813 - Maurice LeBlanc (best short novels of all time TXT) 📗

in an hour’s time. In the following week, after more peregrinations, he went back home to Dresden. The expedition was over.”

“And what was the object of the expedition?”

“The grand-duke never breathed a word about it to his servant. But certain particulars and the coincidence of facts that ensued enabled the man to build up the truth, at least, in part.”

“Quick, Steinweg, time is running short now; and I am eager to know.”

“A fortnight after the expedition, Count von Waldemar, an officer in the Emperor’s bodyguard and one of his personal friends, called on the grand-duke, accompanied by six men. He was there all day, locked up with the grand-duke in his study. There were repeated sounds of altercations, of violent disputes. One phrase even was overheard by the servant, who was passing through the garden, under the windows: ‘Those papers were handed to you; His imperial Majesty is sure of it. If you refuse to give them to me of your own free will…’ The rest of the sentence, the meaning of the threat and, for that matter, the whole scene can be easily guessed by what followed; Hermann’s house was ransacked from top to bottom.”

“But that is against the law.”

“It would have been against the law if the grand-duke had objected; but he himself accompanied the count in his search.”

“And what were they looking for? The chancellor’s memoirs?”

“Something better than that. They were looking for a parcel of secret documents which were known to exist, owing to indiscretions that had been committed, and which were known for certain to have been entrusted to the Grand-duke Hermann’s keeping.”

Lupin muttered, excitedly:

“Secret documents… and very important ones, no doubt?”

“Of the highest importance. The publication of those papers would lead to results which it would be impossible to foresee, not only from the point of view of home politics, but also from that of Germany’s relations with the foreign powers.”

“Oh!” said Lupin, throbbing with emotion. “Oh, can it be possible? What proof have you?”

“What proof? The evidence of the grand-duke’s wife, the confidences which she made to the servant after her husband’s death.”

“Yes… yes…” stammered Lupin. “We have the evidence of the grand-duke himself.”

“Better still,” said Steinweg.

“What?”

“A document, a document written in his own hand, signed by him and containing…”

“Containing what?”

“A list of the secret papers confided to his charge.”

“Tell me, in two words….”

“In two words? That can’t be done. The document is a very long one, scattered all over with annotations and remarks which are sometimes impossible to understand. Let me mention just two titles which obviously refer to two bundles of secret papers: Original letters of the Crown Prince to Bismarck is one. The dates show that these letters were written during the three months of the reign of Frederick III. To picture what the letters may contain, you have only to think of the Emperor Frederick’s illness, his quarrels with his son…”

“Yes, yes, I know… And the other title?”

“Photographs of the letters of Frederick III., and the Empress Victoria to the Queen of England.”

“Do you mean to say that that’s there?” asked Lupin, in a choking voice. Ç

“Listen to the grand-duke’s notes: Text of the treaty with Great Britain and France. And these rather obscure words: ‘Alsace-Lorraine… Colonies… Limitation of naval armaments…’”

“It says that?” blurted Lupin. “And you call that obscure?… Why, the words are dazzling with light!… Oh, can it be possible?… And what next, what next?”

As he spoke there was a noise at the door. Some one was knocking.

“You can’t come in,” said Lupin. “I am busy…. Go on, Steinweg.”

“But…” said the old man, in a great state of alarm.

The door was shaken violently and Lupin recognized Weber’s voice. He shouted:

“A little patience, Weber. I shall have done in five minutes.”

He gripped the old man’s arm and, in a tone of command:

“Be easy and go on with you story. So, according to you, the expedition of the grand duke and his servant to Veldenz Castle had no other object than to hide those papers?”

“There can be no question about that.”

“Very well. But the grand-duke may have taken them away since.”

“No, he did not leave Dresden until his death.”

“But the grand-duke’s enemies, the men who had everything to gain by recovering them and destroying them: can’t they have tried to find out where the papers were?”

“They have tried.”

“How do you know?”

“You can understand that I did not remain inactive and that my first care, after receiving those revelations, was to go to Veldenz and make inquiries for myself in the neighboring villages. Well, I learnt that, on two separate occasions, the castle was invaded by a dozen men, who came from Berlin furnished with credentials to the regents.”

“Well?”

“Well, they found nothing, for, since that time, the castle has been found closed to the public.”

“But what prevents anybody from getting in?”

“A garrison of fifty soldiers, who keep watch day and night.”

“Soldiers of the grand-duchy?”

No, soldiers drafted from the Emperor’s own bodyguard.”

The din in the passage increased:

“Open the door!” a voice cried. “I order you to open the door!”

“I can’t, Weber, old chap; the lock has stuck. If you take my advice, you had better cut the door all round the lock.”

“Open the door!”

“And what about the fate of Europe, which we are discussing?”

He turned to the old man:

“So you were not able to enter the castle?”

“No,”

“But you are persuaded that the papers in question are hidden there?”

“Look here, haven’t I given you proofs enough? Aren’t you convinced?”

“Yes, yes,” muttered Lupin, “that’s where they are hidden… there’s no doubt about it… that’s where they are hidden…”

He seemed to see the castle. He seemed to conjure up the mysterious hiding-place. And the vision of an inexhaustible treasure, the dream of chests filled with riches and precious stones could not have excited him more than the idea of those few scraps of paper watched over by the Kaiser’s guards. What a wonderful conquest to embark upon! And how worthy of his powers! And what a proof of perspicacity and intuition he had once more given by throwing himself at a venture upon that unknown track!

Outside, the men were “working” at the lock.

Lupin asked of old Steinweg:

“What did the grand-duke die of?”

“An attack of pleurisy, which carried him off in a few days. He hardly recovered consciousness before the end; and the horrible thing appears to have been that he was seen to make violent efforts, between his fits of delirium, to collect his thoughts and utter connected words. From time to time, he called his wife, looked at her in a desperate way and vainly moved his lips.”

“In a word, he spoke?” said Lupin, cutting him short, for the “working” at the lock was beginning to make him anxious.

“No, he did not speak. But, in a comparatively lucid moment, he summoned up the energy to make some marks on a piece of paper which his wife gave him.”

“Well, those marks…?”

“They were illegible, for the most part.”

“For the most part? But the others?” asked Lupin, greedily. “The others?”

“There were, first, three perfectly distinct figures: an 8, a 1, and a 3…”

“Yes, 813, I know… and next?”

“And next, there were some letters… several letters, of which all that can be made out for certain are a group of three followed, immediately after, by a group of two letters.”

“‘APO ON,’ is that it?”

“Oh, so you know!…”

The lock was yielding; almost all the screws had been taken out. Lupin, suddenly alarmed at the thought of being interrupted, asked:

“So that this incomplete word ‘APO ON’ and the number 813 are the formulas which the grand-duke bequeathed to his wife and son to enable them to find the secret papers?”

“Yes.”

“What became of the grand-duke’s wife?”

“She died soon after her husband, of grief, one might say.”

“And was the child looked after by the family?”

“What family? The grand-duke had no brothers or sisters. Moreover, he was only morganatically and secretly married. No, the child was taken away by Hermann’s old manservant, who brought him up under the name of Pierre Leduc. He was a bad type of boy, self-willed, capricious and troublesome. One day, he went off and was never seen again.”

“Did he know the secret of his birth?”

“Yes; and he was shown the sheet of paper on which Hermann III., had written the letters and figures.”

“And after that this revelation was made to no one but yourself?”

“That’s all.”

“And you confided only in Mr. Kesselbach?”

“Yes. But, out of prudence, while showing him the sheet of letters and figures and the list of which I spoke to you, I kept both those documents in my own possession. Events have proved that I was right.”

Lupin was now dinging to the door with both hands:

“Weber,” he roared, “you’re very indiscreet! I shall report you!… Steinweg, have you those documents?”

“Yes.”

“Are they in a safe place?”

“Absolutely.”. “In Paris?”

“No.”

“So much the better. Don’t forget that your life is in danger and that you have people after you.”

“I know. The least false step and I am done for.”

“Exactly. So take your precautions, throw the enemy off the scent, go and fetch your papers and await my instructions. The thing is cut and dried. In a month, at latest, we will go to Veldenz Castle together.”

“Suppose I’m in prison?”

“I will take you out.”

“Can you?”

“The very day after I come out myself. No, I’m wrong: the same evening… an hour later.”

“You have the means?”

“Since the last ten minutes, an infallible means. You have nothing more to say to me?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll open the door.”

He pulled back the door, and bowing to M. Weber:

“My poor old Weber, I don’t know what excuse to make…”

He did not finish his sentence. The sudden inrush of the deputy-chief and three policeman left him no time.

M. Weber was white with rage and indignation. The sight of the two men lying outstretched quite unsettled him.

“Dead!” he exclaimed.

“Not a bit of it, not a bit of it,” chuckled Lupin, “only asleep! Formerie was tired out… so I allowed him a few moments’ rest.”

“Enough of this humbug!” shouted M. Weber. And, turning to the policemen, “Take him back to the Sante. And keep your eyes open, damn it! As for this visitor…”

Lupin learnt nothing more as to Weber’s intentions with regard to old Steinweg. A crowd of municipal guards and police constables hustled him down to the prison-van.

On the stairs Doudeville whispered:

“Weber had a line to warn him. It told him to mind the confrontation and to be on his guard with Steinweg. The note was signed ‘L. M.’”

But Lupin hardly bothered his head about all this. What did he care for the murderer’s hatred or old Steinweg’s fate? He possessed Rudolf Kesselbach’s secret!