The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-07

|
well, governor?"
well. it's done"
How do you mean"
I'm lunching there"
You're lunching there?"
You wouldn't have me risk a life
as precious as mine for nothing,
hope? l have snatched M. Ludovic
| 1mbert from the certain death which
you had prepared for him. M. Luz
! dovic Imbert has grateful nature
He has asked me to lunch"
A silence; and then the other ven
tured:
$50 you're not giving it up?"
my boy" said Arsene, ~after
plotting that little assault of last
night, after taking the trouble, at 3
o'clock in the morning, along the for
tiications, to give you bang on
the wrist and kick on the shin and
running the risk of inflicting per-
sonal damage on my one and only
friend, it's not likely that 1 should
|
rescue so carefully planned"
But the unfavorable reports cir
culating about the fortune"
LET them circulated 1t is six
months since I first took the matter
in hand; six months since I began
to collect information, to study the
case, to lay my snares, to question
the servants, the money lenders, and
the men of straw; six months since
l started shadowing the husband and
wife. 1 don't care whether the for
tune proceeds from old Rawford, as
they contend, or from another
source; but l declare that it exists.
And. as it exists. 1 mean to have it. %
"Jupiterl A hundred millionsl"
"Say ten, or five-no matteri
There are fat bundles of securities in
the safe. I'll be hanged if 1 don't,
sooner or later, lay hands on the
key"
The car stopped at the Place de
I'Etoile.
$50. for the present-r
Nothing to be done. I'll let you
know. There's plenty of time.
Five minutes later Arsene LupIn
| climbed the sumptuous staircase of
the Hotel Imbert, and Ludovic in
troduced him to his wife. Gervaise
was a nice little woman. round as a
! ball, and very laxative. She gave
| him the warmest Of greetings.
1--WE wanted to be by ourselves to
entertain our rescuer," she said.
And from the first they treated
"our ~rescuer" as a friend of long
| standing. By the time that the des-
sert was reached the intimacy was
complete and condolences were be-
ing exchanged at great pace.
Arsene told the story of his own
life and the life of his father, an up
right magistrate, described his sad
childhood, his present difficulties.
Gervaise, in her turn. talked of her
youth, her marriage. old Rawford's
kindness. the hundred millions,
which she had inherited, the obsta-
cles that delayed her entering into
their enjoyment, the loans which she
had had to raise at exorbitant rates
of interest, her endless strife with
Rawford's nephews. And the oppo-
sitionsl And the sequestrationsI In
! fact, the whole storyl
"Just think, M. Lupin, the scrip is
there, in the next room,- in my hus-
| bands office, and if we cut off a
single coupon we lose everything
The securities are there, in our safe,
and we cannot touch themf
A thrill passed through M. Lupin's
frame at the thought of this prox-
unity, and he felt very clearly that
he would never have enough eleva-
ton of soul to entertain the same
scruples as the worthy lady.
"Ah, they are in there" he muir
INJURED. with a parched throat
| "They are in there"
| Relations begun under such aus
| pices as these were bound to lead
to closer ties still. In reply to ques-
| tons delicately worded, Arsene Lu-
pin confessed his poverty. his dis
tress The poor fellow received his
| appointment, then and tn ere. as pri-
vate secretary to the pair. at SAL
airy of one hundred and fifty francs
a month. He was to go on living
where he was, but to come every
morning and receive his instructions
|
comfort, a room on the second floor
was placed at his disposal as study.
| He chose one for himself By
what stroke of luck did it happen
| to be Immediately over Ludovic's
Officer