The Eight Strokes of the Clock Maurice Leblanc (android e book reader .txt) đ
- Author: Maurice Leblanc
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âHow do I know?â spluttered the inspector in despair. âI left my three men watching in the next room. I found them this morning fast asleep, stupefied by some narcotic which had been mixed with their wine! And the DalbrĂšque bird had flown!â
âWhich way?â
âThrough the window. There were evidently accomplices, with ropes and a ladder. And, as DalbrĂšque had a broken leg, they carried him off on the stretcher itself.â
âThey left no traces?â
âNo traces of footsteps, true. The rain has messed everything up. But they went through the yard, because the stretcherâs there.â
âYouâll find him, Mr. Inspector, thereâs no doubt of that. In any case, you may be sure that you wonât have any trouble over the affair. I shall be in Paris this evening and shall go straight to the prefecture, where I have influential friends.â
RĂ©nine went back to the two women in the coffee-room and Hortense at once said:
âIt was you who carried him off, wasnât it? Please put Rose AndrĂ©eâs mind at rest. She is so terrified!â
He gave Rose Andrée his arm and led her to the car. She was staggering and very pale; and she said, in a faint voice:
âAre we going? And he: is he safe? Wonât they catch him again?â
Looking deep into her eyes, he said:
âSwear to me, Rose AndrĂ©e, that in two months, when he is well and when I have proved his innocence, swear that you will go away with him to America.â
âI swear.â
âAnd that, once there, you will marry him.â
âI swear.â
He spoke a few words in her ear.
âAh!â she said. âMay Heaven bless you for it!â
Hortense took her seat in front, with RĂ©nine, who sat at the wheel. The inspector, hat in hand, fussed around the car until it moved off.
They drove through the forest, crossed the Seine at La Mailleraie and struck into the Havre-Rouen road.
âTake off your glove and give me your hand to kiss,â RĂ©nine ordered. âYou promised that you would.â
âOh!â said Hortense. âBut it was to be when DalbrĂšque was saved.â
âHe is saved.â
âNot yet. The police are after him. They may catch him again. He will not be really saved until he is with Rose AndrĂ©e.â
âHe is with Rose AndrĂ©e,â he declared.
âWhat do you mean?â
âTurn round.â
She did so.
In the shadow of the hood, right at the back, behind the chauffeur, Rose Andrée was kneeling beside a man lying on the seat.
âOh,â stammered Hortense, âitâs incredible! Then it was you who hid him last night? And he was there, in front of the inn, when the inspector was seeing us off?â
âLord, yes! He was there, under the cushions and rugs!â
âItâs incredible!â she repeated, utterly bewildered. âItâs incredible! How were you able to manage it all?â
âI wanted to kiss your hand,â he said.
She removed her glove, as he bade her, and raised her hand to his lips.
The car was speeding between the peaceful Seine and the white cliffs that border it. They sat silent for a long while. Then he said:
âI had a talk with DalbrĂšque last night. Heâs a fine fellow and is ready to do anything for Rose AndrĂ©e. Heâs right. A man must do anything for the woman he loves. He must devote himself to her, offer her all that is beautiful in this world: joy and happinessâ ââ ⊠and, if she should be bored, stirring adventures to distract her, to excite her and to make her smileâ ââ ⊠or even weep.â
Hortense shivered; and her eyes were not quite free from tears. For the first time he was alluding to the sentimental adventure that bound them by a tie which as yet was frail, but which became stronger and more enduring with each of the ventures on which they entered together, pursuing them feverishly and anxiously to their close. Already she felt powerless and uneasy with this extraordinary man, who subjected events to his will and seemed to play with the destinies of those whom he fought or protected. He filled her with dread and at the same time he attracted her. She thought of him sometimes as her master, sometimes as an enemy against whom she must defend herself, but oftenest as a perturbing friend, full of charm and fascination.â ââ âŠ
V ThĂ©rĂšse and GermaineThe weather was so mild that autumn that, on the 12th of October, in the morning, several families still lingering in their villas at Ătretat had gone down to the beach. The sea, lying between the cliffs and the clouds on the horizon, might have suggested a mountain-lake slumbering in the hollow of the enclosing rocks, were it not for that crispness in the air and those pale, soft and indefinite colours in the sky which give a special charm to certain days in Normandy.
âItâs delicious,â murmured Hortense. But the next moment she added: âAll the same, we did not come here to enjoy the spectacle of nature or to wonder whether that huge stone Needle on our left was really at one time the home of ArsĂšne Lupin.â
âWe came here,â said Prince RĂ©nine, âbecause of the conversation which I overheard, a fortnight ago, in a dining-car, between a man and a woman.â
âA conversation of which I was unable to catch a single word.â
âIf those two people could have guessed for an instant that it was possible to hear a single word of what they were saying, they would not have spoken, for their conversation was one of extraordinary gravity and importance. But I have very sharp ears; and though I could not follow every sentence, I insist that we may be certain of two things. First, that man and woman, who are brother and sister, have an appointment at a quarter to twelve this morning, the 12th of October, at the spot known as the Trois Mathildes, with a third person, who is married and who wishes at all costs to recover his or her liberty. Secondly, this appointment, at which they will come to a final agreement, is to be followed this evening
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