Part 39 (1/2)
”I did not escape.”
”But ...”
”You gave the captain orders not to reach Southampton until one o'clock.
Well, they landed me at twelve and I caught the Havre boat.”
”The captain played me false? Impossible.”
”He did not play you false.”
”What then...?”
”It was his watch.”
”His watch?”
”Yes, I put his watch on an hour.”
”How?”
”The only way in which one can put a watch on, by turning the winder. We were sitting together chatting and I told him things that interested him.... By Jove, he noticed nothing!”
”Well done; well done! It's a good trick and I must remember it. But what about the cabin clock?”
”Oh, the clock was more difficult, for my legs were bound: but the sailor who was put in charge of me whenever the captain went on deck kindly consented to give the hands a push.”
”The sailor? Nonsense! Do you mean to say, he consented...?”
”Oh, he did not know the importance of what he was doing! I told him I must, at all costs, catch the first train to London and ... he allowed himself to be persuaded....”
”In consideration....”
”In consideration of a little present ... which the decent fellow, however, intends faithfully to send to you.”
”What present?”
”A mere nothing.”
”Well, but what?”
”The blue diamond.”
”The blue diamond!”
”Yes, the imitation one, which you subst.i.tuted for the countess's diamond and which she left in my hands....”
a.r.s.ene Lupin gave a sudden and tumultuous burst of laughter. He seemed ready to die: his eyes were wet with tears:
”Oh, what a joke! My faked diamond handed back to the sailor! And the captain's watch! And the hands of the clock!...”