CHAPTER XVI
THE THEFT OF THE DIAMOND
Queen Hedwige had had a serious and legitimate reason for bringing herreception to an abrupt conclusion. A Court ball for the highfunctionaries and dignities of the Kingdom was to take place thatevening.
Furthermore, the Queen was very much exercised over the rumor that theGrand Duchess Alexandra was to be present. This woman, still young andvery beautiful, played an important role in the small world of thePalace. It was said by the gossips that she accepted the attentions ofPrince Gudulfin, in the hope that some day she might share the throne ofHesse-Weimar with him. For many years she had been a great traveler butin recent times she had spent more and more of her time in Glotzbourg,where she continually met the Prince.
* * * * *
While Juve had experienced no difficulty in being present at the Queen'saudience, he found that even Mme. Heberlauf's influence was notsufficient to procure him an invitation to the ball. As a matter offact, he had no particular wish to appear in the quality of a guest thatevening. He had other plans.
* * * * *
At ten o'clock a long line of carriages and automobiles began to arrivein the gardens of the Palace. Innumerable electric lights shone outalong the drive-way and from the windows. A few persons had managed toslip past the guards and had stationed themselves near the awning at themain entrance to watch the arrival of the guests. Beneath their furcloaks, the women wore their very finest gowns and their richestjewelry.
The hall of the chancellory had been transformed into a cloakroom andthere the crowd was thickest. In contrast to the brilliantly illuminatedleft wing of the chateau, the octagonal tower showed dark and silent.Hiding behind pillars, keeping close to the walls, a man was making hisway slowly toward that tower.
The man was Juve.
From behind a big tree he stood and watched the sky, rubbing his handswith satisfaction.
"This is a night after my own heart," he murmured, "overcast and dark. Ishould have been very embarrassed had the moon come out."
He felt his pockets.
"Everything I need. My electric lamp and a good, strong, silk ladder."
Then, surveying the tower, he soliloquized:
"A fine monument! Solid and strong. They don't build them like thatnowadays."
Juve took a few steps, bent his knees and stretched his arms, tested thesuppleness of his body.
"Ah, in spite of my forty-odd years, I'm still pretty fit for ... thework I have to do."
* * * * *
By the aid of the lightning rod, the gutters and the inequalities in thestones, the detective was enabled to climb without much difficulty tothe first floor.
There he paused to take breath and to examine the shutters of a window.
"Can't get in that way," he muttered, "they're bolted inside. I'll haveto climb higher."
The same condition met him on the second floor, but when he had finallyreached the roof, he espied a large chimney which promised a method ofingress to the apartment below. The descent was anything but easy, andJuve, in spite of his great strength and agility, was used up by thetime he had reached the bottom. His clothes were torn and he was coveredwith the greasy soot he had accumulated on his journey. By dint ofbrushing and scraping, he succeeded in cleaning off the worst of it,and then looked round to take his bearings.
He had landed in the large waiting-room which adjoined the royalapartments.
The distant sound of dance music came to his ears and the atmosphere ofthe place was cold and damp.
"He doesn't often come here, I'll bet," thought Juve.
A door led him directly into the King's bathroom, and Juve paused toadmire the famous bath of solid silver which the municipality hadpresented to the King upon one of his birthdays.
"I've a good mind to take a tub," he muttered. "Maybe I shall find HisMajesty locked in his bedroom, and I'm hardly a fit sight to appearbefore him."
The detective now felt some cause for anxiety.
There were two alternatives to consider. Either the King was absent, andin that case Juve's business would be to discover the hiding place ofthe diamond and clear up the question whether the King had taken it withhim, or, if he had been sequestered, to discover his prison.
Clutching the butt of his Browning revolver in his pocket, the detectiveopened the door to the King's bedroom and entered.
A thick carpet deadened the sound of his footsteps. After listening fora few moments he relit his pocket lamp and flashed it round the room.
In the centre stood an immense bed of oak designed in Renaissance style,the posts of which reached to the ceiling. Three steps led up to it.Juve noticed that it had not been disturbed. The sheets and pillows wereall in order. There was nothing, however, to indicate that the King hadbeen absent for any length of time.
Upon one point he was certain: The King was not concealed anywhere aboutthe room, and the more he thought of the Burgomaster's suspicion, theless he thought it plausible. But if the King had not been sequestered,it was quite possible that he might be purposely hiding after hisunfortunate adventure of the Rue de Monceau. Therefore, Juve decided topursue his search through the other rooms.
But first he began mechanically to tap the wood-work, looking behind thepictures for the hiding place of the famous diamond. In his time he hadseen so many secret drawers, double-seated chairs, and numerouscontrivances of a similar sort, that it would be a cunning hand thatcould baffle his perspicacity and experience.
He had just examined a chair when suddenly he stopped in his work andwaited, listening. The sound of footsteps some distance off struck hisear. Without a moment's hesitation he put out his light and dartedbehind the curtains. It was a good position to take up for he could seewithout being seen.
The footsteps drew near, the door opened and a light from an electriclantern similar to the one Juve had used, was thrown into the room.
The individual advanced to the bed, all unaware of Juve's presence.Stooping down, he began feeling the foot of one of the bedposts, whichat this point formed a bulge. In an instant the wood parted anddisclosed a hollow in which lay a jewel case. The jewel case containedthe famous red diamond.
Juve's heart began to thump as he watched the man open the case and takeout the diamond. Its facets reflected the light, multiplying the gleamsand bringing into relief the features of the robber.
Then it was that the detective uttered a great cry, a cry of agony, ofanger and of triumph. The man was wrapped in a great cloak, his facehidden by a black mask, but there was no mistaking his identity. It wasFantomas.
Juve's cry called forth another, ferocious and menacing, and then in amoment the room was plunged into darkness and the two men sprang at oneanother. Two revolver shots rang out. The dancers heard them in theballroom and stopped dancing. The musicians heard them and ceasedplaying.
At once a stampede ensued.
Two officers of the guard rushed to the door leading to the King'sapartments, and flung it wide open. One of them turned on the electriclight and, followed by the frightened guests, entered the King'sbedchamber.
At the foot of the bed, struggling in a long cloak, a man with his handsover his face lay moaning. By his side was a smoking revolver, and onthe ground the empty jewel case.
"Arrest him!" somebody cried.
In a moment a number of hands had seized and bound him. It was noticedthat his eyelids were fearfully swollen and the eyes bloodshot.
* * * * *
What had happened!
The struggle between Juve and the monster had scarcely lasted a second.
The detective had fired point blank at the black mask and as his fingerpressed the trigger he had felt the whistle of a bullet past his ear.
Then a door had opened slightly, letting in a thin shaft of light. Tohis amazement, Fantomas no longer stood before him, but an officer inthe uniform of the Queen's lance
rs.
Juve was not taken in by this quick change, and was on the point offiring again when suddenly his eyes were filled with a blinding powder,burning and blistering the pupils. He had been blinded by pepper.Instinctively he put his hands to his face, and in that moment he felthimself enveloped in the long cloak in which Fantomas had entangled him.Falling to the ground in agony he then heard the cry:
"Help! Help!"
By the sudden and growing noise, he realized that the crowd was drawingnear. When he had struggled to a sitting posture, he found himself aprisoner.
The sudden change from darkness to bright light increased the pain inhis eyes, but with a superhuman effort he was enabled to pick out thesuperb uniform of the false lancer. Pointing to him, he cried:
"Arrest him, why don't you arrest him!"
Brutally, he was told to keep quiet.
The noise of the theft spread rapidly and the greatest confusion reignedin the Palace. Many of the women fainted. Finally M. Heberlauf arrived.He appeared immensely important, and confided to a group his opinion ofthe affair, adding this restriction:
"At any rate, that is what my wife believes."
Mme. Heberlauf had, in fact, after an interview with one of theofficers, announced it as her opinion that the thief so providentiallyarrested was no other than the world-famous and unseizable Fantomas.
And then a queer thing happened. When the Grand Duchess Alexandra heardthis sinister name spoken, when she knew that Fantomas had beenarrested, she staggered as though struck to the heart and fell faintinginto the arms of her friends.
"Fantomas!" she murmured, "Fantomas arrested! Can it be possible?"
Juve was taken away tightly bound. He seemed indifferent to the clamorof the crowd and constantly looked from side to side as though searchingfor something or somebody. Suddenly, as he passed the group surroundingthe Grand Duchess Alexandra, he made a violent effort and dragged hiscaptors close enough to enable him to see the fainting woman's features.One look was enough, and then without further resistance he allowedhimself to be marched away. He had found out what he wanted to know; hehad recognized in the Grand Duchess the mistress of Fantomas, theaccomplice of his most dreadful crimes. He had seen Lady Beltham!