The Crystal Stopper - Maurice Leblanc (best ereader for epub .txt) 📗

Then he rang the bell again:

“Clémence,” he said, to the portress, “did you go to school as a child?”

“Yes, sir, of course I did.”

“And were you taught arithmetic?”

“Why, sir⁠ ⁠…”

“Well, you’re not very good at subtraction.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because you don’t know that nine minus eight equals one. And that, you see, is a fact of the highest importance. Life becomes impossible if you are ignorant of that fundamental truth.”

He rose, as he spoke, and walked round the room, with his hands behind his back, swaying upon his hips. He did so once more. Then, stopping at the dining-room, he opened the door:

“For that matter, there’s another way of putting the problem. Take eight from nine; and one remains. And the one who remains is here, eh? Correct! And monsieur supplies us with a striking proof, does he not?”

He patted the velvet curtain in which Lupin had hurriedly wrapped himself:

“Upon my word, sir, you must be stifling under this! Not to say that I might have amused myself by sticking a dagger through the curtain. Remember Hamlet’s madness and Polonius’ death: ‘How now! A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!’ Come along, Mr. Polonius, come out of your hole.”

It was one of those positions to which Lupin was not accustomed and which he loathed. To catch others in a trap and pull their leg was all very well; but it was a very different thing to have people teasing him and roaring with laughter at his expense. Yet what could he answer back?

“You look a little pale, Mr. Polonius⁠ ⁠… Hullo! Why, it’s the respectable old gentleman who has been hanging about the square for some days! So you belong to the police too, Mr. Polonius? There, there, pull yourself together, I shan’t hurt you!⁠ ⁠… But you see, Clémence, how right my calculation was. You told me that nine spies had been to the house. I counted a troop of eight, as I came along, eight of them in the distance, down the avenue. Take eight from nine and one remains: the one who evidently remained behind to see what he could see. Ecce homo!”

“Well? And then?” said Lupin, who felt a mad craving to fly at the fellow and reduce him to silence.

“And then? Nothing at all, my good man⁠ ⁠… What more do you want? The farce is over. I will only ask you to take this little note to Master Prasville, your employer. Clémence, please show Mr. Polonius out. And, if ever he calls again, fling open the doors wide to him. Pray look upon this as your home, Mr. Polonius. Your servant, sir!⁠ ⁠…”

Lupin hesitated. He would have liked to talk big and to come out with a farewell phrase, a parting speech, like an actor making a showy exit from the stage, and at least to disappear with the honours of war. But his defeat was so pitiable that he could think of nothing better than to bang his hat on his head and stamp his feet as he followed the portress down the hall. It was a poor revenge.

“You rascally beggar!” he shouted, once he was outside the door, shaking his fist at Daubrecq’s windows. “Wretch, scum of the earth, deputy, you shall pay for this!⁠ ⁠… Oh, he allows himself⁠ ⁠… ! Oh, he has the cheek to⁠ ⁠… ! Well, I swear to you, my fine fellow, that, one of these days⁠ ⁠…”

He was foaming with rage, all the more as, in his innermost heart, he recognized the strength of his new enemy and could not deny the masterly fashion in which he had managed this business. Daubrecq’s coolness, the assurance with which he hoaxed the police-officials, the contempt with which he lent himself to their visits at his house and, above all, his wonderful self-possession, his easy bearing and the impertinence of his conduct in the presence of the ninth person who was spying on him: all this denoted a man of character, a strong man, with a well-balanced mind, lucid, bold, sure of himself and of the cards in his hand.

But what were those cards? What game was he playing? Who held the stakes? And how did the players stand on either side? Lupin could not tell. Knowing nothing, he flung himself headlong into the thick of the fray, between adversaries desperately involved, though he himself was in total ignorance of their positions, their weapons, their resources and their secret plans. For, when all was said, he could not admit that the object of all those efforts was to obtain possession of a crystal stopper!

One thing alone pleased him: Daubrecq had not penetrated his disguise. Daubrecq believed him to be in the employ of the police. Neither Daubrecq nor the police, therefore, suspected the intrusion of a third thief in the business. This was his one and only trump, a trump that gave him a liberty of action to which he attached the greatest importance.

Without further delay, he opened the letter which Daubrecq had handed him for the secretary-general of police. It contained these few lines:

“Within reach of your hand, my dear Prasville, within reach of your hand! You touched it! A little more and the trick was done⁠ ⁠… But you’re too big a fool. And to think that they couldn’t hit upon anyone better than you to make me bite the dust. Poor old France!

“Goodbye, Prasville. But, if I catch you in the act, it will be a bad lookout for you: my maxim is to shoot at sight.

“Daubrecq”

“Within reach of your hand,” repeated Lupin, after reading the note. “And to think that the rogue may be writing the truth! The most elementary hiding-places are the safest. We must look into this, all the same. And, also, we must find out why Daubrecq is the object of such strict supervision and obtain a few particulars about the fellow generally.”

The information supplied to Lupin by a private inquiry-office consisted of the following details:

“Alexis Daubrecq, deputy of the Bouches-du-Rhône for the past two years; sits among the