they came to me, you know, from my dear mother!... I never thought to find pearls of such quality again...."
"You consider these to be of as pure a quality then, dear?"
Sonia Danidoff continued to examine the two pearls.
"It is really extraordinary," she cried suddenly. "Do you know, my dear, there are certain peculiarities about their l.u.s.tre,... yes ... I could swear that these very pearls you are offering me are two of those stolen from me!..."
Thomery appeared to have been impatiently awaiting these very words.
"You really, truly believe, Sonia, that they resemble the pearls stolen from you that unlucky evening?"
"I repeat--they are identical!"
Thomery looked smilingly at Sonia.
"Well, then, my dear one, I do not think you are mistaken!... I have all sorts of reasons for supposing that they really are two of your own pearls you are now holding in your hand...." And, then and there, Thomery told his fiancee all about the strange visit he had received the evening before, as well as his hope that he would be able to recover the stolen triple collar in its entirety.
"That intriguing dealer," said he finally, "must be a police informer.... In any case, I am persuaded that, before long, she will take me to some receiver or other who is in possession of your pearl collar."
"Oh, tell me you are not going among such people, all alone?" cried Sonia, with a note of sharp anxiety in her voice.
"But, why not?"
"If they are, as you think, thieves?"
"Well?"
"Well! Don"t you see, my dear, that if you go to buy the pearls, they will count on your bringing a large sum of money with you!... Why, it would be a most imprudent thing to do!..."
Thomery shrugged his shoulders.
"Really, that"s nonsense, Sonia! If these a.s.sa.s.sins meant to set a trap for me, they have a thousand other means of doing so ... besides, it would be remarkably daring of them to advise me to show you these pearls, and draw my attention to the question of their being stolen ones!... No, Sonia, this dealer is not the emissary of a band of robbers and a.s.sa.s.sins: she is a police informer, who has taken precautions. I run no dangerous risks by accompanying her! Rea.s.sure yourself on that point!..."
But Sonia Danidoff was not rea.s.sured by Thomery"s arguments.
"All that only frightens me!" said she.... "If you do not really think you are running any risk, will you let me go with you?... My dear, we will go together to identify those pearls, will we not?"
Thomery rose to take his leave, laughing and protesting.
"Why, dear Sonia, it would be in the highest degree improper on my part, were I to agree to such a proposition!... One of two things: either there is no danger, and I should be very sorry that I had let you go out in such shocking weather; or, if there is danger, I should be still more distressed were I to drag you into it with me.... I do beg of you, Sonia, do not insist on it.... I am not a child!... And I will be very careful--very wary!..."
Shortly after this, Thomery took leave of Sonia Danidoff. He went straight to the Cafe de la Paix, where he had arranged to meet the diamond broker....
She was punctual. She greeted Thomery with her most winning smile.
"I am persuaded, monsieur, that Madame Sonia Danidoff was interested by the offer you made her?"
"Quite so," replied Thomery.... "Should we go to your jeweller"s, without further loss of time?"
"If you really wish to do so, monsieur! Indeed it would be the best thing to do...."
Thomery hailed a cab. He and the diamond agent entered it together, and she gave the driver an address. Twenty minutes later they left the cab and were standing before the house where the present possessor of the pearls was to be found. Thomery knew no more now about the person he had come to interview, than he did when he started: that is to say, practically nothing.
The diamond broker had cleverly evaded giving any direct answers to the sugar refiner"s questions: she had confined herself to stating what would be the probable price demanded for the pearl collar--which question interested Thomery least of all!
They mounted, in single file, a rather poor sort of staircase: on the second floor the woman stopped. A narrow door faced them.... The woman rang.... They waited....
"Someone is coming!" said the woman. "I hear footsteps."
The door was opened half-way.
"Who is it?" asked a man"s voice.
"I, dear friend," answered the woman.
The door opened wide: the same voice said:
"Come in, monsieur."
Thomery had barely stepped inside the room, when the diamond broker, who was close behind, flung a long silk scarf round his neck, and, pushing his knee into his victim"s back for a support, he attempted to give, with Herculean force, the famous stroke of Father Francis Vigozous; energetic, Thomery did not lose his presence of mind.... He knew that to resist such a pull by simple force was impossible.... Quickly he threw himself backwards, thus giving to the strangling pull and falling on top of the woman, who had played this dastardly trick on him. From his constricted throat came a hoa.r.s.e "Ah!" like a death rattle.
As he was falling, for one flashing second, it seemed as though he were going to escape from the vise which was crushing in his throat... then, out of the shadow, there had appeared the fantastic vision of a man in a tight fitting sort of black jersey, which covered him from head to foot.... His face was concealed by a hooded mask....
This man had leapt out of the shadow.
He held a dagger in his hand.
Before Thomery had time to make a movement, the masked man had pierced his chest with a single stroke!... The sugar refiner was naught but a convulsive corpse.
"Ah, well!" declared the so-called diamond broker, who had got to his feet and was kicking Thomery"s body aside. "Ah, well, he is a dead weight this fellow!... By Jove, master, I fancied he was going to crush me, and that I should have to let him free!... You did well to come to the rescue!"
The masked man remarked in an indifferent tone:
"It really does not matter in the slightest!... Tell me, does anyone suspect?"
"No one, master. He came like a sheep to the slaughter."
"Princess Danidoff?"
"Ah, as for her--she must be waiting for the return of her beloved friend.... I do not advise you to pay her a visit!"
"Be silent, chatter-box!" ordered the masked a.s.sa.s.sin sharply. "Get rid of your clothes.... We must hurry!... We have work to do!"
"This evening?"
"This evening!"