The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar

M >> Maurice Leblanc >> The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar

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It was occupied by a lady, who, at sight of me, made a gesture of
annoyance that did not escape my notice, and she leaned toward a
gentleman who was standing on the step and was, no doubt, her
husband. The gentleman scrutinized me closely, and, apparently, my
appearance did not displease him, for he smiled as he spoke to his
wife with the air of one who reassures a frightened child. She
smiled also, and gave me a friendly glance as if she now
understood that I was one of those gallant men with whom a woman
can remain shut up for two hours in a little box, six feet square,
and have nothing to fear.

Her husband said to her:

"I have an important appointment, my dear, and cannot wait any
longer. Adieu."

He kissed her affectionately and went away. His wife threw him a
few kisses and waved her handkerchief. The whistle sounded, and
the train started.

At that precise moment, and despite the protests of the guards,
the door was opened, and a man rushed into our compartment. My
companion, who was standing and arranging her luggage, uttered a
cry of terror and fell upon the seat. I am not a coward--far from
it--but I confess that such intrusions at the last minute are
always disconcerting. They have a suspicious, unnatural aspect.

However, the appearance of the new arrival greatly modified the
unfavorable impression produced by his precipitant action. He was
correctly and elegantly dressed, wore a tasteful cravat, correct
gloves, and his face was refined and intelligent. But, where the
devil had I seen that face before? Because, beyond all possible
doubt, I had seen it. And yet the memory of it was so vague and
indistinct that I felt it would be useless to try to recall it at
that time.

Then, directing my attention to the lady, I was amazed at the
pallor and anxiety I saw in her face. She was looking at her
neighbor--they occupied seats on the same side of the compartment--
with an expression of intense alarm, and I perceived that one of
her trembling hands was slowly gliding toward a little traveling
bag that was lying on the seat about twenty inches from her. She
finished by seizing it and nervously drawing it to her. Our eyes
met, and I read in hers so much anxiety and fear that I could not
refrain from speaking to her:

"Are you ill, madame? Shall I open the window?"

Her only reply was a gesture indicating that she was afraid of our
companion. I smiled, as her husband had done, shrugged my
shoulders, and explained to her, in pantomime, that she had
nothing to fear, that I was there, and, besides, the gentleman
appeared to be a very harmless individual. At that moment, he
turned toward us, scrutinized both of us from head to foot, then
settled down in his corner and paid us no more attention.

After a short silence, the lady, as if she had mustered all her
energy to perform a desperate act, said to me, in an almost
inaudible voice:

"Do you know who is on our train?"

"Who?"

"He....he....I assure you...."

"Who is he?"

"Arsene Lupin!"

She had not taken her eyes off our companion, and it was to him
rather than to me that she uttered the syllables of that
disquieting name. He drew his hat over his face. Was that to
conceal his agitation or, simply, to arrange himself for sleep?
Then I said to her:

"Yesterday, through contumacy, Arsene Lupin was sentenced to
twenty years' imprisonment at hard labor. Therefore it is
improbable that he would be so imprudent, to-day, as to show
himself in public. Moreover, the newspapers have announced his
appearance in Turkey since his escape from the Sante."

"But he is on this train at the present moment," the lady
proclaimed, with the obvious intention of being heard by our
companion; "my husband is one of the directors in the penitentiary
service, and it was the stationmaster himself who told us that a
search was being made for Arsene Lupin."

"They may have been mistaken---"

"No; he was seen in the waiting-room. He bought a first-class
ticket for Rouen."

"He has disappeared. The guard at the waiting-room door did not
see him pass, and it is supposed that he had got into the express
that leaves ten minutes after us."

"In that case, they will be sure to catch him."

"Unless, at the last moment, he leaped from that train to come
here, into our train....which is quite probable....which is
almost certain."

"If so, he will be arrested just the same; for the employees and
guards would no doubt observe his passage from one train to the
other, and, when we arrive at Rouen, they will arrest him there."

"Him--never! He will find some means of escape."

"In that case, I wish him 'bon voyage.'"

"But, in the meantime, think what he may do!"

"What?"

"I don't know. He may do anything."

She was greatly agitated, and, truly, the situation justified, to
some extent, her nervous excitement. I was impelled to say to her:

"Of course, there are many strange coincidences, but you need have
no fear. Admitting that Arsene Lupin is on this train, he will not
commit any indiscretion; he will be only too happy to escape the
peril that already threatens him."

My words did not reassure her, but she remained silent for a time.
I unfolded my newspapers and read reports of Arsene Lupin's trial,
but, as they contained nothing that was new to me, I was not
greatly interested. Moreover, I was tired and sleepy. I felt my
eyelids close and my head drop.

"But, monsieur, you are not going to sleep!"

She seized my newspaper, and looked at me with indignation.

"Certainly not," I said.

"That would be very imprudent."

"Of course," I assented.

I struggled to keep awake. I looked through the window at the
landscape and the fleeting clouds, but in a short time all that
became confused and indistinct; the image of the nervous lady and
the drowsy gentleman were effaced from my memory, and I was buried
in the soothing depths of a profound sleep. The tranquility of my
response was soon disturbed by disquieting dreams, wherein a
creature that had played the part and bore the name of Arsene
Lupin held an important place. He appeared to me with his back
laden with articles of value; he leaped over walls, and plundered
castles. But the outlines of that creature, who was no longer
Arsene Lupin, assumed a more definite form. He came toward me,
growing larger and larger, leaped into the compartment with
incredible agility, and landed squarely on my chest. With a cry of
fright and pain, I awoke. The man, the traveller, our companion,
with his knee on my breast, held me by the throat.

My sight was very indistinct, for my eyes were suffused with
blood. I could see the lady, in a corner of the compartment,
convulsed with fright. I tried even not to resist. Besides, I did
not have the strength. My temples throbbed; I was almost
strangled. One minute more, and I would have breathed my last. The
man must have realized it, for he relaxed his grip, but did not
remove his hand. Then he took a cord, in which he had prepared a
slip-knot, and tied my wrists together. In an instant, I was
bound, gagged, and helpless.

Certainly, he accomplished the trick with an ease and skill that
revealed the hand of a master; he was, no doubt, a professional
thief. Not a word, not a nervous movement; only coolness and
audacity. And I was there, lying on the bench, bound like a mummy,
I--Arsene Lupin!

It was anything but a laughing matter, and yet, despite the
gravity of the situation, I keenly appreciated the humor and irony
that it involved. Arsene Lupin seized and bound like a novice!
robbed as if I were an unsophisticated rustic--for, you must
understand, the scoundrel had deprived me of my purse and wallet!
Arsene Lupin, a victim, duped, vanquished....What an adventure!

The lady did not move. He did not even notice her. He contented
himself with picking up her traveling-bag that had fallen to the
floor and taking from it the jewels, purse, and gold and silver
trinkets that it contained. The lady opened her eyes, trembled
with fear, drew the rings from her fingers and handed them to the
man as if she wished to spare him unnecessary trouble. He took the
rings and looked at her. She swooned.

Then, quite unruffled, he resumed his seat, lighted a cigarette,
and proceeded to examine the treasure that he had acquired. The
examination appeared to give him perfect satisfaction.

But I was not so well satisfied. I do not speak of the twelve
thousand francs of which I had been unduly deprived: that was only
a temporary loss, because I was certain that I would recover
possession of that money after a very brief delay, together with
the important papers contained in my wallet: plans, specifications,
addresses, lists of correspondents, and compromising letters.
But, for the moment, a more immediate and more serious question
troubled me: How would this affair end? What would be the outcome
of this adventure?

As you can imagine, the disturbance created by my passage through
the Saint-Lazare station has not escaped my notice. Going to visit
friends who knew me under the name of Guillaume Berlat, and
amongst whom my resemblance to Arsene Lupin was a subject of many
innocent jests, I could not assume a disguise, and my presence had
been remarked. So, beyond question, the commissary of police at
Rouen, notified by telegraph, and assisted by numerous agents,
would be awaiting the train, would question all suspicious
passengers, and proceed to search the cars.

Of course, I had foreseen all that, but it had not disturbed me,
as I was certain that the police of Rouen would not be any
shrewder than the police of Paris and that I could escape
recognition; would it not be sufficient for me to carelessly
display my card as "depute," thanks to which I had inspired
complete confidence in the gate-keeper at Saint-Lazare?--But the
situation was greatly changed. I was no longer free. It was
impossible to attempt one of my usual tricks. In one of the
compartments, the commissary of police would find Mon. Arsene
Lupin, bound hand and foot, as docile as a lamb, packed up, all
ready to be dumped into a prison-van. He would have simply to
accept delivery of the parcel, the same as if it were so much
merchandise or a basket of fruit and vegetables. Yet, to avoid
that shameful denouement, what could I do?--bound and gagged, as I
was? And the train was rushing on toward Rouen, the next and only
station.

Another problem was presented, in which I was less interested, but
the solution of which aroused my professional curiosity. What were
the intentions of my rascally companion? Of course, if I had been
alone, he could, on our arrival at Rouen, leave the car slowly and
fearlessly. But the lady? As soon as the door of the compartment
should be opened, the lady, now so quiet and humble, would scream
and call for help. That was the dilemma that perplexed me! Why had
he not reduced her to a helpless condition similar to mine? That
would have given him ample time to disappear before his double
crime was discovered.

He was still smoking, with his eyes fixed upon the window that was
now being streaked with drops of rain. Once he turned, picked up
my time-table, and consulted it.

The lady had to feign a continued lack of consciousness in order
to deceive the enemy. But fits of coughing, provoked by the smoke,
exposed her true condition. As to me, I was very uncomfortable,
and very tired. And I meditated; I plotted.

The train was rushing on, joyously, intoxicated with its own
speed.

Saint Etienne!....At that moment, the man arose and took two steps
toward us, which caused the lady to utter a cry of alarm and fall
into a genuine swoon. What was the man about to do? He lowered the
window on our side. A heavy rain was now falling, and, by a
gesture, the man expressed his annoyance at his not having an
umbrella or an overcoat. He glanced at the rack. The lady's
umbrella was there. He took it. He also took my overcoat and put
it on.

We were now crossing the Seine. He turned up the bottoms of his
trousers, then leaned over and raised the exterior latch of the
door. Was he going to throw himself upon the track? At that speed,
it would have been instant death. We now entered a tunnel. The man
opened the door half-way and stood on the upper step. What folly!
The darkness, the smoke, the noise, all gave a fantastic
appearance to his actions. But suddenly, the train diminished its
speed. A moment later it increased its speed, then slowed up
again. Probably, some repairs were being made in that part of the
tunnel which obliged the trains to diminish their speed, and the
man was aware of the fact. He immediately stepped down to the
lower step, closed the door behind him, and leaped to the ground.
He was gone.

The lady immediately recovered her wits, and her first act was to
lament the loss of her jewels. I gave her an imploring look. She
understood, and quickly removed the gag that stifled me. She
wished to untie the cords that bound me, but I prevented her.

"No, no, the police must see everything exactly as it stands. I
want them to see what the rascal did to us."

"Suppose I pull the alarm-bell?"

"Too late. You should have done that when he made the attack on
me."

"But he would have killed me. Ah! monsieur, didn't I tell you that
he was on this train. I recognized him from his portrait. And now
he has gone off with my jewels."

"Don't worry. The police will catch him."

"Catch Arsene Lupin! Never."

"That depends on you, madame. Listen. When we arrive at Rouen, be
at the door and call. Make a noise. The police and the railway
employees will come. Tell what you have seen: the assault made on
me and the flight of Arsene Lupin. Give a description of him--soft
hat, umbrella--yours--gray overcoat...."

"Yours," said she.

"What! mine? Not at all. It was his. I didn't have any."

"It seems to me he didn't have one when he came in."

"Yes, yes....unless the coat was one that some one had forgotten
and left in the rack. At all events, he had it when he went away,
and that is the essential point. A gray overcoat--remember!....Ah!
I forgot. You must tell your name, first thing you do. Your
husband's official position will stimulate the zeal of the
police."

We arrived at the station. I gave her some further instructions in
a rather imperious tone:

"Tell them my name--Guillaume Berlat. If necessary, say that you
know me. That will save time. We must expedite the preliminary
investigation. The important thing is the pursuit of Arsene Lupin.
Your jewels, remember! Let there be no mistake. Guillaume Berlat,
a friend of your husband."

"I understand....Guillaume Berlat."

She was already calling and gesticulating. As soon as the train
stopped, several men entered the compartment. The critical moment
had come.

Panting for breath, the lady exclaimed:

"Arsene Lupin....he attacked us....he stole my jewels....I am
Madame Renaud....my husband is a director of the penitentiary
service....Ah! here is my brother, Georges Ardelle, director of
the Credit Rouennais....you must know...."

She embraced a young man who had just joined us, and whom the
commissary saluted. Then she continued, weeping:

"Yes, Arsene Lupin....while monsieur was sleeping, he seized him
by the throat....Mon. Berlat, a friend of my husband."

The commissary asked:

"But where is Arsene Lupin?"

"He leaped from the train, when passing through the tunnel."

"Are you sure that it was he?"

"Am I sure! I recognized him perfectly. Besides, he was seen at
the Saint-Lazare station. He wore a soft hat---"

"No, a hard felt, like that," said the commissary, pointing to my
hat.

"He had a soft hat, I am sure," repeated Madame Renaud, "and a
gray overcoat."

"Yes, that is right," replied the commissary, "the telegram says
he wore a gray overcoat with a black velvet collar."

"Exactly, a black velvet collar," exclaimed Madame Renaud,
triumphantly.

I breathed freely. Ah! the excellent friend I had in that little
woman.

The police agents had now released me. I bit my lips until they
ran blood. Stooping over, with my handkerchief over my mouth, an
attitude quite natural in a person who has remained for a long
time in an uncomfortable position, and whose mouth shows the
bloody marks of the gag, I addressed the commissary, in a weak
voice:

"Monsieur, it was Arsene Lupin. There is no doubt about that. If
we make haste, he can be caught yet. I think I may be of some
service to you."

The railway car, in which the crime occurred, was detached from
the train to serve as a mute witness at the official investigation.
The train continued on its way to Havre. We were then conducted to
the station-master's office through a crowd of curious spectators.

Then, I had a sudden access of doubt and discretion. Under some
pretext or other, I must gain my automobile, and escape. To remain
there was dangerous. Something might happen; for instance, a
telegram from Paris, and I would be lost.

Yes, but what about my thief? Abandoned to my own resources, in an
unfamiliar country, I could not hope to catch him.

"Bah! I must make the attempt," I said to myself. "It may be a
difficult game, but an amusing one, and the stake is well worth
the trouble."

And when the commissary asked us to repeat the story of the
robbery, I exclaimed:

"Monsieur, really, Arsene Lupin is getting the start of us. My
automobile is waiting in the courtyard. If you will be so kind as
to use it, we can try...."

The commissary smiled, and replied:

"The idea is a good one; so good, indeed, that it is already being
carried out. Two of my men have set out on bicycles. They have
been gone for some time."

"Where did they go?"

"To the entrance of the tunnel. There, they will gather evidence,
secure witnesses, and follow on the track of Arsene Lupin."

I could not refrain from shrugging my shoulders, as I replied:

"Your men will not secure any evidence or any witnesses."

"Really!"

"Arsene Lupin will not allow anyone to see him emerge from the
tunnel. He will take the first road---"

"To Rouen, where we will arrest him."

"He will not go to Rouen."

"Then he will remain in the vicinity, where his capture will be
even more certain."

"He will not remain in the vicinity."

"Oh! oh! And where will he hide?"

I looked at my watch, and said:

"At the present moment, Arsene Lupin is prowling around the
station at Darnetal. At ten fifty, that is, in twenty-two minutes
from now, he will take the train that goes from Rouen to Amiens."

"Do you think so? How do you know it?"

"Oh! it is quite simple. While we were in the car, Arsene Lupin
consulted my railway guide. Why did he do it? Was there, not far
from the spot where he disappeared, another line of railway, a
station upon that line, and a train stopping at that station? On
consulting my railway guide, I found such to be the case."

"Really, monsieur," said the commissary, "that is a marvelous
deduction. I congratulate you on your skill."

I was now convinced that I had made a mistake in displaying so
much cleverness. The commissary regarded me with astonishment, and
I thought a slight suspicion entered his official mind....Oh!
scarcely that, for the photographs distributed broadcast by the
police department were too imperfect; they presented an Arsene
Lupin so different from the one he had before him, that he could
not possibly recognize me by it. But, all the same, he was
troubled, confused and ill-at-ease.

"Mon Dieu! nothing stimulates the comprehension so much as the
loss of a pocketbook and the desire to recover it. And it seems to
me that if you will give me two of your men, we may be able...."

"Oh! I beg of you, monsieur le commissaire," cried Madame Renaud,
"listen to Mon. Berlat."

The intervention of my excellent friend was decisive. Pronounced
by her, the wife of an influential official, the name of Berlat
became really my own, and gave me an identity that no mere
suspicion could affect. The commissary arose, and said:

"Believe me, Monsieur Berlat, I shall be delighted to see you
succeed. I am as much interested as you are in the arrest of
Arsene Lupin."

He accompanied me to the automobile, and introduced two of his men,
Honore Massol and Gaston Delivet, who were assigned to assist me.
My chauffer cranked up the car and I took my place at the wheel. A
few seconds later, we left the station. I was saved.

Ah! I must confess that in rolling over the boulevards that
surrounded the old Norman city, in my swift thirty-five horse-power
Moreau-Lepton, I experienced a deep feeling of pride, and the motor
responded, sympathetically to my desires. At right and left, the
trees flew past us with startling rapidity, and I, free, out of
danger, had simply to arrange my little personal affairs with the
two honest representatives of the Rouen police who were sitting
behind me. Arsene Lupin was going in search of Arsene Lupin!

Modest guardians of social order--Gaston Delivet and Honore Massol--
how valuable was your assistance! What would I have done without
you? Without you, many times, at the cross-roads, I might have
taken the wrong route! Without you, Arsene Lupin would have made a
mistake, and the other would have escaped!

But the end was not yet. Far from it. I had yet to capture the
thief and recover the stolen papers. Under no circumstances must
my two acolytes be permitted to see those papers, much less to
seize them. That was a point that might give me some difficulty.

We arrived at Darnetal three minutes after the departure of the
train. True, I had the consolation of learning that a man wearing
a gray overcoat with a black velvet collar had taken the train at
the station. He had bought a second-class ticket for Amiens.
Certainly, my debut as detective was a promising one.

Delivet said to me:

"The train is express, and the next stop is Monterolier-Buchy in
nineteen minutes. If we do not reach there before Arsene Lupin, he
can proceed to Amiens, or change for the train going to Cleres,
and, from that point, reach Dieppe or Paris."

"How far to Monterolier?"

"Twenty-three kilometres."

"Twenty-three kilometres in nineteen minutes....We will be there
ahead of him."

We were off again! Never had my faithful Moreau-Repton responded
to my impatience with such ardor and regularity. It participated
in my anxiety. It indorsed my determination. It comprehended my
animosity against that rascally Arsene Lupin. The knave! The
traitor!

"Turn to the right," cried Delivet, "then to the left."

We fairly flew, scarcely touching the ground. The mile-stones
looked like little timid beasts that vanished at our approach.
Suddenly, at a turn of the road, we saw a vortex of smoke. It was
the Northern Express. For a kilometre, it was a struggle, side by
side, but an unequal struggle in which the issue was certain. We
won the race by twenty lengths.

In three seconds we were on the platform standing before the
second-class carriages. The doors were opened, and some passengers
alighted, but not my thief. We made a search through the
compartments. No sign of Arsene Lupin.

"Sapristi!" I cried, "he must have recognized me in the automobile
as we were racing, side by side, and he leaped from the train."

"Ah! there he is now! crossing the track."

I started in pursuit of the man, followed by my two acolytes, or
rather followed by one of them, for the other, Massol, proved
himself to be a runner of exceptional speed and endurance. In a
few moments, he had made an appreciable gain upon the fugitive.
The man noticed it, leaped over a hedge, scampered across a meadow,
and entered a thick grove. When we reached this grove, Massol was
waiting for us. He went no farther, for fear of losing us.

"Quite right, my dear friend," I said. "After such a run, our
victim must be out of wind. We will catch him now."

I examined the surroundings with the idea of proceeding alone in
the arrest of the fugitive, in order to recover my papers,
concerning which the authorities would doubtless ask many
disagreeable questions. Then I returned to my companions, and
said:

"It is all quite easy. You, Massol, take your place at the left;
you, Delivet, at the right. From there, you can observe the entire
posterior line of the bush, and he cannot escape without you seeing
him, except by that ravine, and I shall watch it. If he does not
come out voluntarily, I will enter and drive him out toward one or
the other of you. You have simply to wait. Ah! I forgot: in case
I need you, a pistol shot."

Massol and Delivet walked away to their respective posts. As soon
as they had disappeared, I entered the grove with the greatest
precaution so as to be neither seen nor heard. I encountered dense
thickets, through which narrow paths had been cut, but the
overhanging boughs compelled me to adopt a stooping posture. One
of these paths led to a clearing in which I found footsteps upon
the wet grass. I followed them; they led me to the foot of a mound
which was surmounted by a deserted, dilapidated hovel.

"He must be there," I said to myself. "It is a well-chosen
retreat."

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