United States or Guinea-Bissau ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Without more ado he began to mount the steps. Guerchard followed him. The Duke saw their heels disappear up the steps. Then he came out of the drawing-room and inquired for M. Gournay-Martin. He was told that the millionaire was up in his bedroom; and he went upstairs, and knocked at the door of it. M. Gournay-Martin bade him enter in a very faint voice, and the Duke found him lying on the bed.
The Duke's lips parted slightly and his eyes opened a trifle wider than their wont. He turned sharply on his heel, and almost sprang into the other drawing-room. There he laughed at his ease. M. Formery kept saying to the millionaire: "Be calm, M. Gournay-Martin. Be calm! We shall recover your masterpieces. I pledge you my word. All we need is time. Have patience. Be calm!"
The mocking light deepened a little in the Duke's eyes. "Yes. But if I had been killed, everybody would have said, 'The Duke of Charmerace has been killed in a duel about Mademoiselle Gournay-Martin. That would have sounded very fine indeed," said the Duke; and a touch of mockery had crept into his voice. "Now, don't begin trying to annoy me again," said Germaine pettishly.
"M. Gournay-Martin declared that he saw a burglar slip out of one of the windows of the hall of the chateau, and we found the lock of the bureau in which the keys were kept broken." The inspector seized the knocker, and hammered on the door. "Try that door there," he cried to his men, pointing to a side-door on the right, the tradesmen's entrance, giving access to the back of the house.
"No, I don't," said Germaine quickly. "It couldn't have been Victoire. The last two thefts were committed at the chateau when Victoire was in Paris in charge of this house." M. Formery seemed taken aback, and he hesitated, consulting his notes. Then he said: "Good good. That confirms my hypothesis." "What hypothesis?" said M. Gournay-Martin quickly.
"The telegram is the important thing this telegram," said M. Gournay-Martin feverishly. "It concerns the coronet. Is it going to be disregarded?" "Oh, no, no," said M. Formery in a soothing tone. "It will be taken into account. It will certainly be taken into account." M. Gournay-Martin's butler appeared in the doorway of the drawing-room: "If you please, sir, lunch is served," he said.
M. Gournay-Martin closed the case, and said solemnly: "There is danger, M. Guerchard, so I am going to trust the coronet to you. You are the defender of my hearth and home you are the proper person to guard the coronet. I take it that you have no objection?" "Not the slightest, M. Gournay-Martin," said Guerchard. "It's exactly what I wanted you to ask me to do." M. Gournay-Martin hesitated.
Then he handed the coronet to Guerchard, saying with a frank and noble air, "I have every confidence in you, M. Guerchard." "Thank you," said Guerchard. "Good-night," said M. Gournay-Martin. "Good-night, M. Guerchard," said Germaine. "I think, after all, I'll change my mind and go with you. I'm very short of sleep," said the Duke. "Good-night, M. Guerchard."
The official at the other end of the line hesitated. He did not refuse on the instant as he had refused the inspector. It may be that he reflected that M. Gournay-Martin was a millionaire and a man of influence; that the Duke of Charmerace was a Duke; that he, at any rate, had nothing whatever to gain by running counter to their wishes.
I drove it to Paris, leaving M. Gournay-Martin and his family to come on by train." "Very important very important indeed," said M. Formery. He thought for a moment, and then added. "Were the motor-cars the only things stolen? Were there no other thefts?" "Well, as a matter of fact, there was another theft, or rather an attempt at theft," said the Duke with some hesitation.
Word Of The Day