The Golden Triangle The Return of Arsène Lupin   By: Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941)

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

The Return of Arsène Lupin

BY MAURICE LE BLANC

AUTHOR OF "THE WOMAN OF MYSTERY," "CONFESSIONS OF ARSÈNE LUPIN," ETC.

NEW YORK THE MACAULAY COMPANY

COPYRIGHT 1917 BY THE MACAULAY COMPANY

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE I. CORALIE 11 II. RIGHT HAND AND LEFT LEG 27 III. THE RUSTY KEY 43 IV. BEFORE THE FLAMES 59 V. HUSBAND AND WIFE 74 VI. NINETEEN MINUTES PAST SEVEN 91 VII. TWENTY THREE MINUTES PAST TWELVE 107 VIII. ESSARÈS BEY'S WORK 124 IX. PATRICE AND CORALIE 140 X. THE RED CORD 156 XI. ON THE BRINK 174 XII. IN THE ABYSS 188 XIII. THE NAILS IN THE COFFIN 206 XIV. A STRANGE CHARACTER 221 XV. THE BELLE HÉLÈNE 241 XVI. THE FOURTH ACT 263 XVII. SIMÉON GIVES BATTLE 283 XVIII. SIMÉON'S LAST VICTIM 304 XIX. FIAT LUX! 332

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

CHAPTER I

CORALIE

It was close upon half past six and the evening shadows were growing denser when two soldiers reached the little space, planted with trees, opposite the Musée Galliéra, where the Rue de Chaillot and the Rue Pierre Charron meet. One wore an infantryman's sky blue great coat; the other, a Senegalese, those clothes of undyed wool, with baggy breeches and a belted jacket, in which the Zouaves and the native African troops have been dressed since the war. One of them had lost his right leg, the other his left arm.

They walked round the open space, in the center of which stands a fine group of Silenus figures, and stopped. The infantryman threw away his cigarette. The Senegalese picked it up, took a few quick puffs at it, put it out by squeezing it between his fore finger and thumb and stuffed it into his pocket. All this without a word.

Almost at the same time two more soldiers came out of the Rue Galliéra. It would have been impossible to say to what branch they belonged, for their military attire was composed of the most incongruous civilian garments. However, one of them sported a Zouave's chechia , the other an artilleryman's képi . The first walked on crutches, the other on two sticks. These two kept near the newspaper kiosk which stands at the edge of the pavement.

Three others came singly by the Rue Pierre Charron, the Rue Brignoles and the Rue de Chaillot: a one armed rifleman, a limping sapper and a marine with a hip that looked as if it was twisted. Each of them made straight for a tree and leant against it.

Not a word was uttered among them. None of the seven crippled soldiers seemed to know his companions or to trouble about or even perceive their presence. They stood behind their trees or behind the kiosk or behind the group of Silenus figures without stirring. And the few wayfarers who, on that evening of the 3rd of April, 1915, crossed this unfrequented square, which received hardly any light from the shrouded street lamps, did not slacken pace to observe the men's motionless outlines.