M. Lenormand

“ M. Lenormand's idea was correct and, with some little exertion, by pulling the earth, which he first loosened with his implement, towards him and making it fall into the tunnel, he was not long in digging a hole large enough to slip into.
"It's my turn, chief!" said Gourel.
"Aha, you're returning to life, I see! Well, fire away!... You have only to follow the shape of the pillar." ”

“ Again Pierre Leduc made a movement. The light was immediately put out; and, for an instant, the man remained beside the bed, motionless, standing straight up. Would he make up his mind to strike? M. Lenormand underwent the agony of the crime which he could so easily prevent, but which he did not want to forestall before the very last second.
A long, a very long silence. Suddenly, he saw or rather fancied that he saw an arm uplifted. Instinctively he moved, stretching his hand above the sleeper. In making this gesture, he hit against the man. ”

“ But his clothes, his overcoat, were so near that they brushed against the curtains behind which M. Lenormand was hiding.
"One movement on his part," thought the chief detective, "a thrill of alarm; and I shall collar him."
But the man, entirely absorbed in his examination, did not stir. At last, after shifting the dagger to the hand that held the lantern, he raised the sheet, at first hardly at all, then a little more, then more still, until the sleeper's left arm was uncovered and the hand laid bare. The flash of the lantern shone upon the hand. The fingers lay outspread. ”

“ The door opened. A man appeared, an old man with white whiskers meeting under his chin and a face furrowed with deep wrinkles, poorly clad and wearing the hunted look of those wretches who roam about the world in search of their daily pittance.
He stood on the threshold, blinking his eyelids, stared at M. Lenormand, seemed confused by the silence that greeted him on his entrance and turned his hat in his hands with embarrassment.
But, suddenly, he appeared stupefied, his eyes opened wide and he stammered:
"Mrs. . . . Mrs. Kesselbach!" ”

“ The next morning the newspapers published the following letter:
"Open Letter to M. Lenormand, Chief of the Detective-service.
"All my congratulations, dear sir and dear friend, on your arrest of Jerome the messenger. It was a smart piece of work, well executed and worthy of you.
"All my compliments, also, on the ingenious manner in which you proved to the prime minister that I was not Mr. Kesselbach's murderer. Your demonstration was clear, logical, irrefutable and, what is more, truthful. As you know, I do not kill people. ”

“ What!" said Steinweg, taking the case in his hands.
He looked at it with stupid eyes, examined it, turned it over in every direction and, suddenly, gave a cry, the cry of a man struck with a horrible idea. And he stood like, that, livid, with trembling hands and wild, staring eyes.
"Speak, come, speak!" said M. Lenormand.
"Oh," he said, as though blinded with light, "now all is explained!..."
"Speak, speak!"
He walked across to the windows with a tottering step, then returned and, rushing up to the chief detective:
"Sir, sir... Rudolf's murderer... I'll tell you.... Well..." ”

“ I fell down, and, as I fell, I thought I saw him open that door and drag the old man with him...."
"Would you know him again?"
"Oh yes, chief... a powerful fellow, very dark-skinned... a southerner of sorts, that's certain...."
"Ribeira," snarled M. Lenormand. "Always Ribeira!... Ribeira, alias Parbury.... Oh, the impudence of the scoundrel! He was afraid of what old Steinweg might say... and came to fetch him away under my very nose!" And, stamping his foot with anger, "But, dash it, how did he know that Steinweg was here, the blackguard! ”

“ M. Lenormand said a few words to Gourel, who went out. Then, going up to Auguste and speaking with great decision, he said:
"There's no way out of it. You're caught. The best thing to do, when the game is lost, is to throw down your cards. What were you doing on Tuesday?"
"I? Nothing. I was here."
"You lie. You were off duty. You went out for the day."
"Oh, yes . . . I remember . . . I had a friend to see me from the country. . . . We went for a walk in the Bois."
"Your friend's name was Marco. And you went for a walk in the cellars of the Crédit Lyonnais."
"I? What an idea! . . . Marco! . . . ”

“ The secret which he wished to reveal was at the tip of his tongue and he was not able, did not know how to translate it into words.
"Come," the deputy-chief insisted. "M. Lenormand is dead, surely?"
"No."
"He's alive?"
"Yes."
"I don't understand. . . . Look here, these clothes? This frock-coat? . . ."
Altenheim turned his eyes toward Sernine. An idea struck M. Weber:
"Ah, I see! Lupin stole M. Lenormand's clothes and reckoned upon using them to escape with. . . ."
"Yes . . . yes. . . ."
"Not bad," cried the deputy-chief. "It's quite a trick in his style. ”

“ Gourel took M. Lenormand's hand, led him downstairs and then into a little dark room:
"Don't stir, chief; we are in Pierre Leduc's dressing-room. I am opening the door of the recess in which his bed stands.... Don't be afraid... he has taken his veronal as he does every evening... nothing can wake him. Come this way.... It's a good hiding-place, isn't it?... These are the curtains of his bed.... From here you can see the window and the whole side of the room between the window and the bed." ”

“ On Tuesday, the 16th of April, a man — Lupin — broke into Mr. Kesselbach's room at about two o'clock in the afternoon...."
M. Lenormand was interrupted by a burst of laughter. It came from the prefect of police.
"Let me tell you, M. Lenormand, that you are in rather too great a hurry to state your precise facts. It has been shown that, at three o'clock on that day, Mr. Kesselbach walked into the Credit Lyonnais and went down to the safe deposit. His signature in the register proves it." ”

“ In spite of himself, he continued to think of the treble murder, the steel dagger. But no, it was impossible, the man had not had time, had not even had the need to strike, as he had found the road clear.
M. Lenormand jumped out in his turn and, switching on his lantern, recognized Gourel lying on the ground:
"Damn it!" he swore. "If they've killed him, they'll have to pay dearly for it."
But Gourel was not dead, only stunned; and, a few minutes later, he came to himself and growled:
"Only a blow of the fist, chief... just a blow of the fist which caught me full in the chest. ”

“ There's only one person who has the gift of cheering him up, of making him talk and even laugh. That's a young girl from Garches, to whom Prince Sernine introduced him. Genevieve Ernemont her name is. She has been here three times already... she was here today." He added, jestingly, "I believe there's a little flirting going on.... It's like his highness Prince Sernine and Mrs. Kesselbach.... It seems he's making eyes at her!... That devil of a Lupin!"
M. Lenormand did not reply. ”

“ After a moment's reflection, M. Lenormand said:
"There is no doubt possible. There were two of them in the Kesselbach case: the man with the dagger, who committed the murders, and his accomplice, the major!"
"That is what Prince Sernine thinks," muttered Jacques Doudeville.
"And tonight," continued the chief detective, "it is they again: the same two." And he added, "So much the better. The chance of catching two criminals is a hundred times greater than the chance of catching one." ”

“ If M. Lenormand has committed an imprudence that has cost him his life, as I suppose he did, at any rate he performed some good work first; and we have only to continue it. The enemy has the start of us, but we will catch him up."
"It won't be an easy job, governor."
"Why not? It is only a matter of finding old Steinweg again, for the answer to the riddle is in his hands."
"Yes, but where has Ribeira got old Steinweg tucked away?" ”

“ The two brothers, Jean and Jacques Doudeville, were there.
"No news of Prince Sernine?" asked Lenormand.
"No, chief."
"What about Pierre Leduc?"
"He spends the whole day lying flat on his back in his room on the ground-floor, or else in the garden. He never comes up to see us."
"Is he better?"
"Much better. The rest has made a great change in his appearance."
"Is he wholly devoted to Lupin?"
"To Prince Sernine, rather, for he does not suspect that the two are one and the same man. At least, I suppose so. One never knows, with him. He does not speak at all. Oh, he's a queer fish! ”

“ The creaking became more distinct.
"Go, Gourel," muttered M. Lenormand, "find the Doudevilles, bring them back to the foot of the wall and bar the road to any one who tries to get down this way."
Gourel went. At the same moment, a head appeared at the level of the window. Then a leg was flung over the balcony. M. Lenormand distinguished a slenderly-built man, below the middle height, dressed in dark colours and without a hat. ”

“ The same operation must have been performed on Gourel; and the same voice said:
"If they call out, kill them at once. Have you your dagger?"
"Yes."
"Come along. You two, take this one... you two, that one.... No light... and no noise either.... It would be a serious matter. They've been searching the garden next door since this morning... there are ten or fifteen of them knocking about.... Go back to the house, Gertrude, and, if the least thing happens, telephone to me in Paris."
M. Lenormand felt that he was being lifted up and carried and, a moment after, that he was in the open air. ”

“ M. Delaume, will you explain to M. Lenormand . . . ?
"Oh, M. Lenormand knows quite well how the matter stands," said the prefect, in a tone which showed but little good-will toward his subordinate. "We have talked it over already and I have told him what I thought of his improper conduct at the Palace Hotel. People are generally indignant."
M. Lenormand rose, took a paper from his pocket and laid it on the table.
"What is this?" asked Valenglay.
"My resignation, Monsieur le Président du Conseil." ”

“ See Arsène Lupin. By Edgar Jepson and Maurice Leblanc. (Doubleday, Page & Co.) .
"The nature of the crime is self-evident," he declared, with a great air of conviction, "and we shall have no difficulty in discovering the motive. So all is well. . . . M. Lenormand, how do you do? . . . I am delighted to see you. . . ."
M. Formerie was not in the least delighted. On the contrary, M. Lenormand's presence did not please him at all, seeing that the chief detective hardly took the trouble to disguise the contempt in which he held him. ”

“ M. Lenormand attended to his men, had them put to bed and looked to see if the assailants had dropped anything or left any traces. He found nothing and went back to bed again himself.
In the morning, as Gourel and the Doudevilles felt none the worse for their injuries, he told the two brothers to scour the neighborhood and himself set but with Gourel for Paris, in order to hurry matters on and give his orders. ”

“ Steinweg. Advertiser wishes to know if he is in Paris and his address. Reply through this column."
"Steinweg!" exclaimed Gourel. "But that's the very man whom Dieuzy is bringing to you!"
"Yes, yes," said M. Lenormand, to himself, "it's the man whose letter to Mr. Kesselbach I intercepted, the man who put Kesselbach on the track of Pierre Leduc.... So they, too, want particulars about Pierre Leduc and his past?... They, too, are groping in the dark?..."
He rubbed his hands: Steinweg was at his disposal. In less than an hour, Steinweg would have spoken. ”

“ M. Formerie gave a knowing smile and wagged his forefinger from left to right and right to left:
"No," he repeated.
"What do you mean by 'no'?"
"That story about M. Lenormand. . . ."
"Well?"
"Will do for the public, my friend. But you won't [Pg 233] make M. Formerie swallow that Lupin and Lenormand were one and the same man." He burst out laughing. "Lupin, chief of the detective-service! No, anything you like, but not that! . . . There are limits. . . . I am an easy-going fellow. . . . I'll believe anything . . . but still. . . . ”

“ But here is one who won’t listen.”
“At least you will listen while I go on with the news I came to tell?”
“Oh, yes, I confess to being curious. No doubt what you say will be interesting—even if not accurate.”
“I can promise that it shall be both. I called on Lenormand as soon as I learned what had happened—that he’d been mixed up in this case—and expressed myself as extremely concerned for the fate of his client, friends of whom were intimate friends of mine. So you see, there was no question of treachery on Lenormand’s part. He trusts me—as you do not. ”

“ He has become a Spaniard and has darkened his skin. We have just seen him. He was entering the Garches free-school. He was received by that young lady . . . you know, the girl who knows Prince Sernine, Geneviève Ernemont."
"Thunder!"
M. Lenormand let go the receiver, made a grab at his hat, flew into the passage, met Dieuzy and the German, shouted to them to meet him in his office at six o'clock, rushed down the stairs, followed by Gourel and two inspectors whom he picked up on the way, and dived into a taxi-cab:
"Quick as you can to Garches . . . ten francs for yourself!" ”

“ Cry, if it amuses you, but don't let me hear you!"
"It's the hunger that weakens me, chief; my brain's going round."
"Bite your fist!"
As Gourel said, the position was terrible; and, if M. Lenormand had had less energy, he would have abandoned the vain struggle. What was to be done? It was no use hoping that Ribeira would have the charity to let them out. It was no use either hoping that the brothers Doudeville would rescue them, for the inspectors did not know of the existence of the tunnel. So no hope remained... no hope but that of an impossible miracle.... ”