The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-16

mont"
Horace Velmont seemed rather an
noyed
81 suppose you're right, Devanne.
You're not the FIRST to tell me of 1t,
assure you"
Upon my word" persisted De-
vannc, 'if you had not been intro
duocd to me by my cousin d'Estavan,
and if you were not the wcll-known
painter whose charming sea pieces
admire so much, I'm not sure but that
should have informed the police of
YOUR presence at Dieppc.
The sally was received with general
laughter. There were gathered. in the
great dining room OF IhlbermeSnIl
Castle. in addition to Nclmont, the
Able Cells. rector OF the village, and
a dozen officers whose regiments were
taking part in the manoeuvres in the
ncighborhood, and who had accepted
the invitation OF Georges Devannc,
the banker, and his mother.
The company laughed once more,
and moved into the old guardroom-
huge. lofty hall which occupies tho
whole OF the lower portion of the
Tour Guillaume, and in which
Georges Devanne has arranged all the
incompatible treasures accumulated
: through the centuries by the lords of
Thibermcsnil.
Presently Dcvannc announced:
Tomorrow, at four o'clock in the
afternoon, | shall have here, as my
guest, Holmlock Shears. the great
English detective, for whom no mys-
tery exists, the most extraordinary
solver OF riddles that has ever been
known. the wonderful individual who
might have been the creation of
novelist's brain.
There was a general exclamation.
Holmlock Shears at Thibcrmesnil.
The thing was serious, then: Was
Arsene Lupin really in the district:
Devannc rose, and. pointing to
little empty space between two tall
folios on one OF the shelves of the
bookcase, said:
There was book here-a sixteenth
century book, entitled The Chronicles
OF Thibcrmesnil'-wh was the his
torv OF the castle since the time OF ITS
construction by Duke Rollo, on the,
site OF a feudal fortress. 1t contained
three engraved plates. One OF them
presented general view OF the do
uain Is whole; the second plan
1.-THE building; and the third call
YOUR special attention to thIs-the
sketch OF an underground passage,
ono OF whose outlets opens outside
the first line OF the ramparts, while
this other ends here-ycs, in this very
hall where we are sitting. Now this
book disappeared last month.
BY Iovcw said Velmont, that's
bad sign. Only its not enough TO
Justify the intervention Of Holmloek
Shears"
"Certainlv it would not have been
enough If another fact had not come
10 give its full significance to that
which | have just told you. There
was a second copy OF the chronicle
in the Bibliothequc Rationale, and
the two copies differed in certain de-
tails concerning the underground
passage, such as the addition OF
sectional drawing, and scale and
number of notes, not printed. but
written in ink and more or less OBJ
liberated. | knew OF these particulars
and | knew that the definite sketch
rould not be reconstructed except by
carefully collating the two plans.
Well, on the day after that on which
nv copy disappeared the one IN the
BibIiothequc Rationale was applied
for by a reader who carried 1t of
without leaving any clew as to the
manner in which the theft had been
effected"
These words were greeted with
many ordinations.
1T then occurred to me to write
and ask for the help OF Holmlock
Shears. who replied that he had the
kccncst wish to come into contact
with Arscnc Lupin.
What an honor for Arsene Lu-
nm, said Nclmont. But If our ma
tional thici should not be contem-
plating a project upon Thibcrmesnil,
then there will be nothing for Holm
lock Shears to do but twlddle his
thumbs"
There is another matter which IS
sure TO interest him: the discovery OF
the underground passage.
"Why, you told us that one end
opened in the fields and the other
here. in the guard room"
yes. but in what part OF 1t: The
line that represents the tunnel on the
plans finishes, at one end. at little
circle accompanied by the initials I.
c., which, of course, stand for Tour
Guillaume. But it's a round tower, and
deciJe AZ (which Dnipt IN, the