Maurice Leblanc

“ Now, Danegre, three weeks before the murder, you abstracted the cook's key to the servants' door, and had a duplicate key made by a locksmith named Outard, 244 rue Oberkampf."
"It's a lie—it's a lie!"growled Victor. "No person has seen that key. There is no such key."
"Here it is."
After a silence, Grimaudan continued:
"You killed the countess with a knife purchased by you at the Bazar de la Republique on the same day as you ordered the duplicate key. It has a triangular blade with a groove running from end to end."
"That is all nonsense. You are simply guessing at something you don't know. ”

“ Who had seen the assassin's knife, and where is it now?
"In any event,"argued the prisoner's counsel, "the prosecution must prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the prisoner committed the murder. The prosecution must show that the mysterious individual who entered the house at three o'clock in the morning is not the guilty party. To be sure, the clock indicated eleven o'clock. But what of that? I contend, that proves nothing. The assassin could turn the hands of the clock to any hour he pleased, and thus deceive us in regard to the exact hour of the crime."
Victor Danegre was acquitted. ”

“ However frightful the circumstances may be, a man like Arsene Lupin controls himself and commands the situation as soon as he learns what it is. So, Arsene Lupin quickly brought his lantern into use. A woman was lying before him, covered with blood. ”

“ No one could know such a thing,"argues the desperate man.
"The police know nothing about it, of course. They never think of lighting a candle and examining the walls. But if they had done so, they would have found on the white plaster a faint red spot, quite distinct, however, to trace in it the imprint of your thumb which you had pressed against the wall while it was wet with blood. Now, as you are well aware, under the Bertillon system, thumb-marks are one of the principal means of identification."
Victor Danegre was livid ”

“ He dug up the wet earth. The point of his knife struck something. He enlarged the hole with his finger. Then he abstracted the black pearl from its filthy hiding-place.
"Good! Here are your two hundred francs. I will send you the ticket for America."
On the following day, this article was published in the `Echo de France,' and was copied by the leading newspapers throughout the world:
"Yesterday, the famous black pearl came into the possession of Arsene Lupin, who recovered it from the murderer of the Countess d'Andillot. ”

“ Did he have another key? These are matters that the police will investigate."
As a matter of fact, the police investigation threw no light on the mystery. It was learned that Victor Danegre was a dangerous criminal, a drunkard and a debauchee. But, as they proceeded with the investigation, the mystery deepened and new complications arose. In the first place, a young woman, Mlle. De Sincleves, the cousin and sole heiress of the countess, declared that the countess, a month before her death, had written a letter to her and in it described the manner in which the black pearl was concealed. ”

“ Three times, he obtained regular employment, only to be recognized and then discharged. Sometimes, he had an idea that men were following him— detectives, no doubt, who were seeking to trap and denounce him. ”