Part 79 (1/2)
”Impossible!” cried Don Luis. ”That is a statement which no one is able to prove by material evidence. a.r.s.ene Lupin is dead.”
”If you like,” Valenglay agreed. ”But that does not show that Don Luis Perenna is alive.”
”Don Luis Perenna has a duly legalized existence, Monsieur le President.”
”Perhaps. But it is disputed.”
”By whom? There is only one man who would have the right; and to accuse me would be his own undoing. I cannot believe him to be stupid enough--”
”Stupid enough, no; but crafty enough, yes.”
”You mean Caceres, the Peruvian attache?”
”Yes.”
”But he is abroad!”
”More than that: he is a fugitive from justice, after embezzling the funds of his legation. But before leaving the country he signed a statement that reached us yesterday evening, declaring that he faked up a complete record for you under the name of Don Luis Perenna. Here is your correspondence with him and here are all the papers establis.h.i.+ng the truth of his allegations. Any one will be convinced, on examining them, first, that you are not Don Luis Perenna, and, secondly, that you are a.r.s.ene Lupin.”
Don Luis made an angry gesture.
”That blackguard of a Caceres is a mere tool,” he snarled. ”The other man's behind him, has paid him, and is controlling his actions. It's the scoundrel himself; I recognize his touch. He has once more tried to get rid of me at the decisive moment.”
”I am quite willing to believe it,” said the Prime Minister. ”But as all these doc.u.ments, according to the letter that came with them, are only photographs, and as, if you are not arrested this morning, the originals are to be handed to a leading Paris newspaper to-night, we are obliged to take note of the accusation.”
”But, Monsieur le President,” exclaimed Don Luis, ”as Caceres is abroad and as the scoundrel who bought the papers of him was also obliged to take to flight before he was able to execute his threats, there is no fear now that the doc.u.ments will be handed to the press.”
”How do we know? The enemy must have taken his precautions. He may have accomplices.”
”He has none.”
”How do we know?”
Don Luis looked at Valenglay and said:
”What is it that you really wish to say, Monsieur le President?”
”I will tell you. Although pressure was brought to bear upon us by Caceres's threats, Monsieur le Prefet de Police, anxious to see all possible light shed on the plot played by Florence Leva.s.seur, did not interfere with your last night's expedition. As that expedition led to nothing, he determined, at any rate, to profit by the fact that Don Luis had placed himself at our disposal and to arrest a.r.s.ene Lupin.
”If we now let him go the doc.u.ments will certainly be published; and you can see the absurd and ridiculous position in which that will place us in the eyes of the public. Well, at this very moment, you ask for the release of a.r.s.ene Lupin, a release which would be illegal, uncalled for, and inexcusable. I am obliged, therefore, to refuse it, and I do refuse it.”
He ceased; and then, after a few seconds, he added:
”Unless--”
”Unless?” asked Don Luis.
”Unless--and this is what I wanted to say--unless you offer me in exchange something so extraordinary and so tremendous that I could consent to risk the annoyance which the absurd release of a.r.s.ene Lupin would bring down upon my head.”
”But, Monsieur le President, surely, if I bring you the real criminal, the murderer of--”