The Hollow Needle Maurice Leblanc (good short books .txt) đ
- Author: Maurice Leblanc
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âI beg your pardon, monsieur, but the bookâ ââ
âMy daughter has looked for it. She looked for it all day yesterday.â
âWell?â
âWell, she found it; she found it a few hours ago. When you arrivedâ ââ
âAnd where is it?â
âWhere is it? Why, she put it on that tableâ âthere it isâ âover thereâ ââ
Isidore gave a bound. At one end of the table, on a muddled heap of papers, lay a little book bound in red morocco. He banged his fist down upon it, as though he were forbidding anybody to touch itâ âand also a little as though he himself dared not take it up.
âWell!â cried Massiban, greatly excited.
âI have itâ âhere it isâ âweâre there at last!â
âBut the titleâ âare you sure?â ââ
âWhy, of course: look!â
âAre you convinced? Have we mastered the secret at last?â
âThe front pageâ âwhat does the front page say?â
âRead: The Whole Truth Now First Exhibited. One Hundred Copies Printed by Myself for the Instruction of the Court.â
âThatâs it, thatâs it,â muttered Massiban, in a hoarse voice. âItâs the copy snatched from the flames! Itâs the very book which Louis XIV condemned.â
They turned over the pages. The first part set forth the explanations given by Captain de Larbeyrie in his journal.
âGet on, get on!â said Beautrelet, who was in a hurry to come to the solution.
âGet on? What do you mean? Not at all! We know that the Man with the Iron Mask was imprisoned because he knew and wished to divulge the secret of the Royal house of France. But how did he know it? And why did he wish to divulge it? Lastly, who was that strange personage? A half-brother of Louis XIV, as Voltaire maintained, or Mattioli, the Italian minister, as the modern critics declare? Hang it, those are questions of the very first interest!â
âLater, later,â protested Beautrelet, feverishly turning the pages, as though he feared that the book would fly out of his hands before he had solved the riddle.
âButâ ââ said Massiban, who doted on historical details.
âWe have plenty of timeâ âafterwardâ âletâs see the explanation firstâ ââ
Suddenly Beautrelet stopped. The document! In the middle of a left-hand page, his eyes saw the five mysterious lines of dots and figures! He made sure, with a glance, that the text was identical with that which he had studied so long; the same arrangement of the signs, the same intervals that permitted of the isolation of the word demoiselles and the separation of the two words aiguille and creuse.
A short note preceded it:
All the necessary indications, it appears, were reduced by King Louis XIII into a little table which I transcribe below.
Here followed the table of dots and figures.
Then came the explanation of the document itself. Beautrelet read, in a broken voice:
As will be seen, this table, even after we have changed the figures into vowels, affords no light. One might say that, in order to decipher the puzzle, we must first know it. It is, at most, a clue given to those who know the paths of the labyrinth.
Let us take this clue and proceed. I will guide you.
The fourth line first. The fourth line contains measurements and indications. By complying with the indications and noting the measurements set down, we inevitably attain our object, on condition, be it understood, that we know where we are and whither we are going, in a word, that we are enlightened as to the real meaning of the Hollow Needle. This is what we may learn from the first three lines. The first is so conceived to revenge myself on the King; I had warned him, for that matterâ â
Beautrelet stopped, nonplussed.
âWhat? What is it?â said Massiban.
âThe words donât make sense.â
âNo more they do,â replied Massiban. âââThe first is so conceived to revenge myself on the Kingâ ââ What can that mean?â
âDamn!â yelled Beautrelet.
âWell?â
âTorn! Two pages! The next two pages! Look at the marks!â
He trembled, shaking with rage and disappointment. Massiban bent forward.
âIt is trueâ âthere are the ends of two pages left, like bookbindersâ guards. The marks seem pretty fresh. Theyâve not been cut, but torn outâ âtorn out with violence. Look, all the pages at the end of the book have been rumpled.â
âBut who can have done it? Who?â moaned Isidore, wringing his hands. âA servant? An accomplice?â
âAll the same, it may date back to a few months since,â observed Massiban.
âEven soâ âeven soâ âsomeone must have hunted out and taken the bookâ âTell me, monsieur,â cried Beautrelet, addressing the baron, âis there no one whom you suspect?â
âWe might ask my daughter.â
âYesâ âyesâ âthatâs itâ âperhaps she will know.â
M. de VĂ©lines rang for the footman. A few minutes later, Mme. de Villemon entered. She was a young woman, with a sad and resigned face. Beautrelet at once asked her:
âYou found this volume upstairs, madame, in the library?â
âYes, in a parcel of books that had not been uncorded.â
âAnd you read it?â
âYes, last night.â
âWhen you read it, were those two pages missing? Try and remember: the two pages following this table of figures and dots?â
âNo, certainly not,â she said, greatly astonished. âThere was no page missing at all.â
âStill, somebody has tornâ ââ
âBut the book did not leave my room last night.â
âAnd this morning?â
âThis morning, I brought it down here myself, when M. Massibanâs arrival was announced.â
âThenâ â?â
âWell, I donât understandâ âunlessâ âbut no.â
âWhat?â
âGeorgesâ âmy sonâ âthis morningâ âGeorges was playing with the book.â
She ran out headlong, accompanied by Beautrelet, Massiban and the baron. The child was not in his room. They hunted in every direction. At last, they found him playing behind the castle. But those three people seemed so excited and called him so peremptorily to account that he began to yell aloud.
Everybody ran about to right and left. The servants were questioned. It was an indescribable tumult. And Beautrelet received the awful impression that the truth was ebbing away from him, like water trickling through his fingers.
He made an effort to recover himself, took Mme. de Villemonâs arm, and, followed by the baron and Massiban, led her back to the drawing room and said:
âThe book is incomplete.
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