LITMIR.BIZ

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cannot have escaped. Ah! Lupin, you fooled me before, but, this time, I get my revenge."

      At seven o'clock in the evening, Mon. Dudonis, chief of the detective service, astonished at not receiving any news, visited the rue Clapeyron. He questioned the detectives who were guarding the house, then ascended to Mon. Detinan's apartment. The lawyer led him into his room. There, Mon. Dudonis beheld a man, or rather two legs kicking in the air, while the body to which they belonged was hidden in the depths of the chimney.

      "Ohé! … Ohé!" gasped a stifled voice. And a more distant voice, from on high, replied:

      "Ohé! … Ohé!"

      Mon. Dudonis laughed, and exclaimed:

      "Here! Ganimard, have you turned chimney-sweep?"

      The detective crawled out of the chimney. With his blackened face, his sooty clothes, and his feverish eyes, he was quite unrecognizable.

      "I am looking for him," he growled.

      "Who?"

      "Arsène Lupin … and his friend."

      "Well, do you suppose they are hiding in the chimney?"

      Ganimard arose, laid his sooty hand on the sleeve of his superior officer's coat, and exclaimed, angrily:

      "Where do you think they are, chief? They must be somewhere! They are flesh and blood like you and me, and can't fade away like smoke."

      "No, but they have faded away just the same."

      "But how? How? The house is surrounded by our men—even on the roof."

      "What about the adjoining house?"

      "There's no communication with it."

      "And the apartments on the other floors?"

      "I know all the tenants. They have not seen anyone."

      "Are you sure you know all of them?"

      "Yes. The concierge answers for them. Besides, as an extra precaution, I have placed a man in each apartment. They can't escape. If I don't get them to-night, I will get them to-morrow. I shall sleep here."

      He slept there that night and the two following nights. Three days and nights passed away without the discovery of the irrepressible Lupin or his female companion; more than that, Ganimard did not unearth the slightest clue on which to base a theory to explain their escape. For that reason, he adhered to his first opinion.

      "There is no trace of their escape; therefore, they are here."

      It may be that, at the bottom of his heart, his conviction was less firmly established, but he would not confess it. No, a thousand times, no! A man and a woman could not vanish like the evil spirits in a fairy tale. And, without losing his courage, he continued his searches, as if he expected to find the fugitives concealed in some impenetrable retreat, or embodied in the stone walls of the house.

      CHAPTER II.

      THE BLUE DIAMOND.

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      On the evening of March 27, at number 134 avenue Henri-Martin, in the house that he had inherited from his brother six months before, the old general Baron d'Hautrec, ambassador at Berlin under the second Empire, was asleep in a comfortable armchair, while his secretary was reading to him, and the Sister Auguste was warming his bed and preparing the night-lamp. At eleven o'clock, the Sister, who was obliged to return to the convent of her order at that hour, said to the secretary:

      "Mademoiselle Antoinette, my work is finished; I am going."

      "Very well, Sister."

      "Do not forget that the cook is away, and that you are alone in the house with the servant."

      "Have no fear for the Baron. I sleep in the adjoining room and always leave the door open."

      The Sister left the house. A few moments later, Charles, the servant, came to receive his orders. The Baron was now awake, and spoke for himself.

      "The usual orders, Charles: see that the electric bell rings in your room, and, at the first alarm, run for the doctor. Now, Mademoiselle Antoinette, how far did we get in our reading?"

      "Is Monsieur not going to bed now?"

      "No, no, I will go later. Besides, I don't need anyone."

      Twenty minutes later, he was sleeping again, and Antoinette crept away on tiptoe. At that moment, Charles was closing the shutters on the lower floor. In the kitchen, he bolted the door leading to the garden, and, in the vestibule, he not only locked the door but hooked the chain as well. Then he ascended to his room on the third floor, went to bed, and was soon asleep.

      Probably an hour had passed, when he leaped from his bed in alarm. The bell was ringing. It rang for some time, seven or eight seconds perhaps, without intermission.

      "Well?" muttered Charles, recovering his wits, "another of the Baron's whims."

      He dressed himself quickly, descended the stairs, stopped in front of the door, and rapped, according to his custom. He received no reply. He opened the door and entered.

      "Ah! no light," he murmured. "What is that for?"

      Then, in a low voice, he called:

      "Mademoiselle?"

      No reply.

      "Are you there, mademoiselle? What's the matter? Is Monsieur le Baron ill?"

      No reply. Nothing but a profound silence that soon became depressing. He took two steps forward; his foot struck a chair, and, having touched it, he noticed that it was overturned. Then, with his hand, he discovered other objects on the floor—a small table and a screen. Anxiously, he approached the wall, felt for the electric button, and turned on the light.

      In the centre of the room, between the table and dressing-case, lay the body of his master, the Baron d'Hautrec.

      "What! … It can't be possible!" he stammered.

      He could not move. He stood there, with bulging eyes, gazing stupidly at the terrible disorder, the overturned chairs, a large crystal candelabra shattered in a thousand pieces, the clock lying on the marble hearthstone, all evidence of a fearful and desperate struggle. The handle of a stiletto glittered, not far from the corpse; the blade was stained with blood. A handkerchief, marked with red spots, was lying on the edge of the bed.

      Charles recoiled with horror: the body lying at his feet extended itself for a moment, then shrunk up again; two or three tremors, and that was the end.

      He stooped over the body. There was a clean-cut wound on the neck from which the blood was flowing and then congealing in a black pool on the carpet. The face retained an expression of extreme terror.

      "Some one has killed him!" he muttered, "some one has killed him!"

      Then he shuddered at the thought that there might be another dreadful crime. Did not the baron's secretary sleep in the adjoining room! Had not the assassin killed her also! He opened the door; the room was empty. He concluded that Antoinette had been abducted, or else she had gone away before the crime. He returned to the baron's chamber, his glance falling on the secretary, he noticed that that article of furniture remained intact. Then, he saw upon a table, beside a bunch of keys and a pocketbook that the baron placed there every night, a handful of golden louis. Charles seized the pocketbook, opened it, and found some bank-notes. He counted them; there were thirteen notes of one hundred francs each.

      Instinctively, mechanically, he put the bank-notes in his pocket, rushed down the stairs, drew the bolt, unhooked the chain, closed the door behind him, and fled to the street.

      Charles was an honest man. He had scarcely left the gate, when, cooled by the night air and the rain, he came to a sudden halt. Now, he saw his

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