"How charming these French people are!" thought Wilson, evolving one of his commonplace deductions.
"But time is money," exclaimed the baron, "especially your time, Monsieur Sholmes. So I will come to the point. Now, what do you think of the affair? Do you think you can succeed in it?"
"Before I can answer that I must know what it is about."
"I thought you knew."
"No; so I must ask you for full particulars, even to the smallest detail. First, what is the nature of the case?"
"A theft."
"When did it take place?"
"Last Saturday," replied the baron, "or, at least, some time during Saturday night or Sunday morning."
"That was six days ago. Now, you can tell me all about it."
"In the first place, monsieur, I must tell you that my wife and I, conforming to the manner of life that our position demands, go out very little. The education of our children, a few receptions, and the care and decoration of our house—such constitutes our life; and nearly all our evenings are spent in this little room, which is my wife's boudoir, and in which we have gathered a few artistic objects. Last Saturday night, about eleven o'clock, I turned off the electric lights, and my wife and I retired, as usual, to our room."
"Where is your room?"
"It adjoins this. That is the door. Next morning, that is to say, Sunday morning, I arose quite early. As Suzanne, my wife, was still asleep, I passed into the boudoir as quietly as possible so as not to wake her. What was my astonishment when I found that window open—as we had left it closed the evening before!"
"A servant——"
"No one enters here in the morning until we ring. Besides, I always take the precaution to bolt the second door which communicates with the ante-chamber. Therefore, the window must have been opened from the outside. Besides, I have some evidence of that: the second pane of glass from the right—close to the fastening—had been cut."
"And what does that window overlook?"
"As you can see for yourself, it opens on a little balcony, surrounded by a stone railing. Here, we are on the first floor, and you can see the garden behind the house and the iron fence which separates it from the Parc Monceau. It is quite certain that the thief came through the park, climbed the fence by the aid of a ladder, and thus reached the terrace below the window."
"That is quite certain, you say!"
"Well, in the soft earth on either side of the fence, they found the two holes made by the bottom of the ladder, and two similar holes can be seen below the window. And the stone railing of the balcony shows two scratches which were doubtless made by the contact of the ladder."
"Is the Parc Monceau closed at night?"
"No; but if it were, there is a house in course of erection at number 14, and a person could enter that way."
Herlock Sholmes reflected for a few minutes, and then said:
"Let us come down to the theft. It must have been committed in this room?"
"Yes; there was here, between that twelfth century Virgin and that tabernacle of chased silver, a small Jewish lamp. It has disappeared."
"And is that all?"
"That is all."
"Ah!... And what is a Jewish lamp?"
"One of those copper lamps used by the ancient Jews, consisting of a standard which supported a bowl containing the oil, and from this bowl projected several burners intended for the wicks."
"Upon the whole, an object of small value."
"No great value, of course. But this one contained a secret hiding-place in which we were accustomed to place a magnificent jewel, a chimera in gold, set with rubies and emeralds, which was of great value."
"Why did you hide it there?"
"Oh! I can't give any reason, monsieur, unless it was an odd fancy to utilize a hiding-place of that kind."
"Did anyone know it?"
"No."
"No one—except the thief," said Sholmes. "Otherwise he would not have taken the trouble to steal the lamp."
"Of course. But how could he know it, as it was only by accident that the secret mechanism of the lamp was revealed to us."
"A similar accident has revealed it to some one else ... a servant ... or an acquaintance. But let us proceed: I suppose the police have been notified?"
"Yes. The examining magistrate has completed his investigation. The reporter-detectives attached to the leading newspapers have also made their investigations. But, as I wrote to you, it seems to me the mystery will never be solved."
Sholmes arose, went to the window, examined the casement, the balcony, the terrace, studied the scratches on the stone railing with his magnifying-glass, and then requested Mon. d'Imblevalle to show him the garden.
Outside, Sholmes sat down in a rattan chair and gazed at the roof of the house in a dreamy way. Then he walked over to the two little wooden boxes with which they had covered the holes made in the ground by the bottom of the ladder with a view of preserving them intact. He raised the boxes, kneeled on the ground, scrutinized the holes and made some measurements. After making a similar examination of the holes near the fence, he and the baron returned to the boudoir where Madame d'Imblevalle was waiting for them. After a short silence Sholmes said:
"At the very outset of your story, baron, I was surprised at the very simple methods employed by the thief. To raise a ladder, cut a window-pane, select a valuable article, and walk out again—no, that is not the way such things are done. All that is too plain, too simple."
"Well, what do you think?"
"That the Jewish lamp was stolen under the direction of Arsène Lupin."
"Arsène Lupin!" exclaimed the baron.
"Yes, but he did not do it himself, as no one came from the outside. Perhaps a servant descended from the upper floor by means of a waterspout that I noticed when I was in the garden."
"What makes you think so?"
"Arsène Lupin would not leave this room empty-handed."
"Empty-handed! But he had the lamp."
"But that would not have prevented his taking that snuff-box, set with diamonds, or that opal necklace. When he leaves anything, it is because he can't carry it away."
"But the marks of the ladder outside?"
"A false scent. Placed there simply to avert suspicion."
"And the scratches on the balustrade?"
"A farce! They were made with a piece of sandpaper. See, here are scraps of the paper that I picked up in the garden."
"And
