw the woman's desperate and furious eyesfixed upon the spot in the neck where she intended to plant the knife:

  "You're doing a very silly thing, fair lady," thought Lupin.

  And he already began to turn over in his mind the best means of escapingand of taking Victoire with him.

  She hesitated, however, with uplifted arm. But it was only a momentaryweakness. She clenched her teeth. Her whole face, contracted withhatred, became yet further convulsed. And she made the dread movement.

  At the same instant Daubrecq crouched and, springing from his seat,turned and seized the woman's frail wrist in mid-air.

  Oddly enough, he addressed no reproach to her, as though the deed whichshe had attempted surprised him no more than any ordinary, very naturaland simple act. He shrugged his shoulders, like a man accustomed to thatsort of danger, and strode up and down in silence.

  She had dropped the weapon and was now crying, holding her head betweenher hands, with sobs that shook her whole frame.

  He next came up to her and said a few words, once more tapping the tableas he spoke.

  She made a sign in the negative and, when he insisted, she, in her turn,stamped her foot on the floor and exclaimed, loud enough for Lupin tohear:

  "Never!... Never!..."

  Thereupon, without another word, Daubrecq fetched the fur cloak whichshe had brought with her and hung it over the woman's shoulders, whileshe shrouded her face in a lace wrap.

  And he showed her out.

  Two minutes later, the garden-gate was locked again. "Pity I can't runafter that strange person," thought Lupin, "and have a chat with herabout the Daubrecq bird. Seems to me that we two could do a good strokeof business together."

  In any case, there was one point to be cleared up: Daubrecq the deputy,whose life was so orderly, so apparently respectable, was in the habitof receiving visits at night, when his house was no longer watched bythe police.

  He sent Victoire to arrange with two members of his gang to keep watchfor several days. And he himself remained awake next night.

  As on the previous morning, he heard a noise at four o'clock. As on theprevious morning, the deputy let some one in.

  Lupin ran down his ladder and, when he came to the free space above theshutters, saw a man crawling at Daubrecq's feet, flinging his arms roundDaubrecq's knees in frenzied despair and weeping, weeping convulsively.

  Daubrecq, laughing, pushed him away repeatedly, but the man clung tohim. He behaved almost like one out of his mind and, at last, in agenuine fit of madness, half rose to his feet, took the deputy by thethroat and flung him back in a chair. Daubrecq struggled, powerless atfirst, while his veins swelled in his temples. But soon, with a strengthfar beyond the ordinary, he regained the mastery and deprived hisadversary of all power of movement. Then, holding him with one hand,with the other he gave him two great smacks in the face.

  The man got up, slowly. He was livid and could hardly stand on his legs.He waited for a moment, as though to recover his self-possession. Then,with a terrifying calmness, he drew a revolver from his pocket andlevelled it at Daubrecq.

  Daubrecq did not flinch. He even smiled, with a defiant air and withoutdisplaying more excitement than if he had been aimed at with a toypistol.

  The man stood for perhaps fifteen or twenty seconds, facing hisenemy, with outstretched arm. Then, with the same deliberate slowness,revealing a self-control which was all the more impressive because itfollowed upon a fit of extreme excitement, he put up his revolver and,from another pocket, produced his note-case.

  Daubrecq took a step forward.

  The man opened the pocketbook. A sheaf of banknotes appeared in sight.

  Daubrecq seized and counted them. They were thousand-franc notes, andthere were thirty of them.

  The man looked on, without a movement of revolt, without a protest. Heobviously understood the futility of words. Daubrecq was one of thosewho do not relent. Why should his visitor waste time in beseechinghim or even in revenging himself upon him by uttering vain threatsand insults? He had no hope of striking that unassailable enemy. EvenDaubrecq's death would not deliver him from Daubrecq.

  He took his hat and went away.

  At eleven o'clock in the morning Victoire, on returning from hershopping, handed Lupin a note from his accomplices.

  He opened it and read:

  "The man who came to see Daubrecq last night is Langeroux the deputy,leader of the independent left. A poor man, with a large family."

  "Come," said Lupin, "Daubrecq is nothing more nor less than ablackmailer; but, by Jupiter, he has jolly effective ways of going towork!"

 
Events tended to confirm Lupin's supposition. Three days later he sawanother visitor hand Daubrecq an important sum of money. And, two daysafter that, one came and left a pearl necklace behind him.

  The first was called Dachaumont, a senator and ex-cabinet-minister. Thesecond was the Marquis d'Albufex, a Bonapartist deputy, formerly chiefpolitical agent in France of Prince Napoleon.

  The scene, in each of these cases, was very similar to Langerouxthe deputy's interview, a violent tragic scene, ending in Daubrecq'svictory.

  "And so on and so forth," thought Lupin, when he received theseparticulars. "I have been present at four visits. I shall know no moreif there are ten, or twenty, or thirty... It is enough for me to learnthe names of the visitors from my friends on sentry-go outside. ShallI go and call on them?... What for? They have no reason to confide inme... On the other hand, am I to stay on here, delayed by investigationswhich lead to nothing and which Victoire can continue just as wellwithout me?"

  He was very much perplexed. The news of the inquiry into the caseof Gilbert and Vaucheray was becoming worse and worse, the days wereslipping by, and not an hour passed without his asking himself, inanguish, whether all his efforts--granting that he succeeded--wouldnot end in farcical results, absolutely foreign to the aim which he waspursuing.

  For, after all, supposing that he did fathom Daubrecq's underhanddealings, would that give him the means of rescuing Gilbert andVaucheray?

  That day an incident occurred which put an end to his indecision. Afterlunch Victoire heard snatches of a conversation which Daubrecq held withsome one on the telephone. Lupin gathered, from what Victoire reported,that the deputy had an appointment with a lady for half-past eight andthat he was going to take her to a theatre:

  "I shall get a pit-tier box, like the one we had six weeks ago,"Daubrecq had said. And he added, with a laugh, "I hope that I shall nothave the burglars in during that time."

  There was not a doubt in Lupin's mind. Daubrecq was about to spend hisevening in the same manner in which he had spent the evening six weeksago, while they were breaking into his villa at Enghien. To know theperson whom he was to meet and perhaps thus to discover how Gilbert andVaucheray had learnt that Daubrecq would be away from eight o'clock inthe evening until one o'clock in the morning: these were matters of theutmost importance.

  Lupin left the house in the afternoon, with Victoire's assistance. Heknew through her that Daubrecq was coming home for dinner earlier thanusual.

  He went to his flat in the Rue Chateaubriand, telephoned for three ofhis friends, dressed and made himself up in his favourite character of aRussian prince, with fair hair and moustache and short-cut whiskers.

  The accomplices arrived in a motor-car.

  At that moment, Achille, his man, brought him a telegram, addressed toM. Michel Beaumont, Rue Chateaubriand, which ran:

  "Do not come to theatre this evening. Danger of your intervention spoiling everything."

  There was a flower-vase on the chimney-piece beside him. Lupin took itand smashed it to pieces.

  "That's it, that's it," he snarled. "They are playing with me as Iusually play with others. Same behaviour. Same tricks. Only there's thisdifference..."

  What difference? He hardly knew. The truth was that he too was baffledand disconcerted to the inmost recesses of his being and that he wascontinuing to act only from obstinacy, from a sense of duty, so tospeak, and without putting his ordinary good humour and high spiritsinto the work.

  "Come along," he said to his accomplices.

  By his instructions, the chauffeur set them down near the SquareLamartine, but kept the motor going. Lupin foresaw that Daubrecq, inorder to escape the detectives watching the house, would jump into thefirst taxi; and he did not intend to be outdistanced.

  He had not allowed for Daubrecq's cleverness.

  At half-past seven both leaves of the garden-gate were flung open, abright light flashed and a motor-cycle darted across the road, skirtedthe square, turned in front of the motor-car and shot away toward theBois at a speed so great that they would have been mad to go in pursuitof it.

  "Good-bye, Daisy!" said Lupin, trying to jest, but really overcome withrage.

  He eyed his accomplices in the hope that one of them would venture togive a mocking smile. How pleased he would have been to vent his nerveson them!

  "Let's go home," he said to his companions.

  He gave them some dinner; then he smoked a cigar and they set off againin the car and went the round of the theatres, beginning with thosewhich were giving light operas and musical comedies, for which hepresumed that Daubrecq and his lady would have a preference. He took astall, inspected the lower-tier boxes and went away again.

  He next drove to the more serious theatres: the Renaissance, theGymnase.

  At last, at ten o'clock in the evening, he saw a pit-tier box at theVaudeville almost entirely protected from inspection by its two screens;and, on tipping the boxkeeper, was told that it contained a short,stout, elderly gentleman and a lady who was wearing a thick lace veil.

  The next box was free. He took it, went back to his friends to give themtheir instructions and sat down near the couple.

  During the entr'acte, when the lights went up, he perceived Daubrecq'sprofile. The lady remained at the back of the box, invisible. The twowere speaking in a low voice; and, when the curtain rose again, theywent on speaking, but in such a way that Lupin could not distinguish aword.

  Ten minutes passed. Some one tapped at their door. It was one of the menfrom the box-office.

  "Are you M. le Depute Daubrecq, sir?" he asked.

  "Yes," said Daubrecq, in a voice of surprise. "But how do you know myname?"

  "There's a gentleman asking for you on the telephone. He told me to goto Box 22."

  "But who is it?"

  "M. le Marquis d'Albufex."

  "Eh?"

  "What am I to say, sir?"

  "I'm coming... I'm coming..."

  Daubrecq rose hurriedly from his seat and followed the clerk to thebox-office.

  He was not yet out of sight when Lupin sprang from his box, worked thelock of the next door and sat down beside the lady.

  She gave a stifled cry.

  "Hush!" he said. "I have to speak to you. It is most important."

  "Ah!" she said, between her teeth. "Arsene Lupin!" He was dumbfounded.For a moment he sat quiet, open-mouthed. The woman knew him! And notonly did she know him, but she had recognized him through his disguise!Accustomed though he was to the most extraordinary and unusual events,this disconcerted him.

  He did not even dream of protesting and stammered:

  "So you know?... So you know?..."

  He snatched at the lady's veil and pulled it aside before she had timeto defend herself:

  "What!" he muttered, with increased amazement. "Is it possible?"

  It was the woman whom he had seen at Daubrecq's a few days earlier, thewoman who had raised her dagger against Daubrecq and who had intended tostab him with all the strength of her hatred.

  It was her turn to be taken aback:

  "What! Have you seen me before?..."

  "Yes, the other night, at his house... I saw what you tried to do..."

  She made a movement to escape. He held her back and, speaking with greateagerness:

  "I must know who you are," he said. "That was why I had Daubrecqtelephoned for."

  She looked aghast:

  "Do you mean to say it was not the Marquis d'Albufex?"

  "No, it was one of my assistants."

  "Then Daubrecq will come back?..."

  "Yes, but we have time... Listen to me... We must meet again... He isyour enemy... I will save you from him..."

  "Why should you? What is your object?"

  "Do not distrust me... it is quite certain that our interests areidentical... Where can I see you? To-morrow, surely? At what time? Andwhere?"

  "Well..."

  She looked at him with obvious hesitation, not knowing what to do, onthe point of speaking
and yet full of uneasiness and doubt.

  He pressed her:

  "Oh, I entreat you... answer me just one word... and at once... It wouldbe a pity for him to find me here... I entreat you..."

  She answered sharply:

  "My name doesn't matter... We will see each other first and you shallexplain to me... Yes, we will meet... Listen, to-morrow, at threeo'clock, at the corner of the Boulevard..."

  At that exact moment, the door of the box opened, so to speak, with abang, and Daubrecq appeared.

  "Rats!" Lupin mumbled, under his breath, furious at being caught beforeobtaining what he wanted.

  Daubrecq gave a chuckle:

  "So that's it... I thought something was up... Ah, the telephone-trick:a little out of date, sir! I had not gone half-way when I turned back."

  He pushed Lupin to the front of the box and, sitting down beside thelady, said:

  "And, now my lord, who are we? A servant at the police-office, probably?There's a professional look about that mug of yours."

  He stared hard at Lupin, who did not move a muscle, and tried to puta name to the face, but failed to recognize the man whom he had calledPolonius.

  Lupin, without taking his eyes from Daubrecq either, reflected. He wouldnot for anything in the world have thrown up the game at that point orneglected this favourable opportunity of coming to an understanding withhis mortal enemy.

  The woman sat in her corner, motionless, and watched them both.

  Lupin said:

  "Let us go outside, sir. That will make our interview easier."

  "No, my lord, here," grinned the deputy. "It will take place here,presently, during the entr'acte. Then we shall not be disturbinganybody."

  "But..."

  "Save your breath, my man; you sha'n't budge."

  And he took Lupin by the coat-collar, with the obvious intention of notletting go of him before the interval.

  A rash move! Was it likely that Lupin would consent to remain in such anattitude, especially before a woman, a woman to whom he had offered hisalliance, a woman--and he now thought of it for the first time--who wasdistinctly good-looking and whose grave beauty attracted him. His wholepride as a man rose at the thought.

  However, he said nothing. He accepted the heavy weight of the hand onhis shoulder and even sat bent in two, as though beaten, powerless,almost frightened.

  "Eh, clever!" said the deputy, scoffingly. "We don't seem to beswaggering quite so much."

  The stage was full of actors who were arguing and making a noise.

  Daubrecq had loosened his grasp slightly and Lupin felt that the momenthad come. With the edge of his hand, he gave him a violent blow in thehollow of the arm, as he might have done with a hatchet.

  The pain took Daubrecq off his guard. Lupin now released himselfentirely and sprang at the other to clutch him by the throat. ButDaubrecq had at once put himself on the defensive and stepped back andtheir four hands seized one another.

  They gripped with superhuman energy, the whole force of the twoadversaries concentrating in those hands. Daubrecq's were of monstroussize; and Lupin, caught in that iron vise, felt as though he werefighting not with a man, but with some terrible beast, a huge gorilla.

  They held each other against the door, bending low, like a pair ofwrestlers groping and trying to lay hold of each other. Their bonescreaked. Whichever gave way first was bound to be caught by the throatand strangled. And all this happened amid a sudden silence, for theactors on the stage were now listening to one of their number, who wasspeaking in a low voice.

  The woman stood back flat against the partition, looking at them interror. Had she taken sides with either of them, with a single movement,the victory would at once have been decided in that one's favour. Butwhich of them should she assist? What could Lupin represent in her eyes?A friend? An enemy?

  She briskly made for the front of the box, forced back the screen and,leaning forward, seemed to give a signal. Then she returned and tried toslip to the door.

  Lupin, as though wishing to help her, said:

  "Why don't you move the chair?"

  He was speaking of a heavy chair which had fallen down between him andDaubrecq and across which they were struggling.

  The woman stooped and pulled away the chair. That was what Lupin waswaiting for. Once rid of the obstacle, he caught Daubrecq a smart kickon the shin with the tip of his patent-leather boot. The result was thesame as with the blow which he had given him on the arm. The paincaused a second's apprehension and distraction, of which he at once tookadvantage to beat down Daubrecq's outstretched hands and to dig his tenfingers into his adversary's throat and neck.

  Daubrecq struggled. Daubrecq tried to pull away the hands that werethrottling him; but he was beginning to choke and felt his strengthdecreasing.

  "Aha, you old monkey!" growled Lupin, forcing him to the floor. "Whydon't you shout for help? How frightened you must be of a scandal!"

  At the sound of the fall there came a knocking at the partition, on theother side.

  "Knock away, knock away," said Lupin, under his breath. "The play is onthe stage. This is my business and, until I've mastered this gorilla..."

  It did not take him long. The deputy was choking. Lupin stunned him witha blow on the jaw; and all that remained for him to do was to take thewoman away and make his escape with her before the alarm was given.

  But, when he turned round, he saw that the woman was gone.

  She could not be far. Darting from the box, he set off at a run,regardless of the programme-sellers and check-takers.

  On reaching the entrance-lobby, he saw her through an open door,crossing the pavement of the Chaussee d'Antin.

  She was stepping into a motor-car when he came up with her.

  The door closed behind her.

  He seized the handle and tried to pull at it.

  But a man jumped up inside and sent his fist flying into Lupin'sface, with less skill but no less force than Lupin had sent his intoDaubrecq's face.

  Stunned though he was by the blow, he nevertheless had ample time torecognize the man, in a sudden, startled vision, and also to recognize,under his chauffeur's disguise, the man who was driving the car. It wasthe Growler and the Masher, the two men in charge of the boats on theEnghien night, two friends of Gilbert and Vaucheray: in short, two ofLupin's own accomplices.

  When he reached his rooms in the Rue Chateaubriand, Lupin, after washingthe blood from his face, sat for over an hour in a chair, as thoughoverwhelmed. For the first time in his life he was experiencing the painof treachery. For the first time his comrades in the fight were turningagainst their chief.

  Mechanically, to divert his thoughts, he turned to his correspondenceand tore the wrapper from an evening paper. Among the late news he foundthe following paragraphs:

  "THE VILLA MARIE-THERESE CASE"

  "The real identity of Vaucheray, one of the alleged murderers of Leonard the valet, has at last been ascertained. He is a miscreant of the worst type, a hardened criminal who has already twice been sentenced for murder, in default, under another name.

  "No doubt, the police will end by also discovering the real name of his accomplice, Gilbert. In any event, the examining-magistrate is determined to commit the prisoners for trial as soon as possible.

  "The public will have no reason to complain of the delays of the law."

  In between other newspapers and prospectuses lay a letter.

  Lupin jumped when he saw it. It was addressed:

  "Monsieur de Beaumont, Michel."

  "Oh," he gasped, "a letter from Gilbert!"

  It contained these few words:

  "Help, governor!... I am frightened. I am frightened..."

  Once again, Lupin spent a night alternating between sleeplessness andnightmares. Once again, he was tormented by atrocious and terrifyingvisions.