"I beg you, my dear sir, to have these different objects properly packed up, and to forward them, addressed to me, carriage paid, to the Batignolles Station. Failing this, I shall Proceed to remove them myself on the night of Thursday, August 7th."
"Please pardon the slight trouble to which I am putting you, and believe me,"
"Yours very sincerely,"
"ARSENE LUPIN."
"P.S.—It occurs to me that the pictures have not glass before them. It would be as well to repair this omission before forwarding them to me, and I am sure that you will take this extra trouble cheerfully. I am aware, of course, that some of the best judges declare that a picture loses some of its quality when seen through glass. But it preserves them, and we should always be ready and willing to sacrifice a portion of our own pleasure for the benefit of posterity. France demands it of us.—A. L."
The Duke laughed, and said, "Really, this is extraordinarily funny. It must have made your father laugh."
"Laugh?" said Germaine. "You should have seen his face. He took it seriously enough, I can tell you."
"Not to the point of forwarding the things to Batignolles, I hope," said the Duke.
"No, but to the point of being driven wild," said Germaine. "And since the police had always been baffled by Lupin, he had the brilliant idea of trying what soldiers could do. The Commandant at Rennes is a great friend of papa's; and papa went to him, and told him about Lupin's letter and what he feared. The colonel laughed at him; but he offered him a corporal and six soldiers to guard his collection, on the night of the seventh. It was arranged that they should come from Rennes by the last train so that the burglars should have no warning of their coming. Well, they came, seven picked men—men who had seen service in Tonquin. We gave them supper; and then the corporal posted them in the hall and the two drawing-rooms where the pictures and things were. At eleven we all went to bed, after promising the corporal that, in the event of any fight with the burglars, we would not stir from our rooms. I can tell you I felt awfully nervous. I couldn't get to sleep for ages and ages. Then, when I did, I did not wake till morning. The night had passed absolutely quietly. Nothing out of the common had happened. There had not been the slightest noise. I awoke Sonia and my father. We dressed as quickly as we could, and rushed down to the drawing-room."
She paused dramatically.
"Well?" said the Duke.
"Well, it was done."
"What was done?" said the Duke.
"Everything," said Germaine. "Pictures had gone, tapestries had gone, cabinets had gone, and the clock had gone."
"And the coronet too?" said the Duke.
"Oh, no. That was at the Bank of France. And it was doubtless to make up for not getting it that Lupin stole your portrait. At any rate he didn't say that he was going to steal it in his letter."
"But, come! this is incredible. Had he hypnotized the corporal and the six soldiers? Or had he murdered them all?" said the Duke.
"Corporal? There wasn't any corporal, and there weren't any soldiers. The corporal was Lupin, and the soldiers were part of his gang," said Germaine.
"I don't understand," said the Duke. "The colonel promised your father a corporal and six men. Didn't they come?"
"They came to the railway station all right," said Germaine. "But you know the little inn half-way between the railway station and the chateau? They stopped to drink there, and at eleven o'clock next morning one of the villagers found all seven of them, along with the footman who was guiding them to the chateau, sleeping like logs in the little wood half a mile from the inn. Of course the innkeeper could not explain when their wine was drugged. He could only tell us that a motorist, who had stopped at the inn to get some supper, had called the soldiers in and insisted on standing them drinks. They had seemed a little fuddled before they left the inn, and the motorist had insisted on driving them to the chateau in his car. When the drug took effect he simply carried them out of it one by one, and laid them in the wood to sleep it off."
"Lupin seems to have made a thorough job of it, anyhow," said the Duke.
"I should think so," said Germaine. "Guerchard was sent down from Paris; but he could not find a single clue. It was not for want of trying, for he hates Lupin. It's a regular fight between them, and so far Lupin has scored every point."
"He must be as clever as they make 'em," said the Duke.
"He is," said Germaine. "And do you know, I shouldn't be at all surprised if he's in the neighbourhood now."
"What on earth do you mean?" said the Duke.
"I'm not joking," said Germaine. "Odd things are happening. Some one has been changing the place of things. That silver statuette now—it was on the cabinet, and we found it moved to the piano. Yet nobody had touched it. And look at this window. Some one has broken a pane in it just at the height of the fastening."
"The deuce they have!" said the Duke.
Chapter 4 THE DUKE INTERVENES
The Duke rose, came to the window, and looked at the broken pane. He stepped out on to the terrace and looked at the turf; then he came back into the room.
"This looks serious," he said. "That pane has not been broken at all. If it had been broken, the pieces of glass would be lying on the turf. It has been cut out. We must warn your father to look to his treasures."
"I told you so," said Germaine. "I said that Arsene Lupin was in the neighbourhood."
"Arsene Lupin is a very capable man," said the Duke, smiling. "But there's no reason to suppose that he's the only burglar in France or even in Ile-et-Vilaine."
"I'm sure that he's in the neighbourhood. I have a feeling that he is," said Germaine stubbornly.
The Duke shrugged his shoulders, and said a smile: "Far be it from me to contradict you. A woman's intuition is always—well, it's always a woman's intuition."
He came back into the hall, and as he did so the door opened and a shock-headed man in the dress of a gamekeeper stood on the threshold.
"There are visitors to see you, Mademoiselle Germaine," he said, in a very deep bass voice.
"What! Are you answering the door, Firmin?" said Germaine.
"Yes, Mademoiselle Germaine: there's only me to do it. All the servants have started for the station, and my wife and I are going to see after the family to-night and to-morrow morning. Shall I show these gentlemen in?"
"Who are they?" said Germaine.
"Two gentlemen who say they have an appointment."
"What are their names?" said Germaine.
"They are two gentlemen. I don't know what their names are. I've no memory for names."
"That's an advantage to any one who answers doors," said the Duke, smiling at the stolid Firmin.
"Well, it can't be the two Charolais again. It's not time for them to come back. I told them papa would not be back yet," said Germaine.
"No, it can't be them, Mademoiselle Germaine," said Firmin, with decision.
"Very well; show them in," she said.
Firmin went out, leaving the door open behind him; and they heard his hob-nailed boots clatter and squeak on the stone floor of the outer hall.
"Charolais?" said the Duke idly. "I don't know the name. Who are they?"
"A little while ago Alfred announced two gentlemen. I thought they were Georges and Andre du Buit,