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He smiled to his friends, to his fellow-Jansonians, to Valmeras, who had come specially to give him a cheer, to M. de Gesvres, to his father. When he had finished speaking; and while he still held his glass in his hand, a sound of voices came from the other end of the room and some one was gesticulating and waving a newspaper.
But Louis Valmeras, better known by the name of Arsene Lupin, had it restored at his own expense and bought the farm of the Neuvillette, where the conspirators spent the first night and where, retired from business and withdrawing from the affairs of this world, he means to lead the life of a respectable country squire with his wife and his mother by his side. The gentleman-burglar is dead!
All said, there was no material evidence to prove the fleeting presence of Lupin at the Chateau de l'Aiguille; and the authorities would have been entitled to challenge the statements of Beautrelet and his father, of Valmeras and Mlle. de Saint-Veran, had they not ended by discovering, in a room next to that occupied by the young girl, some half-dozen exquisite bouquets with Arsene Lupin's card pinned to them, bouquets scorned by her, faded and forgotten One of them, in addition to the card, contained a letter which Raymonde had not seen.
And, suddenly, a shadow springing upon the man, the night-light extinguished, the sound of a struggle Beautrelet ran up. The two bodies had rolled over on the flagstones. He tried to stoop and see. But he heard a hoarse moan, a sigh; and one of the adversaries rose to his feet and seized him by the arm: "Quick! Come along!" It was Valmeras.
Panting, shaken with excitement by this incredible story, the crowd had come gradually nearer and was now pressing round. With a thrill of anguish, they waited for the words which he would say in reply, the objections which he would raise. He did not stir. Valmeras gently uncrossed his hands and raised his head. Isidore Beautrelet was weeping. It is four o'clock in the morning.
A few clothes were found, a little linen, some household implements; and that was all. What astonished Beautrelet and Valmeras more was the disappearance of the wounded man. They could not see the faintest trace of a struggle, not even a drop of blood on the flagstones of the hall.
The last four, commanded by their chief and accompanied by Beautrelet and Valmeras, marched to the main entrance of the castle. Too late. The door was wide open. A peasant told them that he had seen a motor car drive out of the castle an hour before. Indeed, the search led to no result. In all probability, the gang had installed themselves there picnic fashion.
And, later, the precautions which I, Valmeras, had to take against myself, Lupin, before my marriage! And the night of your great banquet, Beautrelet, when you fainted in my arms! Oh, what memories!" There was a pause. Beautrelet watched Raymonde.
They groped their way along the passage, so softly that neither could hear a sound made by the other. A faint glimmer, however, seemed to light the hall for which they were making. Valmeras put his head round the corner. It was a night-light placed at the foot of the stairs, on a little table which showed through the frail branches of a palm tree. "Halt!" whispered Valmeras.
As for their landing on the Quai des Orfevres, they remembered nothing about it and had probably been asleep for many days before. This liberation of the prisoners was the final confession of defeat. By ceasing to fight, Lupin admitted it without reserve. One incident, moreover, made it still more glaring, which was the engagement of Louis Valmeras and Mlle. de Saint-Veran.
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