Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-thief (Penguin Classics)

by Leblanc, Maurice

  (Including Those Referred to or Useful in the Introduction)

  William Vivian Butler, The Durable Desperadoes: A Critical Study of Some Enduring Heroes (London: Macmillan, 1973)

  Frank Wadleigh Chandler, The Literature of Roguery (New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1907)

  Howard Haycraft, Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story (revised edition, New York: Carroll & Graf, 1984).

  Charles Henry Meltzer, “Arsène Lupin at Home,” Cosmopolitan, v. 54 n. 6 (May, 1913), reprinted in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, v. 49. Most of the Leblanc quotations are taken from Meltzer’s article.

  Ellery Queen, 101 Years Entertainment: The Great Detective Stories 1841—1941 (New York: Modern Library, 1941).

  Agnes Reppelier, “A Short Defense of Villains,” in Essays in Miniature (New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895).

  Edward Thorpe, The Seine from Havre to Paris (London: Macmillan, 1913).

  THE ARREST OF ARSÈNE LUPIN

  The strangest of journeys! And yet it had begun so well! I, for my part, had never made a voyage that started under better auspices. The Provence is a swift and comfortable transatlantic liner, commanded by the most genial of men. The company gathered on board was of a very select character. Acquaintances were formed and amusements organized. We had the delightful feeling of being separated from the rest of the world, reduced to our own devices, as though upon an unknown island, and obliged, therefore, to make friends with one another. And we grew more and more intimate….

  Have you ever reflected on the element of originality and surprise contained in this grouping of a number of people who, but a day earlier, had never seen one another, and who are now, for a few days, destined to live together in the closest contact, between the infinite sky and the boundless sea, defying the fury of the ocean, the alarming onslaught of the waves, the malice of the winds, and the distressing calmness of the slumbering waters?

  Life itself, in fact, with its storms and its greatnesses, its monotony and its variety, becomes a sort of tragic epitome; and that, perhaps, is why we enjoy with a fevered haste and an intensified delight this short voyage of which we see the end at the very moment when we embark upon it.

  But, of late years, a thing has happened that adds curiously to the excitement of the passage. The little floating island is no longer entirely separated from the world from which we believed ourselves cut adrift. One link remains, and is at intervals tied and at intervals untied in mid-ocean. The wireless telegraph!1 As who should say a summons from another world, whence we receive news in the most mysterious fashion! The imagination no longer has the resource of picturing wires along which the invisible message glides: the mystery is even more insoluble, more poetic; and we must have recourse to the winds to explain the new miracle.

  And so, from the start, we felt that we were being followed, escorted, even preceded by that distant voice which, from time to time, whispered to one of us a few words from the continent which we had quitted. Two of my friends spoke to me. Ten others, twenty others sent to all of us, through space, their sad or cheery greetings.

  Now, on the stormy afternoon of the second day, when we were five hundred miles from the French coast, the wireless telegraph sent us a message of the following tenor:

  “Arsène Lupin on board your ship, first class, fair hair, wound on right forearm, travelling alone under alias R—”

  At that exact moment, a violent thunderclap burst in the dark sky. The electric waves were interrupted. The rest of the message failed to reach us. We knew only the initial of the name under which Arsène Lupin was concealing his identity.

  Had the news been any other, I have no doubt but that the secret would have been scrupulously kept by the telegraph-clerks and the captain and his officers. But there are certain events that appear to overcome the strictest discretion. Before the day was past, though no one could have told how the rumor had got about, we all knew that the famous Arsène Lupin was hidden in our midst.

  Arsène Lupin in our midst! The mysterious housebreaker whose exploits had been related in all the newspapers for months! The baffling individual with whom old Ganimard, our greatest detective, had entered upon that duel to the death of which the details were being unfolded in so picturesque a fashion! Arsène Lupin, the fastidious gentleman who confines his operations to country-houses and fashionable drawing-rooms, and who one night, after breaking in at Baron Schormann’s, had gone away empty-handed, leaving his visiting-card:

  ARSÈNE LUPIN

  Gentleman-Burglar

  with these words added in pencil:

  “Will return when your things are genuine.”

  Arsène Lupin, the man with a thousand disguises, by turns chauffeur, opera-singer, book-maker, gilded youth, young man, old man, Marseillese bagman, Russian doctor, Spanish bullfighter!2

  Picture the situation: Arsène Lupin moving about within the comparatively restricted compass of a transatlantic liner, nay—more, within the small space reserved to the first-class passengers—where one might come across him at any moment, in the saloon, the drawing-room, the smoking-room! Why, Arèsene Lupin might be that gentleman over there… or this one close by… or my neighbor at table… or the passenger sharing my stateroom….

  “And just think, this is going to last for five days!” cried Miss Nellie Underdown, on the following day. “Why, it’s awful! I do hope they’ll catch him!” And, turning to me, “Do say, Monsieur d’Andrézy, you’re such friends with the captain, haven’t you heard anything?”

  I wished that I had, if only to please Nellie Underdown. She was one of those magnificent creatures that become the cynosure of all eyes wherever they may be. Their beauty is as dazzling as their fortune. A court of fervent enthusiasts follow in their train.

  She had been brought up in Paris by her French mother, and was now on her way to Chicago to join her father, Underdown, the American millionaire. A friend, Lady Gerland, was chaperoning her on the voyage.

  I had paid her some slight attentions from the first. But, almost immediately, in the rapid intimacy of ocean travel, her charms had gained upon me, and my emotions now exceeded those of a mere flirtation whenever her great dark eyes met mine. She, on her side, received my devotion with a certain favor. She condescended to laugh at my jokes and to be interested in my stories. A vague sympathy seemed to respond to the assiduity which I displayed.

  One rival alone, perhaps, could have given me cause for anxiety: a rather good-looking fellow, well-dressed and reserved in manner, whose silent humor seemed at times to attract her more than did my somewhat “butterfly” Parisian ways.

  He happened to form one of the group of admirers surrounding Miss Underdown at the moment when she spoke to me. We were on deck, comfortably installed in our chairs. The storm of the day before had cleared the sky. It was a delightful afternoon.

  “I have heard nothing very definite,” I replied. “But why should we not be able to conduct our own inquiry just as well as old Ganimard,3 Lupin’s personal enemy, might do?”

  “I say, you’re going very fast!”

  “Why? Is the problem so complicated?”

  “Most complicated.”

  “You only say that because you forget the clews which we possess towards its solution.”

  “Which clews?”

  “First, Lupin is travelling under the name of Monsieur R—.”

  “That’s rather vague.”

  “Secondly, he’s travelling alone.”

  “If you consider that a sufficient detail!”

  “Thirdly, he is fair.”

  “Well, then?”

  “Then we need only consult the list of first-class passengers and proceed by elimination.”

  I had the list in my pocket. I took it out and glanced through it:

  “To begin with, I see that there are only thirteen persons whose names begin with an R.”

  “Only thirteen?”

  “In the first class, yes. Of these thirteen R’s, as you can
ascertain for yourself, nine are accompanied by their wives, children, or servants. That leaves four solitary passengers: the Marquis de Raverdan…”

  “Secretary of legation,” interrupted Miss Underdown. “I know him.”

  “Major Rawson…”

  “That’s my uncle,” said some one.

  “Signor Rivolta…”

  “Here!” cried one of us, an Italian, whose face disappeared from view behind a huge black beard.

  Miss Underdown had a fit of laughing:

  “That gentleman is not exactly fair!”

  “Then,” I continued, “we are bound to conclude that the criminal is the last on the list.”

  “Who is that?”

  “Monsieur Rozaine. Does any one know Monsieur Rozaine?”

  No one answered. But Miss Underdown, turning to the silent young man whose assiduous presence by her side vexed me, said:

  “Well, Monsieur Rozaine, have you nothing to say?”

  All eyes were turned upon him. He was fair-haired!

  I must admit I felt a little shock pass through me. And the constrained silence that weighed down upon us showed me that the other passengers present also experienced that sort of choking feeling. The thing was absurd, however, for, after all, there was nothing in his manner to warrant our suspecting him.

  “Have I nothing to say?” he replied. “Well, you see, realizing what my name was and the color of my hair and the fact that I am travelling by myself, I have already made a similar inquiry and arrived at the same conclusion. My opinion, therefore, is that I ought to be arrested.”

  He wore a queer expression as he uttered these words. His thin, pale lips grew thinner and paler still. His eyes were bloodshot.

  There was no doubt but that he was jesting. And yet his appearance and attitude impressed us. Miss Underdown asked, innocently:

  “But have you a wound?”

  “That’s true,” he said. “The wound is missing.”

  With a nervous movement, he pulled up his cuff and uncovered his arm. But a sudden idea struck me. My eyes met Miss Underdown’s: he had shown his left arm.

  And, upon my word, I was on the point of remarking upon this, when an incident occurred to divert our attention. Lady Gerland, Miss Underdown’s friend, came running up.

  She was in a state of great agitation. Her fellow-passengers crowded round her; and it was only after many efforts that she succeeded in stammering out:

  “My jewels!… My pearls!… They’ve all been stolen!”

  No, they had not all been stolen, as we subsequently discovered; a much more curious thing had happened: the thief had made a selection!

  From the diamond star, the pendant of uncut rubies, the broken necklaces and bracelets, he had removed not the largest, but the finest, the most precious stones—those, in fact, which had the greatest value and at the same time occupied the smallest space. The settings were left lying on the table. I saw them, we all saw them, stripped of their gems like flowers from which the fair, bright-colored petals had been torn.

  And to carry out this work, he had had, in broad daylight, while Lady Gerland was taking tea, to break in the door of the state-room in a frequented passage, to discover a little jewel-case purposely hidden at the bottom of a bandbox, to open it and make his choice!

  We all uttered the same cry. There was but one opinion among the passengers when the theft became known: it was Arsène Lupin. And, indeed, the theft had been committed in his own complicated, mysterious, inscrutable… and yet logical manner, for we realized that, though it would have been difficult to conceal the cumbersome mass which the ornaments as a whole would have formed, he would have much less trouble with such small independent objects as single pearls, emeralds, and sapphires.

  At dinner this happened: the two seats to the right and left of Rozaine remained unoccupied. And, in the evening, we knew that he had been sent for by the captain.

  His arrest, of which no one entertained a doubt, caused a genuine relief. We felt at last that we could breathe. We played charades in the saloon. We danced. Miss Underdown, in particular, displayed an obstreperous gayety which made it clear to me that, though Rozaine’s attentions might have pleased her at first, she no longer gave them a thought. Her charm conquered me entirely. At midnight, under the still rays of the moon, I declared myself her devoted lover in emotional terms which she did not appear to resent.

  But, the next day, to the general stupefaction, it became known that the charges brought against him were insufficient. Rozaine was free.

  It seemed that he was the son of a wealthy Bordeaux merchant. He had produced papers which were in perfect order. Moreover, his arms showed not the slightest trace of a wound.

  “Papers, indeed!” exclaimed Rozaine’s enemies. “Birth-certificates! Tush! Why, Arsène Lupin can supply them by the dozen! As for the wound, it only shows that he never had a wound… or that he has removed its traces!”

  Somebody suggested that, at the time when the theft was committed, Rozaine—this had been proved—was walking on deck. In reply to this it was urged that, with a man of Rozaine’s stamp, it was not really necessary for the thief to be present at his own crime. And, lastly, apart from all other considerations, there was one point upon which the most sceptical had nothing to say: who but Rozaine was travelling alone, had fair hair, and was called by a name beginning with the letter R? Who but Rozaine answered to the description in the wireless telegram?

  And when Rozaine, a few minutes before lunch, boldly made for our group, Lady Gerland and Miss Underdown rose and walked away.

  It was a question of pure fright.

  An hour later a manuscript circular was passed from hand to hand among the staff of the vessel, the crew, and the passengers of all classes. M. Louis Rozaine had promised a reward of ten thousand francs to whosoever should unmask Arsène Lupin or discover the possessor of the stolen jewels.

  “And if no one helps me against the ruffian,” said Rozaine to the captain, “I’ll settle his business myself.”

  The contest between Rozaine and Arsène Lupin, or rather, in the phrase that soon became current, between Arsène Lupin himself and Arsène Lupin, was not lacking in interest.4

  It lasted two days. Rozaine was observed wandering to right and left, mixing with the crew, questioning and ferreting on every hand. His shadow was seen prowling about at night.

  The captain, on his side, displayed the most active energy. The Provence was searched from stem to stern, in every nook and corner. Every state-room was turned out, without exception, under the very proper pretext that the stolen objects must be hidden somewhere—anywhere rather than in the thief’s own cabin.

  “Surely they will end by finding something?” asked Miss Un-derdown. “Wizard though he may be, he can’t make pearls and diamonds invisible.”

  “Of course they will,” I replied, “or else they will have to search the linings of our hats and clothes and anything that we carry about with us.” And, showing her my five-by-four Kodak,5 with which I never wearied of photographing her in all manner of attitudes, I added, “Why, even in a camera no larger than this there would be room to stow away all Lady Gerland’s jewels. You pretend to take snapshots and the thing is done.”

  “Still, I have heard say that every burglar always leaves a clew of some kind behind him.”

  “There is one who never does: Arsène Lupin.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? Because he thinks not only of the crime which he is committing, but of all the circumstances that might tell against him.”

  “You were more confident at first.”

  “Ah, but I had not seen him at work then!”

  “And so you think…”

  “I think that we are wasting our time.”

  As a matter of fact, the investigations produced no result whatever, or, at least, that which was produced did not correspond with the general effort: the captain lost his watch.

  He was furious, redoubled his zeal, and kept an even clo
ser eye than before on Rozaine, with whom he had several interviews. The next day, with a delightful irony, the watch was found among the second officer’s collars.

  All this was very wonderful, and pointed clearly to the humorous handiwork of a burglar, if you like, but an artist besides. He worked at his profession for a living, but also for his amusement. He gave the impression of a dramatist who thoroughly enjoys his own plays and who stands in the wings laughing heartily at the comic dialogue and diverting situations which he himself has invented.

  He was decidedly an artist in his way; and, when I observed Rozaine, so gloomy and stubborn, and reflected on the two-faced part which this curious individual was doubtless playing, I was unable to speak of him without a certain feeling of admiration.

  Well, on the night but one before our arrival in America, the officer of the watch heard groans on the darkest portion of the deck. He drew nearer, went up, and saw a man stretched at full length, with his head wrapped in a thick, gray muffler, and his hands tied together with a thin cord.

  They unfastened his bonds, lifted him, and gave him a restorative.

  The man was Rozaine.

  Yes, it was Rozaine, who had been attacked in the course of one of his expeditions, knocked down, and robbed. A visiting-card pinned to his clothes bore these words:

  “Arsène Lupin accepts M. Rozaine’s ten thousand francs, with thanks.”

  As a matter of fact, the stolen pocket-book contained twenty thousand-franc notes.

  Of course, the unfortunate man was accused of counterfeiting this attack upon his own person. But, apart from the fact that it would have been impossible for him to bind himself in this way, it was proved that the writing on the card differed absolutely from Rozaine’s handwriting, whereas it was exactly like that of Arsène Lupin, as reproduced in an old newspaper which had been found on board.

  So Rozaine was not Arsène Lupin! Rozaine was Rozaine, the son of a Bordeaux merchant! And Arsène Lupin’s presence had been asserted once again and by means of what a formidable act!