Maurice Leblanc

“ Exactly!... That is how our sick man, tricking his worthy medical attendant, used to get up at night in full security, fasten his rope-ladder to the balcony and prepare his little games. He's no fool, is friend Darcieux!”
He drew the bolts and returned to Jeanne's room. The doctor, who was just coming out of the doorway, drew him to the little dining-room:
“She's asleep, don't let us disturb her. She has had a bad shock and will take some time to recover.” ”

“ I know nothing. All I can say is that the situation is most tragic and that we must be prepared for the worst. Death is here, doctor, shadowing the people in this house; and it will soon strike at those whom it is pursuing.”
“What's to be done?”
“Watch, doctor. Let us pretend that we are alarmed about M. Darcieux's health and spend the night in here. The bedrooms of both the father and daughter are close by. If anything happens, we are sure to hear.”
There was an easy-chair in the room. They arranged to sleep in it turn and turn about.
In reality, Lupin slept for only two or three hours. ”

“ She had gone nearly two thirds of the distance that separated her from Lupin when there came a furious sound of barking and a huge dog, a colossal Danish boarhound, sprang from a neighbouring kennel and stood erect at the end of the chain by which it was fastened.
The girl moved a little to one side, without paying further attention to what was doubtless a daily incident. The dog grew angrier than ever, standing on its legs and dragging at its collar, at the risk of strangling itself. ”

“ Darcieux, therefore, was nearly twenty-one, that is to say, she was on the verge of attaining her majority. I at once saw that this was an important detail. The day on which you reach your majority is the day on which your accounts are rendered. What was the financial position of Mlle. Darcieux, who was her mother's natural heiress? Of course, I did not think of the father for a second. To begin with, one can't imagine a thing like that; and then the farce which M. Darcieux was playing ... helpless, bedridden, ill....”
“Really ill,” interrupted the doctor. ”

“ That's settled, is it not?”
“Yes,” she said, absolutely dominated by Lupin's gentle and imperious voice.
“In that case,” he said, “be as quick as you can ... and do not stir from your room....”
“But,” said the girl, with a shudder, “am I to stay alone to-night?”
“Fear nothing. Should there be the least danger, the doctor and I will come back. Do not open your door unless you hear three very light taps.”
Jeanne at once rang for her maid. The doctor went to M. Darcieux, while Lupin had some supper brought to him in the little dining-room. ”

“ Thinking that he was rid of his only adversary, he went back to the house. I saw him prowl about for two hours. Then, making up his mind, he went to the coach-house, took a ladder and set it against the window. I had only to follow him.”
The doctor reflected and said:
“You could have collared him earlier. Why did you let him come up? It was a sore trial for Jeanne ... and unnecessary.”
“On the contrary, it was indispensable! Mlle. Darcieux would never have accepted the truth. It was essential that she should see the murderer's very face. You must tell her all the circumstances when she wakes. ”

“ It would be a pity if any harm were to come to her. Luckily, Arsène Lupin is keeping his weather-eye open.”
Taking care not to be seen, with eyes and ears attentive to the least sight or sound, he inspected every nook and corner of the grounds, looked for the little low door which he had noticed outside and which was the door of the kitchen garden, drew the bolt, took the key and then skirted the walls and found himself once more near the tree which he had climbed. Two minutes later, he was mounting his motor-cycle. ”

“ Is the window open in your dressing-room?”
“Yes ... would you like me to ...?”
“No, leave it as it is. They are coming.”
“They are coming!” spluttered Jeanne, in affright.
“Yes, beyond a doubt.”
“But who? Do you suspect any one?”
“I don't know who.... I expect that there is some one hidden in the house ... or in the park.”
“Oh, I feel so frightened!”
“Don't be frightened. The sportsman who's looking after you seems jolly clever and makes a point of playing a safe game. I expect he's on the look-out in the court.”
The doctor put out the night-light, went to the window and raised the blind. ”

“ My journey to Paris revealed the truth to me: Mlle. Darcieux inherits a large fortune from her mother, of which her step-father draws the income. The solicitor was to have called a meeting of the family in Paris next month. ”

“ A narrow cornice, running along the first story, prevented him from seeing more than a distant part of the courtyard; and he came back and sat down by the bed.
Some very painful minutes passed, minutes that appeared to them interminably long. The clock in the village struck; but, taken up as they were with all the little noises of the night, they hardly noticed the sound. ”

“ Then, taking a direction opposite to that in which the doctor had gone, he branched off to the right and skirted the wall until he came to the clump of trees near which he had hidden his motor-cycle on the day before.
Eleven o'clock struck. He calculated the time which it would take the doctor to cross the kitchen-garden and make his way into the house.
“That's one point scored!” he muttered. “Everything's all right on that side. And now, Lupin to the rescue? The enemy won't be long before he plays his last trump ... ”

“ It meant ruin to M. Darcieux.”
“Then he had put no money by?”
“Yes, but he had lost a great deal as the result of unfortunate speculations.”
“But, after all, Jeanne would not have taken the management of her fortune out of his hands!”
“There is one detail which you do not know, doctor, and which I learnt from reading the torn letter. Mlle. Darcieux is in love with the brother of Marceline, her Versailles friend; M. Darcieux was opposed to the marriage; and—you now see the reason—she was waiting until she came of age to be married.”
“You're right,” said the doctor, “you're right.... ”

“ No, for he never stirs from his room. But his is such a mysterious illness!... He has no strength ... he cannot walk at all.... In addition to that, he is subject to fits of suffocation, as though his heart stopped beating.... ”