Maurice Leblanc

“ Berangere is being hunted down by an extremely dangerous man.”
“Who is that?”
“Velmot.”
“Velmot?”
The count threw off all further disguise as useless and repeated:
“Velmot! Velmot! The enemy whom she loathes!... Yes, she has everything to fear from the man. Fortunately, he does not know where she is.” ”

“ And that other man's able make-up suddenly dropped away before my eyes to reveal the pallid features of the man Velmot.
I turned my head. The man had just made his way out of the band of onlookers who stood gathered round us and was slipping through the shifting masses of the crowd. I called out. I shouted his name. I dragged detectives in his wake. It was too late.
And so the man Velmot, the implacable enemy who had not hesitated to torture Massignac in order to extract my uncle Dorgeroux's formula from him, knew that Berangere was acquainted with the formula! ”

“ She did not see me. She was running, as though she had some one in pursuit of her, and taking advantage of every bit of shelter that the ruins offered. Presently a man appeared, looking for her and threatening her with a revolver which he carried in his hand.
“It's he!” I stammered. “It's Velmot!”
One after the other they entered the huddle of ruins, from which we were now separated by forty yards at most. We covered the distance in a few seconds and I rushed ahead towards the place through which Berangere had slipped. ”

“ It is the murderer. He is wrapped in a rain-coat whose upturned collar touches the lowered brim of his hat. He walks uneasily. He goes up to the lamp-post, looks around him, climbs up slowly and makes his way into the Yard. He follows the road which I myself took that day after him and thrusts forward his head as I did.
Noel Dorgeroux is standing before the screen. He has closed the recess and jotted down some notes in a book. The victim suspects nothing.
Then the man throws off his wrap and his hat. He turns his face in our direction. It is Massignac. ”

“ My companion and I struggled desperately against the branches which were cutting our faces. At length we emerged on a large platform, where at first we saw no one among the tall grass and the moss-grown rocks. ”