Part 32 (1/2)

Without apparent effort, the man in the hooded mask seized Elizabeth Dollon in his muscular arms.

”Come, mademoiselle,” he said in a jeering tone. ”Come to bye-bye! Sleep better than on this sofa! You will sleep a longer sleep, that's certain!” An evil smile punctuated these sinister remarks.

He laid the poor girl's body on the floor in the middle of the room; then, approaching a little gas stove, he detached the india-rubber tube and slipped the end of it between his victim's teeth.

He turned the gas tap....

”Perfect!” he said, as he straightened himself.

”To-morrow morning, early, at eight o'clock, or at nine, the excellent Madame Bourrat will open the meter. The narcotic this child has taken will prevent her from waking, so that, without suffering, without cries, quite gently--pfuit!... sweet Elizabeth will pa.s.s from life to death!...

But it will not do to linger here ... let us find Jules and give him the necessary instructions!”

The stranger went out into the corridor closing the door. The thing had been well managed; the screws keeping the bolt case in position were put back in their holes--the key remained inside--no one would suspect that only a slight push was necessary to get into the room.

With a chuckle, the stranger bent down and pushed a ta.s.sel under the door.

The servant must not discover the trick when she is sweeping the pa.s.sage: now with this wedge, the door cannot be opened without a violent push.

With a last glance up and down the pa.s.sage, illuminated for a moment by his electric torch, the stranger made sure that there was no one about to see him; then, with silent tread, he began to go downstairs....

Half-way down, his accomplice awaited him.

”Well, master?” questioned Jules in a low, trembling voice.

In a calm, quiet voice, the man in the hood mask replied:

”It is done--is successful.... I have wedged the door to. You will be careful when you are sweeping to-morrow.”

Jules lowered his head.

”Yes ... yes.... Have you?...”

The stranger put his hand on the servant's shoulder.

”Listen,” whispered the stranger, ”I do not repeat my orders twenty times over,... have I not already told you that I do not allow myself to be questioned?... try to remember that!... You wish to know whether I have killed her?... Well, I will tell you this: I have not killed her.

But I have so managed things that she will kill herself!... A suicide, you understand.... One piece of advice: to-morrow, keep anyone from going to her room as long as you can ... if Madame Bourrat, or anyone else asks for her, you must say that you saw her leave the house--that she has gone out....”

”But,” protested Jules, ”it is impossible, what you tell me to say, master! It just happens that she is expecting visitors to-morrow!... She told me that, on this account, she meant to stay indoors all day!”

The man with the hood mask ground his teeth.

”You idiot! What does that matter?... You are to say: Mademoiselle Elizabeth has just gone out, but she told me that she was not going far, and that she would return in about twenty minutes.... If anyone should ask for her again, you are to answer that she has not come in yet!...”

”But ... master ... when they find out what's happened really?...”

”Ho! When it is discovered, it will seem quite natural that a person who means to commit suicide--for she will have committed suicide, you understand--should have taken precautions not to be disturbed ... you grasp this?”

”Yes, master ... yes!...”