The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc (good book club books .txt) 📗

“I have seen his counsel.”

“You have seen his counsel! And you told him...”

“I told him that I was Gilbert’s mother and I asked him whether, by proclaiming my son’s identity, we could not influence the result... or at least delay it.”

“You would do that?” he whispered. “You would admit...”

“Gilbert’s life comes before everything. What do I care about my name! What do I care about my husband’s name!”

“And your little Jacques?” he objected. “Have you the right to ruin Jacques, to make him the brother of a man condemned to death?”

She hung her head. And he resumed:

“What did the counsel say?”

“He said that an act of that sort would not help Gilbert in the remotest degree. And, in spite of all his protests, I could see that, as far as he was concerned, he had no illusions left and that the pardoning commission are bound to find in favour of the execution.”

“The commission, I grant you; but what of the president of the Republic?”

“The president always goes by the advice of the commission.”

“He will not do so this time.”

“And why not?”

“Because we shall bring influence to bear upon him.”

“How?”

“By the conditional surrender of the list of the Twenty-seven!”

“Have you it?”

“No, but I shall have it.”

His certainty had not wavered. He made the statement with equal calmness and faith in the infinite power of his will.

She had lost some part of her confidence in him and she shrugged her shoulders lightly:

“If d’Albufex has not purloined the list, one man alone can exercise any influence; one man alone: Daubrecq.”

She spoke these words in a low and absent voice that made him shudder. Was she still thinking, as he had often seemed to feel, of going back to Daubrecq and paying him for Gilbert’s life?

“You have sworn an oath to me,” he said. “I’m reminding you of it. It was agreed that the struggle with Daubrecq should be directed by me and that there would never be a possibility of any arrangement between you and him.”

She retorted:

“I don’t even know where he is. If I knew, wouldn’t you know?”

It was an evasive answer. But he did not insist, resolving to watch her at the opportune time; and he asked her, for he had not yet been told all the details:

“Then it’s not known what became of Daubrecq?”

“No. Of course, one of the Growler’s bullets struck him. For, next day, we picked up, in a coppice, a handkerchief covered with blood. Also, it seems that a man was seen at Aumale Station, looking very tired and walking with great difficulty. He took a ticket for Paris, stepped into the first train and that is all...”

“He must be seriously wounded,” said Lupin, “and he is nursing himself in some safe retreat. Perhaps, also, he considers it wise to lie low for a few weeks and avoid any traps on the part of the police, d’Albufex, you, myself and all his other enemies.”

He stopped to think and continued:

“What has happened at Mortepierre since Daubrecq’s escape? Has there been no talk in the neighbourhood?”

“No, the rope was removed before daybreak, which proves that Sebastiani or his sons discovered Daubrecq’s flight on the same night. Sebastiani was away the whole of the next day.”

“Yes, he will have informed the marquis. And where is the marquis himself?”

“At home. And, from what the Growler has heard, there is nothing suspicious there either.”

“Are they certain that he has not been inside Daubrecq’s house?”

“As certain as they can be.”

“Nor Daubrecq?”

“Nor Daubrecq.”

“Have you seen Prasville?”

“Prasville is away on leave. But Chief-inspector Blanchon, who has charge of the case, and the detectives who are guarding the house declare that, in accordance with Prasville’s instructions, their watch is not relaxed for a moment, even at night; that one of them, turn and turn about, is always on duty in the study; and that no one, therefore, can have gone in.”

“So, on principle,” Arsene Lupin concluded, “the crystal stopper must still be in Daubrecq’s study?”

“If it was there before Daubrecq’s disappearance, it should be there now.”

“And on the study-table.”

“On the study-table? Why do you say that?”

“Because I know,” said Lupin, who had not forgotten Sebastiani’s words.

“But you don’t know the article in which the stopper is hidden?”

“No. But a study-table, a writing-desk, is a limited space. One can explore it in twenty minutes. One can demolish it, if necessary, in ten.”

The conversation had tired Arsene Lupin a little. As he did not wish to commit the least imprudence, he said to Clarisse:

“Listen. I will ask you to give me two or three days more. This is Monday, the 4th of March. On Wednesday or Thursday, at latest, I shall be up and about. And you can be sure that we shall succeed.”

“And, in the meantime...”

“In the meantime, go back to Paris. Take rooms, with the Growler and the Masher, in the Hotel Franklin, near the Trocadero, and keep a watch on Daubrecq’s house. You are free to go in and out as you please. Stimulate the zeal of the detectives on duty.”

“Suppose Daubrecq returns?”

“If he returns, that will be so much the better: we shall have him.”

“And, if he only passes?”

“In that case, the Growler and the Masher must follow him.”

“And if they lose sight of him?”

Lupin did not reply. No one felt more than he how fatal it was to remain inactive in a hotel bedroom and how useful his presence would have been on the battlefield! Perhaps even this vague idea had already prolonged his illness beyond the ordinary limits.

He murmured: