The Victorian Rogues MEGAPACK ™: 28 Classic Tales

by Maurice Leblanc

  “That seems reasonable,” I had to admit. “Have you spoken to anyone of your loss?”

  “To no one but Dacre, who recommended me to see you. Oh, yes, and to Johnson, of course.”

  I could not help noting that this was the fourth or fifth time Dacre’s name had come up during our conversation.

  “What of Dacre?” I asked.

  “Oh, well, you see, he occupies chambers in the same building on the ground floor. He is a very good fellow, and we are by way of being firm friends. Then it was he who had called attention to the money, so I thought he should know the sequel.”

  “How did he take your news?”

  “Now that you call attention to the fact, he seemed slightly troubled. I should like to say, however, that you must not be misled by that. Lionel Dacre could no more steal than he could lie.”

  “Did he show any surprise when you mentioned the theft?”

  Bentham Gibbes paused a moment before replying, knitting his brows in thought.

  “No,” he said at last; “and, come to think of it, it appeared as if he had been expecting my announcement.”

  “Doesn’t that strike you as rather strange, Mr. Gibbes?”

  “Really, my mind is in such a whirl, I don’t know what to think. But it’s perfectly absurd to suspect Dacre. If you knew the man you would understand what I mean. He comes of an excellent family, and he is—oh! he is Lionel Dacre, and when you have said that you have made any suspicion absurd.”

  “I suppose you caused the rooms to be thoroughly searched. The packet didn’t drop out and remain unnoticed in some corner?”

  “No; Johnson and myself examined every inch of the premises.”

  “Have you the numbers of the notes?”

  “Yes; I got them from the bank next morning. Payment was stopped, and so far not one of the five has been presented. Of course, one or more may have been cashed at some shop, but none have been offered to any of the banks.”

  “A twenty-pound note is not accepted without scrutiny, so the chances are the thief may find some difficulty in disposing of them.”

  “As I told you, I don’t mind the loss of the money at all. It is the uncertainty, the uneasiness caused by the incident which troubles me. You will comprehend how little I care about the notes when I say that if you are good enough to interest yourself in this case, I shall be disappointed if your fee does not exceed the amount I have lost.”

  Mr. Gibbes rose as he said this, and I accompanied him to the door, assuring him that I should do my best to solve the mystery. Whether he sprang from pickles or not, I realized he was a polished and generous gentleman who estimated the services of a professional expert like myself at their true value.

  * * * *

  I shall not set down the details of my researches during the following few days, because the trend of them must be gone over in the account of that remarkable interview in which I took part somewhat later. Suffice it to say that an examination of the rooms and a close cross-questioning of Johnson satisfied me he and the two waiters were innocent. I became certain no thief had made his way through the window, and finally I arrived at the conclusion that the notes were stolen by one of the guests. Further investigation convinced me that the thief was no other than Lionel Dacre, the only one of the six in pressing need of money at this time. I caused Dacre to be shadowed, and during one of his absences made the acquaintance of his man Hopper, a surly impolite brute, who accepted my golden sovereign quickly enough, but gave me little in exchange for it. While I conversed with him, there arrived in the passage where we were talking together a huge case of champagne, bearing one of the best known names in the trade, and branded as being of the vintage of ’78. Now I knew that the product of Camelot Freres is not bought as cheaply as British beer, and I also had learned that two short weeks before Mr. Lionel Dacre was at his wits’ end for money. Yet he was still the same briefless barrister he had ever been.

  On the morning after my unsatisfactory conversation with his man Hopper, I was astonished to receive the following note, written on a dainty correspondence card:

  3 AND 4, VELLUM BUILDINGS,

  INNER TEMPLE, E.C.

  Mr. Lionel Dacre presents his compliments to Monsieur Eugene Valmont, and would be obliged if Monsieur Valmont could make it convenient to call upon him in his chambers to-morrow morning at eleven.

  Had the young man become aware that he was being shadowed, or had the surly servant informed him of the inquiries made? I was soon to know. I called punctually at eleven next morning and was received with charming urbanity by Mr. Dacre himself. The taciturn Hopper had evidently been sent away for the occasion.

  “My dear Monsieur Valmont, I am delighted to meet you,” began the young man with more effusiveness than I had ever noticed in an Englishman before, although his very next words supplied an explanation that did not occur to me until afterwards as somewhat farfetched. “I believe we are by way of being countrymen, and, therefore, although the hour is early, I hope you will allow me to offer you some of this bottled sunshine of the year ’78 from la belle France, to whose prosperity and honor we shall drink together. For such toast any hour is propitious,” and to my amazement he brought forth from the case I had seen arrive two days before a bottle of that superb Camelot Freres’ ’78.

  “Now,” said I to myself, “it is going to be difficult to keep a clear head if the aroma of this nectar rises to the brain. But tempting as is the cup, I shall drink sparingly and hope he may not be so judicious.”

  Sensitive, I already experienced the charm of his personality, and well understood the friendship Mr. Bentham Gibbes felt for him. But I saw the trap spread before me. He expected, under the influence of champagne and courtesy, to extract a promise from me which I must find myself unable to give.

  “Sir, you interest me by claiming kinship with France. I had understood that you belonged to one of the oldest families of England.”

  “Ah, England!” he cried, with an expressive gesture of outspreading hands truly Parisian in its significance. “The trunk belongs to England, of course, but the root—ah! the root—Monsieur Valmont, penetrated the soil from which this wine of the gods has been drawn.”

  Then filling my glass and his own he cried: “To France, which my family left in the year 1066!”

  I could not help laughing at his fervent ejaculation.

  “1066! With William the Conqueror! That is a long time ago, Mr. Dacre.”

  “In years, perhaps; in feelings, but a day. My forefathers came over to steal, and, Lord! how well they accomplished it. They stole the whole country—something like a theft, say I—under that prince of robbers whom you have well named the Conqueror. In our secret hearts we all admire a great thief, and if not a great one, then an expert one, who covers his tracks so perfectly that the hounds of justice are baffled in attempting to follow them. Now even you, Monsieur Valmont (I can see you are the most generous of men, with a lively sympathy found to perfection only in France), even you must suffer a pang of regret when you lay a thief by the heels who has done his task deftly.”

  “I fear, Mr. Dacre, you credit me with a magnanimity to which I dare not lay claim. The criminal is a danger to society.”

  “True, true, you are in the right, Monsieur Valmont. Still, admit there are cases that would touch you tenderly. For example, a man ordinarily honest; a great need; a sudden opportunity. He takes that of which another has abundance, and he, nothing. What then, Monsieur Valmont? Is the man to be sent to perdition for a momentary weakness?”

  His words astonished me. Was I on the verge of hearing a confession? It almost amounted to that already.

  “Mr. Dacre,” I said, “I cannot enter into the subtleties you pursue. My duty is to find the criminal.”

  “Again I say you are in the right, Monsieur Valmont, and I am enchanted to find
so sensible a head on French shoulders. Although you are a more recent arrival, if I may say so, than myself, you nevertheless already give utterance to sentiments which do honor to England. It is your duty to hunt down the criminal. Very well. In that I think I can aid you, and thus have taken the liberty of requesting your attendance here this morning. Let me fill your glass again, Monsieur Valmont.”

  “No more, I beg of you, Mr. Dacre.”

  “What, do you think the receiver is as bad as the thief?”

  I was so taken aback by this remark that I suppose my face showed the amazement within me. But the young man merely laughed with apparently free-hearted enjoyment, poured more wine into his own glass, and tossed it off. Not knowing what to say, I changed the current of conversation.

  “Mr. Gibbes said you had been kind enough to recommend me to his attention. May I ask how you came to hear of me?”

  “Ah! who has not heard of the renowned Monsieur Valmont,” and as he said this, for the first time there began to grow a suspicion in my mind that he was chaffing me, as it is called in England—a procedure which I cannot endure. Indeed, if this gentleman practiced such a barbarism in my own country, he would find himself with a duel on his hands before he had gone far. However, the next instant his voice resumed its original fascination, and I listened to it as to some delicious melody.

  “I need only mention my cousin, Lady Gladys Dacre, and you will at once understand why I recommended you to my friend. The case of Lady Gladys, you will remember, required a delicate touch which is not always to be had in this land of England, except when those who possess the gift do us the honor to sojourn with us.”

  I noticed that my glass was again filled, and bowing an acknowledgment of his compliment, I indulged in another sip of the delicious wine. I sighed, for I began to realize it was going to be very difficult for me, in spite of my disclaimer, to tell this man’s friend he had stolen the money. All this time he had been sitting on the edge of the table, while I occupied a chair at its end. He sat there in careless fashion, swinging a foot to and fro. Now he sprang to the floor, and drew up a chair, placing on the table a blank sheet of paper. Then he took from the mantelshelf a packet of letters, and I was astonished to see they were held together by two bits of cardboard and a rubber band similar to the combination that had contained the folded bank notes. With great nonchalance he slipped off the rubber band, threw it and the pieces of cardboard on the table before me, leaving the documents loose to his hand.

  “Now, Monsieur Valmont,” he cried jauntily, “you have been occupied for several days on this case, the case of my dear friend Bentham Gibbes, who is one of the best fellows in the world.”

  “He said the same of you, Mr. Dacre.”

  “I am gratified to hear it. Would you mind letting me know to what point your researches have led you?”

  “They have led me in a direction rather than to a point.”

  “Ah! In the direction of a man, of course?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Will you pardon me if I decline to answer this question at the present moment?”

  “That means you are not sure.”

  “It may mean, Mr. Dacre, that I am employed by Mr. Gibbes, and do not feel at liberty to disclose the results of my quest without his permission.”

  “But Mr. Bentham Gibbes and I are entirely at one in this matter. Perhaps you are aware that I am the only person with whom he has discussed the case besides yourself.”

  “That is undoubtedly true, Mr. Dacre; still, you see the difficulty of my position.”

  “Yes, I do, and so shall press you no farther. But I also have been studying the problem in a purely amateurish way, of course. You will perhaps express no disinclination to learn whether or not my deductions agree with yours.”

  “None in the least. I should be very glad to know the conclusion at which you have arrived. May I ask if you suspect anyone in particular?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Will you name him?”

  “No; I shall copy the admirable reticence you yourself have shown. And now let us attack this mystery in a sane and businesslike manner. You have already examined the room. Well, here is a rough sketch of it. There is the table; in this corner stood the chair on which the coat was flung. Here sat Gibbes at the head of the table. Those on the left-hand side had their backs to the chair. I, being on the center to the right, saw the chair, the coat, and the notes and called attention to them. Now our first duty is to find a motive. If it were a murder our motive might be hatred, revenge, robbery—what you like. As it is simply the stealing of money, the man must have been either a born thief or else some hitherto innocent person pressed to the crime by great necessity. Do you agree with me, Monsieur Valmont?”

  “Perfectly. You follow exactly the line of my own reasoning.”

  “Very well. It is unlikely that a born thief was one of Mr. Gibbes’s guests. Therefore we are reduced to look for a man under the spur of necessity; a man who has no money of his own, but who must raise a certain amount, let us say, by a certain date. If we can find such a man in that company, do you not agree with me that he is likely to be the thief?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then let us start our process of elimination. Out goes Viscount Stern, a lucky individual with twenty thousand acres of land, and God only knows what income. I mark off the name of Lord Templemere, one of his Majesty’s judges, entirely above suspicion. Next, Sir John Sanclere; he also is rich, but Vincent Innis is still richer, so the pencil obliterates both names. Now we arrive at Angus McKeller, an author of some note, as you are well aware, deriving a good income from his books and a better one from his plays; a canny Scot, so we may rub his name from our paper and our memory. How do my erasures correspond with yours, Monsieur Valmont?”

  “They correspond exactly, Mr. Dacre.”

  “I am flattered to hear it. There remains one name untouched, Mr. Lionel Dacre, the descendant, as I have said, of robbers.”

  “I have not said so, Mr. Dacre.”

  “Ah! My dear Valmont, the politeness of your country asserts itself. Let us not be deluded, but follow our inquiry wherever it leads. I suspect Lionel Dacre. What do you know of his circumstances before the dinner of the twenty-third?”

  As I made no reply, he looked up at me with his frank, boyish face illumined by a winning smile.

  “You know nothing of his circumstances?” he asked.

  “It grieves me to state that I do. Mr. Lionel Dacre was penniless on the night of the dinner.”

  “Oh, don’t exaggerate, Monsierur Valmont,” cried Dacre, with a gesture of pathetic protest; “his pocket held one sixpence, two pennies, and a half-penny. How came you to suspect he was penniless?”

  “I knew he ordered a case of champagne from the Lonsdon representative of Camelot Freres, and was refused unless he paid money down.”

  “Quite right, and then when you were talking to Hopper you saw that the case of champagne delivered. Excellent! Excellent, Monsieur Valmont. But will a man steal, think you, even to supply himself with so delicious a wine as this we have been tasting?—and, by the way, forgive my neglect. Allow me to fill your glass, Monsieur Valmont.”

  “Not another drop, if you will excuse me, Mr. Dacre.”

  “Ah, yes, champagne should not be mixed with evidence. When we have finished, perhaps. What further proof have you discovered, monsieur?”

  “I hold proof that Mr. Dacre was threatened with bankruptcy if, on the twenty-fourth, he did not pay a bill of seventy-eight pounds that had been long outstanding. I hold proof that this was paid, not on the twenty-fourth, but on the twenty-sixth. Mr. Dacre had gone to the solicitor and assured him he would pay the money on that date, whereupon he was given two days’ grace.”

  “Ah, well, he was entit
led to three, you know, in law. Yes, there, Monsieur Valmont, you touch the fatal point. The threat of bankruptcy will drive a man in Dacre’s position to almost any crime. Bankruptcy to a barrister means ruin. It means a career blighted; it means a life buried, with little chance of resurrection. I see, you grasp the supreme importance of that bit of evidence. The case of champagne is as nothing compared with it, and this reminds me that in the crisis now upon us, I shall take another sip, with your permission. Sure you won’t join me?”

  “Not at this juncture, Mr. Dacre.”

  “I envy your moderation. Here’s to the success of our search, Monsieur Valmont.”

  I felt sorry for the gay young fellow as with smiling face he drank the champagne.

  “Now, monsieur,” he went on, “I am amazed to learn how much you have discovered. Really, I think tradespeople, solicitors, and all such should keep better guard on their tongues than they do. Nevertheless, these documents at my elbow, which I expected would surprise you, are merely the letters and receipts. Here is the communication from the solicitor threatening me with bankruptcy; here is his receipt dated the twenty-sixth; here is the refusal of the wine merchant, and here is his receipt for the money. Here are smaller bills liquidated. With my pencil we will add them up. Seventy-eight pounds—the principal debt—bulks large. We add the smaller items and it reaches a total of ninety-three pounds seven shillings and fourpence. Let us now examine my purse. Here is a five-pound note; there is a golden sovereign. I now count out and place on the table twelve and sixpence in silver and twopence in coppers. The purse thus becomes empty. Let us add the silver and copper to the amount on the paper. Do my eyes deceive me, or is the sum exactly a hundred pounds? There is your money fully accounted for.”