Sebastiani and his sons undid the leather straps, rubbed the bruised
wrists, dressed them with an
ointment and bandaged them. Then Daubrecq
swallowed a few drops of brandy.
"Feeling better?" said the
marquis. "Pooh, it's nothing much! In a few
hours, it won't show; and you'll be able to boast of having been tortured,
as in the good old days of the Inquisition. You lucky dog!"
He took out his watch. "Enough said! Sebastiani, let your sons watch
him in turns. You, take me to the station for the last train."
"Then are we to leave him like that,
monsieur le
marquis, free to move
as he pleases?"
"Why not? You don't imagine that we are going to keep him here to the
day of his death? No, Daubrecq, sleep quietly. I shall go to your
place tomorrow afternoon; and, if the
document is where you told me, a
telegram shall be sent off at once and you shall be set free. You
haven't told me a lie, I suppose?"
He went back to Daubrecq and, stooping over him again:
"No humbug, eh? That wouid be very silly of you. I shouid lose a day,
that's all. Whereas you would lose all the days that remain to you to
live. But no, the hiding-place is too good. A fellow doesn't
invent a
thing like that for fun. Come on, Sebastiani. You shall have the
telegram to-morrow."
"And suppose they don't let you into the house,
monsieur le
marquis?"
"Why shouldn't they?"
"The house in the Square Lamartine is occupied by Prasville's men."
"Don't worry, Sebastiani. I shall get in. If they don't open the door,
there's always the window. And, if the window won't open, I shall
arrange with one of Prasville's men. It's a question of money, that's
all. And, thank
goodness, I shan't be short of that, henceforth!
Good-night, Daubrecq."
He went out, accompanied by Sebastiani, and the heavy door closed after
them.
Lupin at once effected his
retreat, in
accordance with a plan which he
had worked out during this scene.
The plan was sunple enough: to
scramble, by means of his rope, to the
bottom of the cliff, take his friends with him, jump into the motor-car
and attack d'Albufex and Sebastiani on the deserted road that leads to
Aumale Station. There could be no doubt about the issue of the contest.
With d'Albufex and Sebastiani prisoners; it would be an easy matter to
make one of them speak. D'Albufex had shown him how to set about it;
and Clarisse Mergy would be inflexible where it was a question of
saving her son.
He took the rope with which he had provided himself and groped about to
find a jagged piece of rock round which to pass it, so as to leave two
equal lengths
hanging, by which he could let himself down. But, when he
found what he wanted, instead of
actingswiftly - for the business was
urgent - he stood
motionless, thinking. His
scheme failed to satisfy
him at the last moment.
"It's
absurd, what I'm proposing," he said to himself. "Absurd and
illogical. How can I tell that d'Albufex and Sebastiani will not escape
me? How can I even tell that, once they are in my power, they will
speak? No, I shall stay. There are better things to try... much better
things. It's not those two I must be at, but Daubrecq. He's done for;
he has not a kick left in him. If he has told the
marquis his secret,
there is no reason why he shouldn't tell it to Clarisse and me, when we
employ the same methods. That's settled! We'll
kidnap the Daubrecq
bird." And he continued, "Besides, what do I risk? If the
schememiscarries, Clarisse and I will rush off to Paris and, together with
Prasville,
organize a careful watch in the Square Lamartine to prevent
d'Albufex from benefiting by Daubrecq's revelations. The great thing
is for Prasville to be warned of the danger. He shall be."
The church-clock in a neighbouring village struck twelve. That gave
Lupin six or seven hours to put his new plan into
execution. He set
to work forthwith.
When moving away from the embrasure which had the window at the bottom
of it, he had come upon a clump of small shrubs in one of the hollows of
the cliff. He cut away a dozen of these, with his knife, and whittled
them all down to the same size. Then he cut off two equal lengths from
his rope. These were the uprights of the
ladder. He fastened the twelve
little sticks between the uprights and thus contrived a rope-
ladder about
six yards long.
When he returned to this post, there was only one of the three sons
beside Daubrecq's bed in the torture-chamber. He was smoking his pipe
by the lamp. Daubrecq was asleep.
"Hang it!" thought Lupin. "Is the fellow going to sit there all night?
In that case, there's nothing for me to do but to slip off... "'
The idea that d'Albufex was in possession of the secret vexed him
mightily. The
interview at which he had assisted had left the clear
impression in his mind that the
marquis was
working "on his own" and
that, in securing the list, he intended not only to escape Daubrecq's
activity, but also to gain Daubrecq's power and build up his fortune
anew by the
identical means which Daubrecq had employed.
That would have meant, for Lupin, a fresh battle to wage against a fresh
enemy. The rapid march of events did not allow of the
contemplation of
such a
possibility. He must at all costs spike the Marquis d'Albufex'
guns by
warning Prasville.
However, Lupin remained held back by the
stubborn hope of some incident
that would give him the opportunity of
acting.
The clock struck half-past twelve.
It struck one.
The
waiting became terrible, all the more so as an icy mist rose from
the
valley and Lupin felt the cold
penetrate to his very marrow.
He heard the trot of a horse in the distance:
"Sebastiani returning from the station," he thought.
But the son who was watching in the torture-chamber, having finished his
packet of
tobacco, opened the door and asked his brothers if they had a
pipeful for him. They made some reply; and he went out to go to the
lodge.
And Lupin was astounded. No sooner was the door closed than Daubrecq,
who had been so sound asleep, sat up on his couch, listened, put one
foot to the ground, followed by the other, and,
standing up, tottering a
little, but firmer on his legs than one would have expected, tried his
strength.
"Well" said Lupin, "the
beggar doesn't take long recovering. He can
very well help in his own escape. There's just one point that ruffles
me: will he allow himself to be convinced? Will he consent to go with
me? Will he not think that this
miraculousassistance which comes to
him straight from heaven is a trap laid by the
marquis?"
But suddenly Lupin remembered the letter which he had made Daubrecq's
old cousins write, the letter of
recommendation, so to speak, which the
elder of the two sisters Rousselot had signed with her Christian name,
Euphrasie.
It was in his pocket. He took it and listened. Not a sound, except the
faint noise of Daubrecq's footsteps on the flagstones. Lupin considered
that the moment had come. He
thrust his arm through the bars and threw
the letter in.
Daubrecq seemed thunderstruck.
The letter had fluttered through the room and lay on the floor, at three
steps from him. Where did it come from? He raised his head toward the
window and tried to
pierce the darkness that hid all the upper part of the
room from his eyes. Then he looked at the
envelope, without yet
daring to
touch it, as though he dreaded a snare. Then, suddenly, after a glance at
the door, he stooped
briskly, seized the
envelope and opened it.
"Ah " he said, with a sigh of delight, when he saw the signature.
He read the letter half-aloud:
"Rely implicitly on the
bearer of this note. He has succeeded
in discovering the
marquis' secret, with the money which we gave
him, and has contrived a plan of escape. Everything is prepared
for your flight.
"EUPHRASIE ROUSSELOT"
He read the letter again,
repeated, "Euphrasie ... Euphrasie... " and
raised his head once more.
Lupin whispered:
"It will take me two or three hours to file through one of the bars.
Are Sebastiani and his sons coming back?"
"Yes, they are sure to," replied Daubrecq, in the same low voice, "but I
expect they will leave me to myself."
"But they sleep next door?"
"Yes."
"Won't they hear?"
"No, the door is too thick."
"Very well. In that case, it will soon be done. I have a rope-
ladder.
Will you be able to climb up alone, without my
assistance?"
"I think so... I'll try... It's my wrists that they've broken... Oh, the
brutes! I can hardiy move my hands... and I have very little strength
left. But I'll try all the same... needs must... "
He stopped, listened and, with his finger to his mouth, whispered:
"Hush!"
When Sebastiani and his sons entered the room, Daubrecq, who had hidden
the letter and lain down on his bed, pretended to wake with a start.
The
huntsman brought him a bottle of wine, a glass and some food:
"How goes it,
monsieur le depute?" he cried. "Well, perhaps we did
squeeze a little hard... It's very
painful, that thumbscrewing. Seems
they often did it at the time of the Great Revolution and Bonaparte...
in the days of the chauffeurs.* A pretty
invention! Nice and clean...
no
bloodshed... And it didn't last long either! In twenty minutes, you
came out with the
missing word!" Sebastiani burst out laughing. "By
the way,
monsieur le depute, my congratulations! A capital hiding-place.
Who would ever
suspect it?... You see, what put us off,
monsieur le
marquis and me, was that name of Marie which you let out at first. You
weren't telling a lie; but there you are, you know: the word was only
half-finished. We had to know the rest. Say what you like, it's
amusing! Just think, on your study-table! Upon my word, what a joke!"
_______________________________________________________________________
*The name given to the brigands in the Vendee, who tortured their
victims with fire to make them
confess where their money was hidden.
- Translator's Note.
_______________________________________________________________________
The
huntsman rose and walked up and down the room, rubbing his hands:
"Monsieur le
marquis is jolly well pleased, so pleased, in fact, that
he himself is coming to-morrow evening to let you out. Yes, he has
thought it over; there will be a few formalities: you may have to sign
a cheque or two, stump up, what, and make good
monsieur le
marquis'
expense and trouble. But what's that to you? A trifle! Not to mention
that, from now on, there will be no more chains, no more straps round
your wrists; in short, you will be treated like a king! And I've even
been told - look here! - to allow you a good bottle of old wine and a
flask of brandy."
Sebastiani let fly a few more jests, then took the lamp, made a last
examination of the room and said to his sons:
"Let's leave him to sleep. You also, take a rest, all three of you.
But sleep with one eye open. One never can tell... " They withdrew.
Lupin waited a little longer and asked, in a low voice:
"Can I begin?"
"Yes, but be careful. It's not impossible that they may go on a round
in an hour or two."
Lupin set to work. He had a very powerful file; and the iron of the
bars, rusted and gnawed away by time, was, in places, almost reduced to
dust. Twice Lupin stopped to listen, with ears pricked up. But it was
only the
patter of a rat over the
rubbish in the upper story, or the
flight of some night-bird; and he continued his task, encouraged by
Daubrecq, who stood by the door, ready to warn him at the least alarm.
"Oof!" he said, giving a last stroke of the file. "I'm glad that's
over, for, on my word, I've been a bit cramped in this cursed tunnel...
to say nothing of the cold... "
He bore with all his strength upon the bar, which he had sawn from below,
and succeeded in forcing it down
sufficiently for a man's body to slip
between the two remaining bars. Next, he had to go back to the end
of the embrasure, the wider part, where he had left the rope-
ladder.
After fixing it to the bars, he called Daubrecq:
"Psst!... It's all right... Are you ready?"
"Yes... coming... One more second, while I listen... All right...