The Essential Maurice Leblanc Collection. Морис ЛебланЧитать онлайн книгу.
among tubs of laurels and spindle-trees. The light was beginning to wane.
"Waiter!" said Shears. "Pen and ink!"
He wrote a note and, calling the waiter again, said:
"Take this to the concierge of the house opposite. It's the man in the cap smoking his pipe in the gateway."
The concierge hurried across and, after Ganimard had announced himself as a chief-inspector, Shears asked if a young lady in black had called at the house on Sunday morning.
"In black? Yes, about nine o'clock: it's the one who goes up to the second floor."
"Do you see much of her?"
"No, but she's been oftener lately: almost every day during the past fortnight."
"And since Sunday?"
"Only once ... without counting to-day."
"What! Has she been to-day?"
"She's there now."
"She's there now?"
"Yes, she came about ten minutes ago. Her cab is waiting on the Place Saint-Ferdinand, as usual. I passed her in the gateway."
"And who is the tenant of the second floor?"
"There are two: a dressmaker, Mademoiselle Langeais, and a gentleman who hired a couple of furnished rooms, a month ago, under the name of Bresson."
"What makes you say 'under the name'?"
"I have an idea that it's an assumed name. My wife does his rooms: well, he hasn't two articles of clothing marked with the same initials."
"How does he live?"
"Oh, he's almost always out. Sometimes, he does not come home for three days together."
"Did he come in on Saturday night?"
"On Saturday night?... Wait, while I think.... Yes, he came in on Saturday night and hasn't stirred out since."
"And what sort of a man is he?"
"Faith, I couldn't say. He changes so! He's tall, he's short, he's fat, he's thin ... dark and fair. I don't always recognize him."
Ganimard and Shears exchanged glances.
"It's he," muttered Ganimard. "It must be he."
For a moment, the old detective experienced a real agitation, which betrayed itself by a deep breath and a clenching of the fists.
Shears too, although more master of himself, felt something clutching at his heart.
"Look out!" said the concierge. "Here comes the young lady."
As he spoke, mademoiselle appeared in the gateway and crossed the square.
"And here is M. Bresson."
"M. Bresson? Which is he?"
"The gentleman with a parcel under his arm."
"But he's taking no notice of the girl. She is going to her cab alone."
"Oh, well, I've never seen them together."
The two detectives rose hurriedly. By the light of the street-lamps, they recognized Lupin's figure, as he walked away in the opposite direction to the square.
"Which will you follow?" asked Ganimard.
"'Him,' of course. He's big game."
"Then I'll shadow the young lady," suggested Ganimard.
"No, no," said the Englishman quickly, not wishing to reveal any part of the case to Ganimard. "I know where to find the young lady when I want her.... Don't leave me."
* * * * *
At a distance and availing themselves of the occasional shelter of the passers-by and the kiosks, Ganimard and Shears set off in pursuit of Lupin. It was an easy enough pursuit, for he did not turn round and walked quickly, with a slight lameness in the right leg, so slight that it needed the eye of a trained observer to perceive it.
"He's pretending to limp!" said Ganimard. And he continued, "Ah, if we could only pick up two or three policemen and pounce upon the fellow! As it is, here's a chance of our losing him."
But no policeman appeared in sight before the Porte des Ternes; and, once the fortifications were passed, they could not reckon on the least assistance.
"Let us separate," said Shears. "The place is deserted."
They were on the Boulevard Victor-Hugo. They each took a different pavement and followed the line of the trees.
They walked like this for twenty minutes, until the moment when Lupin turned to the left and along the Seine. Here they saw him go down to the edge of the river. He remained there for a few seconds, during which they were unable to distinguish his movements. Then he climbed up the bank again and returned by the way he had come. They pressed back against the pillars of a gate. Lupin passed in front of them. He no longer carried a parcel.
And, as he moved away, another figure appeared from behind the corner of a house and slipped in between the trees.
Shears said, in a low voice:
"That one seems to be following him too."
"Yes, I believe I saw him before, as we came."
The pursuit was resumed, but was now complicated by the presence of this figure. Lupin followed the same road, passed through the Porte des Ternes again, and entered the house on the Place Saint-Ferdinand.
The concierge was closing the door for the night when Ganimard came up:
"You saw him, I suppose?"
"Yes, I was turning off the gas on the stairs. He has bolted his door."
"Is there no one with him?"
"No one: he doesn't keep a servant ... he never has his meals here."
"Is there no back staircase?"
"No."
Ganimard said to Shears:
"The best thing will be for me to place myself outside Lupin's door, while you go to the Rue Demours and fetch the commissary of police. I'll give you a line for him."
Shears objected:
"Suppose he escapes meanwhile?"
"But I shall be here!..."
"Single-handed, it would be an unequal contest between you and him."
"Still, I can't break into his rooms. I'm not entitled to, especially at night."
Shears shrugged his shoulders:
"Once you've arrested Lupin, no one will haul you over the coals for the particular manner in which you effected the arrest. Besides, we may as well ring the bell, what! Then we'll see what happens."
They went up the stairs. There was a double door on the left of the landing. Ganimard rang the bell.
Not a sound. He rang again. No one stirred.
"Let's go in," muttered Shears.
"Yes, come along."
Nevertheless, they remained motionless, irresolute. Like people who hesitate before taking a decisive step, they were afraid to act; and it suddenly seemed to them impossible that Arsne Lupin should be there, so near to them, behind that frail partition, which they could smash with a blow