At the terminal point Herlock Sholmes, by leaning over, saw Arsène Lupin leaving the omnibus, and as he passed in front of the men who formed his bodyguard Sholmes heard him say: “A l’Etoile.”
“A l’Etoile, exactly, a rendezvous. I shall be there,” thought Sholmes. “I will follow the two men.”
Lupin took an automobile; but the men walked the entire distance, followed by Sholmes. They stopped at a narrow house, No. 40 rue Chalgrin, and rang the bell. Sholmes took his position in the shadow of a doorway, whence he could watch the house in question. A man opened one of the windows of the ground floor and closed the shutters. But the shutters did not reach to the top of the window. The impost was clear.
At the end of ten minutes a gentleman rang at the same door and a few minutes later another man came. A short time afterward an automobile stopped in front of the house, bringing two passengers: Arsène Lupin and a lady concealed beneath a large cloak and a thick veil.
“The blonde Lady, no doubt,” said Sholmes to himself, as the automobile drove away.
Herlock Sholmes now approached the house, climbed to the window-ledge and, by standing on tiptoe, he was able to see through the window above the shutters. What did he see?
Arsène Lupin, leaning against the mantel, was speaking with considerable animation. The others were grouped around him, listening to him attentively. Amongst them Sholmes easily recognized the gentleman in the frock coat and he thought one of the other men resembled the headwaiter of the restaurant. As to the blonde Lady, she was seated in an armchair with her back to the window.
“They are holding a consultation,” thought Sholmes. “They are worried over the incident at the restaurant and are holding a council of war. Ah! what a master stroke it would be to capture all of them at one fell stroke!”
One of them, having moved toward the door, Sholmes leaped to the ground and concealed himself in the shadow. The gentleman in the frock coat and the headwaiter left the house. A moment later a light appeared at the windows of the first floor, but the shutters were closed immediately and the upper part of the house was dark as well as the lower.
“Lupin and the woman are on the ground floor; the two confederates live on the upper floor,” said Sholmes.
Sholmes remained there the greater part of the night, fearing that if he went away Arsène Lupin might leave during his absence. At four o’clock, seeing two policemen at the end of the street, he approached them, explained the situation and left them to watch the house. He went to Ganimard’s residence in the rue Pergolese and wakened him.
“I have him yet,” said Sholmes.
“Arsène Lupin?”
“Yes.”
“If you haven’t got any better hold on him than you had a while ago, I might as well go back to bed. But we may as well go to the station-house.”
They went to the police station in the rue Mesnil and from there to the residence of the commissary, Mon. Decointre. Then, accompanied by half a dozen policemen, they went to the rue Chalgrin.
“Anything new?” asked Sholmes, addressing the two policemen.
“Nothing.”
It was just breaking day when, after taking necessary measures to prevent escape, the commissary rang the bell and commenced to question the concierge. The woman was greatly frightened at this early morning invasion, and she trembled as she replied that there were no tenants on the ground floor.
“What! not a tenant?” exclaimed Ganimard.
“No; but on the first floor there are two men named Leroux. They have furnished the apartment on the ground floor for some country relations.”
“A gentleman and lady.”
“Yes.”
“Who came here last night.”
“Perhaps … but I don’t know … I was asleep. But I don’t think so, for the key is here. They did not ask for it.”
With that key the commissary opened the door of the ground-floor apartment. It comprised only two rooms and they were empty.
“Impossible!” exclaimed Sholmes. “I saw both of them in this room.”
“I don’t doubt your word,” said the commissary; “but they are not here now.”
“Let us go to the first floor. They must be there.”
“The first floor is occupied by two men named Leroux.”
“We will examine the Messieurs Leroux.”
They all ascended the stairs and the commissary rang. At the second ring a man opened the door; he was in his shirtsleeves. Sholmes recognized him as one of Lupin’s bodyguard. The man assumed a furious air:
“What do you mean by making such a row at this hour of the morning … waking people up. …”
But he stopped suddenly, astounded.
“God forgive me! … really, gentlemen, I didn’t notice who it was. Why, it is Monsieur Decointre! … and you, Monsieur Ganimard. What can I do for you!”
Ganimard burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, which caused him to bend double and turn black in the face.
“Ah! it is you, Leroux,” he stammered. “Oh! this is too funny! Leroux, an accomplice of Arsène Lupin! Oh, I shall die! and your brother, Leroux, where is he?”
“Edmond!” called the man. “It is Ganimard, who has come to visit us.”
Another man appeared and at sight of him Ganimard’s mirth redoubled.
“Oh! oh! we had no idea of this! Ah! my friends, you are in a bad fix now. Who would have ever suspected it?”
Turning to Sholmes, Ganimard introduced the man:
“Victor Leroux, a detective from our office, one of the best men in the iron brigade … Edmond Leroux, chief clerk in the anthropometric service.”
V
An Abduction
Herlock Sholmes said nothing. To protest? To accuse the two men? That would be useless. In the absence of evidence which he did not possess and had no time to
