第59章

"There, lady, that's the kiss of a decent man! Instead of Daubrecq, it's I kissing you...Another word and I'll do it again...and I'll call you darling next...Be angry with me, if you dare.Oh, how happy I am!"He knelt before her on one knee.And, respectfully:

"I beg your pardon, madame.The fit is over."And, getting up again, resuming his whimsical manner, he continued, while Clarisse wondered what he was driving at:

"What's the next article, madame? Your son's pardon, perhaps?

Certainly! Madame, I have the honour to grant you the pardon of your son, the commutation of his sentence to penal servitude for life and, to wind up with, his early escape.It's settled, eh, Growler? Settled, Masher, what? You'll both go with the boy to New Caledonia and arrange for everything.Oh, my dear Daubrecq, we owe you a great debt! But I'm not forgetting you, believe me! What would you like? A last pipe?

Coming, coming!"

He took one of the pipes from the mantel-piece, stooped over the prisoner, shifted his pad and thrust the amber mouth-piece between his teeth:

"Draw, old chap, draw.Lord, how funny you look, with your plug over your nose and your cutty in your mouth.Come, puff away.By Jove, Iforgot to fill your pipe! Where's your tobacco, your favourite Maryland?

...Oh, here we are!..."

He took from the chimney an unopened yellow packet and tore off the government band:

"His lordship's tobacco! Ladies and gentlemen, keep your eyes on me!

This is a great moment.I am about to fill his lordship's pipe: by Jupiter, what an honour! Observe my movements! You see, I have nothing in my hands, nothing up my sleeves!..."He turned back his cuffs and stuck out his elbows.Then he opened the packet and inserted his thumb and fore-finger, slowly, gingerly, like a conjurer performing a sleight-of-hand trick before a puzzled audience, and, beaming all over his face, extracted from the tobacco a glittering object which he held out before the spectators.

Clarisse uttered a cry.

It was the crystal stopper.

She rushed at Lupin and snatched it from him:

"That's it; that's the one!" she exclaimed, feverishiy."There's no scratch on the stem! And look at this line running down the middle, where the gilt finishes...That's it; it unscrews!...Oh, dear, my trength's going!..." She trembled so violently that Lupin took back the stopper and unscrewed it himself.

The inside of the knob was hollow; and in the hollow space was a piece of paper rolled into a tiny pellet.

"The foreign-post-paper," he whispered, himself greatly excited, with quivering hands.

There was a long silence.All four felt as if their hearts were ready to burst from their bodies; and they were afraid of what was coming.

"Please, please..."stammered Clarisse.

Lupin unfolded the paper.

There was a set of names written one below the other, twenty-seven of them, the twenty-seven names of the famous list: Langeroux, Dechaumont, Vorenglade, d'Albufex, Victorien Mergy and the rest.

And, at the foot, the signature of the chairman of the Two-Seas Canal Company, the, signature written in letters of blood.

Lupin looked at his watch:

"A quarter to one," he said."We have twenty minutes to spare.Let's have some lunch.""But," said Clarisse, who was already beginning to lose her head, "don't forget..."He simply said:

"All I know is that I'm dying of hunger."He sat down at the table, cut himself a large slice of cold pie and said to his accomplices:

"Growler? A bite? You, Masher?"

"I could do with a mouthful, governor."

"Then hurry up, lads.And a glass of champage to wash it down with:

it's the chioroform-patient's treat.Your health, Daubrecq! Sweet champagne? Dry champagne? Extra-dry?"