Part 35

He arose and approached the countess to bid her adieu. She recoiled, unconsciously. He smiled.

“Oh! Madame, you are afraid of me! Did I pursue my role of parlor-magician a step too far?”

She controlled herself, and replied, with her accustomed ease:

“Not at all, monsieur. The legend of that dutiful son interested me very much, and I am pleased to know that my necklace had such a brilliant destiny. But do you not think that the son of that woman, that Henriette, was the victim of hereditary influence in the choice of his vocation?”

He shuddered, feeling the point, and replied:

“I am sure of it; and, moreover, his natural tendency to crime must have been very strong or he would have been discouraged.”

“Why so?”

“Because, as you must know, the majority of the diamonds were false. The only genuine stones were the few purchased from the English jeweler, the others having been sold, one by one, to meet the cruel necessities of life.”

“It was still the Queen’s Necklace, monsieur,” replied the countess, haughtily, “and that is something that he, Henriette’s son, could not appreciate.”

“He was able to appreciate, madame, that, whether true or false, the necklace was nothing more that an object of parade, an emblem of senseless pride.”

The count made a threatening gesture, but his wife stopped him.

“Monsieur,” she said, “if the man to whom you allude has the slightest sense of honor---”

She stopped, intimidated by Floriani’s cool manner.

“If that man has the slightest sense of honor,” he repeated.

She felt that she would not gain anything by speaking to him in that manner, and in spite of her anger and indignation, trembling as she was from humiliated pride, she said to him, almost politely:

“Monsieur, the legend says that Rétaux de Villette, when in possession of the Queen’s Necklace, did not disfigure the mounting. He understood that the diamonds were simply the ornament, the accessory, and that the mounting was the essential work, the creation of the artist, and he respected it accordingly. Do you think that this man had the same feeling?”

“I have no doubt that the mounting still exists. The child respected it.”

“Well, monsieur, if you should happen to meet him, will you tell him that he unjustly keeps possession of a relic that is the property and pride of a certain family, and that, although the stones have been removed, the Queen’s necklace still belongs to the house of Dreux-Soubise. It belongs to us as much as our name or our honor.”

The chevalier replied, simply:

“I shall tell him, madame.”

He bowed to her, saluted the count and the other guests, and departed.

* * * * *

Four days later, the countess de Dreux found upon the table in her chamber a red leather case bearing the cardinal’s arms. She opened it, and found the Queen’s Necklace.

But as all things must, in the life of a man who strives for unity and logic, converge toward the same goal--and as a little advertising never does any harm--on the following day, the Echo de France published these sensational lines:

“The Queen’s Necklace, the famous historical jewelry stolen from the family of Dreux-Soubise, has been recovered by Arsène Lupin, who hastened to restore it to its rightful owner. We cannot too highly commend such a delicate and chivalrous act.”

VI. The Seven of Hearts

I am frequently asked this question: “How did you make the acquaintance of Arsène Lupin?”

My connection with Arsène Lupin was well known. The details that I gather concerning that mysterious man, the irrefutable facts that I present, the new evidence that I produce, the interpretation that I place on certain acts of which the public has seen only the exterior manifestations without being able to discover the secret reasons or the invisible mechanism, all establish, if not an intimacy, at least amicable relations and regular confidences.