The Corpse explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Hidden History and Secrets

  Beautrelet uncovers the secret crypt beneath the chapel, revealing Lupin's hidden lair and the true extent of the theft.

• Intellect and Cunning

  Beautrelet's deduction about the plaster casts and the crypt demonstrates his sharp intellect, while Lupin's elaborate scheme to replace the chapel's art shows his cunning.

• Identity and Disguise

  The plaster casts are a form of disguise, hiding the theft of the original statues and the crypt's entrance.

Characters to notice

• Isidore Beautrelet

  Reveals the chapel statues are plaster casts, deduces the crypt's existence, and leads the descent.

• M. Filleul

  Examining magistrate who accompanies Beautrelet and the Comte de Gesvres into the crypt.

• Comte de Gesvres

  Owner of the château, provides the key and pickaxe, and descends into the crypt.

• Arsène Lupin

  Presumed dead; his body is believed to be in the crypt beneath the chapel.

• M. Brédoux

  Clerk to the examining magistrate who attacks and wounds Beautrelet, stealing the document.

• Raymonde de Saint-Véran

  Mentioned as having shot Lupin before her own death.

Key passages

• “Beautrelet was carrying a walking-stick, a strong, knotted stick. Suddenly, with a back stroke of this stick, he smashed one of the little statues that adorned the front of the chapel.”

  Beautrelet uses his walking stick to shatter a chapel statue, revealing it to be plaster.

  Demonstrates the statues are fakes.

• “A whole Gothic chapel collected stone by stone! A whole population of statues captured and replaced by these chaps in stucco!”

  The entire Gothic chapel and its statues were stolen and replaced with plaster copies.

  Highlights the scale of Lupin's theft.

• “I conclude that Lupin discovered the crypt when working at the altar.”

  Beautrelet deduces that Lupin found the crypt while replacing the altar.

  Key deduction leading to the crypt's discovery.