"Some thieves go to any lengths to avoid harming the furniture." "Not me." "Others carefully put everything back in place before they leave." "I never do." "It's a messy business I'm in." "But there's a reason" "I do it messily." "Besides, I have no time to waste." "For a house such as this, to look it over completely, sort it out, pick and choose, it takes the whole night and then some." "I know what I'm talking about." "I'm a thief." "That's my life." "We don't choose our destiny." "But I'm not complaining." "Don't bite your nails." "If you must bite nails, use other people's." "Yours are your property." "You must respect your property." "I was an orphan." "I grew up with my cousin, Charlotte, and Uncle Urbain, her father." "He had taken me in and watched over my interests." "One day I would be rich, everyone kept telling me." "Idleness is wicked, young man, and work is honor." "My children, he needs the advice more than the charity." "I hated my uncle, but I loved Charlotte." "I swore to myself I'd marry her." "Fourteen years passed, in college, the army, in dormitories and barracks." "Fourteen years behind bars." "And then freedom, homecoming, Charlotte." "Georges." "What's wrong?" "I have a fiancé." "I'm getting married." "Georges, I was fond of your father." "A charming gentleman, an artist." "But in financial dealings, a total failure." "He made errors, overestimated his fortune." "Verify it yourself." "I did all I could to repair the damage he caused." "Georges, hear me." "If I gambled with your money, I did so for you." "Unfortunately, I was victimized by unscrupulous rascals." "It's deplorable, but who knew that the Bank of Europe would go bankrupt?" "Would you have guessed that?" "Would I?" "Never." "You lost a total of 600,000 francs." "Six hundred thousand?" "I myself have not been spared." "The other 200,000, where did it go?" "It's here." "They're Panamanian." "You know that they are worthless." "It's possible." "But I paid a lot of money for them!" "I have your bills, if you'd like to check." "Can you see what the wealthy are up against?" " Why are you robbing me?" " What are you implying?" "Is it for Charlotte's dowry?" "Charlotte?" "What does she have to do with this?" "Are you questioning my word?" " I am, Uncle." " Then you can sue, if you want to." "If you have time and money, you have one chance in a hundred to succeed." "You have thought of everything!" "Where do I sign?" "Careful now." "Do you know what you're signing?" "You renounce in perpetuity, all redress." " Are you feeling remorseful?" " Me?" "Don't be foolish." "But you look as if you're making me a gift." "I don't like that." "Don't believe in looks." "You could be mistaken." " You have a fiancé for Charlotte?" " We've arranged a superb match." "Are you surprised?" "Are you disappointed?" "What a pity!" "You're right, Uncle." "I'm not a suitable match for her." "I will try to control myself." "Several days later, the Montareuils honored the engagement of their son Armand to Charlotte." "We are off on the right foot, Mademoiselle." " One might say it was fate." " Armand, you're right." "You're so joyful and carefree." "So am I." "I am joyful, but I'm shy." "Allow me the time to become accustomed to you and you to me." "The Montareuils, once very rich, still retained remnants of their famous jewelry." "Madame de Montareuil had taken them out of the bank for my cousin to choose her engagement ring." "My sweet Charlotte." "Champagne?" "Father, give me back those matches." "Marguerite!" "And get to bed, it's late." "Heartbreaking old man." "A peer scolded for stealing some matches." "La Margelle." "Félix La Margelle, at your service." "Delighted." "But I don't see the harm in snitching a box of matches." "Unless one's a pyromaniac." "Monsieur de Montareuil's last ambition is to see his son's house burn down." "I'm happy that we met." "I've known your uncle for a long time." "I hear he has returned the money left by your parents." "What's left of it." "I take donations for the construction of churches in China." "Are you interested in assisting us in our propagation of the faith?" "Frankly, I'm not." "I admire frankness." "Father, please, we can use some of your wisdom here." "I shall come, Madame." "Excuse me." "The Emperor gave this brooch to Armand's great grandmother." " Fancy that." " Amazing, isn't it?" "What does it look like to you, Father?" "A flower?" "A butterfly?" "No, Madame, it looks like 200,000 francs, sufficient to build half a church in China." "Always joking." "Monsieur is leaving us so early?" "Don't tell anyone, but I'm bored." "I'm bored, too." "That's the key to my room." "Where is it?" "My room?" "You've got nerve." "Third floor." "The door facing the stairs." "It has a green doorknob." "Thanks, Marguerite." "Are you going up?" "Do you mind?" "Please, don't make noise." "I'll be right up." " Good morning, Marie-Jeanne." " You look so drawn out this morning!" "Good morning." " You got in late last night." " Did I awake you?" "Of course not." "I didn't sleep too well." "Did you enjoy yourself?" "Where were you?" "I have dreadful news." "Someone broke into the Montareuils' last night." "The family jewels..." "All gone." "Charlotte, I fear this means the end of your engagement." " Why?" " Why?" "Why, their only tangible assets were the jewels." "I can't let you marry into a family with no means." "You'd never forgive me." " What if they find the jewels?" " We can't live on suppositions." "Wait for me here." "I'll go down to the police." "I know someone." "We're going to get the facts." "Those jewels..." "Was it you?" " You're leaving?" " As you can see." "Where?" "Who are you going with?" "It was you who stole those jewels." "Well, speak, answer me." "Don't leave, Georges." "Why are you going?" "I need a change of air." "Your father makes the air here unbreathable." "I'll be left alone as I was before." "Come away with me." "You're crazy." "No, Georges, please, not here." "Father might walk in." "Georges, no." "You're going with me, today." "Don't be a fool, Georges." "You know you don't mean that." "You know very well it's impossible." "Because of your father?" "Yes, because of my father." "Because of this house, everything." "If you'd married Montareuil, you'd have left it." "I'm afraid of you, Georges." "It was you who stole the jewels." "Do you want the jewels?" "They're here, the whole lot." "The rings, the necklaces, the Emperor's brooch..." "Charlotte." "Charlotte, I was correct." "The wedding is cancelled." "The police have broken the case." "They won't find the jewels." "Do they know who the thieves were?" ""Who the thieves were?"" "You mean who the thief was?" " Are you leaving?" " Yes." "With my shoes, huh?" "You may take them." "They pinch my feet." "Well, tell us who the thief was." "Keep this to yourselves." "It was a soldier." "A rascal who had bedded down with Madame de Montareuil." "Your ex-mother-in-law-to-be had a lover of all things." " He was picked up today." " With the jewels?" "I told you they were not found." "He had an accomplice who fled without a trace." "A classic case." "To avoid a scandal, Madame de Montareuil dropped the case." "The affair is closed, is that it?" "The police considers it so." "Do you think that's funny?" "Madame de Montareuil is a damned scoundrel." "She led us on." "I stopped by to see her on the way." "She was having fainting spells." "Kept winking at me." "She has no self-control." "She rushes off to bed, leaving her whole fortune out to be stolen." "No wonder there are socialists around." "What are you doing here, Charlotte?" "Come." "Monsieur Randal!" "My good heavens!" "As one says, only the mountains are fated not to meet." " Would you mind?" " No." "Do, please." " Are you going to Brussels?" " Yes." "Of course." "You're off to invest your inheritance." "Belgium is a very judicious choice." "Money's stable." "A society with firm morals." "Dynamic." "Industry making enormous strides." "Sorry to interrupt you, gentlemen, but I overheard you conversing." "Do I understand that Monsieur..." "Dumoulin." "Fernand Dumoulin." "Delighted." "Van der Busch, Emile, industrialist." "I am Belgian." "You desire a nice, safe investment in Belgium?" "Me?" "The chemical industry is as safe as you'll find, sir." "I speak with authority on this." "My firm handles all lines of dyes." "Yes, yes, every color known." "We have the best-equipped dye vats in Belgium." "What further proof do you need?" "We are entering the age of color." "We have the universe for a market." "Exactly." "Supply and demand." "You're going to need more workers." "They will demand constant wage increases." "Father, they can demand, but they're not about to obtain." "The profits go up first, then the wages follow." "That is economics, my friends." "Do you have the plans for your factory?" "Naturally, I'll go get you a set." "Now, Father, will you explain?" "What?" "That the jewels you took from the Montareuils are in your luggage?" "I'm sure you know that." "Relax." "You're a thief." "So am I." "Here are the plans, our balance sheet, turnover and some cherry brandy." "I'm not allowed to drink." "Thank you." " No troubles, have you?" " I don't drink that much." "I don't mean that." "I refer to industrial troubles." "Sorry." "Two explosions, a year ago." "Lost 10 or 12 men." "I held a mass burial." "Grandiose, moving." "Management and workers united in their common grief." "All our hearts as one in a moment of profound sorrow." "Talk about publicity!" "A gold mine!" "Coffee, gentlemen." "Don't you expect, as does our friend, a socialist revolution?" "We can't avoid occasional unrest." "I foresee a mass uprising, a genuine revolt, a new order, a takeover..." " In Belgium?" " Possibly." "The banks are broken into and pillaged." "Well, we have the police for protection." "Besides, only idiots entrust their cash to banks." "Do you mean to say that you keep your cash here?" "Well, naturally." "I have a safe, gentlemen." "Dear Lord, lots of space!" "Indeed." "Right now, it contains over half a million francs in securities, plus the bank notes." "When I propose an investment," "I talk with more than my mouth, sir." " What about thieves?" " They can try, Monsieur Dumoulin." " My locks and my safe are solid." " You have an electrical alarm?" "No, thanks." "There's no point in those alarms." "Electricity is expensive and always on the blink." "That day, La Margelle introduced me to the King Solomon Hotel." "No thief worthy of the name would stay elsewhere in Brussels." "We have our likes and dislikes." "Look at this!" "Canonnier set all this up." " Canonnier?" " A great thief." "A sharp mind." "He's in prison at the moment." "Good, the jewels." "You know, Georges, a thief is not a practical joker." "He's a professional." "Your debut showed great dash, and an almost childish boldness." "You were lucky." "But you'll need more than luck." "I just need someone to teach me." " You wished to work alone?" " No, I had a plan." "To get myself in prison for about a year, and make the right friends." "Whenever possible, stay out of prisons." "They're full of rascals and ne'er-do-wells, and the food is atrocious." "No, you're much too independent." "You'll go out and see the world, study men, succeed." "You have enough courage." "At least, you'll be keeping yourself busy." "Action, Georges, that's the secret." "I made off with those without thinking." "It made no sense not to." "You couldn't resist." "I know that irresistible force!" "I know it well." "It's all-consuming." "It'll take your days, your dreams, your sorrows, and you'll get neither gain nor notoriety in return." "I have never had any base thought." "Because you're not a bourgeois." "You're a thief." "You are special, completely apart!" "Alone." "As such, you are bound to be misunderstood by the mediocre." "You are the face they cannot show." "It's not their fault." "They, too, seek something they can believe in." "They are enclosed by the walls of customs." "You will go through those walls." "Practicing your sermon, Father?" "You have beautiful stuff here." "This gentleman's first effort." "Georges Randal, Roger Voisin." "Some call me Roger the Blot." "You'll accompany Roger this evening." "He'll teach you the rudiments." "What's on tonight?" "You're to visit a gentleman we met on the train." "A native who manufactures dyes." "Here's the imprint of the living room key." "It's a double hooker." "Difficult." "You have your work cut out." "Get on with it." "One more thing." "Avoid any unnecessary killing." "It's vulgar, nasty, and it's so out of date!" "The surest way to the bourgeois's heart is through his strongbox." "That's where it really hurts." "A beautiful night out, don't you think?" "Like La Margelle says, "The thief is like moonlight to the honest man."" "He's got talent, that one!" "Too bad he ain't much for work." "Father?" "You're joking." "He's as lazy as they come, a vegetable." "You try to get him up on a roof sometime." "He has better things to do." "He's a thinker." "Maybe you're right." "Here, put on your slippers." "Pure rubber." "Father told me your first success was in a museum." "I love painting." "I'm a painter myself." "I do castles and seascapes, escapist stuff." "Venice." "You've been to Venice?" "No, that's my dream." "I'll get there some day, when I find time." "Fine." "Let's go." " What's that smell?" " Camphor." "Right, camphor." "Mothballs." "A boa!" "Two boas!" "One each." " Broussaille will love these." " Who?" "Broussaille, my sister." "She lives in London." "You'll meet her soon enough." "Come on." "What does she do?" "She does men." "She has a good time." "Van der Busch hadn't lied." "The securities were there." "We left for London, fence capital of the world." "London has always been the commercial center of European burglary." "You know how I deal, Mister Roger the Blot." "It's yes or no." "I abhor negotiations over money." "Five hundred pounds in cash, and a check for the rest." "Agreed?" "I definitively love England!" "How are the English police?" "If you just work the Continent, they close their eyes." " You're from Paris?" " No, Valenciennes." "My parents run a hardware store there." "They get samples of all the new safes." "Keeps me abreast of any change." " Do they know about your work?" " Of course." "What's all the hubbub at Broussaille's?" "What the devil?" "Broussaille!" " Ah, my little brother!" " Are you moving out?" "Don't look so cross." "I'm only a foolish girl." "I borrowed more than I could pay again, and the creditors are taking everything away!" "Well, that's getting here in the nick of time." "I have more to burn." "I mean, solid sterling, sir." "We'll buy your furniture back." " How much?" " Expenses included?" "Yes, of course." "My name's Broussaille." "Georges Randal." "This is Ida." "She's from Paris." "May I take your things for you?" "Thanks." "It's all taken care of." "But this is the last time, you hear?" "Thank you, love." "I cost you money, don't I?" "And you work so hard to earn it." "But you'll see, one day you'll get it all back, and we'll go to Venice." "It's his dream." "Here's to us!" "Wait!" "Eenie meenie minee mo, catch my brother by the toe, one, two, three, let's go!" "The other day I met the girl that I introduced to Canonnier, the one with the addresses you can use." " She has one that's a pushover." " I'll buy it." "I'm off the Paris tomorrow." "Will you come with me?" "I can't this week." "I'm going to Spain." "I promised to help Marcel." "That's fine." " Will you come, Monsieur Randal?" " I will indeed, if you'd like me to." "Would I ask you if I didn't?" "Do you have a home in Paris?" "I did have, but not anymore." "Well, come and stay with me." "No strings attached." "You'll find it charming." "One of the rooms is like a madam's parlor." "Hey, Roger." "He's sweet, your new friend." "She fell, right under the wheels." "The train passed over her." "Sad end for the mother of a family." "It makes me shiver." "It's cold anyway." "Why don't they heat the cars!" "The boa!" "What boa?" "The one I got in Brussels." "A stolen boa!" "I'd be afraid to wear it." "It looks better on you than on me." "You're so gallant, Georges, but beware." "Women could be your ruin." "Ida had a dress shop in Paris, rue de Berceaux." "She rendered other services to her customers on the side." "Her shop served as a letter drop and a meeting place." "She is here." "Remember what I told you." "Canonnier gave her 22%, not a cent more." "Come in, please." "Madame." "Monsieur, I'm embarrassed." "I don't know how to say it." " Did you want to meet me?" " My situation is desperate." "But you don't look desperate, Madame." "May I trust you?" "Of course." "I keep my word." "I've found a real gentleman at last!" "Do you know what you should be in?" "Why, in politics." "I am flattered." "You look so respectable." "I can't imagine you with a burglar's jimmy in your hand." "How romantic." " Lf I were a man..." " That would be a shame, Madame." "Monsieur, I have my defects, I don't deny them." "But life is hard for a woman of the world these days." "You men promise us the world upon a platter, but after a few days of pleasure, it's all over." "All around me I see only inconstancy." "Like my last Englishman..." " An Englishman?" " Yes, an Englishman." "A brute, a savage!" "He left teeth marks on my shoulder, then disappeared." "Dirty bounder!" "How heartless he was." "How understanding you are." "My name is Renée." "It's difficult to pronounce." "Try it once, you'll see." "Renée." "Ah, that's beautiful." "Much better than my husband." "My husband's in politics." "What does a husband mean?" "Children do mean something, but they're so expensive." "I must say I'm lucky." "Ida put me in touch with Canonnier." "An incredible man!" "It was he who persuaded me to use my friends." "What are friends for?" "Well, why not?" "I have friends all over Paris, the countryside." "I know about their coming and going." "I used to give Canonnier information and I received 50% of the loot gross, a small percentage but the going price." "No, Madame, that's not the going price." "The price is 22%." "Thirty-three?" "No thief worth his salt will propose you more than that." "Thirty-three percent's not much." "Fifty is what I asked." "Well, suppose we make a compromise at 45?" "Neither 45 nor 40." "Thirty-three, Madame." "You have no pity for me?" "You don't understand women." "Think how we struggle to make ends meet." "I'm ashamed to tell you, but do you know how much my husband gives me per month?" "A pittance." "And he demands that I dress elegantly, that I get new dresses, new hats..." "And don't forget the underwear." "Look!" "But I have to." "You know that." " How much is the information worth?" " Thirty-three percent." "And some say thieves are generous." "I have two addresses to offer you." "One in Paris, the other at Maisons-Laffitte." "Life was beautiful." "We had plenty of work." "When circumstances demanded it, we worked as a gang." "We went against the tide." "Summers, far from the beaches." "Winters, far from the cities." "Let's go." "Are they moving out?" "Do you know anything, Madaleine?" " They didn't tell us anything." " That's very strange." "Really, it's quite extraordinary." "If you're so interested, why don't you give us a hand?" "That thing weighs 500 pounds." "Well, we're in a bit of a hurry." "Let's go, Maurice." "Hurry up!" "Just a little more." "I took to the work like a fish to water." "I had imagination, good reflexes, and I was indefatigable." "But even then, what I really liked best was to work alone." "Are you free these days?" "I have some time." "I'm delighted to hear it." "I have something interesting, a superb job." "And you are up to the mark now." "A necklace of pearls belonging to Madame Goulet, a pious woman." "The job's to be done right here, in Paris." " And in broad daylight." " Why not at night?" "Because Madame wears it to bed, to preserve the luster of the pearls." "Tell me, when's the House convention for its next session?" "The 29th of September." "Some very good bills coming up." "Randal, my word!" "It's Randal." "Are you here to see me?" "Nice to see you." "This is Professor Boileau." "Meet Georges Randal, an old college chum." "How kind of you!" "You didn't forget your old friend after all these years." " But, how did you get my address?" " No trouble." "I've found you and I'm not letting you get away." "Amicus amicum fricat!" "Let's drink to that." " I'm a little late." " You have a few minutes." "He just arrives and off he goes like a breath of air." " Help!" "I've been robbed!" " What happened?" "Robbery in broad daylight." "Extraordinary!" "Will these evildoers ever call a halt?" "It makes one wonder." "Monsieur Mouratet, you haven't seen anyone leave here?" "No one." "Did you?" "No." "He might have left by the roof." "The ingenuity of those scoundrels is really most distressing." "Their arrogance is something appalling." "Ah, Georges, still the same as ever, well dressed, absent-minded." "You haven't changed." "What do you do?" " I'm an architect." " I knew it!" "In public buildings?" " No, private houses." " There's a fortune in it." "Splendid." "My necklace!" "My necklace!" "Quite a looker, eh?" "That reminds me, do you know Courbassol?" " The politician?" " Himself." "I'm his right arm." "The man's a leader, an inspiration." "I tell you, he'll soon be in the government." "He is indispensable." "I'll introduce you." "Excuse me, gentlemen." "The office of Monsieur Courbassol." "Laugh if you like, but I had a close call." "All for a pearl necklace." "Stop your complaining." "It's a magnificent piece." "I can get you 5,000 pounds, and what's more, you have a foothold in politics." "What kind of student was Mouratet?" "Always number one, the dunce." "I had lunch with your uncle the other day." "He was almost rude." "He's going from bad to worse." "He's become caustic and bitter." "His skin is yellowing." "He's out all night, going out with young girls, a man of his age!" "It's sickening and ridiculous." "And Charlotte, tell me how she is." "Your cousin is bored." " Hello, Georges." " Hello." " Father." " Good day." "Have you heard the news?" "You're wounded?" "The police, in Holland, my boy." "They shot at us like a pack of foxes." "I was lucky, but Marcel was picked up." " Marcel will keep still?" " He's a good man." "Did you get him a good lawyer?" "The best in Amsterdam." "Would we do any less for him?" "I was fond of Marcel." "Why do you talk about him as if he were finished?" "I'll start up a little bank account for when he gets out." "What a hell of a break!" "Bust an arm just as my father lines up a pushover for me." "Delpich, the banker." "Here, read this." "Delpich?" "He's well known." "What do you say?" "Are you interested?" "Yes, I might work alone." "That's right, you're a lone wolf now." "It's not my cup of tea." "There's something dirty about it." "What makes you say that?" "I don't know, really." "If you go, will you see our parents?" "You'll kiss them for us, okay?" "They'll look after you." "Don't tell them I'm wounded." "They worry too much." "A small world, isn't it?" "I've always wanted to travel." "And Broussaille, she isn't working too much, I hope?" "It's so easy to tire in her line of work." "They were nice people." "I gave them nothing but good tidings of Roger and Broussaille." "Dinner was delicious, the conversation a bit labored, and I almost forgot about the banker Delpich's safe." "Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but duty calls." "You're right." "Be careful." "And tell Broussaille to write more often." "If you could read her letters..." "We can't sleep, we laugh so much." " Please, sir, have pity!" " Don't yell, Madame." " Please don't kill me." " Will you keep quiet?" "Please, don't hurt me." "Another word and I'm going to." "You broke my tooth." "Let me see." "It's nothing." "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "I am Madame Delpich." "Were you going to steal from your husband?" "He asked me to watch over his office while he's away." "You watch it with this?" "Monsieur, help me get out of here." "He's a monster, a maniac." "If you knew what torture I've known." "The worst." "Would you like me to tell you?" "No, Madame, I'm busy now." "Unfortunately." "With these little things you'd have never had a chance." "What are you pouring?" "Acid, Madame." "Oxysulfithermia." "It's a new German trick." "Unfortunately, it only works on certain alloys." "Does it take long?" "A few minutes." "It's a very dirty business you're in, Monsieur, but most interesting." "My name is Genevieve." "How do you do?" "You've put me in a bad spot, Monsieur." "My husband will kill me, no doubt." "I'll be murdered on account of you!" " Stop exaggerating." " Lf you only knew what he is like." "I don't hope to, Madame, but you have no need to worry." "What are you doing?" "I'll knock you out, tie you up, and your honor is saved." "Don't touch me!" "You are a brute." "I only wanted to protect you, Madame." "He never keeps jewels there, just cash." "I know." "Do you still want to leave your husband?" "Of course, especially now." "This will pay for your trip." "Thank you, Monsieur." "You are a man who understands women." "Yet, you seem so terribly sure of yourself." "My husband's so stupid." "Are you thirsty?" "Yes." "What would you like?" "Nothing." "Never at work." "After I finish, I go." "Let me go with you!" "Lmpossible, Madame." "I'm sorry." "I'm innocent!" "It was horrible." "Those are the rules of the game." "Do you mean you can play that game?" "Sometimes I want to blow the whole thing up, instead of these inane, stupid trifles." "But if you don't accept the world as it is, where is our place in it?" "Destroy property?" "Do you want to bite the hand that feeds you?" "I am afraid I do." "Sometimes, I do too!" "Somebody's looking for you." " Who?" " A lady." " What's she like?" " A redhead." "She's brought her baggage." "Didn't I warn you to beware of women?" "Finally!" "How nice of you to give a false name, a false address, after all we've been through." "You don't deserve to be kissed." "Where did you get my address?" "Through your tailor." "His label was printed on your vest." "And I was curious." "He was very helpful." "Really kind." "He'd made four suits with the same cloth as yours." "I've seen three charming gentlemen." "You were the fourth, and here I am." "That was a mean trick." "It's rude to lie, and dangerous as well." "A woman scorned?" "We lived together for several weeks." "I began to neglect business." "Genevieve took up all my time." "When the men stare at me, I feel thrilled." "It makes me feel needed." "Women always manage, you know, if they're not afraid." " And you are never afraid?" " Never." "Be glad." "You'd do anything, huh?" "Go with anybody?" "Provided I have money, and happiness." "There are so many things to do!" "I'm like a wild plant, natural." "Let's have a look." "Walk faster." "Shorter steps, your knees supple, head high, back arched straight, not too much." "Genevieve was a woman of action." "She wanted the world." "She needed victims." "I took her out in society, to Mouratet's." " All right?" " Fine." "Randal, how are you?" "Madame Randal, I suppose." "No." "Fine." "I'll introduce you to my wife." "Darling, meet Georges Randal." "Excuse me." "Something just struck me as incredibly funny." "My husband's often spoken of you." "You expected something else, didn't you?" "How true." "Excuse me, please." "What do you think of her?" "Childlike in some ways, isn't she?" "She looks like a lot of fun." "She's a pearl." "She knows everything, and she puts it to good use." "And in bed, a world wonder." "By the way, Urbain Randal, is he your uncle?" "Yes." "Why do you ask?" " He comes over now and then." " I know." "Oh, there's Courbassol." "Forgive me." "Good evening, Monsieur Randal." "Monsieur Courbassol." "It's an honor to meet you, sir." "Mouratet's been more than flattering in speaking of you." "You're an architect, I hear." "Public buildings, right?" "No, houses." "All mixed up, that Mouratet." "A fuzzy thinker." "We've had enough of that in politics." "We need some bright young men like you." "I'll be in my district on Monday, in Dieppe." "Why don't you come?" "I will introduce you to my friends." "There are great things in the making." "I count on you." "You moved right in." "Ah, my dear architect, you have your instruments with you?" "Don't take them out, for heaven's sake." "A surprise like this doesn't come along every day, I must say." "Let me introduce you to a few of your victims." "There are three here this evening." "You're playing with fire, Renée." "Does that amuse you?" "Yes." "Doesn't it amuse you?" "It seems your reputation keeps growing all the time." "I'm not doing so well." "Money's harder to find." "What a bore." "Suppose I arrange something for you next winter to recoup in one full swoop." "Your uncle is very rich." "It's tempting, yes, but the price isn't." "It's sad that he never learned how to grow old." "Do you have 200 or 300 francs with you?" "No." "All I have is 500." "I'll come in person to thank you." "Don't bother." "I'll take it out of your percentage, dear." "Excuse me, your husband has been inquiring after you." "Georges, can we talk, please?" "Your uncle..." "He told me he's rich." "Is that right?" "That's right." "Very rich." "The mistress of the house, imagine." "He proposed it." "He's insisting." "Then, do it." "But it bothers me, because of you." "Bleed him white, my dear." "He's a scoundrel." "Go for it." "He is waiting." "Are you going to Dieppe with Courbassol?" "I'm not sure yet." "But you've got to go." "Canonnier is back." "Canonnier?" "They let him out?" "No, he escaped." "It took him six months to make it from Devil's Island." "Six months!" "He's been hiding out in Dieppe for a week." "Georges, you can see him there." "You're a friend of Courbassol." "You can move freely and find him there." " How am I to recognize Canonnier?" " He'll find you." "I got word to him." "What should I tell him?" "That his friends are faithful." "Above all, he must not set foot in Paris." "The police are looking for him everywhere." "Dieppe, what a day!" "There were cops, reporters, voters, informants, pickpockets..." "Everybody but Canonnier." "At the end of the afternoon, Courbassol gathered his troops, and led us to the hotel for the banquet in his honor." "Georges, did you see Courbassol?" "Isn't he splendid?" "They're in the palm of his hand." "His speech will be a triumph." "The Cabinet won't sleep much tonight." " What's the matter?" " I've seen a ghost." "I saw Monsieur Canonnier." "It must have been a phantom." "It's impossible." "He's in jail." " Where did you see him?" " He was climbing up those stairs." "She's heavy." "Be careful." "Here, on the bed." "Mama, Mama." "Now, Fernande." "Now, Fernande, be strong." "Her time had come." "What a time to pick." "Please, Fernande, stop crying." "You'll be all red eyed and weepy at supper." "We've done our best." "We'll announce her death tomorrow morning." "Come, dear, come on." "We're already late for dinner." "Get back to her room." "Change the sheets and put some flowers around." "Are you going to rent Mama's room?" "Oh, stop it, Fernande." "We're completely sold out for once." "It's a room." "A room is a room." "Go on." "How do you do?" "Monsieur Randal." "It's you, Randal, eh?" "Canonnier, Jean-François." " I was expecting you." " I was trying to find you." "You're going back to Paris with our friends." "I'm leaving with you." "You'd better not." "La Margelle asked me to tell you to stay here." "All the stations are being watched." "The police are waiting." "And why did the priest stick his nose in?" "I must get to Paris by tomorrow." "You can help me." "Help you throw yourself to the lions?" "Nobody will recognize me." "Look here." "The wig was my own work." "It's called a crow's wing." "I took it off the head of a stool pigeon." "I've had a rough time, Randal." "You cannot even imagine." "I won't remain buried in this backwater." "I'm glad they sent you, Randal." "I've been told you're my successor." "The old girl is still creaking." "She's not quite dead, though she has stopped living." "Say, this is the innkeeper's bedroom, isn't it?" "The strongbox." "You do it." "I'll watch you." " After you." " I wouldn't think of it." "Do me the honor." "In that case," "I brought this back with me from the USA." "A little jewel." "Crowbar, an awl, screwdriver, skeleton key, drill." "They have superb tools in America." "You haven't seen anything." "Edison has invented a small battery." "It can be carried in a matchbox." "You can plug in a saw, a drill." "Does the work for you." "It even holds a light bulb." "I bought one." "I'll show it to you." "Don't go back to Paris." "It's dangerous, believe me." "You know, prison teaches you a great deal." "It gives you time to think, to read, to talk, to weigh the pros and the cons." "I have plans, Randal, big plans." "And I am not alone." "There are good men in my corner." "We'll soon strike, hard." "Strike what?" "The world listens to force." "It will hear us speak." "We want to change it, to remodel it, make it more human." " You think the world is beautiful?" " No." "That's why we want to rebuild it." "You, me, and our comrades." "But first we shall dissect the rotten soul of the bourgeoisie, make them fear us, Randal, using systematic terror." "I don't believe in violence, myself." "I've got my share inside, I'd be afraid to lose control." "I used to talk that way when I was younger." "I would put on gloves for each job, too." "But they caught me anyway." "Your turn will come, you'll see." "They're like wild beasts." " I'm ready for them." " Watch that kind of pride." "It's easy when you feel you're on top." "I've known those days." "Anything there?" "Not much." "A few shares." "I have some cash." "Here, take this, half is yours." "My friends of long standing, you know me well." "This too, as a souvenir." "I have another." "I call a spade a spade, and I call our government a nest of vipers." "They will hurl insults at me, but words can never hurt me." "I am interested only in the facts." "What are the facts?" "You know them as well as I." "We see our social order disrupted." "We see collapsing one after the other all the pillars which sustained our nation throughout its glorious past." "The pillars of family, virtue, property, patriotism." "Our society undermined by these strange insects, by the Jews, by the Masons, and by the hordes of bleating Socialists who want only to sow discord throughout the nation and make of France their club, their lair, their cell." "Bravo, bravo!" "And in the face of this menace, what has our government done?" "We stand on the edge of the abyss." "One more step and we shall fall." "I, for one, refuse to take this step." "I shall use all my strength, to take one step backwards." "I say clearly, I want to look toward the past, to find there an example of honor and logic." "If I had a stick of dynamite, I'd drop it right on that table." "I'd stop you first." "Because there's a woman down there I like very much." "You're sentimental, aren't you?" "Sometimes." "You don't look like it." "You're coolheaded, sharp as a razor blade." "We need a few more men like you." "Come in with us." "Apart from our true pleasure, the one we hide deep inside of us, is there anything worth fighting for?" "There is, and I'll convince you." "Well, it's time to go." " You smell it?" " No." "You can't smell it?" "Gold." "A sort of acidity." "It cuts, like a blade of grass." "There's gold here, I tell you." "Here it is." "You see, hold out your hand." "All right, you go first." "A great moment, sir." "My dear Courbassol you surpassed yourself." "Thank you, my friend." " I'll take you to the station, sir." " With pleasure, thank you." "Jean-François!" "Randal, Randal, stop!" "He's one of us, Randal." "He's a policeman." "Stop it." "I've been robbed!" "Help, help!" "I've been robbed!" "They've stolen my money!" "They've taken my money!" "Help!" "Someone has taken my money!" "Catch the thief!" "In the year following Canonnier's death, the incidents of terrorism multiplied." "Bombs were thrown all over the place, even at the House of Parliament." "A certain number of our friends had joined the anarchist cause." "Many of them were arrested." "The police were on our trail." "People barricaded themselves in their houses, making the exercise of our profession difficult." "Broussaille got married." "She left London, leaving her house to me." "I didn't work as much." "My heart was no longer in it." "We stayed away from France." "Who's that on the porch?" "I'll go check." "Charlotte!" "Thank you, Madame." "What's all that for?" "Looks like a suit of armor." "My emergency tools, some bits, a small pocket drill..." "You look like a surgeon." "So burglary is a profession?" "Yes." "And a very difficult one." "And what's all this?" "You have tattoos on your arm now?" "It's a specialty of Antoine's." "Here, watch the balloon move." "It's awful." "Will you keep it forever?" "I'm afraid to." "The only way to get a tattoo off is with injections of mother's milk." " You're teasing me." " Not at all." "You lost weight." "You have wrinkles there." "How did I ever get along with you?" "I ask myself that." "I must say you didn't take much of an effort to find me." "I thought you wanted no part of me." "I asked you once to follow me." "Do you think I enjoyed it, alone in that old house with Father who wouldn't speak to me?" "All my friends getting married." "It was dreadful." "I stayed home alone like a hermit in a cave." " It's your fault." " It was not." " Yes, it was." " Wasn't." " Was too." " No." "You were very hard to find, you know." "I was a whole week alone in London." "Your old maid wouldn't let me in." "She was stubborn." " How did you get my address?" " From Father La Margelle." "He's a strange man, don't you think?" "La Margelle?" "Why are you laughing?" "Is he a thief too?" "You're teasing me." "Do you still want me?" "Do you want me to stay?" "May I go get my suitcase?" "I don't know whether your father has changed, but you, you will always be the same." "Tell me, didn't your father feed you?" " You know how he is." " I do." "Uncle Urbain and his famous harem." "He's had a houseful at once, in all colors." "But at first it was amusing." "I observed them." "I even took notes." "What about him?" "He was amused too?" "He'd change every week, it seemed endless." "But suddenly, he grew old, nasty and vicious." "One morning, Genevieve arrived, showed up just like that." "You knew her, didn't you?" "Yes." "She's different from the others." "Genevieve's quite a woman." "She just settled in, changed all the furniture around." "She wanted a bathroom and diamonds." "Papa got it all for her." "She tried giving me presents to win me to her side." "She talked about you." " What did she say?" " Nonsense." "She was always asking me questions." "One day, I slapped her face." "I shouldn't have done it." "Anyway, I had one thing in mind then." "To find you." "Hello." "Good-bye, Georges." "Charlotte moved into the London flat, and I went on my way." "Thieves!" "Thieves!" "I'm exhausted." "They'll drive me crazy with their alarms." "A self-exploding lock!" " Steady, Roger!" "Don't get nervous!" " I can't go on." "I'm losing my nerve." "It's getting too risky." "I quit." "It's over for me." " You're just saying that." " On my mother's honor!" "Broussaille is gone." "I have no one but me." "I'll buy a house in Venice, and open a little store there." "I'll make exploding locks for a living." "Roger!" "Did you kill him?" "No, he's still breathing." "That night we barely got out of it." "When summer came, Roger retired, as he said he would." "I traveled with Charlotte." "Six, black." "Place your bets." "The betting is closed." "Five." "Those two brought good luck for the first time." "Place your bets." "Place your bets." "Place your bets!" "The betting is closed." "A few weeks later, a telegram called us back to Paris." "Mademoiselle Charlotte, Monsieur Georges." "Well?" "Monsieur is dying." "He can't speak anymore." " Where is he?" " In the study." "We can't move him." " What did the doctor say?" " He won't live through the night." "Did it happen suddenly?" "Suddenly." "He had a stroke two days ago." "Leave us alone, please." "Marie-Jeanne, will you accompany Madame to her room?" "Georges and I will watch over him." "How strange." "I've been afraid of him all my life." "Afraid of seeing him again!" "Now, I don't feel anything." "Almost nothing." "For me, he's already dead." "You know he can hear us." "I simply don't care." "I think he has cut us both out of his will." "Probably." "I'd better take a look at his will." "Where could it be?" "At the lawyer's?" "He must have kept a copy here." "You know how he is." "Here." "I'm sure this is it." "Yes, it's his will." "6,200 shares, three percent, the house in Ville d'Avray." "I was right." "He heft it all to the Pasteur Institute." "Go get some rest." "I'll make up a new one." "You think it's possible?" "I've done this before." "I'm an expert." "Don't worry." "I'll write out the death notices." "Would you like a cup of coffee?" "No, not now, later." "Thanks." "Don't let me disturb you." "My Lord!" "The devil is hauling your uncle off by his feet." "Let him finish his task." "Tell me, is this a hidden talent?" "It's very good." "I ran into Madame Delpich coming in, as well endowed as ever." "Are you leaving anything to her?" "No." "My uncle didn't deem her worthy of his mentioning." " I'll respect his last wishes." " I shouldn't worry about her." "I know a respectable old Austrian who is ready to take her in." "It takes but a word." "How are your churches, Father?" "We are still laying down the foundations." "It's long and arduous." "My uncle won't forget your good works." "May the Lord bless him for it." "You keep talking of the churches you are building." "Those donations..." "How is that money spent?" "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." "Have you thought about everything?" "The date?" "Everything." "Are you giving your uncle a first-class funeral?" "My uncle asked to be buried in a pauper's coffin." "A saintly example of humility." " This will edify the parish." " Parish?" "Don't be silly." "A quiet civil burial." "A civil burial?" "I wouldn't have thought of that." "You show no mercy, do you?" "I fear that was the last gasp." "Yes, it's over." "All over." "But even so, death is no excuse." "We must inform the servants." "Just a second." "I'm finishing." "Yes?" "May we talk, Father?" "I have something to tell you." "Do you indeed, Madame?" "Very well, let us speak." "You were once married, I believe." "True, I was once married." "But I weakened and fell, or rather someone made me fall." "That Georges Randal to you is a man of worth and honesty." "To me he's just a thief." "What are you saying?" "A thief?" "And of the worst kind!" "At the very moment he's in there robbing me." "My whole body and soul I gave to his uncle." "Now he robs me." "After having stolen me from my husband." "You mean he stole you from Monsieur Delpich?" "I am astonished." "I was in Valenciennes." "As I lay in my room, he entered through the window with a gun." "I was half nude." "He put the gun to my head, and swore he'd shoot me if I made a sound." "I was raped." "Then he opened my drawer and took out all the letters my mother had sent me." "It's a secret in our family, but it's true, Father." "My mother had a lover." "Georges Randal blackmailed me with those letters." ""Come with me, or I'll tell your father."" "To save his honor, I abandoned my husband, whom I adored." "I can't speak of the existence I have been forced to lead since." "I am so ashamed!" "The wretch!" "I'll have him arrested at once." "But, no, it's impossible." "Why?" "Those letters, Madame." "He kept the letters." "He must have them somewhere." "If Randal is arrested, your father will know the truth." "That's true." "What can we do?" "Madame, in spite of the temptations of the flesh, have you retained some kind of religious sentiment?" "Oh, yes." "Bravo, its support is needed in our existence." "Did you hear that?" "I have proposed that she retires to a convent." "To a men's convent?" "Very funny, Georges." "I think that the woman is hysterical, like all the others." "She would throw herself in the fire to save you, and a minute later turn and have you sent to the scaffold." "My Lord, how cold this life does seem all of a sudden." "We're surrounded by mad women." "And men." "How weary I feel." "Why this disgust towards the others, towards everything, towards oneself?" "Why do we have hearts?" "What's the matter with you?" "You won't see me at the funeral." "I'm leaving." " Where are you going?" " To China." "Why not?" "You might say I'm trying to insure the success of my obsessions." "But I have no obsessions." "Not even a goal." "What about you?" "I suppose you'll give it all up, as Roger did?" " Would it surprise you if I did?" " No." "Thievery's no longer what it used to be." "And besides, your ambitions are fulfilled, I suppose." "No." "No?" "I've always dreamed of that which I know to be impossible." "You too?" "That day when I shall see one person, somebody like you, for example, but surer of his powers..." "Lord, spare me the anguish of thinking." "It's too sad." "Offer me a meal to celebrate your inheritance." "It's the respectable Austrian." "Madame Delpich won't go to the convent." "It's a pity!" "In conclusion, Mademoiselle, I'd like to say how pleased I am that your father reverted to a more generous attitude before his death." "I had on my desk a will which disinherited you." "This has now been nullified by reason of this document we've just read." "So all is well that ends well." "I have just one regret, that is, the civil burial." "But after all, one must respect his last wishes." "I'll show you out." "Good-bye." "You've been very kind." "Thank you for coming." "Georges!" "You are here." "You're rich at last." "The lawyer suspects nothing." "Maître Vivon is so nice." "He'll be going away in July." "The servants are all absent the first eight days." "He has a double lock, he said, but no alarm." "Let's take a long vacation." "Just like the idle rich." "The whole month of July." "And just forget Maître Vivon and all his safes and double locks?" "Georges, it's so good not to have to worry about you." "You'll be good, won't you?" "No." "Do you think I could?" "I would like to." "My life will go on, Charlotte." "I won't change." "Don't expect any change at all." "But all your friends have retired." "That may be, but I never could." "Is it stronger than you?" "Stronger than anything." "The first time at the Montareuils, I didn't know." "But then, as I broke into the locked desk and saw the jewels gleaming in the shadow and felt the weight of them in my hand..." "I first did it to get even with your father, for revenge." "Suddenly, I knew happiness." "I felt alive." "I was satisfied." "It was happiness." "At night, in an unknown house, when all is quiet and I arrive," "and all those things are there for the taking," "I feel as if I were reborn." "Then what?" "Then?" "I go home." "Once again, I feel worthless, waiting for the next time." "I wait for the whole thing to begin again." "I need you, Charlotte." "You're the only one I can tell that I'm lonely." "Paris."