The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz by Jules Verne

Author:Jules Verne [Verne, Jules]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bison Original
Published: 2011-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

So there was no longer any doubt that Wilhelm Storitz was involved! We were in possession of material evidence and were no longer reduced to mere presumptions. At the very least, whether he or another was the actual culprit, it was certainly for his benefit that this bizarre robbery had been carried out, even though the method and the explanation still eluded us! ...

"Are you still a doubter, my dear Vidal?" Captain Haralan yelled, his voice trembling with rage.

Stepark kept quiet, as he knew that in this strange affair, there was still a great deal that remained unknown. Indeed, even though Wilhelm Storitz's guilt screamed out at us, we were unable to figure out how he had pulled the deed off, and even if we continued our investigation, would we ever find out? ...

As for myself, even though Captain Haralan had addressed me more directly, I still couldn't tell him anything. What could I have told him anyway? ...

"And wasn't it that miserable wretch," he continued, "who came to insult us by flinging that `Song of Hatred' in our faces as an affront to Magyar patriotism? ... You never saw him, but you heard him! ... He was there, I tell you, even if he managed to escape without being seen! ... He was in the middle of the drawing room! ... And that crown, sullied by his very hand, I don't even want a single leaf of it to remain intact! ... "

Stepark stopped him right before he was about to rip it apart.

"Don't forget that it's a piece of evidence that could convict him," he said, "and that could be useful if, as I predict, this matter must continue!"

Captain Haralan handed the crown back to him, and we returned to the staircase, after having gone through each of the rooms in the house one last futile time.

The doors to the steps and the gate were locked shut, and the house remained in the same state of neglect in which we had found it. Yet under Stepark's orders, two of his men remained in the area to monitor the situation.

After having said good-bye to Stepark, who asked us to keep the police sweep between ourselves, Captain Haralan and I took to the boulevard as we returned to the Roderich residence.

This time, however, my companion could no longer restrain himself, and his anger spilled over into extremely violent words and gestures. My attempts to calm him down were all in vain. I was hoping, in fact, that Wilhelm Storitz had left or would leave town as soon as he realized that his house had been searched, and that the crown that he had stolen-or had ordered stolen (I still had my doubts about that) -was now in the hands of the police.

I stubbornly persisted in saying:

"My dear Haralan, I understand your anger ... I can understand that you don't want to allow these insults to go unanswered! ... But you mustn't forget that Stepark asked us to keep the wreath we discovered in the Storitz house a secret .

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