"Rot! You think so, do you?"

"I swear it."
"What Prasville and all his men, what Clarisse Mergy, what nobody has

been able to do, you think that you will do!"
"I shall!"

"And why? By favour of what saint will you succeed where everybody else
has failed? There must be a reason?"

"There is."
"What is it?"

"My name is Arsene Lupin."
He had let go of Daubrecq, but held him for a time under the dominion of

his authoritative glance and will. At last, Daubrecq drew himself up,
gave him a couple of sharp taps on the shoulder and, with the same calm,

the same intenseobstinacy, said:
"And my name's Daubrecq. My whole life has been one desperate battle,

one long series of catastrophes and routs in which I spent all my
energies until victory came: complete, decisive, crushing, irrevocable

victory. I have against me the police, the government, France, the world.
What difference do you expect it to make to me if I have M. Arsene Lupin

against me into the bargain? I will go further: the more numerous and
skilful my enemies, the more cautiously I am obliged to play. And that

is why, my dear sir, instead of having you arrested, as I might have done
- yes, as I might have done and very easily - I let you remain at large

and beg charitably to remind you that you must quit in less than three
minutes."

"Then the answer is no?"
"The answer is no."

"You won't do anything for Gilbert?"
"Yes, I shall continue to do what I have been doing since his arrest

- that is to say, to exercise indirect influence with the minister of
justice, so that the trial may be hurried on and end in the way in which

I want to see it end."
"What!" cried Lupin, beside himself with indignation. "It's because of

you, it's for you... "
"Yes, it's for me, Daubrecq; yes, by Jove! I have a trump card, the

son's head, and I am playing it. When I have procured a nice little
death-sentence for Gilbert, when the days go by and Gilbert's petition

for a reprieve is rejected by my good offices, you shall see, M. Lupin,
that his mummy will drop all her objections to calling herself Mme.

lexis Daubrecq and giving me an unexceptionable pledge of her good-will.
That fortunate issue is inevitable, whether you like it or not. It is

foredoomed. All I can do for you is to invite you to the wedding and
the breakfast. Does that suit you? No? You persist in your sinister

designs? Well, good luck, lay your traps, spread your nets, rub up your
weapons and grind away at the Complete Foreign-post-paper Burglar's

Handbook. You'll need it. And now, good-night. The rules of
open-handed and disinterested hospitality demand that I should turn you

out of doors. Hop it!"
Lupin remained silent for some time. With his eyes fixed on Daubrecq,

he seemed to be taking his adversary's size, gauging his weight,
estimating his physical strength, discussing, in fine, in which exact

part to attack him. Daubrecq clenched his fists and worked out his plan
of defence to meet the attack when it came.

Half a minute passed. Lupin put his hand to his hip-pocket. Daubrecq
id the same and grasped the handie of his revolver.

A few seconds more. Coolly, Lupin produced a little gold box of the
kind that ladies use for holding sweets, opened it and handed it to

Daubrecq:
"A lozenge?"

"What's that?" asked the other, in surprise.
"Cough-drops."

"What for?"
"For the draught you're going to feel!"

And, takingadvantage of the momentary fluster into which Daubrecq was
thrown by his sally, he quickly took his hat and slipped away.

"Of course," he said, as he crossed the hall, "I am knocked into fits.
But all the same, that bit of commercial-traveller's waggery was rather

novel, in the circumstances. To expect a pill and receive a cough-drop
is by way of being a sort of disappointment. It left the old chimpanzee

quite flummoxed."
As he closed the gate, a motor-car drove up and a man sprang out briskly,

followed by several others.
Lupin recognized Prasville:

"Monsieur le secretaire-general," he muttered, "your humble servant.
I have an idea that, some day, fate will bring us face to face: and I am

sorry, for your sake; for you do not inspire me with any particular
esteem and you have a bad time before you, on that day. Meanwhile, if I

were not in such a hurry, I should wait till you leave and I should
follow Daubrecq to find out in whose charge he has placed the child whom

he is going to hand back to me. But I am in a hurry. Besides, I can't
tell that Daubrecq won't act by telephone. So let us not waste ourselves

in vain efforts, but rather join Victoire, Achille and our precious bag."
Two hours later, Lupin, after taking all his measures, was on the lookout

in his shed at Neullly and saw Daubrecq turn out of an adjoining street
and walk along with a distrustful air.

Lupin himself opened the double doors:
"Your things are in here, monsieur le depute," he said. "You can go

round and look. There is a job-master's yard next door: you have only
to ask for a van and a few men. Where is the child?"

Daubrecq first inspected the articles and then took Lupin to the Avenue
de Neullly, where two closely veiled old ladies stood waiting with

little Jacques.
Lupin carried the child to his car, where Victoire was waiting for him.

All this was done swiftly, without useless words and as though the parts
had been got by heart and the various movements settled in advance, like

so many stage entrances and exits.
At ten o'clock in the evening Lupin kept his promise and handed little

Jacques to his mother. But the doctor had to be hurriedly called in, for
the child, upset by all those happenings, showed great signs of excitement

and terror. It was more than a fortnight before he was sufficiently
recovered to bear the strain of the removal which Lupin considered

necessary. Mme. Mergy herself was oniy just fit to travel when the time
came. The journey took place at night, with every possible precaution

and under Lupin's escort.
He took the mother and son to a little seaside place in Brittany and

entrusted them to Victoire's care and vigilance.
"At last," he reflected, when he had seen them settled, "there is no one

between the Daubrecq bird and me. He can do nothing more to Mme. Mergy
and the kid; and she no longer runs the risk of diverting the struggle

through her intervention. By Jingo, we have made blunders enough! First,
I have had to disclose myself to Daubrecq. Secondly, I have had to

surrender my share of the Enghien movables. True, I shall get those back,
sooner or later; of that there is not the least doubt. But, all the same,

we are not getting on; and, in a week from now, Gilbert and Vaucheray
will be up for trial."

What Lupin felt most in the whole business was Daubrecq's revelation of
the whereabouts of the flat. The police had entered his place in the Rue

Chateaubriand. The identity of Lupin and Michel Beaumont had been
recognized and certain papers discovered; and Lupin, while pursuing his

aim, while, at the same time, managing various enterprises on which he
had embarked, while avoiding the searches of the police, which were

becoming more zealous and persistent than ever, had to set to work and
reorganize his affairs throughout on a fresh basis.

His rage with Daubrecq, therefore, increased in proportion to the worry
which the deputy caused him. He had but one longing, to pocket him, as

he put it, to have him at his bidding by fair means or foul, to extract
his secret from him. He dreamt of tortures fit to unloose the tongue of

the most silent of men. The boot, the rack, red-hot pincers, nailed
planks: no form of suffering, he thought, was more than the enemy

deserved; and the end to be attained justified every means.
"Oh," he said to himself, "oh, for a decent bench of inquisitors and a

couple of bold executioners!... What a time we should have!"
Every afternoon the Growler and the Masher watched the road which

Daubrecq took between the Square Lamartine, the Chamber of Deputies and
his club. Their instructions were to choose the most deserted street