February 22, 19 17 
LAiND &, WATER 
barge, the Nonchal.inic, the person who gave us information — 
do you recollect ? — well, that this person somehow gave me 
the cjueer impression, I can't tell you why, that I might be 
talking to a woman in disguise. The impression occurred 
to me once more. I mjde a mental comparison with the 
woman at Mantes . . . And then . . . and then it 
was like a flash of hght . . ." 
Don Luis paused to think and, in a lower voice, continued : 
•" but who the devil can the woman be ? " 
'rhere was a brief silence, after which Patrice said, from 
instinct rather than reason : 
'■ Grc'goire, 1 suppose." 
'■ Eh ? What's that ? Gregoire ? " 
■ Yes. Gn'goire is a woman." 
'■ What are you talking about ? " 
"Weil, obviously. Don't you remember? The accom- 
plice told me so, on the day when I had them arrested out- 
side the cat'." 
" V\ hy, your diary doesn't say a word about it !" 
" Oh," that's true ! . . . I forgot to put down that 
detail. ' 
" A detail ! He calls it a detail ! Why, it's of the great- 
est importance, captain ! If I had known, I should have 
guessed that that Largee was no other than Gregoire and we 
should not have wasted a whole night. Hang it all, captain, 
you really are the limit ! " 
But all this was unable to affect his good-humour. While 
Tatnce, overcome with presentiments, grew gloomier and 
rloomier, Don Luis began to sing victory in his turn : 
" Thank goodness ! The battle is becoming serious ! 
Really, it was too easy before ; and that was why I was sulking, 
1, Lupin ! Do \ ou imagine things go like that in real life ? Does 
everything fit in so accurately ? Benjamin Franklin, the 
uninterrupted conduit for gold, the series of clues that reveal 
themselves of their own accord, the man and the bags 
meeting at Mantes, the Belle Helene : no, it all worried me. 
The cat was being choked with cream ! And then the gold 
escaping in a barge ! All very well in times of peace, but not 
in war-time, in the face of the regulations : passes, patrol- 
boats, inpsections and - 1 don't know what . . . How 
could a fellow like Simeon risk a trip of that kind ? No, I 
had my suspicions ; and that was why, captain, I made Ya-Bon 
mount guard, on the offchance, outside Berthou's Wharf. 
It was just an idea that occurred to me. The whole of this ad- 
venture seemed to centre round the wharf. Well, was I right 
or not ? Is M. Lupin no longer able to follow a scent ? 
Captain, I repeat, I shall go back to-morrow evening. Besides, 
as I told you, I've got to. Whether I win or lose, I'm going, 
ijut we shall win. Everything will be cleared up. 
They reached the gates of Paris. Patrice was becoming 
more and more anxious : 
" Tuen you think the danger's over ? 
"Oh, I don't say that! The play isn't finished. After 
\Le great scene of the third act, which we will call the scene 
of tiie oxide of carbon, there will certainly be a fourth act 
and perhaps a fifth. The enemy has not laid down his arms, 
by any means." 
They were skirting the quays. 
" Let's get down," suid Don Luis." 
He gave a faint whistle and repeated it three times. 
" No answer,"- he aid. " Ya-Bon's not there. The battle 
has begun." 
" But Coralie. . . ." 
" Wiiat are you afraid of for her ? Simeon doesn't know 
her address." 
There was nobody on Berthou's Wharf and nobody on the 
quay below. But by the light of the moon they saw the 
otiicr barge, the Nonchalanie. 
' Let's go on board," said Don Luis. " I wonder if the 
lady known as Gregoire makes a practice of living here ? 
Has she come back, believing us on our way to Havre ? 
I hope so. In any case, Y'a-Bon must have been there and 
no doubt left something behind to act as a signal. Will you 
come, captain ? 
" Right you are. It's a queer thing, though : I feel 
frigliti lied ! 
" What of ? " asked Don Luis, who was plucky enough 
himselt to understand this presentiment. 
" Oi what we shall see." 
" My dear sir, there may be nothing there ! " < 
Eac.i of them switched on his pocket-lamp and felt the 
handle of his revolver. They crossed the plank between tiie 
s lore and the boat. A few steps downwards brought them 
10 the cabin. The door was locked. 
"Hi, mate ! Open this, will you ? " 
Taere was no reply. Tney now set about tweaking it 
down, which was no easy matter, for it was massive and quite 
unlike an ordinary cabin-door. 
V last it gave way. 
" By Jingo ! '.' said Don Luis, who was the first to go in. 
' I didn't expect this ! " 
" What ? " 
" Look. The woman whom they called Gregoire; she 
seems to be dead." 
She was lying back on a little iron bedstead, with her 
man's blouse open at the top and her chest uncovered. Her 
face still bore an expression of extreme terror. The dis- 
ordered appearance of the cabin suggested that a furious 
struggle had taken place. 
" I was riglit. Here, by her side, are the clothes she wore 
at Mantes. But what's the matter, captain ? " 
Patrice had stifled a cry : 
"There . . . o]5posite . . . under the window." 
It was a little windo.v overlooking the river. The pane- 
were broken. 
" Well ? " asked Don Luis, " What ? Yes, I believe sonv 
one's been thrown out that way." 
" The veil . . . that blue veil," stammered Patrice. 
" is. her nurse's veil. . . Coralie's. . . ." 
■ Don Luis grew vexed : 
" Nonsense ! Impossible I Nobody knew her address." 
" Still. . . ." 
" Still what ? You haven't written to her ? You haven't 
telegraphed to her ? " 
" Y'es. .... I telegraphed to her . . . from 
Mantes." 
" You telegraphed from the post-office at Mantes ? " 
" Yes." 
" And was there any one in the post-offise ? " 
Yes, a woman." 
" What woman ? The one who lies here, murdered ? 
" Yes." 
" But she didn't read what you wrote ? " 
" No, but I wrote the telegram over twice." 
" And you threw the first draft anywhere, on the floor, 
so that any one who came along. . . . Oh, really, cap- 
tain, you must confess. . . . ! " 
But Patrice was running towards the car and was already 
out of ear-shot. 
Half an hour after, he returned with two telegrams wliicli 
he had found on Coralie's table. The first, the one which he 
had sent, said : 
" All well. Be easy and stay indoors. Fondest love. 
"Captain Patrice.' 
The second, which had evidently been dispatched by Sim on, 
ran as follows : 
" Events taking serious turn. Plans changed. Coming 
back. Expect you nine o'clock this evening at the small 
door of your garden. " Captain P.'MRIce." 
This second telegram was delivered to Corahe at eiglit 
o'clock ; and she had left the home immediately afterwards. 
'G 
CHAPTER XVI 
The Fourth Act 
|.'\PTAIN,"said Don Luis, "you've scored two fine 
blunders. The first was vour not telling me that 
J Gregoire was a woman. -The second. . . ." 
But Don Luis saw that the officer was too much 
dejected for him to care about com})leting his charge. He 
put his hand on Patrice Belval's shoulder : 
" Come," he said, " don't upset yourself. Tlie position's 
not as bad as you think." 
' " Corahe jumped out of the window to escape that man." 
Patrice muttered. 
" Your Corahe is aUve," said Don Luis, shrugging his 
shoulders. " In Simeon's hands, but alive." 
" Why, what do 3'ou know about it ? Anyway, if she's in 
that monster's hands, might she not as weU be dead ? 
Doesn't it mean all the horrors of death ? Where's the 
difference ? 
" It means a danger of death, but it means life if we > ^ nxa 
in time ; and we shall." 
" Have you a clue ? 
" Do you imagine that I have sat twiddling m\' tluinbs 
and that an old hand like myself hasn't had time "in halt an 
hour to unravel the mysteries which this cabin presents ? " 
" Then let's go," cried Patrice, already eager for the fray 
" Let's have at the enemy." 
" Not yet," said Don Luis, who was still hunting arouu ! 
him. " Listen to me. I'll tell you what I know, captain, 
and I 11 tell it you straight out, without trying to da/./Je you 
by a parade of reasoning and without even telling you of the 
tiny trifles that serve me as proofs. The bare facts, thit'-^ 
all.' Well, then. ..." 
" Yes ? " 
"Little Mother Coralie kept the appointment «t nine 
o'clock. Simeon was there with his female accomplice. 
Between them, they bound and gagged her and brought her ^ 
