Maurice Leblanc

“ On the day before that fixed for the inauguration, the police were no wiser than on the first day in matters concerning the man Massignac, or Velmot's hiding-place, or the murderer's, or Berangere's. The same ignorance prevailed regarding Noel Dorgeroux's secret, the circumstances of his death and the ambiguous words which he had scribbled on the plaster of the wall. As for the miraculous visions which I have described, they were denied or accepted as vigorously and as unreasonably by both the disputing parties. In short, nobody knew anything. ”

“ A daughter's always a daughter, you know. So you can imagine how I jumped for joy when I read in the papers that she had come into money. I should at last be able to devote myself to her and to devote all my strength and all my energy to the great and wonderful task of defending her interests and her fortune.”
He spoke in a honeyed voice and assumed a false and unctuous air which exasperated me. I questioned him:
“How do you propose to fulfill that task?”
“Why, quite simply,” he replied, “by continuing Noel Dorgeroux's work.”
“In other words?”
“By throwing open the doors of the amphitheatre.” ”

“ My uncle told you of its existence, didn't he? And you... you were taking it to my uncle's murderers, so that they might have nothing more to fear and be the only persons to know the secret?... Speak, Berangere, will you?”
I had raised my voice and was advancing towards her. She took another step back.
“You shan't move, do you hear, Stay where you are. Listen to me and answer me!”
She made no further attempt to move. Her eyes were filled with such distress that I adopted a calmer demeanour:
“Answer me,” I said, very gently. ”

“ You know that, whatever you may have done, I am your friend, your indulgent friend, and that I mean to help you... and advise you. There are feelings which are proof against everything. Mine for you is of that sort. It is more than affection: you know it is, don't you, Berangere? ”

“ CHAPTER IX. THE MAN WHO EMERGED FROM THE DARKNESS “WHEN the time comes,” they had said, “some one will emerge from the darkness. When the time comes, some one will remove the mask from his face.”
That face now beamed expansively before me. That some one, who was about to play the game of the two accomplices, was Berangere's father. ”

“ Berangere merely glanced at the paper. Having found the object of her search and obtained possession of an additional document which my uncle had provided in case the manuscript should be lost, she folded it up, slipped it into her bodice, replaced the cardboard and hung the engraving where she had found it.
Was she going away? If so, she was bound to return as she had come, that is to say, evidently, through Noel Dorgeroux's dressing-room, on the other side of the bedroom, of which she had left the communicating-door ajar. ”

“ It read, 'Proprietor of the Yard wishes to purchase the two documents necessary for working. He can be seen this evening in the Place Vendome.' Nothing much in the advertisement, was there? But, to the possessors of the two documents, how clear in its meaning... and what a bait! To them it was the one opportunity of making a profit, for, with all the publicity attaching to the affair, they were unable to benefit by the result of their robberies without revealing their identity to the public. ”