The Crystal Stopper | Page 3

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THE CRYSTAL STOPPER
by Maurice LeBlanc

CHAPTER I
THE ARRESTS
The two boats fastened to the little pier that jutted out from the garden
lay rocking in its shadow. Here and there lighted windows showed
through the thick mist on the margins of the lake. The Enghien Casino
opposite blazed with light, though it was late in the season, the end of
September. A few stars appeared through the clouds. A light breeze
ruffled the surface of the water.
Arsene Lupin left the summer-house where he was smoking a cigar and,
bending forward at the end of the pier:
"Growler?" he asked. "Masher?... Are you there?"

A man rose from each of the boats, and one of them answered:
"Yes, governor."
"Get ready. I hear the car coming with Gilbert and Vaucheray."
He crossed the garden, walked round a house in process of construction,
the scaffolding of which loomed overhead, and cautiously opened the
door on the Avenue de Ceinture. He was not mistaken: a bright light
flashed round the bend and a large, open motor-car drew up, whence
sprang two men in great-coats, with the collars turned up, and caps.
It was Gilbert and Vaucheray: Gilbert, a young fellow of twenty or
twenty-two, with an attractive cast of features and a supple and sinewy
frame; Vaucheray, older, shorter, with grizzled hair and a pale, sickly
face.
"Well," asked Lupin, "did you see him, the deputy?"
"Yes, governor," said Gilbert, "we saw him take the 7.40 tram for Paris,
as we knew he would."
"Then we are free to act?"
"Absolutely. The Villa Marie-Therese is ours to do as we please with."
The chauffeur had kept his seat. Lupin gave him his orders:
"Don't wait here. It might attract attention. Be back at half-past nine
exactly, in time to load the car unless the whole business falls through."
"Why should it fall through?" observed Gilbert.
The motor drove away; and Lupin, taking the road to the lake with his
two companions, replied:
"Why? Because I didn't prepare the plan; and, when I don't do a thing
myself, I am only half-confident."

"Nonsense, governor! I've been working with you for three years now...
I'm beginning to know the ropes!"
"Yes, my lad, you're beginning," said Lupin, "and that's just why I'm
afraid of blunders... Here, get in with me... And you, Vaucheray, take
the other boat... That's it... And now push off, boys... and make as little
noise as you can."
Growler and Masher, the two oarsmen, made straight for the opposite
bank, a little to the left of the casino.
They met a boat containing a couple locked in each other's arms,
floating at random, and another in which a number of people were
singing at the top of their voices. And that was all.
Lupin shifted closer to his companion and said, under his breath:
"Tell me, Gilbert, did you think of this job, or was it Vaucheray's
idea?"
"Upon my word, I couldn't tell you: we've both of us been discussing it
for weeks."
"The thing is, I don't trust Vaucheray: he's a low ruffian when one gets
to know him... I can't make out why I don't get rid of him..."
"Oh, governor!"
"Yes, yes, I mean what I say: he's a dangerous fellow, to say nothing of
the fact that he has some rather serious peccadilloes on his conscience."
He sat silent for a moment and continued:
"So you're quite sure that you saw Daubrecq the deputy?"
"Saw him with my own eyes, governor."
"And you know that he has an appointment in Paris?"

"He's going to the theatre."
"Very well; but his servants have remained behind at the Enghien
villa... ."
"The cook has been sent away. As for the valet, Leonard, who is
Daubrecq's confidential man, he'll wait