The Crystal Stopper Maurice Leblanc (top 10 books to read .TXT) đ
- Author: Maurice Leblanc
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Lupin nodded his head:
âThe thing tallies beyond a doubt. Nevertheless, it did not seem to me, that, even under the gilt layerâ ââ ⊠And then the hiding-place would be very tiny!â
âTiny, but large enough,â she said. âOn my return from England, I went to the police-office to see Prasville, whose friendship for me had remained unchanged. I did not hesitate to tell him, first, the reasons which had driven my husband to suicide and, secondly, the object of revenge which I was pursuing. When I informed him of my discoveries, he jumped for joy; and I felt that his hatred for Daubrecq was as strong as ever. I learnt from him that the list was written on a slip of exceedingly thin foreign-post-paper, which, when rolled up into a sort of pellet, would easily fit into an exceedingly limited space. Neither he nor I had the least hesitation. We knew the hiding-place. We agreed to act independently of each other, while continuing to correspond in secret. I put him in touch with ClĂ©mence, the portress in the Square Lamartine, who was entirely devoted to meâ ââ âŠâ
âBut less so to Prasville,â said Lupin, âfor I can prove that she betrays him.â
âNow perhaps, but not at the start; and the police searches were numerous. It was at that time, ten months ago, that Gilbert came into my life again. A mother never loses her love for her son, whatever he may do, whatever he may have done. And then Gilbert has such a way with himâ ââ ⊠well, you know him. He cried, kissed my little Jacques, his brother and I forgave him.â
She stopped and, weary-voiced, with her eyes fixed on the floor, continued:
âWould to Heaven that I had not forgiven him! Ah, if that hour could but return, how readily I should find the horrible courage to turn him away! My poor childâ ââ ⊠it was I who ruined him!â ââ âŠâ And, pensively, âI should have had that or any sort of courage, if he had been as I pictured him to myself and as he himself told me that he had long been: bearing the marks of vice and dissipation, coarse, deteriorated.
âBut, though he was utterly changed in appearance, so much so that I could hardly recognize him, there was, from the point of view ofâ âhow shall I put it?â âfrom the moral point of view, an undoubted improvement. You had helped him, lifted him; and, though his mode of life was hateful to me, nevertheless he retained a certain self-respectâ ââ ⊠a sort of underlying decency that showed itself on the surface once moreâ ââ ⊠He was gay, careless, happyâ ââ ⊠And he used to talk of you with such affection!â
She picked her words, betraying her embarrassment, not daring, in Lupinâs presence, to condemn the line of life which Gilbert had selected and yet unable to speak in favour of it.
âWhat happened next?â asked Lupin.
âI saw him very often. He would come to me by stealth, or else I went to him and we would go for walks in the country. In this way, I was gradually induced to tell him our story, of his fatherâs suicide and the object which I was pursuing. He at once took fire. He too wanted to avenge his father and, by stealing the crystal stopper, to avenge himself on Daubrecq for the harm which he had done him. His first ideaâ âfrom which, I am bound to tell you, he never swervedâ âwas to arrange with you.â
âWell, then,â cried Lupin, âhe ought to haveâ ââ âŠâ!â
âYes, I knowâ ââ ⊠and I was of the same opinion. Unfortunately, my poor Gilbertâ âyou know how weak he is!â âwas under the influence of one of his comrades.â
âVaucheray?â
âYes, Vaucheray, a saturnine spirit, full of bitterness and envy, an ambitious, unscrupulous, gloomy, crafty man, who had acquired a great empire over my son. Gilbert made the mistake of confiding in him and asking his advice. That was the origin of all the mischief. Vaucheray convinced him and convinced me as well that it would be better if we acted by ourselves. He studied the business, took the lead and finally organized the Enghien expedition and, under your direction, the burglary at the Villa Marie-ThĂ©rĂšse, which Prasville and his detectives had been unable to search thoroughly, because of the active watch maintained by LĂ©onard the valet. It was a mad scheme. We ought either to have trusted in your experience entirely, or else to have left you out altogether, taking the risk of fatal mistakes and dangerous hesitations. But we could not help ourselves. Vaucheray ruled us. I agreed to meet Daubrecq at the theatre. During this time the thing took place. When I came home, at twelve oâclock at night, I heard the terrible result: LĂ©onard murdered, my son arrested. I at once received an intuition of the future. Daubrecqâs appalling prophecy was being realized: it meant trial and sentence. And this
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