The Essential Maurice Leblanc Collection. Морис Леблан
and gave it to a boy of fifteen who had lain down on the bench beside him:
"Here, my lad, take a cab and give this letter to the young lady behind the bar at the Taverne Suisse on the Place du Chtelet. Be as quick as you can."
He handed him a five-franc piece. The boy went off.
* * * * *
Half an hour elapsed. The crowd had increased and Shears but occasionally caught sight of Lupin's followers. Then some one grazed against him and a voice said in his ear:
"Well, Mr. Shears, what can I do for you?"
"Is that you, M. Ganimard?"
"Yes; I got your note. What is it?"
"He's there."
"What's that you say?"
"Over there ... inside the restaurant.... Move a little to the right.... Do you see him?"
"No."
"He is filling the glass of the lady on his left."
"But that's not Lupin."
"Yes, it is."
"I assure you.... And yet.... Well, it may be.... Oh, the rascal, _how like himself he is!_" muttered Ganimard, innocently. "And who are the others? Accomplices?"
"No, the lady beside him is Lady Cliveden. The other is the Duchess of Cleath; and, opposite her, is the Spanish Ambassador in London."
Ganimard took a step toward the road. But Shears held him back:
"Don't be so reckless: you are alone."
"So is he."
"No, there are men on the boulevard mounting guard.... Not to mention that gentleman inside the restaurant...."
"But I have only to take him by the collar and shout his name to have the whole restaurant on my side, all the waiters...."
"I would rather have a few detectives."
"That would set Lupin's friends off.... No, Mr. Shears, we have no choice, you see."
He was right and Shears felt it. It was better to make the attempt and take advantage of the exceptional circumstances. He contented himself with saying to Ganimard:
"Do your best not to be recognized before you can help it."
He himself slipped behind a newspaper-kiosk, without losing sight of Arsne Lupin who was leaning over Lady Cliveden, smiling.
The inspector crossed the street, looking straight before him, with his hands in his pockets. But, the moment he reached the opposite pavement, he veered briskly round and sprang up the steps.
A shrill whistle sounded.... Ganimard knocked up against the head-waiter, who suddenly blocked the entrance and pushed him back with indignation, as he might push back any intruder whose doubtful attire would have disgraced the luxury of the establishment. Ganimard staggered. At the same moment, the gentleman in the frock-coat came out. He took the part of the inspector and began a violent discussion with the head-waiter. Both of them had hold of Ganimard, one pushing him forward, the other back, until, in spite of all his efforts and angry protests, the unhappy man was hustled to the bottom of the steps.
A crowd gathered at once. Two policemen, attracted by the excitement, tried to make their way through; but they encountered an incomprehensible resistance and were unable to get clear of the shoulders that pushed against them, the backs that barred their progress.
And, suddenly, as though by enchantment, the way was opened!... The head-waiter, realizing his mistake, made the most abject apologies; the gentleman in the frock-coat withdrew his assistance; the crowd parted, the policemen passed in; and Ganimard rushed toward the table with the six guests.... There were only five left! He looked round: there was no way out except the door.
"Where is the person who was sitting here?" he shouted to the five bewildered guests. "Yes, there were six of you.... Where is the sixth?"
"M. Destro?"
"No, no: Arsne Lupin!"
A waiter stepped up:
"The gentleman has just gone up to the mezzanine floor."
Ganimard flew upstairs. The mezzanine floor consisted of private rooms and had a separate exit to the boulevard!
"It's no use now," groaned Ganimard. "He's far away by this time!"
* * * * *
He was not so very far away, two hundred yards at most, in the omnibus running between the Bastille and the Madeleine, which lumbered peacefully along behind its three horses, crossing the Place de l'Opra and going down the Boulevard des Capucines. Two tall fellows in bowler hats stood talking on the conductor's platform. On the top, near the steps, a little old man sat dozing: it was Holmlock Shears.
And, with his head swaying from side to side, rocked by the movement of the omnibus, the Englishman soliloquized:
"Ah, if dear old Wilson could see me now, how proud he would be of his chief!... Pooh, it was easy to foresee, from the moment when the whistle sounded that the game was up and that there was nothing serious to be done, except to keep a watch around the restaurant! But that devil of a man adds a zest to life, and no mistake!"
On reaching the end of the journey, Shears leant over, saw Arsne Lupin pass out in front of his guards and heard him mutter:
"At the toile."
"The toile, just so: an assignation. I shall be there. I'll let him go ahead in that motor-cab, while I follow his two pals in a four-wheeler."
The two pals went off on foot, made for the toile and rang at the door of No 40, Rue Chalgrin, a house with a narrow frontage. Shears found a hiding place in the shadow of a recess formed by the angle of that unfrequented little street.
One of the two windows on the ground floor opened and a man in a bowler hat closed the shutters. The window space above the shutters was lit up.
In ten minutes' time, a gentleman came and rang at the same door; and, immediately afterward, another person. And, at last, a motor-cab drew up and Shears saw two people get out: Arsne Lupin and a lady wrapped in a cloak and a thick veil.
"The blonde lady, I presume," thought Shears, as the cab drove away.
He waited for a moment, went up to the house, climbed on to the window-ledge and, by standing on tip-toe, succeeded in peering into the room through that part of the window which the shutters failed to cover.
Arsne Lupin was leaning against the chimney and talking in an animated fashion. The others stood round and listened attentively. Shears recognized the gentleman in the frock-coat and thought he recognized the head-waiter of the restaurant. As for the blonde lady, she was sitting in a chair, with her back turned toward him.
"They are holding a council," he thought. "This evening's occurrences have alarmed them and they feel a need to discuss things.... Oh, if I could only catch them all at one swoop!"
One of the accomplices moved and Shears leapt down and fell back into the shadow. The gentleman in the frock-coat and the head-waiter left the house. Then the first floor was lit up and some one closed the window-shutters. It was now dark above and below.
"He and she have remained on the ground floor," said Holmlock to himself. "The two accomplices live on the first story."
He waited during a part of the night without stirring from his place, fearing lest Arsne Lupin should go away during his absence. At four o'clock in the morning, seeing two policemen at the end of the street, he went up to them, explained the position