The Eight Strokes of the Clock Maurice Leblanc (android e book reader .txt) đ
- Author: Maurice Leblanc
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âCome, come, sergeant! You yourself declare that there was only one departure, the strangerâs.â
âStoop down. Look at the manâs footprints. See how they sink into the snow, until they actually touch the ground. Those are the footprints of a man, laden with a heavy burden. The stranger was carrying Madame de Gorne on his shoulder.â
âThen thereâs an outlet this way?â
âYes, a little door of which Mathias de Gorne always had the key on him. The man must have taken it from him.â
âA way out into the open fields?â
âYes, a road which joins the departmental highway three quarters of a mile from here.â ââ ⊠And do you know where?â
âWhere?â
âAt the corner of the chĂąteau.â
âJĂ©rĂŽme Vignalâs chĂąteau?â
âBy Jove, this is beginning to look serious! If the trail leads to the chĂąteau and stops there, we shall know where we stand.â
The trail did continue to the chĂąteau, as they were able to perceive after following it across the undulating fields, on which the snow lay heaped in places. The approach to the main gates had been swept, but they saw that another trail, formed by the two wheels of a vehicle, was running in the opposite direction to the village.
The sergeant rang the bell. The porter, who had also been sweeping the drive, came to the gates, with a broom in his hand. In answer to a question, the man said that M. Vignal had gone away that morning before anyone else was up and that he himself had harnessed the horse to the trap.
âIn that case,â said RĂ©nine, when they had moved away, âall we have to do is to follow the tracks of the wheels.â
âThat will be no use,â said the sergeant. âThey have taken the railway.â
âAt Pompignat station, where I came from? But they would have passed through the village.â
âThey have gone just the other way, because it leads to the town, where the express trains stop. The procurator-general has an office in the town. Iâll telephone; and, as thereâs no train before eleven oâclock, all that they need do is to keep a watch at the station.â
âI think youâre doing the right thing, sergeant,â said RĂ©nine, âand I congratulate you on the way in which you have carried out your investigation.â
They parted. RĂ©nine went back to the inn in the village and sent a note to Hortense Daniel by hand:
âMy very dear friend,
âI seemed to gather from your letter that, touched as always by anything that concerns the heart, you were anxious to protect the love-affair of JĂ©rĂŽme and Natalie. Now there is every reason to suppose that these two, without consulting their fair protectress, have run away, after throwing Mathias de Gorne down a well.
âForgive me for not coming to see you. The whole thing is extremely obscure; and, if I were with you, I should not have the detachment of mind which is needed to think the case over.â
It was then half-past ten. RĂ©nine went for a walk into the country, with his hands clasped behind his back and without vouchsafing a glance at the exquisite spectacle of the white meadows. He came back for lunch, still absorbed in his thoughts and indifferent to the talk of the customers of the inn, who on all sides were discussing recent events.
He went up to his room and had been asleep some time when he was awakened by a tapping at the door. He got up and opened it:
âIs it you?â ââ ⊠Is it you?â he whispered.
Hortense and he stood gazing at each other for some seconds in silence, holding each otherâs hands, as though nothing, no irrelevant thought and no utterance, must be allowed to interfere with the joy of their meeting. Then he asked:
âWas I right in coming?â
âYes,â she said, gently, âI expected you.â
âPerhaps it would have been better if you had sent for me sooner, instead of waiting.â ââ ⊠Events did not wait, you see, and I donât quite know whatâs to become of JĂ©rĂŽme Vignal and Natalie de Gorne.â
âWhat, havenât you heard?â she said, quickly. âTheyâve been arrested. They were going to travel by the express.â
âArrested? No.â RĂ©nine objected. âPeople are not arrested like that. They have to be questioned first.â
âThatâs whatâs being done now. The authorities are making a search.â
âWhere?â
âAt the chĂąteau. And, as they are innocent.â ââ ⊠For they are innocent, arenât they? You donât admit that they are guilty, any more than I do?â
He replied:
âI admit nothing, I can admit nothing, my dear. Nevertheless, I am bound to say that everything is against themâ ââ ⊠except one fact, which is that everything is too much against them. It is not normal for so many proofs to be heaped up one on top of the other and for the man who commits a murder to tell his story so frankly. Apart from this, thereâs nothing but mystery and discrepancy.â
âWell?â
âWell, I am greatly puzzled.â
âBut you have a plan?â
âNone at all, so far. Ah, if I could see him, JĂ©rĂŽme Vignal, and her, Natalie de Gorne, and hear them and know what they are saying in their own defence! But you can understand that I shanât be permitted either to ask them any questions or to be present at their examination. Besides, it must be finished by this time.â
âItâs finished at the chĂąteau,â she said, âbut itâs going to be continued at the manor-house.â
âAre they taking them to the manor-house?â he asked eagerly.
âYesâ ââ ⊠at least, judging by what was said to the chauffeur of one of the procuratorâs two cars.â
âOh, in that case,â exclaimed RĂ©nine, âthe thingâs done! The manor-house! Why, we shall be in the front row of the stalls! We shall see and hear everything; and, as a word, a tone of the voice, a quiver of the eyelids will be enough to give me the tiny clue I need, we may entertain some hope. Come along.â
He took her by the direct route which he had followed that morning, leading to the gate which the locksmith had opened. The gendarmes
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