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 loomed6 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 supple7 and sinewy8 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?”
“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 random13, 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 peccadilloes14 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 confidential15 man, he’ll wait for his master in Paris. They can’t get back from town before one o’clock in the morning. But...”
“But what?”
“We must reckon with a possible freak of fancy on Daubrecq’s part, a change of mind, an unexpected return, and so arrange to have everything finished and done with in an hour.”
“And when did you get these details?”
“This morning. Vaucheray and I at once thought that it was a favourable16 moment. I selected the garden of the unfinished house which we have just left as the best place to start from; for the house is not watched at night. I sent for two mates to row the boats; and I telephoned to you. That’s the whole story.”
“Have you the keys?”
“The keys of the front-door.”
“Yes, the Villa Marie-Therese; and as the two others, with the gardens touching18 it on either side, have been unoccupied since this day week, we shall be able to remove what we please at our leisure; and I swear to you, governor, it’s well worth while.”
They landed in a little creek20 whence rose a few stone steps, under cover of a mouldering21 roof. Lupin reflected that shipping22 the furniture would be easy work. But, suddenly, he said:
“There are people at the villa. Look... a light.”
“It’s a gas-jet, governor. The light’s not moving.”
The Growler stayed by the boats, with instructions to keep watch, while the Masher, the other rower, went to the gate on the Avenue de Ceinture, and Lupin and his two companions crept in the shadow to the foot of the steps.
Gilbert went up first. Groping in the dark, he inserted first the big door-key and then the latch-key. Both turned easily in their locks, the door opened and the three men walked in.
“You see, governor...” said Gilbert.
“Yes, yes,” said Lupin, in a low voice, “but it seems to me that the light which I saw shining did not come from here...”
“Where did it come from then?”
“I can’t say... Is this the drawing-room?”
“No,” replied Gilbert, who was not afraid to speak pretty loudly, “no. By way of precaution, he keeps everything on the first floor, in his bedroom and in the two rooms on either side of it.”
“And where is the staircase?”
“On the right, behind the curtain.”
Lupin moved to the curtain and was drawing the hanging aside when, suddenly, at four steps on the left, a door opened and a head appeared, a pallid24 man’s head, with terrified eyes.
“Help! Murder!” shouted the man.
And he rushed back into the room.
“It’s Leonard, the valet!” cried Gilbert.
“You’ll jolly well do nothing of the sort, do you hear, Vaucheray?” said Lupin, peremptorily27. And he darted28 off in pursuit of the servant. He first went through a dining-room, where he saw a lamp still lit, with plates and a bottle around it, and he found Leonard at the further end of a pantry, making vain efforts to open the window:
He had thrown himself flat on the floor, on seeing Leonard raise his arm at him. Three shots were fired in the dusk of the pantry; and then the valet came tumbling to the ground, seized by the legs by Lupin, who snatched his weapon from him and gripped him by the throat:
“Get out, you dirty brute!” he growled. “He very nearly did for me... Here, Vaucheray, secure this gentleman!”
“He’s not a pretty gentleman either... You can’t have a very clear conscience, Leonard; besides, to play flunkey to Daubrecq the deputy...! Have you finished, Vaucheray? I don’t want to hang about here for ever!”
“There’s no danger, governor,” said Gilbert.
“Oh, really?... So you think that shots can’t be heard?...”
“Quite impossible.”
“No matter, we must look sharp. Vaucheray, take the lamp and let’s go upstairs.”
He took Gilbert by the arm and, as he dragged him to the first floor:
“Look here, governor, I couldn’t know that he would change his mind and come back to dinner.”
“One’s got to know everything when one has the honour of breaking into people’s houses. You numskull! I’ll remember you and Vaucheray... a nice pair of gossoons!...”
The sight of the furniture on the first floor pacified33 Lupin and he started on his inventory34 with the satisfied air of a collector who has looked in to treat himself to a few works of art:
“By Jingo! There’s not much of it, but what there is is pucka! There’s nothing the matter with this representative of the people in the question of taste. Four Aubusson chairs... A bureau signed ‘Percier-Fontaine,’ for a wager35... Two inlays by Gouttieres... A genuine Fragonard and a sham36 Nattier37 which any American millionaire will swallow for the asking: in short, a fortune... And there are curmudgeons38 who pretend that there’s nothing but faked stuff left. Dash it all, why don’t they do as I do? They should look about!”
Gilbert and Vaucheray, following Lupin’s orders and instructions, at once proceeded methodically to remove the bulkier pieces. The first boat was filled in half an hour; and it was decided39 that the Growler and the Masher should go on ahead and begin to load the motor-car.
Lupin went to see them start. On returning to the house, it struck him, as he passed through the hall, that he heard a voice in the pantry. He went there and found Leonard lying flat on his stomach, quite alone, with his hands tied behind his back:
“So it’s you growling40, my confidential flunkey? Don’t get excited: it’s almost finished. Only, if you make too much noise, you’ll oblige us to take severer measures... Do you like pears? We might give you one, you know: a choke-pear!...”
As he went upstairs, he again heard the same sound and, stopping to listen, he caught these words, uttered in a hoarse41, groaning42 voice, which came, beyond a doubt, from the pantry:
“Help!... Murder!... Help!... I shall be killed!... Inform the commissary!”
“The fellow’s clean off his chump!” muttered Lupin. “By Jove!... To disturb the police at nine o’clock in the evening: there’s a notion for you!”
He set to work again. It took longer than he expected, for they discovered in the cupboards all sorts of valuable knick-knacks which it would have been very wrong to disdain43 and, on the other hand, Vaucheray and Gilbert were going about their investigations44 with signs of laboured concentration that nonplussed45 him.
At long last, he lost his patience:
“That will do!” he said. “We’re not going to spoil the whole job and keep the motor waiting for the sake of the few odd bits that remain. I’m taking the boat.”
They were now by the waterside and Lupin went down the steps. Gilbert held him back:
“I say, governor, we want one more look round five minutes, no longer.”
“But what for, dash it all?”
“Well?”
“We can’t lay our hands on it. And I was thinking... There’s a cupboard with a big lock to it in the pantry... You see, we can’t very well...” He was already on his way to the villa. Vaucheray ran back too.
“I’ll give you ten minutes, not a second longer!” cried Lupin. “In ten minutes, I’m off.”
But the ten minutes passed and he was still waiting.
He looked at his watch:
“A quarter-past nine,” he said to himself. “This is madness.”
And he also remembered that Gilbert and Vaucheray had behaved rather queerly throughout the removal of the things, keeping close together and apparently47 watching each other. What could be happening?
Lupin mechanically returned to the house, urged by a feeling of anxiety which he was unable to explain; and, at the same time, he listened to a dull sound which rose in the distance, from the direction of Enghien, and which seemed to be coming nearer... People strolling about, no doubt...
He gave a sharp whistle and then went to the main gate, to take a glance down the avenue. But, suddenly, as he was opening the gate, a shot rang out, followed by a yell of pain. He returned at a run, went round the house, leapt up the steps and rushed to the dining-room:
“Blast it all, what are you doing there, you two?”
Gilbert and Vaucheray, locked in a furious embrace, were rolling on the floor, uttering cries of rage. Their clothes were dripping with blood. Lupin flew at them to separate them. But already Gilbert had got his adversary48 down and was wrenching49 out of his hand something which Lupin had no time to see. And Vaucheray, who was losing blood through a wound in the shoulder, fainted.
“Who hurt him? You, Gilbert?” asked Lupin, furiously.
“No, Leonard.”
“Leonard? Why, he was tied up!”
“The scoundrel! Where is he?”
Lupin took the lamp and went into the pantry.
The man-servant was lying on his back, with his arms outstretched, a dagger51 stuck in his throat and a livid face. A red stream trickled52 from his mouth.
“He’s dead, I tell you.”
“It was Vaucheray... it was Vaucheray who did it...”
Pale with anger, Lupin caught hold of him:
“It was Vaucheray, was it?... And you too, you blackguard, since you were there and didn’t stop him! Blood! Blood! You know I won’t have it... Well, it’s a bad lookout55 for you, my fine fellows... You’ll have to pay the damage! And you won’t get off cheaply either... Mind the guillotine!” And, shaking him violently, “What was it? Why did he kill him?”
“He wanted to go through his pockets and take the key of the cupboard from him. When he stooped over him, he saw that the man unloosed his arms. He got frightened... and he stabbed him...”
“But the revolver-shot?”
“It was Leonard... he had his revolver in his hand... he just had strength to take aim before he died...”
“And the key of the cupboard?”
“Vaucheray took it....”
“Did he open it?”
“And did he find what he was after?”
“Yes.”
“And you wanted to take the thing from him. What sort of thing was it? The reliquary? No, it was too small for that.... Then what was it? Answer me, will you?...”
Lupin gathered from Gilbert’s silence and the determined56 expression on his face that he would not obtain a reply. With a threatening gesture, “I’ll make you talk, my man. Sure as my name’s Lupin, you shall come out with it. But, for the moment, we must see about decamping. Here, help me. We must get Vaucheray into the boat...”
They had returned to the dining-room and Gilbert was bending over the wounded man, when Lupin stopped him:
“Listen.”
They exchanged one look of alarm... Some one was speaking in the pantry ... a very low, strange, very distant voice... Nevertheless, as they at once made certain, there was no one in the room, no one except the dead man, whose dark outline lay stretched upon the floor.
And the voice spake anew, by turns shrill57, stifled58, bleating59, stammering60, yelling, fearsome. It uttered indistinct words, broken syllables62.
Lupin felt the top of his head covering with perspiration63. What was this incoherent voice, mysterious as a voice from beyond the grave?
He had knelt down by the man-servant’s side. The voice was silent and then began again:
“Give us a better light,” he said to Gilbert.
He was trembling a little, shaken with a nervous dread64 which he was unable to master, for there was no doubt possible: when Gilbert had removed the shade from the lamp, Lupin realized that the voice issued from the corpse65 itself, without a movement of the lifeless mass, without a quiver of the bleeding mouth.
“Governor, I’ve got the shivers,” stammered Gilbert.
Again the same voice, the same snuffling whisper.
Suddenly, Lupin burst out laughing, seized the corpse and pulled it aside:
“Exactly!” he said, catching66 sight of an object made of polished metal. “Exactly! That’s it!... Well, upon my word, it took me long enough!”
On the spot on the floor which he had uncovered lay the receiver of a telephone, the cord of which ran up to the apparatus67 fixed68 on the wall, at the usual height.
Lupin put the receiver to his ear. The noise began again at once, but it was a mixed noise, made up of different calls, exclamations69, confused cries, the noise produced by a number of persons questioning one another at the same time.
“Are you there?... He won’t answer. It’s awful... They must have killed him. What is it?... Keep up your courage. There’s help on the way... police... soldiers...”
“Dash it!” said Lupin, dropping the receiver.
The truth appeared to him in a terrifying vision. Quite at the beginning, while the things upstairs were being moved, Leonard, whose bonds were not securely fastened, had contrived71 to scramble72 to his feet, to unhook the receiver, probably with his teeth, to drop it and to appeal for assistance to the Enghien telephone-exchange.
And those were the words which Lupin had overheard, after the first boat started:
“Help!... Murder!... I shall be killed!”
And this was the reply of the exchange. The police were hurrying to the spot. And Lupin remembered the sounds which he had heard from the garden, four or five minutes earlier, at most:
“What about Vaucheray?” asked Gilbert.
“Sorry, can’t be helped!”
“Governor, you wouldn’t leave me like this!”
Lupin stopped, in spite of the danger, and was lifting the wounded man, with Gilbert’s assistance, when a loud din5 arose outside:
“Too late!” he said.
At that moment, blows shook the hall-door at the back of the house. He ran to the front steps: a number of men had already turned the corner of the house at a rush. He might have managed to keep ahead of them, with Gilbert, and reach the waterside. But what chance was there of embarking76 and escaping under the enemy’s fire?
He locked and bolted the door.
“We are surrounded... and done for,” spluttered Gilbert.
“Hold your tongue,” said Lupin.
“But they’ve seen us, governor. There, they’re knocking.”
“Hold your tongue,” Lupin repeated. “Not a word. Not a movement.”
He himself remained unperturbed, with an utterly77 calm face and the pensive78 attitude of one who has all the time that he needs to examine a delicate situation from every point of view. He had reached one of those minutes which he called the “superior moments of existence,” those which alone give a value and a price to life. On such occasions, however threatening the danger, he always began by counting to himself, slowly—“One... Two... Three... Four.... Five... Six”—until the beating of his heart became normal and regular. Then and not till then, he reflected, but with what intensity79, with what perspicacity80, with what a profound intuition of possibilities! All the factors of the problem were present in his mind. He foresaw everything. He admitted everything. And he took his resolution in all logic81 and in all certainty.
After thirty or forty seconds, while the men outside were banging at the doors and picking the locks, he said to his companion:
“Follow me.”
Returning to the dining-room, he softly opened the sash and drew the Venetian blinds of a window in the side-wall. People were coming and going, rendering82 flight out of the question.
Thereupon he began to shout with all his might, in a breathless voice:
“This way!... Help!... I’ve got them!... This way!”
He pointed83 his revolver and fired two shots into the tree-tops. Then he went back to Vaucheray, bent84 over him and smeared85 his face and hands with the wounded man’s blood. Lastly, turning upon Gilbert, he took him violently by the shoulders and threw him to the floor.
“What do you want, governor? There’s a nice thing to do!”
“Let me do as I please,” said Lupin, laying an imperative86 stress on every syllable61. “I’ll answer for everything... I’ll answer for the two of you... Let me do as I like with you... I’ll get you both out of prison ... But I can only do that if I’m free.”
Excited cries rose through the open window.
“This way!” he shouted. “I’ve got them! Help!”
And, quietly, in a whisper:
“Just think for a moment... Have you anything to say to me?... Something that can be of use to us?”
Gilbert was too much taken aback to understand Lupin’s plan and he struggled furiously. Vaucheray showed more intelligence; moreover, he had given up all hope of escape, because of his wound; and he snarled87:
“Let the governor have his way, you ass!... As long as he gets off, isn’t that the great thing?”
Suddenly, Lupin remembered the article which Gilbert had put in his pocket, after capturing it from Vaucheray. He now tried to take it in his turn.
“No, not that! Not if I know it!” growled Gilbert, managing to release himself.
Lupin floored him once more. But two men suddenly appeared at the window; and Gilbert yielded and, handing the thing to Lupin, who pocketed it without looking at it, whispered:
“Here you are, governor... I’ll explain. You can be sure that...”
He did not have time to finish... Two policemen and others after them and soldiers who entered through every door and window came to Lupin’s assistance.
Gilbert was at once seized and firmly bound. Lupin withdrew:
“I’m glad you’ve come,” he said. “The beggar’s given me a lot of trouble. I wounded the other; but this one...”
The commissary of police asked him, hurriedly:
“Have you seen the man-servant? Have they killed him?”
“I don’t know,” he answered.
“You don’t know?...”
“Why, I came with you from Enghien, on hearing of the murder! Only, while you were going round the left of the house, I went round the right. There was a window open. I climbed up just as these two ruffians were about to jump down. I fired at this one,” pointing to Vaucheray, “and seized hold of his pal9.”
How could he have been suspected? He was covered with blood. He had handed over the valet’s murderers. Half a score of people had witnessed the end of the heroic combat which he had delivered. Besides, the uproar88 was too great for any one to take the trouble to argue or to waste time in entertaining doubts. In the height of the first confusion, the people of the neighbourhood invaded the villa. One and all lost their heads. They ran to every side, upstairs, downstairs, to the very cellar. They asked one another questions, yelled and shouted; and no one dreamt of checking Lupin’s statements, which sounded so plausible89.
However, the discovery of the body in the pantry restored the commissary to a sense of his responsibility. He issued orders, had the house cleared and placed policemen at the gate to prevent any one from passing in or out. Then, without further delay, he examined the spot and began his inquiry90. Vaucheray gave his name; Gilbert refused to give his, on the plea that he would only speak in the presence of a lawyer. But, when he was accused of the murder, he informed against Vaucheray, who defended himself by denouncing the other; and the two of them vociferated at the same time, with the evident wish to monopolize91 the commissary’s attention. When the commissary turned to Lupin, to request his evidence, he perceived that the stranger was no longer there.
Without the least suspicion, he said to one of the policemen:
“Go and tell that gentleman that I should like to ask him a few questions.”
They looked about for the gentleman. Some one had seen him standing on the steps, lighting92 a cigarette. The next news was that he had given cigarettes to a group of soldiers and strolled toward the lake, saying that they were to call him if he was wanted.
They called him. No one replied.
But a soldier came running up. The gentleman had just got into a boat and was rowing away for all he was worth. The commissary looked at Gilbert and realized that he had been tricked:
“Stop him!” he shouted. “Fire on him! He’s an accomplice93!...”
He himself rushed out, followed by two policemen, while the others remained with the prisoners. On reaching the bank, he saw the gentleman, a hundred yards away, taking off his hat to him in the dusk.
One of the policemen discharged his revolver, without thinking.
The wind carried the sound of words across the water. The gentleman was singing as he rowed:
“Go, little bark,
Float in the dark...”
But the commissary saw a skiff fastened to the landing-stage of the adjoining property. He scrambled94 over the hedge separating the two gardens and, after ordering the soldiers to watch the banks of the lake and to seize the fugitive95 if he tried to put ashore96, the commissary and two of his men pulled off in pursuit of Lupin.
It was not a difficult matter, for they were able to follow his movements by the intermittent97 light of the moon and to see that he was trying to cross the lakes while bearing toward the right—that is to say, toward the village of Saint-Gratien. Moreover, the commissary soon perceived that, with the aid of his men and thanks perhaps to the comparative lightness of his craft, he was rapidly gaining on the other. In ten minutes he had decreased the interval98 between them by one half.
“That’s it!” he cried. “We shan’t even need the soldiers to keep him from landing. I very much want to make the fellow’s acquaintance. He’s a cool hand and no mistake!”
The funny thing was that the distance was now diminishing at an abnormal rate, as though the fugitive had lost heart at realizing the futility99 of the struggle. The policemen redoubled their efforts. The boat shot across the water with the swiftness of a swallow. Another hundred yards at most and they would reach the man.
“Halt!” cried the commissary.
The enemy, whose huddled100 shape they could make out in the boat, no longer moved. The sculls drifted with the stream. And this absence of all motion had something alarming about it. A ruffian of that stamp might easily lie in wait for his aggressors, sell his life dearly and even shoot them dead before they had a chance of attacking him.
“Surrender!” shouted the commissary.
The sky, at that moment, was dark. The three men lay flat at the bottom of their skiff, for they thought they perceived a threatening gesture.
The commissary growled:
“We won’t let ourselves be sniped. Let’s fire at him. Are you ready?” And he roared, once more, “Surrender... if not...!”
No reply.
“Surrender!... Hands up!... You refuse?... So much the worse for you... I’m counting... One... Two...”
The policemen did not wait for the word of command. They fired and, at once, bending over their oars12, gave the boat so powerful an impulse that it reached the goal in a few strokes.
The commissary watched, revolver in hand, ready for the least movement. He raised his arm:
“If you stir, I’ll blow out your brains!”
But the enemy did not stir for a moment; and, when the boat was bumped and the two men, letting go their oars, prepared for the formidable assault, the commissary understood the reason of this passive attitude: there was no one in the boat. The enemy had escaped by swimming, leaving in the hands of the victor a certain number of the stolen articles, which, heaped up and surmounted103 by a jacket and a bowler104 hat, might be taken, at a pinch, in the semi-darkness, vaguely105 to represent the figure of a man.
They struck matches and examined the enemy’s cast clothes. There were no initials in the hat. The jacket contained neither papers nor pocketbook. Nevertheless, they made a discovery which was destined106 to give the case no little celebrity107 and which had a terrible influence on the fate of Gilbert and Vaucheray: in one of the pockets was a visiting-card which the fugitive had left behind... the card of Arsene Lupin.
At almost the same moment, while the police, towing the captured skiff behind them, continued their empty search and while the soldiers stood drawn108 up on the bank, straining their eyes to try and follow the fortunes of the naval109 combat, the aforesaid Arsene Lupin was quietly landing at the very spot which he had left two hours earlier.
He was there met by his two other accomplices110, the Growler and the Masher, flung them a few sentences by way of explanation, jumped into the motor-car, among Daubrecq the deputy’s armchairs and other valuables, wrapped himself in his furs and drove, by deserted111 roads, to his repository at Neuilly, where he left the chauffeur. A taxicab brought him back to Paris and put him down by the church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, not far from which, in the Rue112 Matignon, he had a flat, on the entresol-floor, of which none of his gang, excepting Gilbert, knew, a flat with a private entrance. He was glad to take off his clothes and rub himself down; for, in spite of his strong constitution, he felt chilled to the bone. On retiring to bed, he emptied the contents of his pockets, as usual, on the mantelpiece. It was not till then that he noticed, near his pocketbook and his keys, the object which Gilbert had put into his hand at the last moment.
And he was very much surprised. It was a decanter-stopper, a little crystal stopper, like those used for the bottles in a liqueur-stand. And this crystal stopper had nothing particular about it. The most that Lupin observed was that the knob, with its many facets113, was gilded114 right down to the indent115. But, to tell the truth, this detail did not seem to him of a nature to attract special notice.
“And it was this bit of glass to which Gilbert and Vaucheray attached such stubborn importance!” he said to himself. “It was for this that they killed the valet, fought each other, wasted their time, risked prison... trial... the scaffold!...”
Too tired to linger further upon this matter, exciting though it appeared to him, he replaced the stopper on the chimney-piece and got into bed.
He had bad dreams. Gilbert and Vaucheray were kneeling on the flags of their cells, wildly stretching out their hands to him and yelling with fright:
“Help!... Help!” they cried.
But, notwithstanding all his efforts, he was unable to move. He himself was fastened by invisible bonds. And, trembling, obsessed116 by a monstrous117 vision, he watched the dismal118 preparations, the cutting of the condemned119 men’s hair and shirt-collars, the squalid tragedy.
“By Jove!” he said, when he woke after a series of nightmares. “There’s a lot of bad omens120! Fortunately, we don’t err25 on the side of superstition121. Otherwise...!” And he added, “For that matter, we have a talisman122 which, to judge by Gilbert and Vaucheray’s behaviour, should be enough, with Lupin’s help, to frustrate123 bad luck and secure the triumph of the good cause. Let’s have a look at that crystal stopper!”
He sprang out of bed to take the thing and examine it more closely. An exclamation70 escaped him. The crystal stopper had disappeared...
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pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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jutted
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| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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margins
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| 边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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10
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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14
peccadilloes
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| n.轻罪，小过失( peccadillo的名词复数 ) | |
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15
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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16
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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18
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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19
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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21
mouldering
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| v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 )；腐烂，崩塌 | |
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22
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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23
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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24
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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25
err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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26
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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27
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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28
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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29
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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30
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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32
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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33
pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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34
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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35
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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36
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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37
nattier
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| n.淡蓝色adj.整洁漂亮的( natty的比较级 )；潇洒的，灵巧的 | |
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38
curmudgeons
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| n.坏脾气的人，吝啬鬼，守财奴( curmudgeon的名词复数 ) | |
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39
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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40
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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41
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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42
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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43
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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44
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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45
nonplussed
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| adj.不知所措的，陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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47
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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48
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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49
wrenching
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| n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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50
Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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51
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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52
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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53
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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54
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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56
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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57
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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58
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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59
bleating
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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60
stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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61
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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62
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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63
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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64
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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65
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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66
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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67
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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68
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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69
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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70
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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71
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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72
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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73
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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74
torpor
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| n.迟钝；麻木；（动物的）冬眠 | |
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75
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
embarking
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| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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77
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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78
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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79
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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80
perspicacity
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| n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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81
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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82
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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83
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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84
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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85
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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86
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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87
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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88
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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89
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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90
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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91
monopolize
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| v.垄断，独占，专营 | |
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92
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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93
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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94
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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95
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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96
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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97
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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98
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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99
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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100
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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101
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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102
budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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103
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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104
bowler
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| n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手 | |
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105
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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106
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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107
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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108
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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109
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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110
accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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111
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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112
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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113
facets
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| n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面 | |
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114
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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115
indent
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| n.订单，委托采购，国外商品订货单，代购订单 | |
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116
obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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117
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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118
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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119
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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120
omens
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| n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
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121
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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122
talisman
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| n.避邪物，护身符 | |
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123
frustrate
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| v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦 | |
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