XXXIII
A SCANDAL IN THE CLOISTER
Slight sounds, scarcely audible, disturbed the peace of the cloister. Inthe absolute silence of the night, vague noises could be distinguished.Furtive steps, whisperings, doors opened or shut cautiously. Then theblinking light of a candle shone at a casement, two or three otherwindows were illuminated and the hubbub grew general. Voices were heard,frightened interjections, the stir increased in the long corridor onwhich cells opened. Generally the curtains of these cells werediscreetly drawn; now they were being pulled aside. Drowsy faces lookedout of the gloom; the excitement increased.
"Sister Marguerite! Sister Vincent! Sister Clotilde! What is it? What ishappening? Listen!"
The alarmed nuns gathered at the far end of the passage. The worthywomen, roused from their rest, had hastily arranged their coifs, andchastely wrapped themselves in their flowing robes. They turned theirfrightened faces toward the chapel.
"Burglars!" murmured the Sister who was treasurer of the convent,thinking of the cup of gold that the humble little sisterhood preservedas a relic with jealous care.
Another Sister, recently come from the creuse, from which she had beendriven by the laws, did not conceal her fears.
"More emissaries of the government! They are going to turn us out!"
The Senior, Sister Vincent, quivering with alarm, stammered:
"It is a revolution--I saw that in '70."
A heap of chairs under the vaulting suddenly toppled down. Panicstricken, the sisters crowded closed together, not daring to go to thechapel, which was joined to the passage by a little staircase.
"And the Mother Superior, what did she think of it all--what would shesay?"
They drew near the cell, a little apart from the others, occupied by thelady, who, on taking the headship of the "House," had brought with herprecious personal assistance and a good deal of money as well. SisterVincent, who had gone forward and was about to enter the littlechamber, drew back.
"Our Holy Mother," she informed the others, "is at her prayers."
At this very moment broken cries rang down the passage. Sister Frances,the janitress, who everyone believed was calmly slumbering in her lodge,suddenly appeared, her eyes wild, her garments in disarray.
The sisters gathered round her, but the helpless woman shrieked, quitebeside herself.
"Let me go! Let us flee! I have seen the devil! He is there! In thechurch! It is frightful!"
Mad with terror, the Sister explained in disjointed phrases what hadalarmed her. She had heard a noise and fancied it might be thegardener's dog shut by mistake in the chapel. Then behold! At the momentshe entered the choir the stained-glass window above the shrine of St.Clotilde, their patroness, suddenly gave way, and through the openingappeared a supernatural being who came toward her ejaculating words shecould not understand. Armed with a great cudgel, he struck right andleft, making a terrible uproar.
Thereupon the janitress made an effort to escape, but the demon barredher path, and in a sepulchral voice commanded her to go for the MotherSuperior and bid her come at once, if she did not want the worst ofevils to fall upon the sisterhood.
She had scarcely finished when an echoing crash was heard. The sisterssuppressed a cry, and as they turned, pale with dread, before them stoodtheir Mother Superior. With a sweeping gesture, she vaguely gave ablessing as if to endow them with courage, then turned to the janitress.
"My dear Sister Francoise, calm yourself! Be brave! God will not forsakeus! I intend to comply with the desire of the stranger. I will goalone--with God alone!" Lady Beltham made a mighty effort to disguisethe emotion she felt. Slowly she went down the steps and entered thesanctuary, where she halted in a state of terror.
The choir was lit up. The tapers were flaring on the high altar, and inthe middle of the chapel, wrapped in a large black cloak, his facehidden by a black mask, stood a man, mysterious and alarming.
"Lady Beltham!"
At the sound of this voice, Lady Beltham fancied she recognised herlover.
"What do you want? What are you doing? It is madness!"
"Nothing is madness in Fantomas!"
Lady Beltham pressed her hands to her heart, unable to speak.
The voice resumed: "Fantomas bids you leave here, Lady Beltham. In twohours you will go from this convent; a closed motor will be waiting foryou at the back of the garden, at the little gate. The vehicle will takeyou to a seaport, where you will board a vessel which the driver willindicate; when the voyage is over you will be in England: there you willreceive fresh orders to make for Canada."
Lady Beltham wrung her hands in despair.
"Why do you wish to force me to leave my dear companions?"
"Were you not ready to leave everything, Lady Beltham, to make a newlife for yourself with--him you love?"
"Alas!"
"Remember last Tuesday night at the Neuilly mansion!"
"Ah! You should have carried me off then, not left me time to think itover. Now I am no longer willing."
"You will go! Yes or no. Will you obey?"
"I will--for, after all, I love you!"
The two tragic beings were silent for a moment, listening; outside thechurch the uproar grew in violence, brief orders were being shouted, ablowing of whistles. Suddenly, uttering a hoarse cry, the ruffianexclaimed:
"The police! The police are on the track of Fantomas! Juve's police.Well, this time Fantomas will be too much for them. Lady Beltham--tillwe meet again."
Beating a rapid retreat behind a pillar of the chapel he vanished. LadyBeltham found herself alone in the chapel. Five minutes later the heavysteps of the police sounded in the passages. They went through thehouse, searching for clues, then disappeared in the darkness of thenight.
Lady Beltham addressed the nuns:
"A great peril threatens our sisters of the Boulevard Jourdan. They mustbe warned at all costs and at once. And it is necessary that I, and Ionly, should go to warn them. Have no fear. No harm will happen to me. Iknow what I am doing."
Under the appalled eyes of the sisterhood the Mother Superior slowlypassed from the assembled community with a sweeping gesture of farewell.The moment she was alone, she ran to the far end of the garden andpassed through the little gate in the wall behind the chapel. She wasgone!
While these strange occurrences were in progress at the peaceful conventof Nogent, and the flight of Lady Beltham at the bidding of Fantomas waseffected under the eyes of the sisters, no little stir was manifest inthe environs of La Chapelle, in the dreaded region where the hooligans,forming the celebrated gang of Cyphers, have their haunts.
A certain misrule reigned in the confederation, due to the fact thatLoupart had not been seen for some time. None of its members believedfor an instant the newspaper story that Loupart had turned out to beFantomas--the elusive, the superhuman, the improbable, the weirdFantomas. This was beyond them. Good enough to stuff the numskull of thelaw with such a tale, but there was no use for it among the gang ofCyphers.
That same evening there was considerable excitement at the station inthe Rue Stephenson. Detectives, inspectors, real or sham hooligans, wereassembled there.
"Who is that gentleman?" asked M. Rouquelet, the Commissary of thedistrict, pointing to a young man seated in a corner of the room, takingnotes on a pad.
Juve, to whom the query was addressed, turned his head.
"Why, it's Fandor, Jerome Fandor, my friend."
Juve was seated at the magistrate's table, comparing papers, documents,and material evidence; he had, standing round him men in uniform ormufti. One might have thought it the office of a general staff during abattle. The door opened to a man dressed like a market gardener.
"Well, Leon?" asked Juve.
"M. Inspector, it is done. We have nabbed the 'Cooper.'"
A sergeant of the 19th Arrondissement appeared and saluted.
"M. Inspector, my men are bringing in 'The Flirt.' Her throat is cut."
"Is her murderer taken?"
/> "Not yet--there are several of them--but we know them. The wounded womanwas able to tell us their names. They 'bled' her because they suspectedher of giving us information."
M. Rouquelet telephoned to Lariboisiere for an ambulance, and theofficers went to see the victim, who was lying on a stretcher in thehall. At that moment, the sound of a struggle hurried Juve to theentrance of the station. Some officers were hauling in a youth with apallid complexion and wicked eyes. Fandor recognised the captive.
"It's that little collegian who bit my finger the night of theMarseilles Express!"
Leon, who had drawn near, likewise identified the youth.
"I know him, that's Mimile. His account is settled, he is jugged!"
The hall of the station filled once more: an old woman, dragged inforcibly, was groaning and bawling at the top of her voice:
"Pack of swine! Isn't it shameful to treat a poor woman so!"
"M. Superintendent," explained one of the men, "we caught this woman,Mother Toulouche--in the act of stowing away in her bodice a bundle ofbank notes just passed to her by a man. Here they are."
The constable handed the packet to the magistrate, and Fandor, who waswatching, could not repress an exclamation.
"Oh!--Notes in halves! Suppose they belong to M. Martialle! Allow me, M.Rouquelet, to look at the numbers."
"In with Mother Toulouche!" cried the Superintendent, then rubbing hishands he turned to Juve and cried:
"A fine haul, M. Inspector. What do you think?"
But Juve did not hear him; he had drawn Fandor into a corner of theoffice and was explaining:
"I have done no more at present than have Lady Beltham shadowed, but Ido not mean to arrest her. You see, if I asked Fuselier for a warrantagainst Lady Beltham, a person legally dead and buried more than twomonths ago, that excellent functionary would swallow his clerk, stooland all, in sheer amazement."
At that moment a cyclist constable, dripping with sweat and quite out ofbreath, came in and hastening straight to Juve, cried:
"I come from Nogent!"
"Well?"
"Well, M. Inspector, they saw a masked man come out of the convent,wrapped in a big cloak. They gave chase--he fired a revolver twice andkilled two officers."
"Good God! It was certainly----"
"We thought, too--that perhaps--after all--it was--it was Fantomas!"
"Juve!" called the Commissary. "You are wanted on the telephone. Neuillyis asking for you."
The detective picked up the receiver.
"Hello! hello! Is that you, Michel? Yes. What is it? In a motor? Oh, youhave taken the driver. But he--curse it! Who the devil is this man whoalways escapes us? What? He is in Lady Beltham's house! You havesurrounded the house? Good, keep your eyes open! Do nothing till Icome."
Juve hung up the receiver and turned to Fandor.
"Fantomas is at Lady Beltham's; shut up in the house. I am going there."
"I'll go with you."
As the two men left the station, they were met by Inspector Grolle.
"We have taken 'The Beard' at Daddy Korn's," he cried.
"Confound that!" shouted Juve, as he jumped into a taxi with Fandor."Neuilly! Boulevard Inkermann, and top speed!"
XXXIV
FANTOMAS' REVENGE
"Phew! Here I am!"
Checking his headlong course at the top of the terrace steps, Fantomasrapidly entered the house, then double-locked himself in. The ruffian atonce inspected the fastenings of the windows and doors on the groundfloor.
The monster cocked his ear. Three calls of the horn sounded dolefully inthe silence of the night. Fantomas counted them anxiously and thenexclaimed:
"There! That's my signal! My driver is taken."
A slight shudder shook the sturdy frame of the man. He went up to thefirst floor and peered through the shutters. He caught the sound offootsteps. In the light of a street lamp he suddenly descried theoutline of his driver. The latter, among half a score of policemen, waswalking, head bent, with his hands fettered.
"Poor fellow!" he murmured. "Another who has to pay! Ah! they have leftmy 'sixty horse' for my use presently. But there is no time to lose,I'll bet that Juve, flanked by his everlasting journalist, will not belong in coming here. Very well! Juve, it is not as master that you willenter this house, but as a doomed man!"
Fantomas now became absorbed in a strange task which claimed all hisattention. On the floor of the dark closet where all the electric gearof the house terminated, the bandit laid a sort of oblong fusee that hedrew from his capacious cloak.
He fitted to the end of this fusee two electric wires previously freedof their insulator; then having verified the tie of the pulls of thedistribution board, he hid the cartridge under a little lid of wood.Then he left the closet, taking care to double-lock the door.
"These detectives," he growled, "are about to witness the finestfirework display imaginable and, I dare say, take part in it, too.Dynamite can transform a respectable middle-class house into a sparklingbouquet of loose stone!"
Such was, indeed, the fearful reception Fantomas held in reserve for hisopponents. He had made everything ready to blow up the house and escapeunhurt himself.
If Juve and Fandor had paid more attention to the piping of the wires,they would have seen that some of them ran outside the house anddisappeared below ground, reappearing at the far end of the property inan old deserted woodshed.
Fantomas was about to leave the house. He was already stepping onto theterrace when, suppressing an oath, he wheeled about suddenly.
As Juve and Fandor were about to enter the grounds, Detective Michelrose up out of the dusk.
"That you, sir?"
"Well," replied Juve, "is the bird in the nest?"
"Yes, sir, and the cage is well guarded, I assure you. Fifteen of my menkept a strict guard round the house."
"Good. Here is the plan of action. You, Sergeant, will enter the housewith Inspector Michel, at my back. The men will continue to watch theexit."
Juve broke off sharply. He saw the door of the house open a little wayand Fantomas appear, then vanish again inside the house.
"At last!" cried Juve, who sprang forward, followed by Fandor.
"Slowly, gentlemen! We have now victory in sight, we mustn't imperil itby rashness. You remain on the ground floor. Each one in a room, anddon't stir without good reason. I am going up."
"I am going with you," exclaimed Fandor.
The two went cautiously up the stairs to the first floor.
"Fantomas!" challenged Juve, halting on the landing, "you are caught;surrender!"
But the detective's voice only roused distant echoes; the big house wassilent.
"Now, this is what we must do," he cautioned Fandor. "Above us is aloft--we will search it first; if it is empty, we will close it again.Then we will come down again, taking each room in turn and locking itafter us. At the slightest sound fling yourself on the ground and letFantomas fire first; the flash of the shot will tell us where it comesfrom."
The two man-hunters searched the loft without success. At the firstfloor Juve repressed a slight tremor, for the handle of the door leadinginto Lady Beltham's room creaked ominously. He opened it, springingaside quickly, expecting to be fired at. The room was empty, no trace ofFantomas. The two passed into another room, then as soon as theirvisitation was completed locked up the apartment.
Suddenly, as they reached the foot of the stairs, Juve gave a violentstart. From the door of the drawing-room a shadow, black from head tofoot, came bounding out. Quick as lightning the form crossed theante-room, then plunged by a low entrance into the cellarage.
Two shots rang out!
Fantomas drew behind him a big bar and prided himself on the barrier hethus put between his pursuers and himself. But despite his consummateconfidence, he was beginning to feel a certain uneasiness, an undeniableanxiety. His black mask clung to his temples, dripping with sweat.
He crossed the basement to the little air-hole overlooking the
garden.
"That is a way of escape," he thought, "unless----"
But, baffled, he ceased his inspection.
"Curse it! There are three policemen before that exit."
He scraped a match and reviewed the place in which he foundhimself--which for that matter he knew better than any one.
Facing him stood the dilapidated stove and at his feet shimmered thecistern.
All at once Fantomas clenched his fists. Under the increasing blows ofthe detective and his men the door of the basement yielded. Above thecrash of the boards and iron-work Juve's voice rang out:
"Fantomas! Surrender!"
Fantomas groped in the darkness. His hand came on a bottle. A crackle ofshattered glass was heard, Fantomas had taken the bottle by the neck andbroken it against the wall.
* * * * *
Juve, revolver in hand, followed by Fandor, moved cautiously down thestairs to the cellar: both men were brave, yet they felt their heartsbeating as though they would burst.
Juve reached the last step. He pressed the knob of his electric torch; arush of light lit up the little room. It was empty!
Juve went the round of the cellar, carefully inspecting the walls andsounding them with the butt of his revolver. He went round the cistern.Its surface was black and still. A broken bottle, floating headdownward, remained half immersed, absolutely motionless.
Fandor laid his hand on the detective's arm.
"Did you hear; some one breathed!"
Beyond doubt some one had breathed!
"Idiots that we are! He is in there," cried Juve, pointing to the pipeof the great stove.
The detective caught sight in a corner of a number of bundles of straw.
"That is what we want, Fandor! We are going to make a bonfire."
When the opening of the furnace was fitted, Juve set a light to it andthe flames rose, crackling, while up the pipe of the heater rose apungent smoke, thick and black.
"And now to the openings of the stove! Sergeant! Michel! This way!"
Through the apertures in the ground-floor rooms the great stove wasbeginning to smoke.
* * * * *
A broken bottle with the bottom gone was floating head downward on theblack water of the tank. Scarcely had Juve and Fandor gone than thewater was stirred, and slowly the mysterious bottle rose again to thetop. Behind it rose the head of Fantomas, still wrapped in the blackhood which now clung to his face like a mask moulded on the features.
Dripping, he issued from the tank and breathed hard for some moments.Despite his ingenious contrivance for feeding his lungs he was not farfrom suffocating.
"All the same," he growled, "if I hadn't remembered the plan of theTonkingese who lie stretched at the bottom of a river for hours at atime, breathing through hollow reeds, I think that time we should haveexchanged shots to some purpose!"
Fantomas was wringing out his garments in haste when loud cries soundedabove his head, and two or three shots rang out. At the same time asudden stirring took place in and around the house. He turned it toaccount by going at once to the air-hole. Now there was no one on guard,so Fantomas put his head through, then his shoulders.
* * * * *
"That's all right; the brute is dead!"
Juve was examining curiously the creature which lay helpless on thefloor. Two trembling sergeants stood at the door of the room.
"We were expecting Fantomas to appear and a snake unrolls itself andsprings in our faces!" cried Fandor.
Half emerging from the mouth of the heater the monstrous body of a boaconstrictor lay on the floor. The men Juve had brought into the housewere resolute, ripe for anything, but never did they imagine thatFantomas could assume such an unexpected shape. And terrified,overwhelmed with dread, they recoiled in a frenzy of fear and fled,calling on their mates outside, who at once ran to their assistance.
"Sir!" A terrified voice called from outside.
Juve rushed to the window. A dripping creature, clad in black from headto foot, crossed the garden, running toward the servants' quarters. Itwas Fantomas. Juve swore a great oath: "There he is! Getting away!"
The detective left his cry unfinished.
* * * * *
As he issued by the air-holes, Fantomas leaped forward. He was free!
"Juve scored the first game, the second is mine," he cried.
He reached the woodshed. With a practised hand he turned the electrictap which ignited a spark in the dark closet behind the pantry.
"I win!" shouted Fantomas, as a terrible explosion made itself heard.
The earth shook, a huge column of black smoke rose skywards, explosionfollowed explosion. The roar of falling walls was mingled with fearfulcries and dying groans.
Lady Beltham's villa had been blown up, burying under its ruins thehapless men who in their pursuit of Fantomas had ventured too near.Assuredly this arch-criminal had got away once more. But were Juve andFandor among the dead?
THE END
+-----------------------+| FOOTNOTES: || || [A] See "Fantomas." || || [B] See "Fantomas." |+-----------------------+
+---------------------------------------------------------------+| || Transcriber's note: || || Italics are represented in this text version by underscores. || || The following printer's errors have been corrected. || || Page 48 'turnd' to 'turned' || 'Loupart turned and tramped' || || Page 83 'reasurred' to 'reassured' || 'Juve quickly reassured him' || || Page 96 'than' to 'then' || 'then in a voice' || || Page 158 'Mechancially' to 'mechanically' || 'mechanically she went forward' || || Page 176 'grenery' to greenery' || 'under the arch of greenery' || || Page 221 'unkown' to 'unknown' || 'identity should remain unknown' || || Page 252 'vistors' to 'visitors' || 'The porter led his visitors' || || Page 266 'acccomplice' to 'accomplice' || 'was indeed the accomplice of' || || Page 270 'later' to 'latter' || 'the latter rose and began' || || Page 295 'drpping' to 'dripping' || 'dripping with sweat' || || |+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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