The Blonde Lady. Морис Леблан
Gerbois."
Some one was standing on the threshold—a young man, fashionably dressed—and M. Gerbois at once recognized the person who had accosted him outside the curiosity-shop. He leapt toward him:
"And Suzanne? Where is my daughter?"
Arsène Lupin closed the door carefully and, quietly unbuttoning his gloves, said to the lawyer:
"My dear maître, I can never thank you sufficiently for your kindness in consenting to defend my rights. I shall not forget it."
Maître Detinan could only murmur:
"But you never rang. … I did not hear the door. … "
"Bells and doors are things that have to do their work without ever being heard. I am here all the same; and that is the great thing."
"My daughter! Suzanne! What have you done with her?" repeated the professor.
"Heavens, sir," said Lupin, "what a hurry you're in! Come, calm yourself; your daughter will be in your arms in a moment."
He walked up and down the room and then, in the tone of a magnate distributing praises:
"I congratulate you, M. Gerbois, on the skilful way in which you acted just now. If the motor hadn't had that ridiculous accident we should simply have met at the Étoile and saved Maître Detinan the annoyance of this visit. … However, it was destined otherwise!"
He caught sight of the two bundles of bank-notes and cried:
"Ah, that's right! The million is there! … Let us waste no time. … Will you allow me?"
"But," said Maître Detinan, placing himself in front of the table, "Mlle. Gerbois is not here yet."
"Well?"
"Well, isn't her presence indispensable?"
"I see, I see! Arsène Lupin inspires only a partial confidence. He pockets his half-million, without restoring the hostage. Ah, my dear maître, I am sadly misunderstood! Because fate has obliged me to perform acts of a rather … special character, doubts are cast upon my good faith … mine! I, a man all scruples and delicacy! … However, my dear maître, if you're afraid, open your window and call out. There are quite a dozen detectives in the street."
"Do you think so?"
Arsène Lupin raised the blind:
"I doubt if M. Gerbois is capable of throwing Ganimard off the scent. … What did I tell you? There he is, the dear old chap!"
"Impossible!" cried the professor. "I swear to you, though. … "
"That you have not betrayed me? … I don't doubt it, but the fellows are clever. Look, there's Folenfant! … And Gréaume! … And Dieuzy! … All my best pals, what?"
Maître Detinan looked at him in surprise. What calmness! He was laughing with a happy laugh, as though he were amusing himself at some child's game, with no danger threatening him.
This carelessness did even more than the sight of the detectives to reassure the lawyer. He moved away from the table on which the bank-notes lay.
Arsène Lupin took up the two bundles one after the other, counted twenty-five notes from each of them and, handing the lawyer the fifty bank-notes thus obtained, said:
"M. Gerbois' share of your fee, my dear maître, and Arsène Lupin's. We owe you that."
"You owe me nothing," said Maître Detinan.
"What! After all the trouble we've given you!"
"You forget the pleasure it has been to me to take that trouble."
"You mean to say, my dear maître, that you refuse to accept anything from Arsène Lupin. That's the worst," he sighed, "of having a bad reputation." He held out the fifty thousand francs to the professor. "Monsieur, let me give you this in memory of our pleasant meeting: it will be my wedding-present to Mlle. Gerbois."
M. Gerbois snatched at the notes, but protested:
"My daughter is not being married."
"She can't be married if you refuse your consent. But she is dying to be married."
"What do you know about it?"
"I know that young ladies often cherish dreams without Papa's consent. Fortunately, there are good geniuses, called Arsène Lupin, who discover the secret of those charming souls hidden away in their writing-desks."
"Did you discover nothing else?" asked Maître Detinan. "I confess that I am very curious to know why that desk was the object of your attentions."
"Historical reasons, my dear maître. Although, contrary to M. Gerbois' opinion, it contained no treasure beyond the lottery-ticket, of which I did not know, I wanted it and had been looking for it for some time. The desk, which is made of yew and mahogany, decorated with acanthus-leaf capitals, was found in Marie Walewska's discreet little house at Boulogne-sur-Seine and has an inscription on one of the drawers: 'Dedicated to Napoleon I., Emperor of the French, by his most faithful servant, Mancion.' Underneath are these words, carved with the point of a knife: 'Thine, Marie.' Napoleon had it copied afterward for the Empress Josephine, so that the writing-desk which people used to admire at the Malmaison and which they still admire at the Garde-Meuble is only an imperfect copy of the one which now forms part of my collection."
M. Gerbois sighed:
"Oh, dear! If I had only known this at the shop, how willingly I would have let you have it!"
Arsène Lupin laughed:
"Yes; and you would, besides, have had the appreciable advantage of keeping the whole of number 514, series 23, for yourself."
"And you would not have thought of kidnapping my daughter, whom all this business must needs have upset."
"All what business?"
"The abduction … "
"But, my dear sir, you are quite mistaken. Mlle. Gerbois was not abducted."
"My daughter was not abducted!"
"Not at all. Kidnapping, abduction implies violence. Now Mlle. Gerbois acted as a hostage of her own free will."
"Of her own free will!" repeated the professor, in confusion.
"And almost at her own request! Why, a quick-witted young lady like Mlle. Gerbois, who, moreover, harbours a secret passion at the bottom of her heart, was hardly likely to refuse the opportunity of securing her dowry. Oh, I assure you it was easy enough to make her understand that there was no other way of overcoming your resistance!"
Maître Detanin was greatly amused. He put in:
"You must have found a difficulty in coming to terms. I can't believe that Mlle. Gerbois allowed you to speak to her."
"I didn't. I have not even the honour of knowing her. A lady of my acquaintance was good enough to undertake the negotiations."
"The blonde lady in the motor-car, I suppose?" said Maître Detinan.
"Just so. Everything was settled at the first interview near the college. Since then, Mlle. Gerbois and her new friend have been abroad, have visited Belgium and Holland in the most agreeable and instructive manner for a young girl. However, she will tell you everything herself. … "
The hall-door bell rang: three rings in quick succession, then a single ring, then another single ring.
"There she is," said Lupin. "My dear maître, if you would not mind. … "
The lawyer ran to open the door.
Two young women entered. One of them flung herself into M. Gerbois' arms. The other went up to Lupin. She was tall and shapely, with a very pale face, and her fair hair, which glittered like gold, was parted into two loosely waved bandeaux. Dressed in black, wearing no ornament beyond a five-fold