THE THEFT OF THE DIAMOND
Queen Hedwige had had a serious and legitimate reason for bringing her
reception to an abrupt conclusion. A Court ball for the high
functionaries and dignities of the Kingdom was to take place that
evening.
Furthermore, the Queen was very much exercised over the rumor that the
Grand Duchess Alexandra was to be present. This woman, still young and
very beautiful, played an important role in the small world of the
Palace. It was said by the gossips that she accepted the attentions of
Prince Gudulfin, in the hope that some day she might share the throne of
Hesse-Weimar with him. For many years she had been a great traveler but
in recent times she had spent more and more of her time in Glotzbourg,
where she continually met the Prince.
* * * * *
While Juve had experienced no difficulty in being present at the Queen's
audience, he found that even Mme. Heberlauf's influence was not
sufficient to procure him an invitation to the ball. As a matter of
fact, he had no particular wish to appear in the quality of a guest that
evening. He had other plans.
* * * * *
At ten o'clock a long line of carriages and automobiles began to arrive
in the gardens of the Palace. Innumerable electric lights shone out
along the drive-way and from the windows. A few persons had managed to
slip past the guards and had stationed themselves near the awning at the
main entrance to watch the arrival of the guests. Beneath their fur
cloaks, the women wore their very finest gowns and their richest
jewelry.
The hall of the chancellory had been transformed into a cloakroom and
there the crowd was thickest. In contrast to the brilliantly illuminated
left wing of the chateau, the octagonal tower showed dark and silent.
Hiding behind pillars, keeping close to the walls, a man was making his
way slowly toward that tower.
The man was Juve.
From behind a big tree he stood and watched the sky, rubbing his hands
with satisfaction.
"This is a night after my own heart," he murmured, "overcast and dark. I
should have been very embarrassed had the moon come out."
He felt his pockets.
"Everything I need. My electric lamp and a good, strong, silk ladder."
Then, surveying the tower, he soliloquized:
"A fine monument! Solid and strong. They don't build them like that
nowadays."
Juve took a few steps, bent his knees and stretched his arms, tested the
suppleness of his body.
"Ah, in spite of my forty-odd years, I'm still pretty fit for ... the
work I have to do."
* * * * *
By the aid of the lightning rod, the gutters and the inequalities in the
stones, the detective was enabled to climb without much difficulty to
the first floor.
There he paused to take breath and to examine the shutters of a window.
"Can't get in that way," he muttered, "they're bolted inside. I'll have
to climb higher."
The same condition met him on the second floor, but when he had finally
reached the roof, he espied a large chimney which promised a method of
ingress to the apartment below. The descent was anything but easy, and
Juve, in spite of his great strength and agility, was used up by the
time he had reached the bottom. His clothes were torn and he was covered
with the greasy soot he had accumulated on his journey. By dint of
brushing and scraping, he succeeded in cleaning off the worst of it,
and then looked round to take his bearings.
He had landed in the large waiting-room which adjoined the royal
apartments.
The distant sound of dance music came to his ears and the atmosphere of
the place was cold and damp.
"He doesn't often come here, I'll bet," thought Juve.
A door led him directly into the King's bathroom, and Juve paused to
admire the famous bath of solid silver which the municipality had
presented to the King upon one of his birthdays.
"I've a good mind to take a tub," he muttered. "Maybe I shall find His
Majesty locked in his bedroom, and I'm hardly a fit sight to appear
before him."
The detective now felt some cause for anxiety.
There were two alternatives to consider. Either the King was absent, and
in that case Juve's business would be to discover the hiding place of
the diamond and clear up the question whether the King had taken it with
him, or, if he had been sequestered, to discover his prison.
Clutching the butt of his Browning revolver in his pocket, the detective
opened the door to the King's bedroom and entered.
A thick carpet deadened the sound of his footsteps. After listening for
a few moments he relit his pocket lamp and flashed it round the room.
In the centre stood an immense bed of oak designed in Renaissance style,
the posts of which reached to the ceiling. Three steps led up to it.
Juve noticed that it had not been disturbed. The sheets and pillows were
all in order. There was nothing, however, to indicate that the King had
been absent for any length of time.
Upon one point he was certain: The King was not concealed anywhere about
the room, and the more he thought of the Burgomaster's suspicion, the
less he thought it plausible. But if the King had not been sequestered,
it was quite possible that he might be purposely hiding after his
unfortunate adventure of the Rue de Monceau. Therefore, Juve decided to
pursue his search through the other rooms.
But first he began mechanically to tap the wood-work, looking behind the
pictures for the hiding place of the famous diamond. In his time he had
seen so many secret drawers, double-seated chairs, and numerous
contrivances of a similar sort, that it would be a cunning hand that
could baffle his perspicacity and experience.
He had just examined a chair when suddenly he stopped in his work and
waited, listening. The sound of footsteps some distance off struck his
ear. Without a moment's hesitation he put out his light and darted
behind the curtains. It was a good position to take up for he could see
without being seen.
The footsteps drew near, the door opened and a light from an electric
lantern similar to the one Juve had used, was thrown into the room.
The individual advanced to the bed, all unaware of Juve's presence.
Stooping down, he began feeling the foot of one of the bedposts, which
at this point formed a bulge. In an instant the wood parted and
disclosed a hollow in which lay a jewel case. The jewel case contained
the famous red diamond.
Juve's heart began to thump as he watched the man open the case and take
out the diamond. Its facets reflected the light, multiplying the gleams
and bringing into relief the features of the robber.
Then it was that the detective uttered a great cry, a cry of agony, of
anger and of triumph. The man was wrapped in a great cloak, his face
hidden by a black mask, but there was no mistaking his identity. It was
Fantomas.
Juve's cry called forth another, ferocious and menacing, and then in a
moment the room was plunged into darkness and the two men sprang at one
another. Two revolver shots rang out. The dancers heard them in the
ballroom and stopped dancing. The musicians heard them and ceased
playing.
At once a stampede ensued.
Two officers of the guard rushed to the door leading to the King's
apartments, and flung it wide open. One of them turned on the electric
light and, followed by the frightened guests, entered the King's
bedchamber.
At the foot of the bed, struggling in a long cloak, a man with his hands
over his face lay moaning. By his side was a smoking revolver, and on
the ground the empty jewel case.
"Arrest him!" somebody cried.
In a moment a number of hands had seized and bound him. It was noticed
that his eyelids were fearfully swollen and the eyes bloodshot.
* * * * *
What had happened!
The struggle between Juve and the monster had scarcely lasted a second.
The detective had fired point blank at the black mask and as his finger
pressed the trigger he had felt the whistle of a bullet past his ear.
Then a door had opened slightly, letting in a thin shaft of light. To
his amazement, Fantomas no longer stood before him, but an officer in
the uniform of the Queen's lancers.
Juve was not taken in by this quick change, and was on the point of
firing again when suddenly his eyes were filled with a blinding powder,
burning and blistering the pupils. He had been blinded by pepper.
Instinctively he put his hands to his face, and in that moment he felt
himself enveloped in the long cloak in which Fantomas had entangled him.
Falling to the ground in agony he then heard the cry:
"Help! Help!"
By the sudden and growing noise, he realized that the crowd was drawing
near. When he had struggled to a sitting posture, he found himself a
prisoner.
The sudden change from darkness to bright light increased the pain in
his eyes, but with a superhuman effort he was enabled to pick out the
superb uniform of the false lancer. Pointing to him, he cried:
"Arrest him, why don't you arrest him!"
Brutally, he was told to keep quiet.
The noise of the theft spread rapidly and the greatest confusion reigned
in the Palace. Many of the women fainted. Finally M. Heberlauf arrived.
He appeared immensely important, and confided to a group his opinion of
the affair, adding this restriction:
"At any rate, that is what my wife believes."
Mme. Heberlauf had, in fact, after an interview with one of the
officers, announced it as her opinion that the thief so providentially
arrested was no other than the world-famous and unseizable Fantomas.
And then a queer thing happened. When the Grand Duchess Alexandra heard
this sinister name spoken, when she knew that Fantomas had been
arrested, she staggered as though struck to the heart and fell fainting
into the arms of her friends.
"Fantomas!" she murmured, "Fantomas arrested! Can it be possible?"
Juve was taken away tightly bound. He seemed indifferent to the clamor
of the crowd and constantly looked from side to side as though searching
for something or somebody. Suddenly, as he passed the group surrounding
the Grand Duchess Alexandra, he made a violent effort and dragged his
captors close enough to enable him to see the fainting woman's features.
One look was enough, and then without further resistance he allowed
himself to be marched away. He had found out what he wanted to know; he
had recognized in the Grand Duchess the mistress of Fantomas, the
accomplice of his most dreadful crimes. He had seen Lady Beltham!