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Maurice Leblanc - Arsene LupinMaurice Leblanc - Arsene Lupin Part 61 of 99 “The devil you would!” said the Duke softly. “That is odd. It is the oddest thing about this business I’ve heard yet.” “I have that feeling—I have that feeling,” said Guerchard quietly. The Duke smiled. <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Guerchard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Guerchard</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/ArseneLupin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ArseneLupin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/MauriceLeBlanc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MauriceLeBlanc</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/mystery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mystery</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/booktoot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#booktoot</a>

Maurice Leblanc - Arsene LupinMaurice Leblanc - Arsene Lupin Part 14 of 99 “No, but to the point of being driven wild,” said Germaine. “And since the police had always been baffled by Lupin, he had the brilliant idea of trying what soldiers could do. The Commandant at Rennes is a great friend of papa’s; and papa went to him, and told him about Lupin’s letter and what he feared. The colonel laughed at him; but he offered him a corporal and six soldiers to guard his collection, on the night of the seventh. It was arranged that they should come from Rennes by the last train so that the burglars should have no warning of their coming. Well, they came, seven picked men—men who had seen service in Tonquin. We gave them supper; and then the corporal posted them in the hall and the two drawing-rooms where the pictures and things were. At eleven we all went to bed, after promising the corporal that, in the event of any fight with the burglars, we would not stir from our rooms. I can tell you I felt awfully nervous. I couldn’t get to sleep for ages and ages. Then, when I did, I did not wake till morning. The night had passed absolutely quietly. Nothing out of the common had happened. There had not been the slightest noise. I awoke Sonia and my father. We dressed as quickly as we could, and rushed down to the drawing-room.” She paused dramatically. “Well?” said the Duke. “Well, it was done.” “What was done?” said the Duke. “Everything,” said Germaine. “Pictures had gone, tapestries had gone, cabinets had gone, and the clock had gone.” “And the coronet too?” said the Duke. “Oh, no. That was at the Bank of France. And it was doubtless to make up for not getting it that Lupin stole your portrait. At any rate he didn’t say that he was going to steal it in his letter.” “But, come! this is incredible. Had he hypnotized the corporal and the six soldiers? Or had he murdered them all?” said the Duke. “Corporal? There wasn’t any corporal, and there weren’t any soldiers. The corporal was Lupin, and the soldiers were part of his gang,” said Germaine. “I don’t understand,” said the Duke. “The colonel promised your father a corporal and six men. Didn’t they come?” “They came to the railway station all right,” said Germaine. “But you know the little inn half-way between the railway station and the château? They stopped to drink there, and at eleven o’clock next morning one of the villagers found all seven of them, along with the footman who was guiding them to the château, sleeping like logs in the little wood half a mile from the inn. Of course the innkeeper could not explain when their wine was drugged. He could only tell us that a motorist, who had stopped at the inn to get some supper, had called the soldiers in and insisted on standing them drinks. They had seemed a little fuddled before they left the inn, and the motorist had insisted on driving them to the château in his car. When the drug took effect he simply carried them out of it one by one, and laid them in the wood to sleep it off.” “Lupin seems to have made a thorough job of it, anyhow,” said the Duke. “I should think so,” said Germaine. “Guerchard was sent down from Paris; but he could not find a single clue. It was not for want of trying, for he hates Lupin. It’s a regular fight between them, and so far Lupin has scored every point.” “He must be as clever as they make ’em,” said the Duke. “He is,” said Germaine. “And do you know, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s in the neighbourhood now.” “What on earth do you mean?” said the Duke. “I’m not joking,” said Germaine. “Odd things are happening. Some one has been changing the place of things. That silver statuette now—it was on the cabinet, and we found it moved to the piano. Yet nobody had touched it. And look at this window. Some one has broken a pane in it just at the height of the fastening.” “The deuce they have!” said the Duke. <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Germaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Germaine</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Lupin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Lupin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Rennes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Rennes</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Tonquin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Tonquin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Sonia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sonia</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/BankofFrance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BankofFrance</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/halfamile" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#halfamile</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Guerchard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Guerchard</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Paris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Paris</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/ArseneLupin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ArseneLupin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/MauriceLeBlanc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MauriceLeBlanc</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/mystery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mystery</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/booktoot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#booktoot</a>

Maurice Leblanc - Arsene LupinMaurice Leblanc - Arsene Lupin Part 12 of 99 “I can never understand why you have left all these ancestors of mine staring from the walls and have taken away the quite admirable and interesting portrait of myself,” he said carelessly. Germaine turned sharply from the window; Sonia stopped in the middle of addressing an envelope; and both the girls stared at him in astonishment. “There certainly was a portrait of me where that tapestry hangs. What have you done with it?” said the Duke. “You’re making fun of us again,” said Germaine. “Surely your Grace knows what happened,” said Sonia. “We wrote all the details to you and sent you all the papers three years ago. Didn’t you get them?” said Germaine. “Not a detail or a newspaper. Three years ago I was in the neighbourhood of the South Pole, and lost at that,” said the Duke. “But it was most dramatic, my dear Jacques. All Paris was talking of it,” said Germaine. “Your portrait was stolen.” “Stolen? Who stole it?” said the Duke. Germaine crossed the hall quickly to the gap in the line of pictures. “I’ll show you,” she said. She drew aside the piece of tapestry, and in the middle of the panel over which the portrait of the Duke had hung he saw written in chalk the words: ARSÈNE LUPIN “What do you think of that autograph?” said Germaine. “‘Arsène Lupin?’” said the Duke in a tone of some bewilderment. “He left his signature. It seems that he always does so,” said Sonia in an explanatory tone. “But who is he?” said the Duke. “Arsène Lupin? Surely you know who Arsène Lupin is?” said Germaine impatiently. “I haven’t the slightest notion,” said the Duke. “Oh, come! No one is as South-Pole as all that!” cried Germaine. “You don’t know who Lupin is? The most whimsical, the most audacious, and the most genial thief in France. For the last ten years he has kept the police at bay. He has baffled Ganimard, Holmlock Shears, the great English detective, and even Guerchard, whom everybody says is the greatest detective we’ve had in France since Vidocq. In fact, he’s our national robber. Do you mean to say you don’t know him?” “Not even enough to ask him to lunch at a restaurant,” said the Duke flippantly. “What’s he like?” “Like? Nobody has the slightest idea. He has a thousand disguises. He has dined two evenings running at the English Embassy.” “But if nobody knows him, how did they learn that?” said the Duke, with a puzzled air. “Because the second evening, about ten o’clock, they noticed that one of the guests had disappeared, and with him all the jewels of the ambassadress.” “All of them?” said the Duke. “Yes; and Lupin left his card behind him with these words scribbled on it:” “‘This is not a robbery; it is a restitution. You took the Wallace collection from us.’” “But it was a hoax, wasn’t it?” said the Duke. “No, your Grace; and he has done better than that. You remember the affair of the Daray Bank—the savings bank for poor people?” said Sonia, her gentle face glowing with a sudden enthusiastic animation. “Let’s see,” said the Duke. “Wasn’t that the financier who doubled his fortune at the expense of a heap of poor wretches and ruined two thousand people?” “Yes; that’s the man,” said Sonia. “And Lupin stripped Daray’s house and took from him everything he had in his strong-box. He didn’t leave him a sou of the money. And then, when he’d taken it from him, he distributed it among all the poor wretches whom Daray had ruined.” “But this isn’t a thief you’re talking about—it’s a philanthropist,” said the Duke. “A fine sort of philanthropist!” broke in Germaine in a peevish tone. “There was a lot of philanthropy about his robbing papa, wasn’t there?” “Well,” said the Duke, with an air of profound reflection, “if you come to think of it, that robbery was not worthy of this national hero. My portrait, if you except the charm and beauty of the face itself, is not worth much.” “If you think he was satisfied with your portrait, you’re very much mistaken. All my father’s collections were robbed,” said Germaine. “Your father’s collections?” said the Duke. “But they’re better guarded than the Bank of France. Your father is as careful of them as the apple of his eye.” “That’s exactly it—he was too careful of them. That’s why Lupin succeeded.” “This is very interesting,” said the Duke; and he sat down on a couch before the gap in the pictures, to go into the matter more at his ease. “I suppose he had accomplices in the house itself?” “Yes, one accomplice,” said Germaine. “Who was that?” asked the Duke. “Papa!” said Germaine. <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Germaine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Germaine</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Sonia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Sonia</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Grace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Grace</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/SouthPole" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthPole</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Jacques" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Jacques</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Paris" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Paris</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Ars%C3%A8neLupin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ArsèneLupin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/South" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#South</a>-Pole <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Lupin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Lupin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/France" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#France</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Ganimard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ganimard</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/HolmlockShears" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#HolmlockShears</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/English" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#English</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Guerchard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Guerchard</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Vidocq" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vidocq</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/EnglishEmbassy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishEmbassy</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Wallace" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Wallace</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/DarayBank" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DarayBank</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/Daray" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Daray</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/BankofFrance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BankofFrance</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/ArseneLupin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ArseneLupin</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/MauriceLeBlanc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MauriceLeBlanc</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/mystery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mystery</a> <a href="https://mastodon.ozioso.online/tags/booktoot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#booktoot</a>

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