annexation of his treasures. The fact that you took part in it put him
off the scent."

"Still, the disappearance of the stopper... "
"To begin with, the thing can have had but a secondary importance for

him, as it is only the model."
"How do you know?"

"There is a scratch at the bottom of the stem; and I have made inquiries
in England since."

"Very well; but why did the key of the cupboard from which it was stolen
never leave the man-servant's possession? And why, in the second place,

was it found afterward in the drawer of a table in Daubrecq's house
in Paris?"

"Of course, Daubrecq takes care of it and clings to it in the way in
which one clings to the model of any valuable thing. And that is why I

replaced the stopper in the cupboard before its absence was noticed. And
that also is why, on the second occasion, I made my little Jacques take

the stopper from your overcoat-pocket and told the portress to put it
back in the drawer."

"Then he suspects nothing?"
"Nothing. He knows that the list is being looked for, but he does not

know that Prasville and I are aware of the thing in which he hides it."
Lupin had risen from his seat and was walking up and down the room,

thinking. Then he stood still beside Clarisse and asked:
"When all is said, since the Enghien incident, you have not advanced a

single step?"
"Not one. I have acted from day to day, led by those two men or leading

them, without any definite plan."
"Or, at least," he said, "without any other plan than that of getting

the list of the Twenty-seven from Daubrecq."
"Yes, but how? Besides, your tactics made things more difficult for me.

It did not take us long to recognize your old servant Victoire in
Daubrecq's new cook and to discover, from what the portress told us,

that Victoire was putting you up in her room; and I was afraid of your
schemes."

"It was you, was it not, who wrote to me to retire from the contest?"
"Yes."

"You also asked me not to go to the theatre on the Vaudeville night?"
"Yes, the portress caught Victoire listening to Daubrecq's conversation

with me on the telephone; and the Masher, who was watching the house,
saw you go out. I suspected, therefore, that you would follow Daubrecq

that evening."
"And the woman who came here, late one afternoon ... "

"Was myself. I felt disheartened and wanted to see you."
"And you intercepted Gilbert's letter?"

"Yes, I recognized his writing on the envelope."
"But your little Jacques was not with you?"

"No, he was outside, in a motor-car, with the Masher, who lifted him up
to me through the drawing-room window; and he slipped into your bedroom

through the opening in the panel."
"What was in the letter?"

"As ill-luck would have it, reproaches. Gilbert accused you of forsaking
him, of taking over the business on your own account. In short, it

confirmed me in my distrust; and I ran away."
Lupin shrugged his shoulders with irritation:

"What a shocking waste of time! And what a fatality that we were not
able to come to an understanding earlier! You and I have been playing

at hide-and-seek, laying absurd traps for each other, while the days
were passing, precious days beyond repair."

"You see, you see," she said, shivering, "you too are afraid of the
future!"

"No, I am not afraid," cried Lupin. "But I am thinking of all the useful
work that we could have done by this time, if we had united our efforts.

I am thinldng of all the mistakes and all the acts of imprudence which
we should have been saved, if we had been working together. I am

thinking that your attempt to-night to search the clothes which Daubrecq
was wearing was as vain as the others and that, at this moment, thanks

to our foolish duel, thanks to the din which we raised in his house,
Daubrecq is warned and will be more on his guard than ever."

Clarisse Mergy shook her head:
"No, no, I don't think that; the noise will not have roused him, for we

postponed the attempt for twenty-four hours so that the portress might
put a narcotic in his wine." And she added, slowly, "And then, you see,

nothing can make Daubrecq be more on his guard than he is already. His
life is nothing but one mass of precautions against danger. He leaves

nothing to chance... Besides, has he not all the trumps in his hand?"
Lupin went up to her and asked:

"What do you mean to convey? According to you, is there nothing to hope
for on that side? Is there not a single means of attaining our end?"

"Yes," she murmured, "there is one, one only... "
He noticed her pallor before she had time to hide her face between her

hands again. And again a feverishshiver shook her frame.
He seemed to understand the reason of her dismay; and, bending toward

her, touched by her grief:
"Please," he said, "please answer me openly and frankly. It's for

Gilbert's sake, is it not? Though the police, fortunately, have not
been able to solve the riddle of his past, though the real name of

Vaucheray's accomplice has not Leaked out, there is one man, at least,
who knows it: isn't that so? Daubrecq has recognized your son Antoine,

through the alias of Gilbert, has he not?"
"Yes,yes... "

"And he promises to save him, doesn't he? He offers you his freedom,
his release, his escape, his life: that was what he offered you, was

it not, on the night in his study, when you tried to stab him?"
"Yes ... yes... that was it... "

"And he makes one condition, does he not? An abominable condition,
such as would suggest itself to a wretch like that? I am right, am

I not?"
Clarisse did not reply. She seemed exhausted by her protracted struggle

with a man who was gaining ground daily and against whom it was
impossible for her to fight. Lupin saw in her the prey conquered in

advance, delivered to the victor's whim. Clansse Mergy, the loving wife
of that Mergy whom Daubrecq had really murdered, the terrified mother of

that Gilbert whom Daubrecq had led astray, Clarisse Mergy, to save her
son from the scaffold, must, come what may and however ignominious the

position, yield to Daubrecq's wishes. She would be the mistress, the
wife, the obedient slave of Daubrecq, of that monster with the appearance

and the ways of a wild beast, that unspeakable person of whom Lupin could
not think without revulsion and disgust.

Sitting down beside her, gently, with gestures of pity, he made her lift
her head and, with his eyes on hers, said:

"Listen to me. I swear that I will save your son: I swear it... Your
son shall not die, do you understand?... There is not a power on earth

that can allow your son's head to be touched as long as I am alive."
"I believe you... I trust your word."

"Do. It is the word of a man who does not know defeat. I shall succeed.
Only, I entreat you to make me an irrevocable promise."

"What is that?"
"You must not see Daubrecq again."

"I swear it."
"You must put from your mind any idea, any fear, however obscure, of an

understanding between yourself and him... of any sort of bargain... "
"I swear it."

She looked at him with an expression of absolutesecurity and reliance;
and he, under her gaze, felt the joy of devotion and an ardent longing

to restore that woman's happiness, or, at least, to give her the peace
and oblivion that heal the worst wounds: