•o 
LAND & WATER 
December 14, 1916 
The Golden Triangle 
By Maurice Leblanc 
(Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattosl 
Synopsis : Captain Patrice Belval. a wounded French 
officer prevents in a Paris street the abduction of a nurse 
trA#-4s known to her patients as " Little Mother Coralie." 
Belval takes Coralie to his house, whither one of his seven men 
brings one of the abductors, who, before he can be questioned 
is strangled by his confederates in the room in which he 
has been confined. Belval, feeling that the fact of having 
been maimed in the service of his country is an honour 
rather than a disability, declares his love to Coralie, only 
to b$ told by her that she is already married, and that he 
musi make' no further effort even to retain her friendship' 
she suggests that there might be danger for him in a 
irietidshipwith herself. That night, after Coralie has left him, 
Belval has sent to him anonymously a box containing 
a large rusty key, and later he sees in the sky a rain of 
sparks, which had been mentioned by Coralie s would-be 
abductors us a signal possessing mysterious significance. 
He goes »ui with his servant, Ya-Bon, to try to ascertain 
the source cf the rain of sparks, and quite by accident, sees 
Colonel Fakhi, one of Coralie' s would be abductors, in com- 
pany mith four other men break into a house in the Rue 
Raynoumrd. By means of the rusty key, Belval gains access 
to the house, in which he finds the five men torturing another 
man, Essaris, obviously with a view to extracting informa- 
tion from him. Just as Belval is about to rescue the victim 
he sees that Coralie, horror-stricken, is also watching the 
torturers at their work. Essaris manages to get hold of a 
revolver, with which he shoots Fakhi dead. He buys off 
his other four assailants for a million francs apiece, with 
which they leave the house. Belval, still concealed watch- 
ing, waits for a cue from Coralie as to what to do in regard 
lo Essares, who, he has learned by now, is a great financier 
in possession of some important secret, and is also Coralie' s 
husband. 
CHAPTER V (continued) 
HER face no longer wore its expression of horror 
and affright, but Patrice was perhaps more scared 
at seeing her suddenly animated with a sinister 
energy that gave an unwonted sparkle to her 
eyes and set her eyebrows and her lips twitching. He 
reaUsed that Coralie was preparing to act. 
In what way ? Was tliis the end of the tragedy ? 
She wedked to the corner on her side of the gallery where 
one of the two spiral staircases stood, and went down slowly-, 
without, however, trying to deaden the sound of her feet. 
Her husband could not help hearing her. Patrice moreover 
saw in the mirror that he had Ufted Ms head and was following 
her with his eyes. 
She stopped at the foot of the stairs. But there was no in- 
decision in her attitude. Her plan was obviously quite c'ear ; 
and she was only thinking out the best method of putting 
it into execution. 
'■ Ah ! " wliispered Patrice to himself, quivering all over. 
" What are you doing. Little Mother Coralie ? " 
He gave a start. The direction in which Coralie's eyes 
were turned, together with the strange manner in which they 
stared, revealed her secret resolve to him. She had caught 
sight of the dagger, lying on the floor where it had slipped 
from the colonel's grasp. 
Not for a second did Patrice believe that she meant to 
pick up that dagger with any other tliought than to stab her 
husband. The intention of murder was so plainly written 
on her livid features that, even before she-stirred a limb Essares 
was seized with a ht of terror and strained every muscle to 
break the bonds that hampered his movements. 
She came forward, stopped once more and, suddenly 
bending, seized the dagger. \\'ithout waiting, she took two 
more steps. *" These brought her to the right of the chair ^n 
wliich Essares lay. He had only to turn his head a little way 
to see her. And an awful minute passed, during which the 
husband and wife looked into each other's eyes. 
-)The whirl of thoughts, of fear, of hatred, of vagrant and 
C(in dieting passions that passed through the brain of her 
who was about to kill and liini who was about to die, was re- 
produced in Patrice Belvals mind and deep down in his inner 
consciousness. What was he to do ? What part ought he 
to play in the tragedy that was being enacted before his 
eyes ? Should he intervene ? Was it his dutv to prevent 
Coralie from committing the irreparable deed ? Or should 
he commit it himself by breaking the man's head with a bullet 
from his revolver ? 
Yet, from the beginning, Patrice had really been swayed 
by a feeling which, mingling with all the others,, gradually 
paralysed him and rendered any inward struggle illusory : 
a feehng of curiosity driven to its utmost pitch. It was not 
the everyday curie sity of unearthing a squalid secret, but the 
higher curiosity of penetrating the mysterious sou) of a 
woman whom he loved, who was carried away by the rush 
of events and who suddenly, becoming once more mistress 
of herself, was of her own accord and with impressive calm- 
ness taking the most fearful resolution. Thereupon other 
questions forced themselves upon him. What prompted her 
to take this resolution ? Was it revenge ? Was it punish 
ment ? Was it the gratification of hatred ? 
Patrice Belval remained where he was. 
Coralie raised her arm. Her husband, in front of her, no 
longer even attempted to make those movements of despair 
which indicate a last effort. There was neither entreaty 
nor menace in his eyes. He waited in resignation. 
Not far from them, old Simeon, still bound, half lifted him- 
self on his elbows and stared at them in dismay. 
Coralie raised her arm again. Her whole frame seemed 
to grow larger and taller. An invisible force appeared to 
strengthen and stiffen her whole being, summoning all 
her energies to the service of her will. She was on the point of 
striking. Her eyes sought the place at which she should strike. 
Yet her eyes became less hard and less dark. It even seemed 
to Patrice that there was a certain hesitation in her gaze 
and that she was recovering not her usual gentleness, but a 
httle of her womanly grace. 
" Ah, Little Mother CoraUe,' murmured Patrice, " you 
are yourself again ! You are the woman I know. Whatever 
right you may think you have to kill that man, you will not 
kill him . . . and I prefer it so." 
Slowly Coralie's arm dropped to her side. Her features 
relaxed. Patrice could guess the immense relief which she 
fell at escaping from tlie obsessing purpose that was driving 
her to murder. She looked at her datiger with astonishment, 
as though she were waking from a hideous nightmare. And, 
bending over her husband, she began to cut his bonds. 
She did so with visible repugnance, avoiding his touch, 
as it were, and shunning his eyes. The cords were severed one 
by one. Essares was free. 
What happened next was in the highest measure un- 
expected. With not a word of thanks to his wife, with not a 
word of anger either, this man who had just undergone the 
most cruel torture and whose body still throbbed' with pain 
hurriedly tottered barefoot to a telephone standing on a table. 
He was like a hungry man who suddenly sees a piece of bread 
and snatches at it greedily as the means of saving himself 
and returning to life. Panting for breath, Essar^ took down 
the receiver and called out ! 
" Central 40.39." 
Then he turned abruptly to his wife : 
" Go away," he said. 
She seemed not to hear. She had knelt down beside old 
Simeon and was setting him free also. 
Essares at the telephone began to lose patience 1 
" Are you there ? . . . Are you there ? . . . I 
want that number to-day, please, not next week 1 It's 
urgent . . . 40.39 . . . It's urgent, I tell you I " 
And, turning to Coralie, he repeated, in an imperious tone : 
" Go away ! ' 
She made a sign that she would not go away and that, 
on the contrary, she meant to hsten. He shook his fist at her 
and again said ! 
" Go away, go away ! . . . 1 won't have you stay in the 
room. You go away too, Sim(ron.' ' 
Old Simeon got up and moved towards Essarte. It looked 
as though he wished to speak, no doubt to protest. But his 
action was undecided ; and, after a moment's reflection, 
he turned to the door and went without utter, ng a word. 
"Go away, will you, go away! " Essar6s repeated, his 
whole body expressing menace. 
But Coralie came nearer to him and crossed her arms. 
{Continued on page zj) 
