The Essential Maurice Leblanc Collection. Морис Леблан
"No; and I will ask you to explain the matter fully, omitting nothing. What is it a case of?"
"It is a case of theft."
"On what day did it take place?"
"On Saturday," replied the baron. "On Saturday night or Sunday morning."
"Six days ago, therefore. Now, pray, go on."
"I must first tell you that my wife and I, though we lead the life expected of people in our position, go out very little. The education of our children, a few receptions, the beautifying of our home: these make up our existence; and all or nearly all our evenings are spent here, in this room, which is my wife's boudoir and in which we have collected a few pretty things. Well, on Saturday last, at about eleven o'clock, I switched off the electric light and my wife and I retired, as usual, to our bedroom."
"Where is that?"
"The next room: that door over there. On the following morning, that is to say, Sunday, I rose early. As Suzanne--my wife--was still asleep, I came into this room as gently as possible, so as not to awake her. Imagine my surprise at finding the window open, after we had left it closed the evening before!"
"A servant...?"
"Nobody enters this room in the morning before we ring. Besides, I always take the precaution of bolting that other door, which leads to the hall. Therefore the window must have been opened from the outside. I had a proof of it, besides: the second pane of the right-hand casement, the one next to the latch, had been cut out."
"And the window?"
"The window, as you perceive, opens on a little balcony surrounded by a stone balustrade. We are on the first floor here and you can see the garden at the back of the house and the railings that separate it from the Parc Monceau. It is certain, therefore, that the man came from the Parc Monceau, climbed the railings by means of a ladder and got up to the balcony."
"It is certain, you say?"
"On either side of the railings, in the soft earth of the borders, we found holes left by the two uprights of the ladder; and there were two similar holes below the balcony. Lastly, the balustrade shows two slight scratches, evidently caused by the contact of the ladder."
"Isn't the Parc Monceau closed at night?"
"Closed? No. But, in any case, there is a house building at No. 14. It would have been easy to effect an entrance that way."
Holmlock Shears reflected for a few moments and resumed:
"Let us come to the theft. You say it was committed in the room where we now are?"
"Yes. Just here, between this twelfth-century Virgin and that chased-silver tabernacle, there was a little Jewish lamp. It has disappeared."
"And is that all?"
"That is all."
"Oh!... And what do you call a Jewish lamp?"
"It is one of those lamps which they used to employ in the old days, consisting of a stem and of a receiver to contain the oil. This receiver had two or more burners, which held the wicks."
"When all is said, objects of no great value."
"Just so. But the one in question formed a hiding-place in which we had made it a practice to keep a magnificent antique jewel, a chimera in gold, set with rubies and emeralds and worth a great deal of money."
"What was your reason for this practice?"
"Upon my word, Mr. Shears, I should find it difficult to tell you! Perhaps we just thought it amusing to have a hiding-place of this kind."
"Did nobody know of it?"
"Nobody."
"Except, of course, the thief," objected Shears. "But for that, he would not have taken the trouble to steal the Jewish lamp."
"Obviously. But how could he know of it, seeing that it was by an accident that we discovered the secret mechanism of the lamp?"
"The same accident may have revealed it to somebody else: a servant ... a visitor to the house.... But let us continue: have you informed the police?"
"Certainly. The examining-magistrate has made his inquiry. The journalistic detectives attached to all the big newspapers have made theirs. But, as I wrote to you, it does not seem as though the problem had the least chance of ever being solved."
Shears rose, went to the window, inspected the casement, the balcony, the balustrade, employed his lens to study the two scratches on the stone and asked M. d'Imblevalle to take him down to the garden.
When they were outside, Shears simply sat down in a wicker chair and contemplated the roof of the house with a dreamy eye. Then he suddenly walked toward two little wooden cases with which, in order to preserve the exact marks, they had covered the holes which the uprights of the ladder had left in the ground, below the balcony. He removed the cases, went down on his knees and, with rounded back and his nose six inches from the ground, searched and took his measurements. He went through the same performance along the railing, but more quickly.
That was all.
* * * * *
They both returned to the boudoir, where Madame d'Imblevalle was waiting for them.
Shears was silent for a few minutes longer and then spoke these words:
"Ever since you began your story, monsieur le baron, I was struck by the really too simple side of the offence. To apply a ladder, remove a pane of glass, pick out an object and go away: no, things don't happen so easily as that. It is all too clear, too plain."
"You mean to say...?"
"I mean to say that the theft of the Jewish lamp was committed under the direction of Arsne Lupin."
"Arsne Lupin!" exclaimed the baron.
"But it was committed without Arsne Lupin's presence and without anybody's entering the house.... Perhaps a servant slipped down to the balcony from his garret, along a rain-spout which I saw from the garden."
"But what evidence have you?"
"Arsne Lupin would not have left the boudoir empty-handed."
"Empty-handed! And what about the lamp?"
"Taking the lamp would not have prevented him from taking this snuff-box, which, I see, is studded with diamonds, or this necklace of old opals. It would require but two movements more. His only reason for not making those movements was that he was not here to make them."
"Still, the marks of the ladder?"
"A farce! Mere stage-play to divert suspicions!"
"The scratches on the balustrade?"
"A sham! They were made with sandpaper. Look, here are a few bits of paper which I picked up."
"The marks left by the uprights of the ladder?"
"Humbug! Examine the two rectangular holes below the balcony and the two holes near the railings. The shape is similar, but, whereas they are parallel here, they are not so over there. Measure the space that separates each hole from its neighbour: it differs in the two cases. Below the balcony, the distance is nine inches. Beside the railings, it is eleven inches."
"What do you conclude from that?"
"I conclude, since their outline is identical, that the four holes were made with one stump of wood, cut to the right shape."
"The best argument would be the stump of wood itself."
"Here