The Blonde Lady

"Next?"

"Next," said Holmlock Shears, in a more serious voice, "I shall take M. Destange to 134, Avenue Henri-Martin, and together we will try to discover how Baron d'Hautrec...."

"Hush, hush!" stammered the girl, in sudden dismay. "You must not…! Do you dare to say it was I…? Do you accuse me…?"

"I accuse you of killing Baron d'Hautrec."

"No, no; this is monstrous!"

"You killed Baron d'Hautrec, mademoiselle. You entered his service under the name of Antoinette Bréhat, with the intention of robbing him of the blue diamond, and you killed him."

Again she murmured, breaking down and reduced to entreaties:

"Hush, monsieur, I beg.... As you know so much, you must also know that I did not murder the baron."

"I did not say that you murdered him, mademoiselle. Baron d'Hautrec was subject to fits of insanity which only Sœur Auguste was able to check. She has told me this herself. He must have thrown himself upon you in her absence; and it was in the course of the ensuing struggle that you struck at him, in self-defence. Appalled by what you had done, you rang the bell and fled, without even taking from his finger the blue diamond which you had come to secure. A moment later, you returned with one of Lupin's accomplices, a man-servant in the next house, lifted the baron on to his bed and arranged the room … but still without daring to take the blue diamond. That's what happened. Therefore, I repeat, you did not murder the baron. And yet it was your hands that killed him."

She was holding them clasped before her forehead, her slim, white, delicate hands, and she kept them long like that, motionless. Then, uncrossing her fingers, she showed her sorrow-stricken face and said:

"And you mean to tell all this to my father?"

"Yes; and I shall tell him that I have as witnesses Mlle. Gerbois, who will recognize the blonde lady, Sœur Auguste, who will recognize Antoinette Bréhat, the Comtesse de Crozon, who will recognize Mme. de Réal. That is what I shall tell him."

"You will not dare!" she said, recovering her presence of mind, in the face of immediate danger.

He rose and took a step toward the library. Clotilde stopped him:

"One moment, monsieur."

She reflected and, now fully mistress of herself, asked, very calmly:

"You are Holmlock Shears, are you not?"

"Yes."

"What do you want with me?"

"What do I want? I have entered upon a contest with Arsène Lupin from which I must emerge the winner. Pending a result which cannot be far distant, I am of opinion that a hostage as valuable as yourself will give me a considerable advantage over my adversary. You shall go with me, therefore, mademoiselle, and I will place you under the care of a friend of mine. As soon as my object is attained, you shall be set free."

"Is that all?"

"That is all. I do not belong to the police of your country and consequently I claim no … no justiciary rights."

Her mind appeared made up. However, she asked for a moment's delay. Her eyelids closed and Shears stood watching her, suddenly grown calm, almost indifferent to the perils that threatened her.

"I wonder," thought the Englishman, "if she believes herself to be in danger? Probably not, with Lupin to protect her. With Lupin there, nothing can happen to her, she thinks: Lupin is omnipotent, Lupin is infallible.... Mademoiselle," he said aloud, "I spoke of five minutes: it is now more than thirty."

"May I go to my room, monsieur, and fetch my things?"

"If you like, mademoiselle, I will go and wait for you in the Rue Montchanin. I am a great friend of Jeanniot, the concierge."

"Ah, so you know…!" she said, with visible dismay.

"I know a great many things."

"Very well. Then I will ring."

The servant brought her hat and cloak and Shears said:

"You must give M. Destange some reason to explain our departure and the reason must be enough, in case of need, to explain your absence for two or three days."

"That is unnecessary. I shall be back presently."

Again, they exchanged a defiant glance, skeptical, both of them, and smiling.

"How you trust him!" said Shears.

"Blindly."

"Whatever he does is right, is it not? Whatever he wishes is realized. And you approve of everything and are prepared to do everything for his sake."

"I love him," she said, with a tremor of passion.

"And you believe that he will save you?"

She shrugged her shoulders and, going up to her father, told him:

"I am robbing you of M. Stickmann. We are going to the National Library."

"Will you be back to lunch?"

"Perhaps … or more likely not … but don't worry about me, in any case...."

And, in a firm voice, she said to Shears:

"I am ready, monsieur."

"Without reserve?" he whispered.

"With my eyes closed."

"If you try to escape, I shall shout and call for help, you will be arrested and it will mean prison. Don't forget that there is a warrant out against the blonde lady."

"I swear to you on my honour that I will make no attempt to escape."

"I believe you. Let us go."

They left the house together, as he had foretold.

The motor-cab had turned round and was waiting in the square. They could see the driver's back and his cap, which was almost covered by the upturned collar of his fur. As they approached, Shears heard the humming of the engine. He opened the door, asked Clotilde to step in and sat down beside her.

The car started with a jerk and soon reached the outer boulevards, the Avenue Hoche, the Avenue de la Grande-Armée.

Shears was thinking out his plans:

"Ganimard is at home.... I shall leave the girl with him.... Shall I tell him who she is? No, he would take her straight to the police-station, which would put everything out. As soon as I am alone, I will consult the M. B. list and set out on my chase. And, to-night, or to-morrow morning at latest, I shall go to Ganimard, as arranged, and deliver Arsène Lupin and his gang to him."

He rubbed his hands, glad to feel that his object was at last within his reach and to see that there was no serious obstacle in the way. And, yielding to a need for expansion, which was not in keeping with his usual nature, he said:

"Forgive me, mademoiselle, for displaying so much satisfaction. It was a difficult fight and I find my success particularly agreeable."

"A legitimate success, monsieur, in which you have every right to rejoice."

"Thank you. But what a funny way we are going! Didn't the man understand?"

At that moment, they were leaving Paris by the Porte de Neuilly. What on earth!… After all, the Rue Pergolèse was not outside the fortifications!

Shears let down the glass:

"I say, driver, you're going wrong.... Rue Pergolèse!…"

The man made no reply. Shears repeated, in a louder voice:

"I'm telling you to go to the Rue Pergolèse."

The man took no notice.

"Look here, my man, are you deaf? Or are you doing it on purpose?… This isn't where I told you to go.... Rue Pergolèse, do you hear!… Turn round at once and look sharp about it!"

Still no reply. The Englishman began to be alarmed. He looked at Clotilde: a queer smile was playing on the girl's lips.

"What are you laughing at?" he stormed. "This doesn't affect … it has nothing to say to...."

"Nothing in the very least," she replied.

Suddenly, he was taken aback by an idea. Half rising from his seat, he attentively scrutinized the man on the box. His shoulders were slimmer, his movements easier.... A cold sweat broke out on Shears's forehead, his hands contracted, while the most hideous conviction forced itself upon his mind: the man was Arsène Lupin.

"Well, Mr. Shears, what do you think of this little drive?"

"It's delightful, my dear sir, really delightful," replied Shears.

Perhaps he had never in his life made a more tremendous effort than it cost him to utter those words without a tremor in his voice, without anything that could betray the exasperation that filled his whole being. But, the minute after, he was carried away by a sort of formidable reaction; and a torrent of rage and hatred burst its banks, overcame his will, and made him suddenly draw his revolver and point it at Mlle. Destange.

"Lupin, if you don't stop this minute, this second, I fire at mademoiselle!"

"I advise you to aim at the cheek if you want to hit the temple," said Lupin, without turning his head.

Clotilde called out:

"Don't go too fast, Maxime! The pavement is very slippery, and you know how timid I am!"

She was still smiling, with her eyes fixed on the cobbles with which the road bristled in front of the car.

"Stop him, tell him to stop!" shouted Shears beside himself with fury. "You can see for yourself that I am capable of anything!"

The muzzle of the revolver grazed her hair.

"How reckless Maxime is!" she murmured. "We are sure to skid, at this rate."

Shears replaced the revolver in his pocket and seized the handle of the door, preparing to jump out, in spite of the absurdity of the act.

"Take care, Mr. Shears," said Clotilde. "There's a motor-car behind us."

He leant out. A car was following them, an enormous car, fierce-looking, with its pointed bonnet, blood-red in colour, and the four men in furs inside it.

"Ah," he said, "I'm well guarded! We must have patience!"

He crossed his arms on his chest, with the proud submission of those who bow and wait when fate turns against them. And while they crossed the Seine and tore through Suresnes, Rueil and Chatou, motionless and resigned, without anger or bitterness, he thought only of discovering by what miracle Arsène Lupin had put himself in the driver's place. That the decent fellow whom he had picked out that morning on the boulevard could be an accomplice, posted there of set purpose, he refused to admit. And yet Arsène Lupin must have received a warning and that only after the moment when he, Shears, had threatened Clotilde, for no one suspected his plan before. Now from that moment Clotilde and he had not left each other's presence.

Suddenly, he remembered the girl's telephoning to her dressmaker. And, all at once, he understood. Even before he spoke, at the very moment when he asked for an interview as M. Destange's new secretary, she had scented danger, guessed the visitor's name and object and, coolly, naturally, as though she were really doing what she appeared to do, had summoned Lupin to her aid, under the pretense of speaking to one of her tradespeople and by means of a formula known to themselves alone.

How Arsène Lupin had come, how that motor-cab in waiting, with its throbbing engine, had aroused his suspicion, how he had bribed the driver: all this mattered little. What interested Shears almost to the point of calming his rage was the recollection of that moment in which a mere woman, a woman in love, it is true, mastering her nerves, suppressing her instinct, controlling the features of her face and the expression of her eyes, had humbugged old Holmlock Shears.

What was he to do against a man served by such allies, a man who, by the sheer ascendancy of his authority, inspired a woman with such a stock of daring and energy?

They re-crossed the Seine and climbed the slope of Saint-Germain; but, five hundred yards beyond the town, the cab slowed down. The other car came up with it and the two stopped alongside. There was no one about.

"Mr. Shears," said Lupin, "may I trouble you to change cars? Ours is really so very slow!…"

"Certainly," said Shears, all the more politely, as he had no choice.

"Will you also permit me to lend you this fur, for we shall be going pretty fast, and to offer you a couple of sandwiches?… Yes, yes, take them: there's no telling when you will get any dinner."

The four men had alighted. One of them came up and, as he had taken off the goggles which disguised him, Shears recognized the gentleman in the frock-coat whom he had seen at the Restaurant Hongrois. Lupin gave him his instructions:

"Take the cab back to the driver from whom I hired it. You will find him waiting in the first wine-shop on the right in the Rue Legendre. Pay him the second thousand francs I promised him. Oh, I was forgetting: you might give Mr. Shears your goggles!"

He spoke a few words to Mlle. Destange, then took his seat at the wheel and drove off, with Shears beside him and one of his men behind.

Lupin had not exaggerated when saying that they would go "pretty fast." They travelled at a giddy pace from the first. The horizon rushed toward them, as though attracted by a mysterious force, and disappeared at the same moment, as though swallowed up by an abyss into which other things—trees, houses, plains and forests—plunged with the tumultuous speed of a torrent rushing down to the pool below.

Shears and Lupin did not exchange a word. Above their heads, the leaves of the poplars made a great noise as of waves, punctuated by the regular spacing of the trees. And town after town vanished from sight: Mantes, Vernon, Gaillon. From hill to hill, from Bon-Secours to Canteleu, Rouen, with her suburbs, her harbour, her miles upon miles of quays, Rouen seemed no more than the high-street of a market-town. And they rushed through Duclair, through Caudebec, through the Pays de Caux, skimming over its hills and plains in their powerful flight, through Lillebonne, through Quille-beuf. And, suddenly, they were on the bank of the Seine, at the end of a small quay, alongside which lay a steam-yacht, built on sober and powerful lines, with black smoke curling up from her funnel.

The car stopped. They had covered over a hundred miles in two hours.

A man dressed in a blue pea-jacket came forward and touched his gold-laced cap.

"Well done, captain!" said Lupin. "Did you get my telegram?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is the Hirondelle ready?"

"Quite ready, sir."

"In that case, Mr. Shears…?"

The Englishman looked around him, saw a group of people seated outside a café, another a little nearer, hesitated for a moment and then, realizing that, before any one could interfere, he would be seized, forced on board and packed off at the bottom of the hold, he crossed the foot-plank and followed Lupin into the captain's cabin.

It was roomy, specklessly clean and shone brightly with its varnished wainscoting and gleaming brass.

Lupin closed the door and, without beating about the bush, said to Shears, almost brutally:

"Tell me exactly how much you know."

"Everything."

"Everything? I want details."

His voice had lost the tone of politeness, tinged with irony, which he adopted toward the Englishman. Instead, it rang with the imperious accent of the master who is accustomed to command and accustomed to see every one bow before his will, even though it be a Holmlock Shears.

They eyed each other now from head to foot as enemies, declared and passionate enemies.

Lupin resumed, with a touch of nervousness:

"You have crossed my path, sir, on several occasions. Each occasion has been one too many; and I am tired of wasting my time avoiding the traps you lay for me. I warn you, therefore, that my conduct toward you will depend upon your answer. How much exactly do you know?"

"Everything, I tell you."

Arsène Lupin mastered his annoyance and jerked out:

"I will tell you what you know. You know that, under the name of Maxime Bermond, I … 'touched up' fifteen houses built by M. Destange."

"Yes."

"Of those fifteen houses, you know four."

"Yes."

"And you have a list of the eleven others."

"Yes."

"You made out the list at M. Destange's, last night, no doubt."

"Yes."

"And, as you presume that, among those eleven properties, there must inevitably be one which I keep for my own needs and those of my friends, you have instructed Ganimard to take the field and discover my retreat."

"No."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am acting alone and that I intended to take the field alone."

"So I have nothing to fear, seeing that I have you in my hands."

"You have nothing to fear so long as I remain in your hands."

"You mean to say that you will not remain?"

"I do."

Arsène Lupin went up to Holmlock Shears and placed his hand very gently on the Englishman's shoulder:

"Listen to me, sir. I am not in the mood for argument and you, unfortunately for yourself, are not in a position to check me. Let us put an end to this."

"Yes, let us."

"You shall give me your word of honour not to attempt to escape from this boat until she reaches English waters."

"I give you my word of honour that I shall attempt to escape by every means in my power," said Shears, nothing daunted.

"But, dash it all, you know I have only to speak a word to reduce you to helplessness! All these men obey me blindly. At a sign from me, they will put a chain round your neck...."

"Chains can be broken."

"And throw you overboard at ten miles from the coast."

"I can swim."

"Well said," cried Lupin, laughing. "Heaven forgive me, but I lost my temper! Accept my apology, maître … and let us conclude. Will you allow me to seek the necessary measures for my safety and that of my friends?"

"Any measures you like. But they are useless."

"Agreed. Still, you will not mind if I take them?"

"It's your duty."

"To work, then."

Lupin opened the door and called the captain and two of the crew. The latter seized the Englishman and, after searching him, bound his legs together and tied him down in the captain's berth.

"That will do," ordered Lupin. "Really, sir, nothing short of your obstinancy and the exceptional gravity of the circumstances would have allowed me to venture...."

The sailors withdrew. Lupin said to the captain:

"Captain, one of the crew must remain in the cabin to wait on Mr. Shears and you yourself must keep him company as much as you can. Let him be treated with every consideration. He is not a prisoner, but a guest. What is the time by your watch, captain?"

"Five minutes past two."

Lupin looked at his own watch and at a clock which hung on the cabin-wall:

"Five minutes past two?… Our watches agree. How long will it take you to reach Southampton?"

"Nine hours, without hurrying."

"Make it eleven. You must not touch land before the departure of the steamer which leaves Southampton at midnight and is due at the Havre at eight in the morning. You understand, captain, do you not? I repeat: it would be exceedingly dangerous for us all if this gentleman returned to France by the steamer; and you must not arrive at Southampton before one o'clock in the morning."

"Very well, sir."

"Good-bye, maître," said Lupin, turning to Shears. "We shall meet next year, in this world or another."

"Let's say to-morrow."

A few minutes later, Shears heard the car drive away and the engines of the Hirondelle at once began to throb with increased force. The yacht threw off her moorings. By three o'clock they had left the estuary of the Seine and entered the Channel. At that moment, Holmlock Shears lay sound asleep in the berth to which he was fastened down.

On the following morning, the tenth and last day of the war between the two great rivals, the Écho de France published this delicious paragraph:

"A decree of expulsion was pronounced by Arsène Lupin yesterday against Holmlock Shears, the English detective. The decree was published at noon and executed on the same day. Shears was landed at Southampton at one o'clock this morning."

CHAPTER VI

THE SECOND ARREST OF ARSÈNE LUPIN

By eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, a dozen pantechnicon vans were blocking the Rue Crevaux from the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne to the Avenue Bougeaud. M. Félix Davey was leaving the flat which he occupied on the fourth floor of No. 8. And, by a sheer coincidence—for the two gentlemen were not acquainted—M. Dubreuil, the expert, who had knocked into one the fifth-floor flat of No. 8 and the fifth-floor flats of the two adjoining houses, had selected the same day on which to send off the collection of furniture and antiques which used to be visited daily by one or other of his many foreign correspondents.

A peculiarity which attracted notice in the neighbourhood, but which was not mentioned until later, was that none of the twelve vans bore the name and address of the firm of removers and that none of the men in charge of them loitered in the wine-shops round about. They worked to such good purpose that all was over by eleven o'clock. Nothing remained but those piles of old papers and rags which are always left behind in the corners of empty rooms.

M. Félix Davey was a young man of smart appearance, dressed in the latest fashion, but carrying a heavily-weighted cane which seemed to indicate unusual muscular strength on the part of its owner. He walked away quietly and sat down on a bench in the cross alley which intersects the Avenue du Bois, opposite the Rue Pergolèse. Beside him sat a young woman, clad in the costume of the lower middle-class and reading her paper, while a child played with its spade in the sand beside her.

Presently, Félix Davey said to the woman, without turning his head:

"Ganimard?"

"Went out at nine o'clock this morning."

"Where to?"

"Police headquarters."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"No telegram last night?"

"No."

"Do they still trust you at the house?"

"Yes. I do odd work for Madame Ganimard and she tells me all her husband does.... We spent the morning together."

"Good. Continue to come here at eleven every morning, until further orders."

He rose and walked to the Pavillon Chinois, near the Porte Dauphine, where he took a frugal meal: two eggs, some vegetables and a little fruit. Then he returned to the Rue Crevaux and said to the concierge:

"I am going to have a look round upstairs and then I'll give you the keys."

He finished his inspection with the room which he used as a study. There he took hold of the end of a jointed gas-bracket which was fixed beside the chimney, unscrewed the brass nozzle, fitted a little funnel-shaped instrument to it and blew up the pipe.

A faint whistle sounded in reply. Putting the pipe to his mouth, he whispered:

"Any one there, Dubreuil?"

"No."

"Can I come up?"

"Yes."

He replaced the bracket, saying, as he did so:

"Where will progress stop? Our age teems with little inventions that make life really charming and picturesque. And so amusing too … especially when a man knows the game of life as I know it!"

He touched one of the marble mouldings of the mantel-piece and made it swing round on a pivot. The marble slab itself moved and the mirror above it slid between invisible grooves, revealing a yawning gap which contained the lower steps of a staircase built in the body of the chimney itself. It was all very clean, in carefully-polished iron and white porcelain tiles.

He climbed up to the fifth floor, which had a similar opening over the mantel-piece, and found M. Dubreuil awaiting him:

"Is everything finished here?"

"Everything."

"All cleared up?"

"Quite."

"The staff?"

"All gone, except the three men keeping watch."

"Let's go up."

They climbed by the same way to the servants' floor and emerged in a garret where they found three men, one of whom was looking out of the window.

"Any news?"

"No, governor."

"Is the street quiet?"

"Absolutely."

"I shall leave for good in ten minutes.... You will go too. In the meantime, if you notice the least suspicious movement in the street, let me know."

"I've got my finger on the alarm-bell governor."

"Dubreuil, did you remember to tell the removers not to touch the bell-wires?"

"Yes. They work perfectly."

"That's all right, then."

The two gentlemen returned to Félix Davey's flat. And Davey, after readjusting the marble moulding, exclaimed, gaily:

"Dubreuil, I should love to see the faces of those who discover all these wonderful contrivances: alarm-bells, a network of electric wires and speaking-tubes, invisible passages, sliding floor-boards, secret staircases!… regular pantomime machinery!"

"What an advertisement for Arsène Lupin!"

"We could very well have done without the advertisement. It seems a pity to leave so fine an installation. We shall have to begin all over again, Dubreuil … and upon a new plan, of course, for it never does to repeat one's self. Confound that Shears!"