He replaced the receiver and went out.
A few hours later, while the servants were at lunch, Prince Sernine strolled quietly out of the Villa Dupont, feeling rather faint in the head and weak in the knees, and, while making for the nearest restaurant, he thus summed up the situation:
“So, on Tuesday next, Altenheim and the Palace Hotel murderer have an appointment at Garches, in a house with the telephone number 38. On Tuesday, therefore, I shall hand over the two criminals to the police and set M. Lenormand at liberty. In the evening, it will be old Steinweg’s turn; and I shall learn, at last, whether Pierre Leduc is the son of a pork-butcher or not and whether he will make a suitable husband for Geneviève. So be it!”
At eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning Valenglay, the prime minister, sent for the prefect of police and M. Weber, the deputy-chief of the detective-service, and showed them an express letter which he had just received:
“Monsieur le Président du Conseil,
“Knowing the interest which you take in M. Lenormand, I am writing to inform you of certain facts which chance has revealed to me.
“M. Lenormand is locked up in the cellars of the Villa des Glycines at Garches, near the House of Retreat.
“The ruffians of the Palace Hotel have resolved to murder him at two o’clock today.
“If the police require my assistance, they will find me at half-past one in the garden of the House of Retreat, or at the garden-house occupied by Mrs. Kesselbach, whose friend I have the honor to be.
“This is an exceedingly grave matter, my dear M. Weber,” said Valenglay. “I may add that we can have every confidence in the accuracy of Prince Sernine’s statements. I have often met him at dinner. He is a serious, intelligent man. …”
“Will you allow me, Monsieur le Président,” asked the deputy-chief detective, “to show you another letter which I also received this morning?”
“About the same case?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see it.”
He took the letter and read:
“Sir,
“This is to inform you that Prince Paul Sernine, who calls himself Mrs. Kesselbach’s friend, is really Arsène Lupin.
“One proof will be sufficient: Paul Sernine is the anagram of Arsène Lupin. Not a letter more, not a letter less.
And M. Weber added, while Valenglay stood amazed:
“This time, our friend Lupin has found an adversary who is a match for him. While he denounces the other, the other betrays him to us. And the fox is caught in the trap.”
“What do you propose to do?”
“Monsieur le Président, I shall take two hundred men with me!”
VIII
The Olive-Green Frock-Coat
A quarter past twelve, in a restaurant near the Madeleine. The prince is at lunch. Two young men sit down at the next table. He bows to them and begins to speak to them, as to friends whom he has met by chance.
“Are you going on the expedition, eh?”
“Yes.”
“How many men altogether?”
“Six, I think. Each goes down by himself. We’re to meet M. Weber at a quarter to two, near the House of Retreat.”
“Very well, I shall be there.”
“What?”
“Am I not leading the expedition? And isn’t it my business to find M. Lenormand, seeing that I’ve announced it publicly?”
“Then you believe that M. Lenormand is not dead, governor?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Do you know anything?”
“Yes, since yesterday I know for certain that Altenheim and his gang took M. Lenormand and Gourel to the bridge at Bougival and heaved them overboard. Gourel sank, but M. Lenormand managed to save himself. I shall furnish all the necessary proofs when the time comes.”
“But, then, if he’s alive, why doesn’t he show himself?”
“Because he’s not free.”
“Is what you said true, then? Is he in the cellars of the Villa des Glycines?”
“I have every reason to think so.”
“But how do you know? … What clue? …”
“That’s my secret. I can tell you one thing: the revelation will be—what shall I say—sensational. Have you finished?”
“Yes.”
“My car is behind the Madeleine. Join me there.”
At Garches, Sernine sent the motor away, and they walked to the path that led to Geneviève’s school. There he stopped:
“Listen to me, lads. This is of the highest importance. You will ring at the House of Retreat. As inspectors, you have your right of entry, have you not? You will then go to the Pavillon Hortense, the empty one. There you will run down to the basement and you will find an old shutter, which you have only to lift to see the opening of a tunnel which I discovered lately and which forms a direct communication with the Villa des Glycines. It was by means of this that Gertrude and Baron Altenheim used to meet. And it was this way that M. Lenormand passed, only to end by falling into the hands of his enemies.”
“You think so, governor?”
“Yes, I think so. And now the point is this: you must go and make sure that the tunnel is exactly in the condition in which I left it last night; that the two doors which bar it are open; and that there is still, in a hole near the second door,
