eur Lupin, the bonds are there, in my husband's
office, and if we detach a single coupon, we lose everything! They are
there, in our safe, and we dare not touch them."

Monsieur Lupin shivered at the bare idea of his proximity to so much
wealth. Yet he felt quite certain that Monsieur Lupin would never suffer
from the same difficulty as his fair hostess who declared she dare not
touch the money.

"Ah! they are there!" he repeated, to himself; "they are there!"

A friendship formed under such circumstances soon led to closer
relations. When discreetly questioned, Arsene Lupin confessed his
poverty and distress. Immediately, the unfortunate young man was
appointed private secretary to the Imberts, husband and wife, at a
salary of one hundred francs a month. He was to come to the house every
day and receive orders for his work, and a room on the second floor
was set apart as his office. This room was directly over Mon. Imbert's
office.

Arsene soon realized that his position as secretary was essentially
a sinecure. During the first two months, he had only four important
letters to recopy, and was called only once to Mon. Imbert's office;
consequently, he had only one opportunity to contemplate, officially,
the Imbert safe. Moreover, he noticed that the secretary was not invited
to the social functions of the employer. But he did not complain, as he
preferred to remain, modestly, in the shade and maintain his peace and
freedom.

However, he was not wasting any time. From the beginning, he made
clandestine visits to Mon. Imbert's office, and paid his respects to the
safe, which was hermetically closed. It was an immense block of iron and
steel, cold and stern in appearance, which could not be forced open
by the ordinary tools of the burglar's trade. But Arsene Lupin was not
discouraged.

"Where force fails, cunning prevails," he said to himself. "The
essential thing is to be on the spot when the opportunity occurs. In the
meantime, I must watch and wait."

He made immediately some preliminary preparations. After careful
soundings made upon the floor of his room, he introduced a lead pipe
which penetrated the ceiling of Mon. Imbert's office at a point between
the two screeds of the cornice. By means of this pipe, he hoped to see
and hear what transpired in the room below.

Henceforth, he passed his days stretched at full length upon the floor.
He frequently saw the Imberts holding a consultation in front of the
saf