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"They don't seem to have gone through any of the rooms except these two," said the Duke. "Ah, then my mind is at rest about that. The safe in my bedroom has only two keys. Here is one." He took a key from his waistcoat pocket and held it out to them. "And the other is in this safe." The face of M. Formery was lighted up with a splendid satisfaction.
Where else should they come from?" said M. Formery, with a touch of impatience in his tone. "Well, at the end of the garden they're building a house," said the Duke. "Of course, of course," said M. Formery, taking him up quickly. "The burglars came here with their boots covered with plaster.
"Excuse me, excuse me. I am conducting this inquiry," he said. And then, turning to Irma, he added, "Now, don't be frightened, Mademoiselle Irma; I want to ask you a question or two. Have you brought up to Paris the pendant which the Duke of Charmerace gave your mistress yesterday?" "Me, sir? No, sir. I haven't brought the pendant," said Irma. "You're quite sure?" said M. Formery.
"I'll give you a hundred guesses," said Guerchard with a tantalizing smile. "What is it?" said M. Formery. "A little present for you," said Guerchard. "What do you mean?" cried M. Formery angrily. Guerchard held up a card between his thumb and forefinger and said quietly: "The card of Arsene Lupin."
M. Formery beckoned the inspector to him, and said to him in a voice too low for the others to hear: "Just slip up to her room and search her trunks." "There is no need to take the trouble," said Guerchard, in the same low voice, but with sufficient emphasis. "No, of course not. There's no need to take the trouble," M. Formery repeated after him. The door opened, and Sonia came in.
"I did not know that that was Guerchard's theory?" said M. Formery, a trifle contemptuously. "Of course they had no need to use the front door." "Perhaps they had no need to use the front door," said Guerchard; "but, after all, the front door was unbolted, and they did not draw the bolts to put us off the scent.
I really must congratulate you, my dear M. Formery, on the admirable manner in which you have conducted this inquiry." M. Formery bowed, and regarded him with a touch of suspicion. "There are one or two minor points on which we do not agree, but on the whole your method has been admirable," said Guerchard. "Well, about Victoire," said M. Formery.
Indeed it was I who begged the officials at the Prefecture of Police to put this case in your hands. I insisted on it." "What were you doing on that ladder?" said M. Formery, giving Guerchard no time to reply to the Duke. "I was listening," said Guerchard simply "listening. I like to hear people talk when I'm engaged on a case. It's a distraction and it helps.
The door opened, and in came M. Formery, the Duke, and the inspector. M. Formery looked round the room with eyes which seemed to expect to meet a familiar sight, then walked to the other drawing-room and looked round that. He turned to the policeman, who had stepped inside the drawing-room, and said sharply, "M. Guerchard is not here." "I left him here," said the policeman.
The Duke and the inspector gazed at him with respectful eyes at least, the eyes of the inspector were respectful; the Duke's eyes twinkled. "I am gathering up the threads," said M. Formery. "Inspector, bring up the concierge and his wife. I will question them on the scene of the crime. Their dossier should be here. If it is, bring it up with them; if not, no matter; bring them up without it."
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