i8 
LAiND & WATER 
A pril 5, iyi7 
The Golden Triangle 
By Maurice Leblanc 
[Translated by Alexander Teixeira de MattosI 
K.H AFTER A'/v 
ON the evening of the day of Essares suicide Patrice 
was pacing the Ouai dcPassy. It was nearly six 
o'clock. From time to time, a tram-car passed, or 
some motor-lorry. There were very few jx^ople 
about on foot. I'atrice had the pavement almost to himself. 
He had not seen Don Luis Perenna since that morning, 
had merely received a line in which Don Luis asked him to 
have Ya-i3on's body moved into the Essares' house and 
afterwards to meet him on the quay above Berthou's WTiarf. 
The time appointed for the meeting was near at hand and 
Patrice was looking forward to this interview in which the truth 
would be revealed to him at last. He partly guessed the 
truth, but no little darkness and any number of unsolved 
problems remained. The tragedy was played out. The 
curtain had fallen on the villain's death. AH was well, 
there was nothing more to fear, no more pitfalls in store for 
them. The formidable enemy was laid low. But Patrice's 
anxiety was intense as he waited for the moment when light 
would be cast freely and fully upon the tragedy. 
" A few words," he said to himself, " a few words from 
that incredible person known as Arscne Lupin, will clear up 
the mystery. It will not take him long. He will bu gone in 
an hour. Will he take the secret of the gold with him, I 
wonder ? Will he solve the secret of the Golden Triangle for 
me ? And how will he keep the gold for himself ? How will 
he take it away ? " 
A motor-car arrived from the direction of the Trocadero. 
It slowed down and stopped beside the pavement. It must 
be Don Luis, thought Patrice. But, to his great surprise, 
he recognised M. JIassefon, who opened the door and came 
towards him with outstretched hand : 
"Well, captain, how are you? I'm punctual for the 
appointment, am I not ? But, I say, have you been wounded 
in the head again ? " 
"Yes, an accident of no importance." replied Patrice. 
'"' But what appointment are you speaking of ? " 
" Why, the one you gave me of course ! " 
" I gave you no appointment." 
" Oh, I say ! " said M. Masseron. " What does this mean ? 
Why, here's the note they brought me at the police-office : 
' Captain Belval's compliments to M. Masseron. The problem 
of the Golden Triangle is solved. The eighteen hundred bags 
are at his disposal. Will he please come to the Ouai de 
Passy, at six o'clock, with full powers from the Government 
to accept the conditions of delivery. It would be well if he 
brought with him twenty powerful detectives, of whom half 
should be posted a hundred yards on one side of the Essares' 
projjertv and the other half on the other.' There you are. 
Is it clear ? " 
' Perfectly clear," said Patrice, " but I never sent you thdt 
note." 
' Who sent it then ? " 
" An extraordinary man who deciphered all those problems 
like so many children's riddles and who certainly will be here 
himself to bring us the solution." 
" What's his name ? " 
" I shan't say." 
" Oh, I don't know about that ! Secrets arc hard to keep 
in war time." 
' Very easy, on the contrary, sir," said a voice behind M. 
Masseron. " All you need do is to make up your mind to it." 
M. Masseron and Patrice turned round and saw a gentleman 
dressed in a long black overcoat, cut hke a frock coat, and a 
tall collar which gave him a look of an English clergyman. 
" This is the friend I was speaking of," said Patrice, 
though he had some difficulty in recognizing Don Luis. " He 
twice saved niy life and also that of the lady whom I am 
going to marry. I will answer for him in e\ery respect." 
M. Masseron bowed : and Don Luis at once began, speaking 
with a slight accent : 
" Sir, your time is valuable and so is mine, for I am leaving 
Paris to-night and France to-morrow. My explanation 
therefore will be brief. .1 will pass over the drama itself, 
of which you have followed the main vicissitudes so far. It 
came to an end this morning. Captain Belval will tell you 
all about it. I will merely add that our poor Ya-Bon is dead 
and that you will find three other bodies ; that of Gregoiri'. 
whose real name was Mme. Mosgranem, in the barge over 
tliere : that of Vacherot. a hall-porter, in some corner of a 
block of flats at iS, Rue Guimart ; and lastly the body of 
Simeon Diodokis, in Dr. Gerddec's ])rivate hospital on the 
Boulevard de ^Montmorency." 
" Old Simeon ? " asked M. Masseron in great surprise. 
" Old Simeon has kijled himself. Captain Belval will give 
you every possible information about the ]x-rson and his 
real identity ; and I think vou will agree with me that this 
business will have to be hushed up. But. as I said, we will 
pass over all this. There remains the question of the gold, 
which, if I am not mistaken, interests vou more than anything 
else. ^ Have you brought your men .' " 
' Yes, I have. But why ? The hiding-place, even after 
you have told me where it is, will be what it was before, un- 
discovered by those who do not know it." 
" Certainly ; but, as the number of those who do know it 
increases, the secret may slip out. In any case that is 
one of my two conditions." 
^1 As you see, it is accepted. \Vliat is the other ? " 
" A more serious condition, sir, so serious indeed that, 
whatever powers may have been conferred upon you, I doubt 
whether they will be sufficient." 
" Let me hear ; then we shall see." 
" Very well." 
And Don Luis, speaking in a phlegmatic tone, as though 
he Nvere telling the most unimportant story, calmly set forth 
his' increchble projXK^al : 
"Two months ago. sir, thanks to my connection with the 
Near East and to my influence in certain Ottoman circles. 
I persuaded the clique which rules Turkey to-day to accept 
the idea of a separate peace. It was simply a question of a 
few hundred millions for distribution. I had the offer trans- 
mitted to the Allies, who rejected it, certainly not for financial 
• reasons, but for reasons of policy, which "it is not for me 
to judge. But I am not content to suffer this httle dip- 
lomatic check. I failed in my first negotiation ; I do not 
mean to fail in the second. That is why I am taking my 
precautions." 
He paused and then resumed, while liis voice took on a 
rather more serious tone : 
" At this moment, in April 1915, as you are well aware, 
conferences are in progress between the Allies and the last 
of the great European powers that has remained neutral. 
These conferences are going to succeed ; and they will succeed 
Ijecause the future of that power demands it and because the 
whole nation is uplifted with enthusiasm. Among the questions 
raised is one which forms the object of a certain divergency 
of opinion, I mean the question of money. Tliis foreign 
|X)wer is asking us for a loan of three hundred million francs 
in gold, while making it quite clear that a refiisal on our part 
would in no way affect a decision which is already irre\ocably 
taken. Well, I have three hundred millions in gold ; I ha\e 
them at my disposal ; and 1 desire to place them at the dis- 
posal of our Allies. This is my second and, in reality, my only 
condition." 
M'. Masseron seemed utterly taken aback ; 
" But, my dear sir," he said, " these are matters quite 
outside our province ; they must be examined and decided 
by others, not by us." 
" Everyone has the right to dispose of his money as he 
pleases." 
M. Masseron made a gesture of distress. 
A hand was laid on his arm by some one who had come up 
a moment before and who had listened to Don Luis' little 
speech. Its owner had alighted from a car which was waiting 
some way of ; and, to Patrice's great astonishment, his^ 
presence had aroused no opposition on the part of either M. 
Masseron or Don Luis Perenna. He was a man well-advanced 
in years, with a powerful, lined face; 
" My dear Masseron," he said, " it seems to me that you 
are not looking at the question from the right point of view." 
" That's what I think, monsieur le president," said Don 
Luis. 
" Ah, do you know me, sir ? " 
" M. Valenglay, I believe ? I had the honour of calling 
on you some years ago, sir, when you were president of the 
council." 
" Yes, I thought I remembered . . . though I can t 
say exactly. . . ." 
" Hease don't tax your memory, sir. The past does not 
( Continued on *rtP« 20) 
