XITHE HUMBERT MILLIONS

The Humbert Case, like the Dreyfus Case, is achose jugée.

Thérèse Humbert, one of the greatest women of the century, who united the commanding personality of a Catherine the Great with the genius for intrigue of a Catherine de Medicis, has been formally tried and condemned, and is now secluded from the public eye. The journals of the Boulevards pretend to be satisfied; and their credulous readers are taught to believe that this remarkable affair was a vulgar swindle, and that the famous millions had no existence except in the mind of the arch-intriguer.

It is under these circumstances that I find myself at length free to make an announcement which I foresee must provoke a storm of denial and denunciation.

I know what has become of the Humbert millions.

I do not make this declaration without having weighed the consequences. If my part in this affair could be brought home to me by legal proofs, it ispossible that I should find myself in danger of a penalty such as has been meted out to Madame Humbert herself.

I believe, however, that I have sufficiently secured myself against such a contingency. For many months past I have been engaged in a duel of a singular character with the famous head of the French police, M. Rattache: a duel of wits, in which the combatants have kept on the mask of friendship, while exchanging thrusts and parries with an assumption of perfect unconsciousness.

In no step of her marvellous career, perhaps, did Thérèse Humbert show more sagacity than in establishing relations with myself. Accustomed as I am to act almost exclusively for crowned heads, or ministers of state, I was the agent least likely to be suspected of any connection with what wore the appearance of an ordinary police affair.

With the same prudence which marked nearly all her actions, Madame Humbert refrained from coming to my office to engage my services, and from asking me to visit her. Instead, I received what appeared to be a casual invitation to dine with a banker, whom I will call Baron Y——.

Baron Y—— was a man whom I knew but slightly, but his house enjoyed a good reputation, and he moved in the best society of the financial world. He was noted for his entertainments, and therefore I wassurprised on this occasion to find only three other persons present, besides the members of the family.

The three other guests were M. Bas-Riviére, an ex-member of the Waldeck-Rousseau Ministry, the Marquis des Saintes Roches, a distinguished Legitimist, that is to say, a member of the party which aims at the restoration of the Bourbons, and—Thérèse Humbert.

At this time the voice of rumour was already busy with Madame Humbert’s name; but though assailed, she still maintained a bold front, and her enemies had not yet been able to touch her.

It did not occur to me that her presence at the dinner had any significance, but I studied her with that interest which her reputation naturally excited. Impassive, almost stolid in her demeanour, and speaking but little, Madame Humbert impressed me more than any woman I have ever met, with the single exception of the Dowager Empress of China. I will not say that I felt awed by this extraordinary personage, but I recognised in her one of those commanding personalities which overrule all who are brought into touch with them.

After dinner Baron Y—— led us through some of the rooms in his superb mansion, to view the pictures and curiosities which his wealth had enabled him to gather together.

“‘I am going to ask you to undertake a service of an unusual kind.’”

Somehow or other Madame Humbert contrived tofall gradually behind the rest of the party, keeping me by her side. I did not realise that this was a deliberate manœuvre, until, just as the others were passing out of a small Turkish smoking-room, my companion abruptly laid her hand on my arm, and whispered in my ear—

‘Let us remain here a moment, if you please, Monsieur V——. I have something which I wish to say to you.’

Even then it did not at first dawn on me that the whole entertainment had been arranged for the single purpose of enabling Madame Humbert to interview me without attracting the notice of the police, who were already beginning to take an interest in her movements.

‘Let us sit down,’ the custodian of the mysterious millions said with authority. ‘What I have to say to you will take some time.’

Observe, she did not admit the possibility of my objecting to receive her confidences. She had made up her mind that I was the agent necessary for her purpose, and it was only left to me to obey.

I took a seat beside her without speaking. Magnetised by her strange power, it did not occur to me to lay down any conditions in advance.

‘I am going to ask you to undertake a service of an unusual kind. You will run some risks, and I shall be obliged to trust you implicitly.’

‘Madame,’—I began to protest. She silenced me with a superb gesture.

‘I have not asked you for assurances, monsieur. If I have chosen you in preference to any of my friends, even men of the highest honour, like M. des Saintes Roches, depend upon it I know what I am about. Do not interrupt me, but listen. In my safe at this moment I have notes and securities to the value of two hundred millions of francs.’

Two hundred millions! That is to say, in English money, £8,000,000! I stared at her in amazement—almost in disbelief. She went on speaking with the most perfect composure, as if nothing out of the ordinary were being discussed. It was this self-command, this air of the commonplace with which she invested the most fantastic statements, which constituted the secret of her power.

‘This sum, which originally amounted to only one hundred and twenty millions, does not belong to me. It is a sacred deposit, intrusted to me many years ago, since which time the interest has steadily accumulated.’

‘But, then, whose——?’ I tried to put in. But Madame Humbert would not permit me to speak.

‘It is useless to question me, monsieur. Think what you like concerning the true ownership of this money, but do not expect me to enlighten you. All that it is necessary for you to know is that thesemillions constitute a war fund, to be employed in a certain event, and on behalf of a cause which I was brought up to hold dearer than life.’

‘A war fund!’ I could not resist exclaiming.

My companion ignored the interruption.

‘From which it follows that the whole sum must always be available, at an hour’s notice, in the hands of a trusty agent. Hitherto I have been that agent; but I have met with misfortunes, and a danger has arisen that this sum may fall into the hands of my private creditors.’

She paused for a moment, and then added, in a less firm tone—

‘The custody of this vast sum has been my ruin. In order to use it to advantage I was obliged to invent all sorts of fables to account for its being in my possession. People insisted on treating me as a rich woman, they forced loans upon me; I considered it permissible to borrow money on the security of this fortune of which I was merely the guardian; I managed my own affairs badly—in short I am insolvent, and shall shortly be obliged to go into hiding. My creditors have asked the Courts for an order to open the safe which contains the millions, and unless they are removed in time I shall have incurred the vengeance of those whose cause I have betrayed.’

She shuddered. Thérèse Humbert, the strong-minded, imperturbable woman who had witnessedsuicides committed on her account, trembled as she referred to this vengeance, which was so much more terrible to her than any penalties in the power of the French Courts to impose.

‘In a word, Monsieur V——,’ she resumed, throwing off her momentary weakness, ‘you must relieve me of the custody of this treasure.’

I sat as if mesmerised while I received this staggering proposal, which the extraordinary personage beside me made in the matter-of-fact tone of one who is asking another to undertake the posting of a letter.

This woman, whom I had never seen before, who was beginning to be publicly branded as an adventuress, and who had just confessed herself to be a bankrupt, if not something which the law would call by a harsher name—this woman calmly informed me that she proposed handing over to me a sum equal to the revenue of a kingdom, to be held, as far as I could see, for an unknown length of time, for an unknown owner, and for an unknown purpose.

If it had been any other person in the world who had made me such a proposition, I am certain that I should have laughed at it as a hoax, or, at least, demanded the most circumstantial details and assurances before going further. What was there about this Thérèse Humbert, with her figure of abourgeois, her expressionless face, and cold grey eye, which compelled me to take her seriously—which made me, against my judgment, submit to become her instrument? In the power of the human will there are mysteries which philosophy has not yet fathomed.

It is true that at this time Madame Humbert still retained the confidence of a very large section of society. There had, as yet, been no hint of any criminal proceedings against her. Even if there had been, moreover, she had so clearly separated her position as trustee of the millions from her private dealings, that she had convinced me that I could carry out her instructions with regard to the fund, without being guilty of any dishonesty towards the creditors who were proceeding against her.

Be that as it may, I consented to consider the matter.

My companion at once set herself to extract from me a definite undertaking.

‘There is no time to lose,’ she insisted. ‘Although I am exhausting every legal form, in order to postpone the decision, my advocate has warned me that I must not expect it to be delayed much longer. I shall not be easy till the millions are safely in your hands.’

‘And when I have received them, what then?’I asked. ‘Will it not be known that the sum is in my possession, and shall I not be exposed to proceedings in my turn?’

‘That is what we have got to avoid,’ was the answer. ‘It will be necessary for you to take the money with the greatest secrecy. Fortunately, this is not an affair of bankers. The notes and bills are lying ready in the safe in my house, and do not require to be endorsed. You will not be asked for a receipt even.’

I was more and more overcome by the sublime daring of this woman’s ideas.

‘Then you simply wish me to take the fund from you and hold it at your disposal?’

‘At the disposal of those to whom it belongs,’ Thérèse corrected me. ‘When the time comes to reclaim these millions I may be out of reach. That will not matter to you. All you will have to do is to keep the treasure in some safe hiding-place, and deliver it up to the first person who comes to you and pronounces in your ear three words.’

She bent her lips towards me and whispered three words of such notable significance that I was left in little doubt as to the purpose for which the mysterious hoard was being kept in readiness.

Although the light thus obtained served to relieve my mind of the fear that I was mixing in any vulgar swindle, yet at the same time it showed me thatthere were grave risks to be run, and that I might easily find myself in the meshes of the criminal law.

I again asked for time to consider. Madame Humbert’s sole reply was an offer of terms so liberal that it would have been quarrelling with my profession to refuse. She smiled with grim satisfaction as she read in my face that I gave in.

‘Then that is settled, monsieur,’ she remarked, preparing to rise. ‘I will only add that the sooner you get to work the better it will be for everybody.’

‘When do you propose to hand the millions over to me?’ was my natural question.

‘I do not propose to hand them over to you at all,’ she responded coolly. ‘You will take the money out of the safe in your own fashion, and without consulting me.’

I gazed at her in consternation.

‘You mean that I should steal this two hundred millions!’ I gasped.

‘That will be the best plan, I think,’ said Madame Humbert with an approving nod.

I have been concerned in some curious transactions in my time, and in some dangerous ones, but now I felt that I was fairly out of my depth. I knew that I was nothing to Thérèse Humbert; and if it suited her convenience to use me as a cat’s-pawin the game she was playing with the authorities I might very well find myself in an ugly situation.

What, for example, could be easier than for this accomplished intriguer to set a trap for me; have me arrested, perhaps, in the attempt to break into an empty safe, and thus establish a defence for herself? She would be able to pose as the victim of a robbery; and I should be held responsible for the disappearance of these millions whose existence was in dispute.

I felt my companion’s eyes fixed on my face in watchful scrutiny as these reflections passed through my mind. My decision was taken swiftly.

‘You shall hear from me in the morning, madame,’ I said sharply, rising from my seat. ‘Till then,au revoir.’

And I went out of the room, and out of the house, without giving her an opportunity to press me further.

When the morning came I was seated in my office as usual, engaged in deciphering a confidential cable from the President of Colombia, when my secretary entered the room and informed me that a veiled lady, who declined to give her name, wished to see me in private.

‘Show Madame Humbert in,’ I said, emphasising the name.

“My visitor started as she heard her name, and threw up her veil with a gesture of astonishment and indignation.”

The secretary, who understood what was requiredof him, went out, and immediately returned with the visitor.

‘Madame Humbert,’ he announced with as much confidence as if the great Thérèse had intrusted him with her card.

On the previous night Madame Humbert had enjoyed the superiority over me, I confess it. This morning the tables were turned, and I had brought off the firstcoup.

My visitor started as she heard her name, and threw up her veil with a gesture of astonishment and indignation combined.

‘Madame Humbert!’ I cried, pretending to be equally surprised. Then, as the secretary retired, I added—‘This publicity, is it quite prudent, my dear madame?’

Thérèse gave me a glance in which I read something like fear, as she dropped into a seat.

‘But I don’t understand, Monsieur V——. I don’t know how that young man learned who I was.’

I shrugged my shoulders.

‘It is the business of my staff to penetrate mysteries, madame. But you may depend on my secretary’s discretion. It will be awkward if the police have followed you here, however. If M. Rattache were to learn that we had been in communication, I might be obliged to withdraw from the case.’

Madame Humbert clasped her hands in agitation. Her demeanour was no longer that of the cold, masterful woman who had conversed with me in Baron Y——’s smoking-room.

‘Listen, monsieur! Is it possible that you do not guess the object of my visit?’

‘Unless it is to give me further instructions on the subject of your affair, no.’

Thérèse wrung her hands.

‘It is to tell you, on the contrary, that everything is lost. At the very moment that we were talking together, a real robber, unknown to me, was rifling my safe of everything!’

‘You are serious, madame, I suppose?’

‘Serious!’ It is impossible to describe the tragedy in her voice and air. ‘I tell you, monsieur, that I left Baron Y——’s within an hour of speaking to you. I drove straight home, went to the safe, opened it, and found inside a button and a centime.’

‘Really!’

Madame Humbert gazed at me desperately.

‘You do not believe me, perhaps, monsieur? Yet I swear to you as a Christian woman—I swear as a mother—that there were two hundred millions of francs in that safe when I came to dine at Baron Y——’s.’

‘I have not the least doubt of it, madame.’

‘Then what do you suspect?’

‘It is clear to me that you have been robbed since.’

‘By whom?’

‘By some one in your confidence, perhaps. Some one to whom you had confided the guardianship of this fund, in which his Royal Highness the —— of —— is so much interested.’

Madame Humbert glared at me in anger.

‘You are mocking me,’ she cried fiercely. ‘I came here to ask if you would undertake the recovery of this money from the thief.’

‘That is unnecessary, madame. All that your friends have to do is to approach him, and breathe in his ear the three words, —— —— ——.’

‘But if we do not know who he is!’ cried the distracted plotter.

‘Oh, if you only require to know who he is, that is soon settled. I will send you the name of the robber on the day on which your affair terminates in the Courts.’

A light began to break upon the mind of the excited woman.

‘Monsieur V——!’ she exclaimed. ‘Is it possible——?’

I drew myself up.

‘Silence, if you please, madame. I have made you a promise which I shall know how to keep. In the meantime it is clear that we have nothing moreto say to one another, and that the sooner you are out of this building the better it will be for all parties.’

Madame Humbert rose, gave me a glance in which curiosity, respect, and apprehension were strangely mingled, and quitted my presence without venturing to say another word.

I have never seen her since.

The following day, as I entered my private room at the usual hour, I was conscious of a singular impression, in the nature of a presentiment. Some men possess a sense, more subtle than sight or smell, by means of which they are able to detect a personal presence, more especially one hostile to themselves. I have been well served by an instinct of this kind on more than one occasion, and now it asserted itself so strongly that for an instant I believed that there must be some one hiding in my room.

A glance around removed this suspicion. Everything was in its place as usual—was evenmorein its place than usual, if I may be permitted the hyperbole.

I went to the secret drawer in which I kept the cipher despatches concerning the Panama affair (on which I was engaged about this time).

It seemed to me that the spring worked a littlemoresmoothly than when I had last opened the drawer. The papers inside lay exactly as I hadleft them overnight. Struck by a sudden thought, I pulled the drawer right out, lit a match, and examined the dusty floor of the recess.

I was rewarded by the sight of one—two—three distinct prints of finger-tips in the dust.

That sight, of course, told me everything. My office had been ransacked during the night by the French police, and those prints had been left by fingers tapping in search of the hiding-place of the Humbert millions.

It was a startling thing to find M. Rattache so swiftly on my trail, and I inwardly cursed the imprudence which had permitted Madame Humbert to pay me her tell-tale visit. I put on my hat and hurried round to the little apartment in the Quartier Latin which I use for appointments with persons whom it would be inexpedient to receive openly. As I expected, I found M. Rattache had been before me. His myrmidons had done their work no less thoroughly here than at my headquarters.

I always enjoy a struggle with a foe worthy of my steel, and this was by no means my first bout with the famous detective force of Paris. On my first settling in Paris, their attentions to me had been incessant and disagreeable, and it had taken all my ingenuity to keep my secrets from them. By degrees we had drifted into a species of informal armistice, it being understood, rather than agreed, that theyabandoned the attempt to follow my proceedings, while I refrained from acting against them in the criminal affairs with which they were chiefly concerned.

Between M. Rattache, the brilliant head of the force, and myself there had sprung up a warm private friendship, based on mutual respect. I knew that he would not have permitted his men to trouble me without pretty good grounds for so doing; and this made me the more anxious.

My first thought, after visiting the Quartier Latin, was for my private residence. I felt pretty sure that the police could not have been there in the night without my knowledge, and I asked myself what plan the fertile brain of my rival would devise in order to search the premises without giving me warning.

I hailed afiacre, and bade the driver go to my house at his best speed. It was not yet eleven o’clock, so there was room for hope that M. Rattache had not begun his attack in this quarter. If he had, I should probably catch his men at work.

As we drew near the street in which my house is situated we were overtaken by a fire-engine, which dashed by at a gallop. Struck by a sudden apprehension, I offered my driver a goldenpourboireto double his speed.

“I was stopped at the barricade by a pompous sergeant of police.”

It was too late. As we drove up I beheld a thickblack column of smoke issuing from my house. A barricade had been formed; half a dozen fire-engines were drawn up in front, though it was remarkable that not one had yet begun to play upon the building; and every floor appeared to be swarming with firemen, who were gutting the house of everything it contained.

In spite of my vexation at the sight of my ruined home, I could not withhold my tribute of admiration to M. Rattache’s promptness and resource. Under the pretence of a fire, which he had of course contrived to start, and which was well under control, he had turned in a horde of detectives, disguised as firemen, with instructions to pull the building to pieces, if necessary, in search of the Humbert millions.

It was useless for me to think of interfering. I was stopped at the barricade by a pompous sergeant of police, who took down my name and address, rebuked me severely for my negligence in permitting my house to catch fire, and forbade me to interrupt the firemen in their benevolent labours on my behalf.

Walking to and fro on the pavement, and scrutinising every article brought out from the building by his assistants, I perceived M. Rattache himself. In a minute he caught sight of me, and came towards me with extended arms.

He knew, of course, that I thoroughly understoodthe game. Nevertheless, his expression of sympathetic distress was perfect.

‘My dear V——! What an unlucky chance! Behold me overwhelmed with grief at your misfortune!’

‘You are too good,’ I returned drily. ‘There is nothing of any value in the house, I am glad to say. This accident will merely give me the annoyance of sleeping in a hotel for the next few nights.’

‘Do not say that, my dear colleague,’ M. Rattache responded eagerly. ‘You will confer a real favour on me by consenting to accept my hospitality for a short time, till your house is ready for you again.’

I glanced at him with suspicion. Did this mean that I was to be under arrest?

‘I cannot thank you sufficiently for such kindness,’ was my answer. ‘But I am afraid I should cause you too much inconvenience. My hours are very irregular; sometimes it is necessary for me to be at my office in the middle of the night.’

‘Do not let yourself be restrained by such considerations,’ he replied earnestly. ‘You shall be as free as if you were under your own roof.’

It would have been ungracious to persist in my refusal, especially as I fancied from M. Rattache’s tone that he had already come to the conclusion that his raid on my house was a mistake, and really regretted the inconvenience he had caused me.

On the whole, the arrangement was not such a bad one for me. While I should have been exposed to the surveillance of my antagonist in any case, this plan would place him under mine. We should be like the combatants in the holmgang, who were strapped together, and placed on a small island, to hack each other to pieces with knives.

I moved into my new quarters the same day, some of my personal baggage being brought round by the pretended firemen, who must have wondered to see me on such terms with their chief. Rattache presented me to his wife, a most charming woman with three little daughters, whose hearts I immediately won by organising all sorts of games at blindman’s buff and hide-and-seek.

During the next few days I received cipher wires from my various agents abroad, informing me that their apartments had been searched, and that they were being shadowed by unknown men.

I was pleased with these despatches, which proved to me that my men were on the alert. I sent encouraging replies, and persuaded Madame Rattache to accompany me to the theatre.

I had already visited a Turkish bath in company with my host, in order to afford him every facility for ascertaining that I was not carrying any portion of the £8,000,000 on my person.

At the end of a month my house was in perfectorder again. M. Rattache was beginning to feel a little uneasy, perhaps, at my great progress in the friendship of madame, for he raised no objection when I proposed to bring my stay with him to a close. The little girls were in despair at my going, and Madame Rattache earnestly pressed me to come and see them frequently.

Months passed away, and France and Europe were absorbed in learning of the sudden flight of the Humberts, the discovery of the empty safe, the capture of the fugitives, and the trial and sentence of the majestic Thérèse.

As she was leaving the dock at the end of the case, one of the warders slipped into her hand a piece of paper which contained simply my initials—A. V.

I had gone straight from Baron Y——’s house, at the end of our conversation, to the Humbert mansion, gained admittance by means of the master-key which I usually carry about me, opened the safe without the least difficulty, and carried off its contents—all before Madame Humbert had left the Baron’s door.

“The chief detective came close up to me, put his mouth to my ear, and whispered, ‘Le drapeau blanc!’”

This instantaneous action, which I had considered necessary for my own protection, turned out to be the best possible course for the safety of the millions. Now I had redeemed my promise to Madame Humbert, by admitting that I was in possession of thelost treasure, and I waited confidently for the person who should come to claim it.

Exactly two days afterwards I was surprised by a visit from M. Rattache, whom I had not seen for some time, a slight coolness having resulted from his abortive efforts to surprise my secret.

The chief detective, instead of taking the chair I offered him, came close up to me, put his mouth to my ear, and whispered: ‘Le drapeau blanc!’

The white flag! Is there any English reader who does not know that in France the white flag signifies the ancient standard of the Valois and the Bourbons—the inseparable emblem of Legitimist royalty, which the Comte de Chambord refused to exchange for the Revolutionary tricolor, even to obtain the throne?

I stared at M. Rattache, confounded to find in the head of the Republican police the confidential agent of the Monarchists.

He enjoyed my astonishment for a minute in silence. Then he said aloud—

‘Now, my dear V——, perhaps you will reveal to me the secret of that hiding-place which has baffled the efforts of my best men for so long.’

I smiled quietly as I took up my hat.

‘On first receiving this fund I simply put the notes and bills in a registered parcel and sent it to my agent in Brussels, with instructions to put it in a fresh cover and send it to and fro through thepost till further notice. But on finding that you were interested in my correspondence I naturally adopted another plan. I will take you at once to the spot where I have deposited these millions, which I shall not be sorry to get rid of.’

I led the way out into the street, called afiacre, and whispered an address into the driver’s ear.

It was my turn to enjoy the discomfiture of my colleague, as the carriage drew up before his own door.

‘Here!’ was all he could gasp.

I paid the driver and dismissed him.

‘Surely there could be no spot more safe from the perquisitions of the police,’ I answered mockingly.

M. Rattache conducted me in, and led the way towards his study.

‘Not that way,’ I objected. ‘It is necessary for us to go upstairs.’

With ever-deepening chagrin M. Rattache followed me, as I ascended to the schoolroom in which his little daughters were at play with their dolls.

They rushed to embrace me with exclamations of joy.

‘Isabel,’ I said to the eldest, a bright girl of twelve, ‘now you shall show the others the hiding-place where we put the box of bricks.’

A cry of delight greeted this proposal. Isabel ran gaily in front to lead the party into her own littlebedroom, where, under a loose plank, which this observant child had discovered, and the knowledge of which she had kept to herself with that marvellous secrecy of which children are sometimes capable, lay—the Humbert millions!

Isabel was a little disappointed to find, when the box was opened, that her bricks had been changed into stupid pieces of paper. But I explained that a fairy had been at work, and that a new and better set of bricks would arrive by the next post.

And so, I am relieved to say, terminated my connection with the Humbert Case.

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