The confessions of arsène Lupin. The gentleman thief

Maurice Leblanc

Description

Arsène Lupin, the monocled Gentleman Thief is a mixture of Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood, stealing from the wealthy and offering to the less fortunate. Those whom he defeats are worse villains than he is. Arsène is a thief, a master of disguise, a rascal but never a killer. He possesses such wealth that he does not need to steal for material reasons but does so for pleasure and he is famous for always getting away with his crimes. The iconic character of Arsène Lupin, a smart, funny, very elegant and suave fictional burglar and womanizer was originally created by French author Maurice Leblanc in 1905. These ten fascinating short stories are essential for anyone who loves psychological, action-adventure, and crime thrillers.

Sujets

• Champagne
• Women
• Humor
• Dance
• Hero (disambiguation)
• Aristocracy
• Woman
• Maxim's
• The Women
• Monocle
• Gentleman
• Palace
• Lupin
• Hero

Informations

• Publié par: Parkstone International
• Date de parution: 04 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781646999743
• Langue: English

Extrait

Maurice Leblanc





THE CONFESSIONS OF
ARSÈNE LUPIN
The Gentleman Thief





EDITORIAL DE VECCHI
The author or publisher cannot be held responsible for the information (formulas, recipes, techniques, etc.) contained in the text, even though the utmost care has been taken in the writing of this work. In the case of specific - often unique - problems of each particular reader, it is advisable to consult a qualified person to obtain the most complete, accurate and up-to-date information possible. EDITORIAL DE VECCHI, S. A. U.
© Editorial De Vecchi, S. A. 2021
© [2021] Confidential Concepts International Ltd., Ireland
Subsidiary company of Confidential Concepts Inc, USA
ISBN: 978-1-64699-974-3
The current Penal Code provides: “Anyone who, for profit and to the detriment of a third party, reproduces, plagiarizes, distributes or publicly communicates, in whole or in part, a literary, artistic or scientific work, or its transformation, interpretation or artistic performance fixed in any medium or communicated by any means, without the authorization of the holders of the corresponding intellectual property rights or their assigns, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of six months to two years or a fine of six to twenty-four months. The same penalty shall be imposed on anyone who intentionally imports, exports or stores copies of such works or productions or performances without the said authorization. (Article 270)
CONTENTS
I. EDITH SWAN NECK
II. THE INFERNAL TRAP
III. TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND FRANCS REWARD!...
IV. THE RED SILK SCARF
V. LUPIN ' S MARRIAGE
VI. THE WEDDING RING
VII. A TRAGEDY IN THE FOREST OF MORGUES
VIII. THE SIGN OF THE OBSCURITY
IX. UNDER THE SHADOW OF DEATH
X. THE INVISIBLE PRISONER
I. EDITH SWAN NECK
“Arsène Lupin, what ' s your real opinion of Inspector Ganimard?”
“A very high one, my dear fellow.”
“An extremely high one?” Then why do you never miss a chance of turning him into ridicule?”
“It ' s a bad habit, and I ' m sorry about that. However, what can I say? That ' s the way the world works. Here ' s a decent detective chap, here ' s a whole pack of decent men, who stand for law and order, who protect us against the Apaches, who risk their lives for honest people like you and me and we have nothing to give them in return but flouts and gibes. It ' s preposterous!”
“Bravo, Lupin! you ' re talking like a respectable taxpayer!”
“What else am I? I may have a particular view on other people ' s property, but I assure you that it ' s very different when my own is at stake. By Jove, it ' s not good to get hold of what I own! Then I ' m out for blood! Aha! It ' s “my” pocket, “my” money, “my” watch ... hands off! I have the soul of a conservative, my dear fellow, the instinct of a retired tradesman and the respect due to any kind of tradition and authority. And that is why Ganimard inspires me with no little gratitude and esteem.”
“But not much admiration?”
“A lot of admiration also. Over and above the fearless courage that comes naturally to all these gentlemen of the Criminal Investigation Department, Ganimard possesses very sterling qualities: decision, insight and judgement. I looked at him on the job. He ' s somebody when all ' s said. Do you know the Edith Swan-neck story, as it was called?”
“I know as much as everybody knows.”
“That means you have no idea. Well, that job was, I daresay, the one which I thought out most cleverly, with the utmost care and the utmost precaution, the one which I shrouded in the greatest darkness and mystery, the one which it took the biggest generalship to carry through. This was a regular chess match, played according to strict scientific and mathematical rules. And yet Ganimard ended by unravelling the knot. Thanks to him, they know the truth today on the Quai des Orfèvres. And it is a very unusual truth, I assure you.”
“May I hope to hear it?”
“Certainly ... one of these days ... When I get a chance... but the Brunelli is dancing at the Opera tonight and if she were not to see me in my stall ...!”
I didn't spend much time with Lupin. It is hard for him to confess when it suits him. It was only gradually, by snatches, by odds and ends of confidences that I was able to obtain the different incidents and to piece the story together in all its details.
The key features are well known and I will only refer to the facts. Three years ago, when the Brest train reached Rennes, the door of one of the baggage vans was found smashed. This van was booked by Colonel Sparmiento, a rich Brazilian who was travelling with his wife on the same train. It contained a full set of wall hangings. The case in which one of them was packed had been shattered open and the tapestry had vanished.
Colonel Sparmiento started legal proceedings against the railway company, claiming heavy damages, including for the stolen tapestry and also for the loss in value which the whole collection suffered as a consequence of the theft.
The police started their investigation. The company offered a great award. Two weeks later, a letter which had come undone in the post was opened by the authorities and revealed the fact that the theft had been carried out under the direction of Arsène Lupin and that a package was to leave the next day for the United States. The same evening, the tapestry is discovered in a trunk placed in the cloakroom at the Saint-Lazare station.
As a result, the scheme had a mishap. Lupin felt the disappointment so much that he vented his ill humour in a communication to Colonel Sparmiento, ending with the following words, which were clear enough for anybody:
“It was very considerate of me to take only one. Next time, I ' ll take the Twelve. “Verbum sap.”
“A. L.”
Colonel Sparmiento had been living for some months in a house located at the end of a small garden at the corner of the Rue de la Faisanderie and the Rue Dufresnoy. He was a rather thick-set, broad-shouldered man, with black hair and swarthy skin, always well and quietly dressed. He was married to an extremely pretty but delicate British woman, who was very upset about the tapestry business. From the beginning, she implored her husband to sell them for what they were going to get. The colonel had been far too forcible and tenacious to give in to what he was entitled to describe as feminine fantasies. He sold nothing, but redoubled his precautions and took every measure that would make an attempted burglary impossible.
First of all, to be able to confine his watch to the facade of the garden, he fortified all the windows on the ground floor and the first floor overlooking Rue Dufresnoy. He then enlisted the services of a firm that specialized in protecting private houses against theft. Every window in the gallery in which the tapestries were hung had invisible burglar alarms, the position of which was known only by himself. These, at least touch, turned on all the electric lights and set a whole system of bells and gongs to sound.
What is more, the insurance companies to which he applied refused to grant policies to any considerable amount unless he consented to let three men, supplied by the companies and paid by himself, occupy the ground floor of his house every night. They chose for that purpose three ex-detectives, proven and trustworthy men, all of whom hated Lupin like poison. As for the servants, the colonel had known them for years and was ready to take responsibility for them.
After taking these actions and organizing the defence of the house as though it were a fortress, the colonel gave a great reception, a sort of private view, to which he invited the members of both his clubs, as well as a certain number of ladies, journalists, art patrons and critics.
They felt like they were walking through the garden door like they were entering a prison. The three private detectives, posted at the foot of the stairs, asked for each visitor's invitation card and eyed him up and down warily, making him feel as though they were going to search his pockets or take his fingerprints.
The colonel, who received his guests on the first floor, made apologies with a laugh and seemed delighted at the opportunity of explaining the arrangements which he had invented to secure the safety of his hangings. His wife stood by him, looking charmingly young and pretty, fair-haired, pale and sinuous, with a sad and gentle expression, the expression of resignation often worn by those who are threatened by fate.
When all the guests had arrived, the garden gates and the hall doors were closed. Then everybody filed into the middle gallery, which was reached through two steel doors, while its windows, with their huge shutters, were secured by iron bars. This was where the twelve tapestries were kept.
They were incomparable works of art and, taking inspiration from the famous Bayeux tapestry, attributed to Queen Matilda, they represented the history of the Norman conquest. They had been ordered in the fourteenth century by the descendant of a man-at-arms in William the Conqueror's army were executed by Jehan Gosset, a famous Arras weaver and were discovered, five hundred years later, in an old Breton manor house. When the colonel learnt of this, he made a deal for fifty thousand francs. They were worth tenfold.
But the finest of the twelve tapestries composing the set, the most uncommon because the subject had not been treated by Queen Matilda, was the one which Arsène Lupin had stolen and which had been so fortunately recovered. It represented Edith Swan-neck on the battlefield of Hastings, seeking among the dead for the body of her beloved Harold, last of the Saxon kings.
The guests were lost in enthusiasm over this tapestry, over the natural beauty of the design, over the faded colours, over the lifelike grouping of the figures and the pitiful sadness of the scene. Poor Edith Gooseneck bent over like an overweight lily. Her white dress reflected the features of her l