Maurice Leblanc

“ He was in prison, watched day and night. Tush! Did Lupin not know by his own experience that there are beings for whom prison does not exist and who throw off their chains at the given moment? And Louis de Malreich was one of those.
Yes, there was some one in the Sante prison, in the condemned man's cell. But it might be an accomplice or some victim of Malreich... while Malreich himself prowled around Bruggen Castle, slipped in under cover of the darkness, like an invisible spectre, made his way into the chalet in the park and, at night, raised his dagger against Lupin asleep and helpless. ”

“ Dolores' eyes were invisible under their lowered lids, the silky eyelids with the long black lashes. But how she seemed to feel that look of love which sought for hers! How she quivered under that impalpable caress!
"She loves him... she loves him," thought Lupin, burning with jealousy. ”

“ Pierre Leduc? No, Pierre Leduc did not smoke. Then who?
Dolores murmured:
"Be quick, please."
"Yes, yes, but first... would it be possible for you to tell me...?"
He interrupted himself. What was the use of asking her? If there were really a man in hiding, would she be likely to tell?
Then he made up his mind and, trying to overcome the sort of timid constraint that oppressed him at the sense of a strange presence, he said, in a very low voice, so that Dolores alone should hear:
"Listen, I have learnt something... which I do not understand... and which perplexes me greatly. ”

“ I do not know Pierre Leduc, I do not know Genevieve, I do not know Dolores... And I have treated them as so many jumping-jacks, whereas they are live persons. And today I am stumbling over obstacles."
He stamped his foot and cried:
"Over obstacles that do not exist! What do I care for the psychological state of Genevieve, of Pierre?... I will study that later, at Veldenz, when I have secured their happiness. But Dolores... she knew Malreich and said nothing!... Why? What relation united them? Was she afraid of him? ”

“ He was greatly excited and did not seem much disposed to put off the explanation, especially as, before entering the room, he thought he heard a sound.
Yet Dolores was alone and lying down. And she said, in her tired voice:
"Perhaps we might... tomorrow...."
He did not answer, suddenly struck by a smell that surprised him in that boudoir, a smell of tobacco. And, at once, he had the intuition, the certainty, that there was a man there, at the moment when he himself arrived, and that perhaps the man was there still, hidden somewhere.... ”

“ Another sound grated under the window, more plainly this time, but still so faint that it needed Lupin's trained ear to distinguish it.
Minutes, terrifying minutes.... The darkness was impenetrable. No light of star or moon relieved it.
And, suddenly, without hearing anything, he knew that the man was in the room.
And the man walked toward the bed. He walked as a ghost walks, without displacing the air of the room, without shaking the objects which he touched. ”

“ He saw a light in Dolores' boudoir. Then the light passed into the bedroom. In a few minutes, all was darkness.
He waited. If the enemy was there, perhaps he would come out of the castle....
An hour elapsed.... Two hours.... Not a sound....
"There's nothing to be done," thought Lupin. "Either he is burrowing in some corner of the castle... or else he has gone out by a door which I cannot see from here. Unless the whole thing is the most ridiculous supposition on my part...."
He lit a cigarette and walked back to the chalet. ”

“ Lupin went to Octave's, his chauffeur's, room, woke him and said:
"Take the motor and go to Paris. You will be there by six o'clock in the morning. See Jacques Doudeville and tell him two things: first, to give me news of the man under sentence of death; and secondly, as soon as the post-offices open, to send me a telegram which I will write down for you now...."
He worded the telegram on a scrap of paper and added:
"The moment you have done that, come back, but this way, along the wall of the park. Go now. No one must suspect your absence." ”

“ I mean a man who hides himself, a man whose presence you might have discovered or, less than that, whose presence you might have suspected from some clue or even by some intuition?"
"No.... Have you... ?"
"Yes. Some one is hiding here... some one is prowling about.... Where? And who is it? And what is his object? I don't know... but I shall know. I already have a suspicion. Do you, on your side, keep your eyes open and watch. And, above all, not a word to Mrs. Kesselbach.... It is no use alarming her...."
He went away.
Pierre Leduc, taken aback and upset, went back to the castle. ”

“ Softly, slowly, she raised her lids, turned her head a little and her eyes met the young man's eyes with the look that offers itself and surrenders itself and is more intense than the most intense of kisses. ”

“ Octave was back by ten o'clock in the morning:
"It's all right, governor. The telegram has been sent."
"Good. And is Louis de Malreich still in prison?"
"Yes. Doudeville passed his cell at the Sante last night as the warder was coming out. They talked together. Malreich is just the same, it appears: silent as the grave. He is waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"The fatal hour of course. They are saying at headquarters, that the execution will take place on the day after tomorrow."
"That's all right, that's all right," said Lupin. "And one thing is quite plain: he has not escaped." ”

“ He jumped out of bed, took his weapons and threw them into the passage:
"My hands, my hands alone! Nothing comes up to the grip of my hands!"
He went to bed again. Darkness and silence, once more. And, once more, his fear....
The village clock struck twelve....
Lupin thought of the foul monster who, outside, at a hundred yards, at fifty yards from where he lay, was trying the sharp point of his dagger:
"Let him come, let him come?" whispered Lupin, shuddering. "Then the ghosts will vanish...."
One o'clock, in the village.... ”

“ South Germany... all those disconnected, discontented states, crushed under the heel of the Prussian Charlemagne, but restless and ready to throw off the yoke at any moment.... Do you understand all that a man like myself can do in the midst of that, all the aspirations that he can kindle, all the hatred that he can produce, all the angry rebellion that he can inspire? ”

“ Octave!"
Octave appeared.
"Go and have your dinner at the castle, with the servants. Tell them you are going to Paris tonight, in the motor."
"With you, governor?"
"No, alone. And, as soon as dinner is over, make a start, ostensibly."
"But I am not to go to Paris...."
"No, remain outside the park, half a mile down the road, until I come. You will have a long wait."
He smoked another cigarette, went for a stroll, passed in front of the castle, saw a light in Dolores' rooms and then returned to the chalet.
There he took up a book. It was The Lives of Illustrious Men. ”

“ It was addressed to "Beauny," the name by which Lupin was known at Bruggen. And it contained these words:
"We know the whole truth. Revelations impossible by letter. Will take train tonight. Meet me eight o'clock tomorrow morning Bruggen station."
"Excellent!" said Lupin, who was watching Pierre Leduc's movements from a neighboring coppice. "Excellent! In two minutes from now, the young idiot will have shown Dolores the telegram and told her all my fears. They will talk about it all day. ”

“ On his way to the door, he came upon a low chair, which he had to move. But his foot knocked against something. He looked down. It was a little pocket-mirror, in ebony, with a gold monogram.
Suddenly, he started and snatched up the mirror. ”