Fantômas

by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

  XXVII. THREE SURPRISING INCIDENTS

  Nibet went off duty at five in the morning, and returned to his own hometo go to bed. As a general rule he slept like a top, after a night onduty, but on this occasion he could not close an eye, being far toouneasy about the consequences of his co-operation in Gurn's escape.

  A few minutes before six in the evening he had taken advantage of nowarders being about to slip Gurn from cell number 127 into number 129,whence he could make his way to the roof. At six, when he actually cameon duty, Nibet opened the peephole in the door of number 127, as he didin all the others, and saw that Gurn had made an admirable dummy figurein the bed: it was so good that it even deceived a head warder who madea single rapid inspection of all the cells when Nibet was on one of hisseveral rounds during the night. Obviously Gurn must have got clear awayfrom the prison, for if he had been caught it would certainly havebecome generally known.

  These reflections somewhat comforted the restless man, but he knew thatthe most difficult part of his task was still before him: the difficultyof simulating astonishment and distress when he should get back to theprison presently and be told by his fellow-warders of the prisoner'sescape, and the difficulty of answering in a natural manner to the closeinterrogation to which he would be subjected by the governor and thepolice, and possibly even M. Fuselier, who would be in a fine rage whenhe learned that his captive had escaped him. Nibet meant to pretendignorance and even stupidity. He would far rather be called a fool, thanfound out to be a knave and an accomplice.

  About half-past eleven Nibet got up; Gurn's escape must certainly beknown at the prison by this time. The warder on duty would have gone tothe cell about seven to wake the prisoner, and though nothing might havebeen detected then, the cell would infallibly have been found to beempty at eight o'clock, when the morning broth was taken round. Andthen----

  As he walked from his home round to the prison, Nibet met the gang ofmasons coming out for dinner; he crossed the street towards them, hopingto hear some news, but they passed by him in silence, one or two of themgiving a careless nod or word of greeting; at first Nibet took theirsilence for a bad sign, thinking they might have been warned to give himno alarm, but he reflected that if Gurn's escape were discovered, as itsurely must be, the authorities would probably prefer not to let thematter become widely known.

  As he reached the porter's lodge his heart beat violently. What wouldold Morin have to tell him? But old Morin was very busy trying to makehis kitchen fire burn properly instead of sending all the smoke pouringout into the room; the old man's slovenly figure was just visible in aclearing in the smoke, and he returned Nibet's salutation with nothingmore than a silent salute.

  "That's funny!" thought Nibet, and he passed through the main courtyardtowards the clerks' offices at the end. Through the windows he could seethe staff, a few bending over their work, most of them readingnewspapers, none of them obviously interested in anything special. Nexthe presented himself before the warders' turnkey, and again he wasallowed to pass on without a word.

  By this time Gurn's accomplice was in a state of such nervous tensionthat he could hardly restrain himself from catching hold of one or otherof the warders whom he saw at their work, and asking them questions. Howcould the escape of so important a prisoner as the man who had murderedLord Beltham create so little excitement as this? Nibet longed to rushup the flights of stairs to number 127 and interrogate the warder whohad gone on duty after himself, and whom he was now about to relieve inturn. He must surely know all about it. But it would not do to createsuspicion, and Nibet had sufficient self-control left to go upstairs athis usual leisurely pace. Outwardly calm and steady, he reached his postjust as the clock was striking twelve; he was ever punctuality itself,and he was due on duty at noon.

  "Well, Colas," he said to his colleague, "here I am; you can go now."

  "Good!" said the warder. "I'll be off at once. I'm on again at sixto-night," and he moved away.

  "Everything all right?" Nibet enquired, in a tone he tried to make ascasual as possible, but that trembled a little nevertheless.

  "Quite," said Colas, perfectly naturally, and he went away.

  * * * * *

  Nibet could contain himself no longer, and the next second he threwcaution to the winds: rushing to Gurn's cell he flung the door open.

  Gurn was there, sitting on the foot of his bed with his legs crossed anda note-book on his knees, making notes with the quietest attention: hescarcely appeared to notice Nibet's violent invasion.

  "Oh! So you are there?" stammered the astonished warder.

  Gurn raised his head and looked at the warder with a cryptic gaze.

  "Yes, I'm here."

  All manner of notions crowded through Nibet's brain, but he could findwords for none of them. Had the plot been discovered before Gurn had hadtime to get away, or had a trap been laid for himself through the mediumof one of the prisoners to test his own incorruptibility? Nibet wentwhite, and leaned against the wall for support. At last Gurn spokeagain, reassuring him with a smile.

  "Don't look so miserable," he said. "I am here. That is a matter ofabsolutely no importance. We will suppose that nothing passed between usyesterday, and--that's an end to it."

  "So you haven't gone, you didn't go?" said Nibet again.

  "No," Gurn replied; "since you are so interested, all I need say is thatI was afraid to risk it at the last minute."

  Nibet had cast a keen and experienced eye all over the cell; under thewashstand he saw the little bundle of clothes which he had brought theprisoner the previous day. He rightly opined that the first thing to dowas to remove these dangerous articles, whose presence in Gurn's cellwould appear very suspicious if they happened to be discovered. He tookthe bundle and was hurriedly stowing it away under his own clothes, whenhe uttered an exclamation of surprise; the things were wet, and he knewfrom his own experience that the rain had never ceased throughout thewhole of the night.

  "Gurn," he said reproachfully, "you are up to some trick! These thingsare soaked. You must have gone out last night, or these things would notbe like this."

  Gurn smiled sympathetically at the warder.

  "Not so bad!" he remarked; "that's pretty good reasoning for a meregaoler." And as Nibet was about to press the matter, Gurn anticipatedhis questions, and made frank confession. "Well, yes, I did try to getout,--got as far as the clerk's office last evening, but at the lastminute I funked it, and went back on to the roof. But when I got intonumber 129 again I found I could not get back into my own cell, for, asyou know, 129 was locked outside; so to avoid detection I returned tothe roof and spent the night there; at daybreak I took advantage of thelittle disturbance caused by the workmen coming in, and slipped downfrom the roof just as they were going up. As soon as I found myself onthis floor I ran along this corridor and slipped into my cell. When yourfriend Colas brought me my broth he did not notice that my cell wasunlocked,--and there you are!"

  The explanation was not altogether convincing, but Nibet listened to itand pondered the situation. On the whole, it was much better that thingsshould be as they were, but the warder was wondering how the great lady,who paid so mighty well, might take the matter. She most certainly hadnot promised so large a sum of money, nor paid the good round sum of tenthousand francs down in advance, merely in order that Gurn might have alittle walk upon the tiles. What was to be done with regard to thatpersonage? With much ingenuousness Nibet confided his anxiety to theprisoner, who laughed.

  "It's not all over yet," he declared. "Indeed, it is only justbeginning. What if we only wanted to test you, and prove your quality?Make your mind easy, Nibet. If Gurn is in prison at the present momentit is because he has his own reasons for being there. But who is able topredict the future?"

  It was time for Gurn to go to the exercise yard, and Nibet, reassumingthe uncompromising attitude that all warders ought to maintain when incustody of prisoners, led the murderer down to the courtyard.

 
* * * * *

  In his office at the Law Courts, M. Fuselier was having a privateinterview with Juve, and listening with much interest to what the cleverdetective inspector was saying to him.

  "I tell you again, sir, I attach great importance to the finding of thisordnance map in Gurn's rooms."

  "Yes?" said M. Fuselier, with a touch of scepticism.

  "And I will tell you why," Juve went on. "About a year ago, when I wasengaged on the case of the murder of the Marquise de Langrune at herchateau of Beaulieu, down in Lot, I found a small piece of a map showingthe district in which I was at the time. I took it to M. de Presles, themagistrate who was conducting the enquiry. He attached no importance toit, and I myself could not see at the time that it gave us any newevidence."

  "Quite so," said M. Fuselier. "There is nothing particularly remarkablein finding a map, or a piece of a map, showing a district, in thedistrict itself."

  "Those are M. de Presles' very words to me," said Juve with a smile."And I will give you the same answer I gave him, namely, that if someday we could find the other portion of the map which completed the firstpiece we found, and could identify the owner of the two portions, therewould then be a formal basis on which to proceed to base an argument."

  "Proceed to base it," M. Fuselier suggested.

  "That's very easy," said Juve. "The fragment of map numbered 1, found atBeaulieu, belongs to X. I do not know who X is; but in Paris, in Gurn'srooms, I find the fragment of map numbered 2, which belongs to Gurn. Ifit turns out, as I expect, that the two fragments of map, when placedtogether, form a single and complete whole, I shall conclude logicallythat X, who was the owner of fragment number 1, is the same as the ownerof fragment number 2, to wit, Gurn."

  "How are you going to find out?" enquired M. Fuselier.

  "It is in order to find it out that we have sent for Dollon," Juvereplied. "He was steward to the late Marquise de Langrune, and has allthe circumstantial evidence relating to that case. If he has still gotthe fragment of map, it will be simplicity itself to prove what I havesuggested, and perhaps to make the identification I suggest."

  "Yes," said M. Fuselier, "but if you do succeed, will it be of reallygreat importance in your opinion? Will you be able to infer from thatone fact that Gurn and the man who murdered the Marquise de Langrune areone and the same person? Is not that going rather far? Especially as, ifI remember rightly, it was proved that the murderer in that case was theson of a M. Rambert, and this young Rambert committed suicide after thecrime?"

  Juve evaded the issue.

  "Well, we shall see," was all he said.

  * * * * *

  The magistrate's clerk came into the room and unceremoniouslyinterrupted the conversation.

  "It has gone two, sir," he said. "There are some prisoners to examine,and a whole lot of witnesses," and he placed two bulky bundles of papersbefore the magistrate and waited for a sign to call the various persons,free or otherwise, whom the magistrate had to see.

  The first bundle caught Juve's attention. It was endorsed "Royal PalaceHotel Case."

  "Anything new about the robbery from Mme. Van den Rosen and PrincessSonia Danidoff?" he enquired, and as the magistrate shook his head, headded, "Are you going to examine Muller now?"

  "Yes," said the magistrate; "at once."

  "And after that you are to examine Gurn, aren't you, in connection withthe Beltham case?"

  "Quite so."

  "I wish you would oblige me by confronting the two men here, in mypresence."

  M. Fuselier looked up in surprise: he could not see what connectionthere could be between the two utterly dissimilar cases. What objectcould Juve have in wanting the man who had murdered Lord Beltham to beconfronted with the unimportant little hotel servant who had really beenarrested rather as a concession to public opinion than because he wasactually deemed capable of burglary or attempted burglary? Might notJuve, with his known mania for associating all crimes with each other,be going just a little too far in the present instance?

  "You have got some idea in the back of your head?" said M. Fuselier.

  "I've got a--a scar in the palm of my hand," Juve answered with a smile,and as the magistrate confessed that he failed to understand, Juveenlightened him. "We know that the man who did that robbery at the RoyalPalace Hotel burned his hand badly when he was cutting the electricwires in the Princess's bathroom. Well, a few weeks ago, while I was onthe look out for someone with a scar from such a wound, I was told of aman who was prowling about the slums. I had the fellow followed up, andthe very night the hunt began I was going to arrest him, when, a gooddeal to my surprise, I discovered that he was no other than Gurn. Heescaped me that time, but when he was caught later on I found that hehas an unmistakable scar inside the palm of his right hand; it is fadingnow, for the burn was only superficial, but it is there. Now do you seemy idea?"

  "Yes, I do," the magistrate exclaimed, "and I am all the more glad tohear of it, since I am to have both the men here now. Shall I haveMuller in first?"

  Juve assented....

  "So you still refuse to confess?" said the magistrate at last. "Youstill maintain that your--extraordinary--order to let the red-hairedwaiter out, was given in good faith?"

  "Yes, yes, yes, sir," the night watchman answered. "That very evening anew servant had joined the staff. I had not even set eyes on him. When Isaw this--stranger----, I took him to be the servant who had beenengaged the day before, and I told them to open the door for him. Thatis the real truth."

  "And that is all?"

  "That is positively all."

  "We are only charging you with complicity," the magistrate went on, "forthe man who touched the electric wires burned his hand; that is a strongpoint in your favour. And you also say that if the thief were put beforeyou, you could recognise him?"

  "Yes," said the man confidently.

  "Good!" said M. Fuselier, and he signed to his clerk to call in anotherpersonage.

  The clerk understood, and Gurn was brought in between two municipalguards, and was followed by the young licentiate in law, Maitre Roger deSeras, who represented his leader at most of these preliminaryexaminations. As Gurn came in, with the light from the window fallingfull on his face, M. Fuselier gave a curt order.

  "Muller, turn round and look at this man!"

  Muller obeyed, and surveyed with some bewilderment, and without theleast comprehension, the bold head and the well-built, muscular frame ofLord Beltham's murderer. Gurn did not flinch.

  "Do you recognise that man?" the magistrate demanded.

  Muller ransacked his brains and looked again at Gurn, then shook hishead.

  "No, sir."

  "Gurn, open your right hand," the magistrate ordered. "Show it," and heturned again to Muller. "The man before you seems to have been burned inthe palm of the hand, as that scar shows. Can you not remember havingseen that man at the Royal Palace Hotel?"

  Muller looked steadily at Gurn.

  "On my honour, sir, although it would be to my interest to recognisehim, I am bound to acknowledge that I really and truly don't."

  M. Fuselier had a brief conversation aside with Juve, and then, thedetective appearing to agree with him, turned once more to the nightwatchman.

  "Muller," he said, "the court is pleased with your frankness. You willbe set free provisionally, but you are to hold yourself at the disposalof the court of enquiry," and he signed to the municipal guards to leadthe gratefully protesting man away.

  Meanwhile Gurn's case appeared to him to be becoming much more serious,and much more interesting. He had the prisoner placed in front of him,while Juve, who had withdrawn into a dark corner of the room, never tookhis eyes off the murderer.

  "Gurn," he began, "can you give me an account of your time during thesecond half of December of last year?"

  Gurn was unprepared for the point-blank question, and made a gesture ofdoubt. M. Fuselier, probably anticipating a sensation, was just on thepoint of orde
ring Dollon to be called, when he was interrupted by adiscreet tap on the door. His clerk went to answer it, and saw agendarme standing at the door. At almost the first words he said, theclerk uttered an exclamation and wheeled round to the magistrate.

  "Oh, M. Fuselier, listen! They have just told me----"

  But the gendarme had come in. He saluted the magistrate and handed him aletter which M. Fuselier hastily tore open and read.

  "To M. Germain Fuselier, Examining Magistrate, The Law Courts, Paris.

  "The special commissioner at Bretigny station has the honour to report that this morning at 8 A.M. the police informed him of the discovery on the railway line, five kilometres from Bretigny on the Orleans side, of the dead body of a man who must either have fallen accidentally or been thrown intentionally from a train bound for Paris. The body had been mutilated by a train travelling in the other direction, but papers found on the person of the deceased, and in particular a summons found in his pocket, show that his name was Dollon, and that he was on his way to Paris to wait upon you.

  "The special commissioner at Bretigny station has, quite late, been informed of the following facts: passengers who left the train on its arrival at the Austerlitz terminus at 5 A.M. were examined by the special commissioner at that station, and subsequently allowed to go. Possibly you have already been informed. We have, however, thought it our duty, after having searched the body, to report this identification to you, and have therefore requisitioned an officer of the police at Bretigny to convey to you the information contained in this communication."

  * * * * *

  M. Fuselier had turned pale as he read this letter. He handed it toJuve. With feverish haste the famous detective read it through andwheeled round to the gendarme.

  "Tell me, do you know what has been done? Do you know if this man'spapers, all his papers, were found and have been preserved?"

  The man shook his head in ignorance. Juve clasped the magistrate's hand."I'm off to Bretigny this instant," he said in a low tone.

  Throughout this incident Maitre Roger de Seras had remained in a stateof blank incomprehension.

  Gurn's face was more expressionless and impenetrable than ever.