CHAPTER ELEVEN
ROUTED
Don Luis had certainly expected this formidable blow; and yet it appearedto take him unawares, and he repeated more than once:
"Ah, Weber is here! Weber is here!"
All his buoyancy left him, and he felt like a retreating army which,after almost making good its escape, suddenly finds itself brought to astop by a steep mountain. Weber was there--that is to say, the chiefleader of the enemies, the man who would be sure to plan the attack andthe resistance in such a manner as to dash Perenna's hopes to the ground.With Weber at the head of the detectives, any attempt to force a way outwould have been absurd.
"Did you let him in?" he asked.
"You did not tell me not to, sir."
"Is he alone?"
"No, sir, the deputy chief has six men with him. He has left them in thecourtyard."
"And where is he?"
"He asked me to take him to the first floor. He expected to find you inyour study, sir."
"Does he know now that I am with Sergeant Mazeroux and Mlle. Levasseur?"
"Yes, sir."
Perenna thought for a moment and then said:
"Tell him that you have not found me and that you are going to look forme in Mlle. Levasseur's rooms. Perhaps he will go with you. All thebetter if he does."
And he locked the door again.
The struggle through which he had just passed did not show itself on hisface; and, now that all was lost, now that he was called upon to act, herecovered that wonderful composure which never abandoned him at decisivemoments. He went up to Florence. She was very pale and was silentlyweeping. He said:
"You must not be frightened, Mademoiselle. If you obey me implicitly, youwill have nothing to fear."
She did not reply and he saw that she still mistrusted him. And he almostrejoiced at the thought that he would compel her to believe in him.
"Listen to me," he said to Sauverand. "In case I should not succeed afterall, there are still several things which you must explain."
"What are they?" asked Sauverand, who had lost none of his coolness.
Then, collecting all his riotous thoughts, resolved to omit nothing, butat the same time to speak only what was essential, Don Luis asked, in acalm voice:
"Where were you on the morning before the murder, when a man carrying anebony walking-stick and answering to your description entered the Cafe duPont-Neuf immediately after Inspector Verot?"
"At home."
"Are you sure that you did not go out?"
"Absolutely sure. And I am also sure that I have never been to the Cafedu Pont-Neuf, of which I had never even heard."
"Good. Next question. Why, when you learned all about this business, didyou not go to the Prefect of Police or the examining magistrate? It wouldhave been simpler for you to give yourself up and tell the exact truththan to engage in this unequal fight."
"I was thinking of doing so. But I at once realized that the plot hatchedagainst me was so clever that no bare statement of the truth would havebeen enough to convince the authorities. They would never have believedme. What proof could I supply? None at all--whereas, on the other hand,the proofs against us were overwhelming and undeniable. Were not themarks of the teeth evidence of Marie's undoubted guilt? And were not mysilence, my flight, the shooting of Chief Inspector Ancenis so manycrimes? No, if I would rescue Marie, I must remain free."
"But she could have spoken herself?"
"And confessed our love? Apart from the fact that her womanly modestywould have prevented her, what good would it have done? On the contrary,it meant lending greater weight to the accusation. That was just whathappened when Hippolyte Fauville's letters, appearing one by one,revealed to the police the as yet unknown motives of the crimes imputedto us. We loved each other."
"How do you explain the letters?"
"I can't explain them. We did not know of Fauville's jealousy. He kept itto himself. And then, again, why did he suspect us? What can have put itinto his head that we meant to kill him? Where did his fears, hisnightmares, come from? It is a mystery. He wrote that he had letters ofours in his possession: what letters?"
"And the marks of the teeth, those marks which were undoubtedly made byMme. Fauville?"
"I don't know. It is all incomprehensible."
"You don't know either what she can have done after leaving the operabetween twelve and two in the morning?"
"No. She was evidently lured into a trap. But how and by whom? And whydoes she not say what she was doing? More mystery."
"You were seen that evening, the evening of the murders, at Auteuilstation. What were you doing there?"
"I was going to the Boulevard Suchet and I passed under Marie's windows.Remember that it was a Wednesday. I came back on the following Wednesday,and, still knowing nothing of the tragedy or of Marie's arrest, I cameback again on the second Wednesday, which was the evening on which youfound out where I lived and informed Sergeant Mazeroux against me."
"Another thing. Did you know of the Mornington inheritance?"
"No, nor Florence either; and we have every reason to think that Marieand her husband knew no more about it than we did."
"That barn at Damigni: was it the first time that you had entered it?"
"Yes; and our astonishment at the sight of the two skeletons hanging fromthe rafters equalled yours."
Don Luis was silent. He cast about for a few seconds longer to see if hehad any more questions to ask. Then he said:
"That is all I wanted to know. Are you, on your side, certain thateverything that is necessary has been said?"
"Yes."
"This is a serious moment. It is possible that we may not meet again. Nowyou have not given me a single proof of your statements."
"I have told you the truth. To a man like yourself, the truth is enough.As for me, I am beaten. I give up the struggle, or, rather, I placemyself under your orders. Save Marie."
"I will save the three of you," said Perenna. "The fourth of themysterious letters is to make its appearance to-morrow: that leaves ampletime for us to lay our heads together and study the matter fully. Andto-morrow evening I shall go there and, with the help of all that youhave told me, I shall prove the innocence of you all. The essential thingis to be present at the meeting on the twenty-fifth of May."
"Please think only of Marie. Sacrifice me, if necessary. SacrificeFlorence even. I am speaking in her name as well as my own when I tellyou that it is better to desert us than to jeopardize the slightestchance of success."
"I will save the three of you," Perenna repeated.
He pushed the door ajar and, after listening outside, said:
"Don't move. And don't open the door to anybody, on any pretext whatever,before I come to fetch you. I shall not be long."
He locked the door behind him and went down to the first floor. He didnot feel those high spirits which usually cheered him on the eve of hisgreat battles. This time, Florence Levasseur's life and liberty were atstake; and the consequences of a defeat seemed to him worse than death.
Through the window on the landing he saw the detectives guarding thecourtyard. He counted six of them. And he also saw the deputy chief atone of the windows of his study, watching the courtyard and keeping intouch with his detectives.
"By Jove!" he thought, "he's sticking to his post. It will be a toughjob. He suspects something. However, let's make a start!"
He went through the drawing-room and entered his study. Weber saw him.The two enemies were face to face.
There was a few seconds' silence before the duel opened, the duel whichwas bound to be swift and vigorous, without the least sign of weakness ordistraction on either side. It could not last longer than three minutes.
The deputy chief's face bore an expression of mingled joy and anxiety.For the first time he had permission, he had orders, to fight thataccursed Don Luis, against whom he had never yet been able to satisfyhis hatred. And his delight was all the greater because he held everytrump, whereas D
on Luis had put himself in the wrong by defendingFlorence Levasseur and tampering with the girl's portrait. On the otherhand, Weber did not forget that Don Luis was identical with ArseneLupin; and this consideration caused him a certain uneasiness. He wasobviously thinking:
"The least blunder, and I'm done for."
He crossed swords with a jest.
"I see that you were not in Mlle. Levasseur's lodge, as your manpretended."
"My man spoke in accordance with my instructions, I was in my bedroom,upstairs. But I wanted to finish the job before I came down."
"And is it done?"
"It's done. Florence Levasseur and Gaston Sauverand are in my room,gagged and bound. You have only to accept delivery of the goods."
"Gaston Sauverand!" cried Weber. "Then it was he who was seen coming in?"
"Yes. He was simply living with Florence Levasseur, whose lover he is."
"Oho!" said the deputy chief, in a bantering tone. "Her lover!"
"Yes; and when Sergeant Mazeroux brought Florence Levasseur to my room,to question her out of hearing of the servants, Sauverand, foreseeing thearrest of his mistress, had the audacity to join us. He tried to rescueher from our hands."
"And you checkmated him?"
"Yes."
It was clear that the deputy chief did not believe one word of the story.He knew through M. Desmalions and Mazeroux that Don Luis was in love withFlorence; and Don Luis was not the man even through jealousy to hand overa woman whom he loved. He increased his attention.
"Good business!" he said. "Take me up to your room. Was it a hardstruggle?"
"Not very. I managed to disarm the scoundrel. All the same, Mazeroux gotstabbed in the thumb."
"Nothing serious?"
"Oh, dear, no; but he has gone to have his wound dressed at thechemist's."
The deputy chief stopped, greatly surprised.
"What! Isn't Mazeroux in your room with the two prisoners?"
"I never told you that he was."
"No, but your butler--"
"The butler made a mistake. Mazeroux went out a few minutes beforeyou came."
"It's funny," said Weber, watching Don Luis closely, "but my men allthink he's here. They haven't seen him go out."
"They haven't seen him go out?" echoed Don Luis, pretending to feelanxious. "But, then, where can he be? He told me he wanted to have histhumb seen to."
The deputy chief was growing more and more suspicious. Evidently Perennawas trying to get rid of him by sending him in search of the sergeant.
"I will send one of my men," he said. "Is the chemist's near?"
"Just around the corner, in the Rue de Bourgogne. Besides, we cantelephone."
"Oh, we can telephone!" muttered Weber.
He was quite at a loss and looked like a man who does not know what isgoing to happen next. He moved slowly toward the instrument, whilebarring the way to Don Luis to prevent his escaping. Don Luistherefore retreated to the telephone box, as if forced to do so, tookdown the receiver with one hand, and, calling, "Hullo! Hullo! Saxe,2409," with the other hand, which was resting against the wall, he cutone of the wires with a pair of pliers which he had taken off thetable as he passed.
"Hullo! Are you there? Is that 2409? Are you thechemist?... Hullo!... Sergeant Mazeroux of the detective service is withyou, isn't he? Eh? What? What do you say? But it's too awful! Are yousure? Do you mean to say the wound is poisoned?"
Without thinking what he was doing, the deputy chief pushed Don Luisaside and took hold of the receiver. The thought of the poisoned woundwas too much for him.
"Are you there?" he cried, keeping an eye on Don Luis and motioning tohim not to go away. "Are you there? ... Eh? ... It's Deputy Chief Weber,of the detective office, speaking.... Hullo! Are you there? ... I want toknow about Sergeant Mazeroux. ... Are you there?. . . Oh, hang it, whydon't you answer!"
Suddenly he let go the instrument, looked at the wires, perceived thatthey had been cut, and turned round, showing a face that clearlyexpressed the thought in his mind.
"That's done it. I've been tricked!"
Perenna was standing a couple of yards behind him, leaning carelesslyagainst the woodwork of the arch, with his left hand passed betweenhis back and the woodwork. He was smiling, smiling pleasantly, kindly,and genially:
"Don't move!" he said, with a gesture of his right hand.
Weber, more frightened by that smile than he would have been by threats,took good care not to move.
"Don't move," repeated Don Luis, in a very queer voice. "And, whateveryou do, don't be alarmed. You shan't be hurt, I promise you. Just fiveminutes in a dark cell for a naughty little boy. Are you ready? One two,three! Bang!"
He stood aside and pressed the button that worked the iron curtain. Theheavy panel came crashing to the floor. The deputy chief was a prisoner.
"That's a hundred millions gone to Jericho," grinned Don Luis. "A prettytrick, but a bit expensive. Good-bye, Mornington inheritance! Good-bye,Don Luis Perenna! And now, my dear Lupin, if you don't want Weber to takehis revenge, beat a retreat and in good order. One, two; left, right;left, right!"
As he spoke, he locked, on the inside, the folding doors between thedrawing-room and the first-floor anteroom; then, returning to his study,he locked the door between this room and the drawing-room.
The deputy chief was banging at the iron curtain with all his might andshouting so loud that they were bound to hear him outside through theopen window.
"You're not making half enough noise, deputy!" cried Don Luis. "Let's seewhat we can do."
He took his revolver and fired off three bullets, one of which broke apane. Then he quickly left his study by a small, massive door, which hecarefully closed behind him. He was now in a secret passage which ranround both rooms and ended at another door leading to the anteroom. Heopened this door wide and was thus able to hide behind it.
Attracted by the shots and the noise, the detectives were already rushingthrough the hall and up the staircase. When they reached the first floorand had gone through the anteroom, as the drawing-room doors were locked,the only outlet open to them was the passage, at the end of which theycould hear the deputy shouting. They all six darted down it.
When the last of them had vanished round the bend in the passage, DonLuis softly pushed back the door that concealed him and locked itlike the rest. The six detectives were as safely imprisoned as thedeputy chief.
"Bottled!" muttered Don Luis. "It will take them quite five minutes torealize the situation, to bang at the locked doors, and to break down oneof them. In five minutes we shall be far away."
He met two of his servants running up with scared faces, the chauffeurand the butler. He flung each of them a thousand-franc note and said tothe chauffeur:
"Set the engine going, there's a sportsman, and let no one near themachine to block my way. Two thousand francs more for each of you if Iget off in the motor. Don't stand staring at me like that: I mean what Isay. Two thousand francs apiece: it's for you to earn it. Look sharp!"
He himself went up the second flight without undue haste, remainingmaster of himself. But, on the last stair, he was seized with such afeeling of elation that he shouted:
"Victory! The road is clear!"
The boudoir door was opposite. He opened it and repeated:
"Victory! But there's not a second to lose. Follow me."
He entered. A stifled oath escaped his lips.
The room was empty.
"What!" he stammered. "What does this mean? They're gone.... Florence--"
Certainly, unlikely though it seemed, he had hitherto supposed thatSauverand possessed a false key to the lock. But how could they both haveescaped, in the midst of the detectives? He looked around him. And thenhe understood.
In the recess containing the window, the lower part of the wall, whichformed a very wide box underneath the casement, had the top of itswoodwork raised and resting against the panes, exactly like the lid of achest. And inside the open chest he saw the upper
rungs of a narrowdescending ladder.
In a second, Don Luis conjured up the whole story of the past: CountMalonyi's ancestress hiding in the old family mansion, escaping thesearch of the perquisitors, and in this way living throughout therevolutionary troubles. Everything was explained. A passage contrived inthe thickness of the wall led to some distant outlet. And this was howFlorence used to come and go through the house; this was how Gaston wentin and out in all security; and this also was how both of them were ableto enter his room and surprise his secrets.
"Why not have told me?" he wondered. "A lingering suspicion, I suppose--"
But his eyes were attracted by a sheet of paper on the table. Witha feverish hand, Gaston Sauverand had scribbled the following linesin pencil:
"We are trying to escape so as not to compromise you. If we are caught,it can't be helped. The great thing is that you should be free. All ourhopes are centred in you."
Below were two words written by Florence: "Save Marie."
"Ah," he murmured, disconcerted by the turn of events and not knowingwhat to decide, "why, oh, why did they not obey my instructions? We areseparated now--"
Downstairs the detectives were battering at the door of the passage inwhich they were imprisoned. Perhaps he would still have time to reach hismotor before they succeeded in breaking down the door. Nevertheless, hepreferred to take the same road as Florence and Sauverand, which gave himthe hope of saving them and of rescuing them in case of danger.
He therefore stepped over the side of the chest, placed his foot on thetop rung and went down. Some twenty bars brought him to the middle of thefirst floor. Here, by the light of his electric lantern, he entered asort of low, vaulted tunnel, dug, as he thought, in the wall, and sonarrow that he could only walk along it sideways.
Thirty yards farther there was a bend, at right angles; and next, at theend of another tunnel of the same length, a trapdoor, which stood open,revealing the rungs of a second ladder. He did not doubt that thefugitives had gone this way.
It was quite light at the bottom. Here he found himself in a cupboardwhich was also open and which, on ordinary occasions, must have beencovered by curtains that were now drawn. This cupboard faced a bed thatfilled almost the whole space of an alcove. On passing through the alcoveand reaching a room from which it was separated only by a slenderpartition, to his great surprise, he recognized Florence's sitting-room.
This time, he knew where he was. The exit, which was not secret, as itled to the Place du Palais-Bourbon, but nevertheless very safe, was thatwhich Sauverand generally used when Florence admitted him.
Don Luis therefore went through the entrance hall and down the steps and,a little way before the pantry, came upon the cellar stairs. He ran downthese and soon recognized the low door that served to admit thewine-casks. The daylight filtered in through a small, grated spy-hole. Hegroped till he found the lock. Glad to have come to the end of hisexpedition, he opened the door.
"Hang it all!" he growled, leaping back and clutching at the lock, whichhe managed to fasten again.
Two policemen in uniform were guarding the exits two policemen who hadtried to seize him as he appeared.
Where did those two men come from? Had they prevented the escape ofSauverand and Florence? But in that case Don Luis would have met the twofugitives, as he had come by exactly the same road as they.
"No," he thought, "they effected their flight before the exit waswatched. But, by Jove! it's my turn to clear out; and that's not easy.Shall I let myself be caught in my burrow like a rabbit?"
He went up the cellar stairs again, intending to hasten matters, to slipinto the courtyard through the outhouses, to jump into his motor, and toclear a way for himself. But, when he was just reaching the yard, nearthe coach-house, he saw four detectives, four of those whom he hadimprisoned, come up waving their arms and shouting. And he also becameaware of a regular uproar near the main gate and the porter's lodge. Anumber of men were all talking together, raising their voices in violentdiscussion.
Perhaps he might profit by this opportunity to steal outside under coverof the disorder. At the risk of being seen, he put out his head. And whathe saw astounded him.
Gaston Sauverand stood with his back to the wall of the lodge, surroundedby policemen and detectives who pushed and insulted him. The handcuffswere on his wrists.
Gaston Sauverand a prisoner! What had happened between the two fugitivesand the police?
His heart wrung with anguish, he leaned out still farther. But he did notsee Florence. The girl had no doubt succeeded in escaping.
Weber's appearance on the steps and the deputy chief's first wordsconfirmed his hopes. Weber was mad with rage. His recent captivity andthe humiliation of his defeat exasperated him.
"Ah!" he roared, as he saw the prisoner. "There's one of them, at anyrate! Gaston Sauverand! Choice game, that!... Where did you catch him?"
"On the Place du Palais-Bourbon," said one of the inspectors. "We saw himslinking out through the cellar door."
"And his accomplice, the Levasseur girl?"
"We missed her, Deputy Chief. She was the first out."
"And Don Luis? You haven't let him leave the house, I hope? I gaveorders."
"He tried to get out through the cellar door five minutes after."
"Who said so?"
"One of the men in uniform posted outside the door."
"Well?"
"The beggar went back into the cellar."
Weber gave a shout of delight.
"We've got him! And it's a nasty business for him! Charge of resistingthe police!... Complicity ... We shall be able to unmask him at last.Tally-ho, my lads, tally-ho! Two men to guard Sauverand, four men on thePlace du Palais-Bourbon, revolver in hand. Two men on the roof. The reststick to me. We'll begin with the Levasseur girl's room and we'll takehis room next. Hark, forward, my lads!"
Don Luis did not wait for the enemies' attack. Knowing their intentions,he beat a retreat, unseen, toward Florence's rooms. Here, as Weber didnot yet know the short cut through the outhouses, he had time to makesure that the trapdoor was in perfect working order, and that there wasno reason why they should discover the existence of a secret cupboard atthe back of the alcove, behind the curtains of the bed.
Once inside the passage, he went up the first staircase, followed thelong corridor contrived in the wall, climbed the ladder leading to theboudoir, and, perceiving that this second trapdoor fitted the woodwork soclosely that no one could suspect anything, he closed it over him. A fewminutes later he heard the noise of men making a search above his head.
And so, on the twenty-fourth of May, at five o'clock in the afternoon,the position was as follows: Florence Levasseur with a warrant outagainst her, Gaston Sauverand in prison, Marie Fauville in prison andrefusing all food, and Don Luis, who believed in their innocence and whoalone could have saved them, Don Luis was being blockaded in his ownhouse and hunted down by a score of detectives.
As for the Mornington inheritance, there could be no more question ofthat, because the legatee, in his turn, had set himself in open rebellionagainst society.
"Capital!" said Don Luis, with a grin. "This is life as I understand it.The question is a simple one and may be put in different ways. How can awretched, unwashed beggar, with not a penny in his pocket, make a fortunein twenty-four hours without setting foot outside his hovel? How can ageneral, with no soldiers and no ammunition left, win a battle which hehas lost? In short, how shall I, Arsene Lupin, manage to be presentto-morrow evening at the meeting which will be held on the BoulevardSuchet and to behave in such a way as to save Marie Fauville, FlorenceLevasseur, Gaston Sauverand, and my excellent friend Don Luis Perenna inthe bargain?"
Dull blows came from somewhere. The men must be hunting the roofs andsounding the walls.
Don Luis stretched himself flat on the floor, hid his face in his foldedarms and, shutting his eyes, murmured:
"Let's think."