Intimidated, blushing hotly, she stopped short, then changed the conversation.
"Do tell me if you have heard anything fresh!"
Fandor returned to his normal self also. He had sworn to himself that he would not tell Elizabeth he loved her, until he had succeeded in unravelling the tangled skein of the terrible Dollon affair.
"I shall speak," thought he, "when she is once more at peace and free, when she is out of danger. I do not want her to consent to love me just because I have devoted myself to her brother"s case. Elizabeth shall be my wife, please G.o.d; but only if I deserve her, if I can win her."
And Jerome Fandor told her the story of the famous wicker trunk--but he did not mention Thomery"s death, nor did he speak of the horrible murder of Jules.... What was the use of saddening Elizabeth, of adding needlessly to her terrors? Instead, he thought it better to learn what he could from her.
"I have not found that famous list!" said he.
"Oh, I beg your pardon!" cried Elizabeth. "I was so worried!... Just imagine that, I found the list after all, and I thought I had lost it!
It was in one of my little handbags. I had put it there to bring to you.
Here it is: they were quite willing to let me keep it!"
Fandor eagerly took the paper from Elizabeth and proceeded to examine it. Yes, it certainly was a page torn from a note-book of medium size.
An unknown hand had traced the following words in bold writing. The names succeeded one another in the form of a list.
_Baroness de Vibray, April 3. Jacques Dollon._ _Dep.... idem._ _Sonia Danidoff, April 12._ _Barbey-Nanteuil, May 15._ _Gerin...?_ _Madame B...?_ _Thomery, during May._ _Barbey-Nanteuil, end May._
Fandor could not find anything more on the paper. Whilst Elizabeth sat silent, Fandor reflected:
"Baroness de Vibray, April 3. Jacques Dollon ... these correspond exactly with the commencement of this mysterious affair: the two first deaths, and the date of their death.... What does _Dep._ signify? The initials of a name--or--yes, Dep ... Depot idem--yes, _Depot the same day!_ That"s it! _Sonia Danidoff, April 12_ ... the full name, the exact date. _Barbey-Nanteuil, May 15_: the affair of rue du Quatre Septembre occurred May 20; that"s pretty near. Two more names, and one date which exactly tallies. _Gerin?_... _Madame B_....? Who are they? Why no date?
Ah, Gerin, lawyer of Madame de Vibray, a crime planned, without date, perhaps because he was not indispensable ... and _Thomery_! Thomery, who died in the middle of May, as this plan indicates! But, how about the last line? _Barbey-Nanteuil, end of May?_ Oh, beyond a doubt the bankers were to be victims of some fresh aggression on the part of the mysterious author of these lines!"
"_Barbey-Nanteuil, end of May!_ We are at the 28th of the month: only three more days before the sinister date falls due! Are they to be attacked, or is it their money? How to defend them? How organise a trap for the mice?"
Suddenly, Fandor looked up, saw Elizabeth"s anxiety, and said quietly:
"Well, this list agrees in every particular with the description you gave me of it, and I don"t quite see what fresh information we are likely to get from it. However, will you leave it with me?"
Fandor rose.
"Ah, there is one point which has just occurred to me"--Fandor"s voice trembled a good deal--"Do you know for a fact that your brother had bought Thomery shares?"
"He had very few, three or four. I think the Barbey-Nanteuil got them for him."
"And your brother had to pay for them by a certain date?"
"Yes."
Fandor now felt he must tear himself away. He was deeply moved.
"Elizabeth!... Elizabeth!" he cried. "I swear to you we shall clear up these dreadful mysteries amidst which we live, and more, you and I! Only have confidence, I implore you! Grant me a week"s grace, less even!"
Fandor pressed Elizabeth"s hands as though he could never let them go!
Such little hands, and so dear!
It was not a farewell he took--it was a veritable flight he took from the girl who now meant so much to him!
Leaving the prison, Fandor walked straight ahead, thinking aloud.
"It is clear--evident! The Barbey-Nanteuils have sold Thomery shares to be paid up on a certain date. Thomery was murdered so that his shares should fall to zero, and so that the Barbey-Nanteuils should realise enormous sums at their monthly clearance. Next Sat.u.r.day, the coffers of the Barbey-Nanteuil bank will be full of gold, and this same Sat.u.r.day is the last day of May, the fatal day inscribed on the list. Yes, this coming Sat.u.r.day, they will pillage the Barbey-Nanteuil bank!"
XXV
A MOUSE TRAP
Jerome Fandor had been ringing Juve"s door bell in vain: the great detective was not at home.
"What the deuce is he doing? What has become of him? Never have I needed his advice as I need it now!... His support, encouragement--what a comfort they would be!... It is possible he would have dissuaded me against the attempt--or, he might have joined forces with me! Hang it all! It was a jolly bad move on Juve"s part to make himself scarce at such a critical moment for me!... It is a long time, too, since I had news of him! Were I not certain that he has sound reasons for his absence--Juve never acts haphazard--I should be desperately anxious!"
Fandor consulted his watch--four o"clock! He had time then! He could think over all the dramatic events in which he had been involved during the past weeks, beginning with the rue Norvins affair, and ending--how, and when?
At last, our journalist arrived before the immense building which forms the corner of the rue de Clichy. He saw, in front of him, the tall windows of the flat occupied by Nanteuil: on the ground floor were the bank offices.
"Well," thought Fandor, "I certainly am going to do an unconventional thing. If my summing up of them is right, these bankers are balanced, calm, cold, without imagination, and distrusting it in others. I shall have to be eloquent to convince them, to make them listen to me and get them to do what I want. Will they show me the door, as though I were an intriguer or a madman?... I shall not let them do it!... Ah, they will owe me a fine candle if I have the good luck.... Whether there will be good luck for my venture, and grat.i.tude from the bankers, remains to be seen.... Here goes!..."
Seated behind their large and important looking writing table, as though judges behind a judgment seat, Messieurs Barbey and Nanteuil, in their immense reception office, separated from the rest of the world by a number of padded doors, had just said to Fandor, who was standing in front of them:
"We are listening to you, monsieur."
Fandor had asked to see the bankers, and to see them only, stating that he would wait if they were engaged. He had been shown into a handsomely furnished room, then into another, then into a third; finally, he had been ushered into the office of the partners. He had waited there for a few minutes alone. He recognised it as the same room in which he had interviewed Monsieur Barbey a few weeks earlier. Again he saw the same hangings, the same fine rugs, the same velvet arm-chair of cla.s.sic design.
Then Barbey, solemn, and Nanteuil, elegant, a rose in his b.u.t.tonhole, had entered the room, their manner stiff-starched, showing no surprise, accustomed as they were to receive visitors of all sorts and kinds: they were polite, but not cordial.
Fandor, accustomed to society as he was, and audacious as he had to be in the exercise of his profession, was intimidated, for a moment, by the calm simplicity of the two men--these strictly conventional bankers, to whom he was about to say such strange things, and make a most unexpected proposition!
First of all, he made excuse on excuse for having disturbed the bankers at their post time. Then anxiety overcame every consideration of conventional propriety. Full of persuasive ardour, he went straight to the point.
"Messieurs," declared he, "you are more deeply involved than you might think in the mysterious affairs occupying the attention of the police at this moment. So far, they have not got to the bottom of them. I, myself, through the necessities of my profession, and owing to other circ.u.mstances, have been drawn into an investigation, conjointly with the detective department, an investigation which has had definite results: it has enabled me to discover clues of the highest importance.
I learned, too late, alas, to prevent the tragedies, that certain persons were the chosen victims of these mysterious criminals. Madame de Vibray, the Princess Danidoff were condemned beforehand; the robbery of your gold was carefully arranged. Now to my point! Messieurs, you yourselves are sentenced: the execution of the sentence to be carried out three days hence. Do you believe me?"
Fandor had drawn nearer the two bankers: only the immense mahogany writing-table stood between them!
The partners had listened with cold attention: nevertheless, a slight trembling of Monsieur Barbey"s lips betrayed hidden feeling. Noticing this, Fandor was emboldened to proceed.
Monsieur Nanteuil, in a slightly sneering tone, but with a perfectly correct manner, replied to the ardent young journalist:
"We are greatly obliged to you, monsieur, for the sympathy you have shown us by coming to give us information regarding the mysterious a.s.sa.s.sins, whom the police are so zealously trying to round up. Believe me, we are accustomed to take our precautions, seeing that we have the handling of enormous sums of money. We are none the less grateful to you for your interest in us, and for your warning."
"It is not a question of grat.i.tude," interrupted Fandor sharply. "We have to deal with very strong opponents. I say "we" because I have become more and more personally involved in all these crime-tragedies.
Believe me, I speak from five years" experience as a reporter, who has had to report, on an average, one crime a day!... Up to now, nothing, absolutely nothing has hindered the criminals from executing their plans; but, warned in time, we may be able to thwart them."