The Arsene Lupin MEGAPACK ®. Морис Леблан

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СКАЧАТЬ so shallow, so self-centred, and so lacking in sympathy. He took his revenge by teasing her about the wedding presents which were still flowing in. Her father’s business friends were still striving to outdo one another in the costliness of the jewelry they were giving her. The great houses of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were still refraining firmly from anything that savoured of extravagance or ostentation. While he was with her the eleventh paper-knife came—from his mother’s friend, the Duchess of Veauleglise. The Duke was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of it, and his delighted comments drove Germaine to the last extremity of exasperation. The result was that she begged him, with petulant asperity, to get out of her sight.

      He complied with her request, almost with alacrity, and returned to M. Formery and Guerchard. He found them at a standstill, waiting for reports from the detectives who were hunting outside the house for information about the movements of the burglars with the stolen booty, and apparently finding none. The police were also hunting for the stolen motor-cars, not only in Paris and its environs, but also all along the road between Paris and Charmerace.

      At about five o’clock Guerchard grew tired of the inaction, and went out himself to assist his subordinates, leaving M. Formery in charge of the house itself. He promised to be back by half-past seven, to let the examining magistrate, who had an engagement for the evening, get away. The Duke spent his time between the drawing-room, where M. Formery entertained him with anecdotes of his professional skill, and the boudoir, where Germaine was entertaining envious young friends who came to see her wedding presents. The friends of Germaine were always a little ill at ease in the society of the Duke, belonging as they did to that wealthy middle class which has made France what she is. His indifference to the doings of the old friends of his family saddened them; and they were unable to understand his airy and persistent trifling. It seemed to them a discord in the cosmic tune.

      The afternoon wore away, and at half-past seven Guerchard had not returned. M. Formery waited for him, fuming, for ten minutes, then left the house in charge of the inspector, and went off to his engagement. M. Gournay-Martin was entertaining two financiers and their wives, two of their daughters, and two friends of the Duke, the Baron de Vernan and the Comte de Vauvineuse, at dinner that night. Thanks to the Duke, the party was of a liveliness to which the gorgeous dining-room had been very little used since it had been so fortunate as to become the property of M. Gournay-Martin.

      The millionaire had been looking forward to an evening of luxurious woe, deploring the loss of his treasures—giving their prices—to his sympathetic friends. The Duke had other views; and they prevailed. After dinner the guests went to the smoking-room, since the drawing-rooms were in possession of Guerchard. Soon after ten the Duke slipped away from them, and went to the detective. Guerchard’s was not a face at any time full of expression, and all that the Duke saw on it was a subdued dulness.

      “Well, M. Guerchard,” he said cheerfully, “what luck? Have any of your men come across any traces of the passage of the burglars with their booty?”

      “No, your Grace; so far, all the luck has been with the burglars. For all that any one seems to have seen them, they might have vanished into the bowels of the earth through the floor of the cellars in the empty house next door. That means that they were very quick loading whatever vehicle they used with their plunder. I should think, myself, that they first carried everything from this house down into the hall of the house next door; and then, of course, they could be very quick getting them from hall to their van, or whatever it was. But still, some one saw that van—saw it drive up to the house, or waiting at the house, or driving away from it.”

      “Is M. Formery coming back?” said the Duke.

      “Not tonight,” said Guerchard. “The affair is in my hands now; and I have my own men on it—men of some intelligence, or, at any rate, men who know my ways, and how I want things done.”

      “It must be a relief,” said the Duke.

      “Oh, no, I’m used to M. Formery—to all the examining magistrates in Paris, and in most of the big provincial towns. They do not really hamper me; and often I get an idea from them; for some of them are men of real intelligence.”

      “And others are not: I understand,” said the Duke.

      The door opened and Bonavent, the detective, came in.

      “The housekeeper’s awake, M. Guerchard,” he said.

      “Good, bring her down here,” said Guerchard.

      “Perhaps you’d like me to go,” said the Duke.

      “Oh, no,” said Guerchard. “If it would interest you to hear me question her, please stay.”

      Bonavent left the room. The Duke sat down in an easy chair, and Guerchard stood before the fireplace.

      “M. Formery told me, when you were out this afternoon, that he believed this housekeeper to be quite innocent,” said the Duke idly.

      “There is certainly one innocent in this affair,” said Guerchard, grinning.

      “Who is that?” said the Duke.

      “The examining magistrate,” said Guerchard.

      The door opened, and Bonavent brought Victoire in. She was a big, middle-aged woman, with a pleasant, cheerful, ruddy face, black-haired, with sparkling brown eyes, which did not seem to have been at all dimmed by her long, drugged sleep. She looked like a well-to-do farmer’s wife, a buxom, good-natured, managing woman.

      As soon as she came into the room, she said quickly:

      “I wish, Mr. Inspector, your man would have given me time to put on a decent dress. I must have been sleeping in this one ever since those rascals tied me up and put that smelly handkerchief over my face. I never saw such a nasty-looking crew as they were in my life.”

      “How many were there, Madame Victoire?” said Guerchard.

      “Dozens! The house was just swarming with them. I heard the noise; I came downstairs; and on the landing outside the door here, one of them jumped on me from behind and nearly choked me—to prevent me from screaming, I suppose.”

      “And they were a nasty-looking crew, were they?” said Guerchard. “Did you see their faces?”

      “No, I wish I had! I should know them again if I had; but they were all masked,” said Victoire.

      “Sit down, Madame Victoire. There’s no need to tire you,” said Guerchard. And she sat down on a chair facing him.

      “Let’s see, you sleep in one of the top rooms, Madame Victoire. It has a dormer window, set in the roof, hasn’t it?” said Guerchard, in the same polite, pleasant voice.

      “Yes; yes. But what has that got to do with it?” said Victoire.

      “Please answer my questions,” said Guerchard sharply. “You went to sleep in your room. Did you hear any noise on the roof?”

      “On the roof? How should I hear it on the roof? There wouldn’t be any noise on the roof,” said Victoire.

      “You heard nothing on the roof?” said Guerchard.

      “No; the noise I heard was down here,” said Victoire.

      “Yes, and you came down to see what was making it. And you were seized from behind on the landing, and brought in here,” СКАЧАТЬ