sene Lupin.
And now that you have my name, go and prepare your revenge. Arsene Lupin
will wait for you."

Then he pushed the bewildered Varin through the door.

"Daspry! Daspry!" I cried, pushing aside the curtain. He ran to me.

"What? What's the matter?"

"Madame Andermatt is ill."

He hastened to her, caused her to inhale some salts, and, while caring
for her, questioned me:

"Well, what did it?"

"The letters of Louis Lacombe that you gave to her husband."

He struck his forehead and said:

"Did she think that I could do such a thing!...But, of course she would.
Imbecile that I am!"

Madame Andermatt was now revived. Daspry took from his pocket a small
package exactly similar to the one that Mon. Andermatt had carried away.

"Here are your letters, Madame. These are the genuine letters."

"But.... the others?"

"The others are the same, rewritten by me and carefully worded. Your
husband will not find anything objectionable in them, and will never
suspect the substitution since they were taken from the safe in his
presence."

"But the handwriting---"

"There is no handwriting that cannot be imitated."

She thanked him in the same words she might have used to a man in her
own social circle, so I concluded that she had not witnessed the final
scene between Varin and Arsene Lupin. But the surprising revelation
caused me considerable embarrassment. Lupin! My club companion was none
other than Arsene Lupin. I could not realize it. But he said, quite at
his ease:

"You can say farewell to Jean Daspry."

"Ah!"

"Yes, Jean Daspry is going on a long journey. I shall send him to
Morocco. There, he may find a death worthy of him. I may say that that
is his expectation."

"But Arsene Lupin will remain?"

"Oh! Decidedly. Arsene Lupin is simply at the threshold of his career,
and he expects---"

I was impelled by curiosity to interrupt him, and, leading him away from
the hearing of Madame Andermatt, I asked:

"Did you discover the smaller safe yourself--the one that held the
letters?"

"Yes, after a great deal of trouble. I found it yesterday afternoon
while you were asleep. And yet, God knows it was simple enough! But
the simplest things are the ones that usually escape our notice." Then,
showing me the seven-of-hearts, he added: "Of course I had guessed that,
in order to open the larger safe, this card must be placed on the sword
of the mosaic king."

"How did you guess that?"

"Quite easily