The Hollow Needle Maurice Leblanc (good short books .txt) đ
- Author: Maurice Leblanc
Book online «The Hollow Needle Maurice Leblanc (good short books .txt) đ». Author Maurice Leblanc
âBut Dr. Delattre declaresâ ââ
âAh, thatâs just it!â cried Beautrelet, in a tone of conviction. âIt is just because Dr. Delattre declares that we mustnât believe him. Why, Dr. Delattre refused to give any but the vaguest details concerning his adventure! He refused to say anything that might compromise his patientâs safety!â âAnd suddenly he calls attention to an inn!â âYou may be sure that he talked about that inn because he was told to. You may be sure that the whole story which he dished up to us was dictated to him under the threat of terrible reprisals. The doctor has a wife. The doctor has a daughter. He is too fond of them to disobey people of whose formidable power he has seen proofs. And that is why he has assisted your efforts by supplying the most precise clues.â
âSo precise that the inn is nowhere to be found.â
âSo precise that you have never ceased looking for it, in the face of all probability, and that your eyes have been turned away from the only spot where the man can be, the mysterious spot which he has not left, which he has been unable to leave ever since the moment when, wounded by Mlle. de Saint-VĂ©ran, he succeeded in dragging himself to it, like a beast to its lair.â
âBut where, confound it all?â âIn what corner of Hadesâ â?â
âIn the ruins of the old abbey.â
âBut there are no ruins left!â âA few bits of wall!â âA few broken columns!â
âThatâs where heâs gone to earth. Monsieur le Juge dâInstruction!â shouted Beautrelet. âThatâs where you will have to look for him! Itâs there and nowhere else that you will find ArsĂšne Lupin!â
âArsĂšne Lupin!â yelled M. Filleul, springing to his feet.
There was a rather solemn pause, amid which the syllables of the famous name seemed to prolong their sound. Was it possible that the vanquished and yet invisible adversary, whom they had been hunting in vain for several days, could really be ArsĂšne Lupin? ArsĂšne Lupin, caught in a trap, arrested, meant immediate promotion, fortune, glory to any examining magistrate!
Ganimard had not moved a limb. Isidore said to him:
âYou agree with me, do you not, M. Inspector?â
âOf course I do!â
âYou have not doubted either, for a moment have you, that he managed this business?â
âNot for a second! The thing bears his signature. A move of ArsĂšne Lupinâs is as different from a move made by another man as one face is from another. You have only to open your eyes.â
âDo you think so? Do you think so?â said M. Filleul.
âThink so!â cried the young man. âLook, hereâs one little fact: what are the initials under which those men correspond among themselves? âA. L. N.,â that is to say, the first letter of the name ArsĂšne and the first and last letters of the name Lupin.â
âAh,â said Ganimard, ânothing escapes you! Upon my word, youâre a fine fellow and old Ganimard lays down his arms before you!â
Beautrelet flushed with pleasure and pressed the hand which the chief-inspector held out to him. The three men had drawn near the balcony and their eyes now took in the extent of the ruins. M. Filleul muttered:
âSo he ought to be there.â
âHe is there,â said Beautrelet, in a hollow voice. âHe has been there ever since the moment when he fell. Logically and practically, he could not escape without being seen by Mlle. de Saint-VĂ©ran and the two servants.â
âWhat proof have you?â
âHis accomplices have furnished the proof. On the very morning, one of them disguised himself as a flyman and drove you hereâ ââ
âTo recover the cap, which would serve to identify him.â
âVery well, but also and more particularly to examine the spot, find out and see for himself what had become of the âgovernor.âââ
âAnd did he find out?â
âI presume so, as he knew the hiding-place. And I presume that he became aware of the desperate condition of his chief, because, under the impulse of his alarm, he committed the imprudence to write that threat: âWoe betide the young lady, if she has killed the governor!âââ
âBut his friends were able to take him away afterward?â
âWhen? Your men have never left the ruins. And where could they have moved him to? At most, a few hundred yards away, for one doesnât let a dying man travelâ âand then you would have found him. No, I tell you, he is there. His friends would never have removed him from the safest of hiding-places. It was there that they brought the doctor, while the gendarmes were running to the fire like children.â
âBut how is he living? How will he keep alive? To keep alive you need food and drink.â
âI canât say. I donât know. But he is there, I will swear it. He is there, because he canât help being there. I am as sure of it as if I saw as if I touched him. He is there.â
With his finger outstretched toward the ruins, he traced in the air a little circle which became smaller and smaller until it was only a point. And that point his two companions sought desperately, both leaning into space, both moved by the same faith in Beautrelet and quivering with the ardent conviction which he had forced upon them. Yes, ArsĂšne Lupin was there. In theory and in fact, he was there: neither of them was now able to doubt it.
And there was something impressive and tragic in knowing that the famous adventurer was lying in some dark shelter, below the ground, helpless, feverish and exhausted.
âAnd if he dies?â asked M. Filleul, in a low voice.
âIf he dies,â said Beautrelet, âand if his accomplices are sure of it, then see to the safety of Mlle. de Saint-VĂ©ran. Monsieur le Juge dâInstruction, for the vengeance will be terrible.â
A few minutes later and in spite of the entreaties of M. Filleul, who would gladly have made further use of this fascinating auxiliary, Isidore Beautrelet, whose holidays ended that day, went off by the Dieppe Road. He stepped from the train in Paris at five oâclock
Comments (0)