rt and his wife sitting in front
of the safe, deeply absorbed in their work and speaking softly to each
other at rare intervals.

He calculated the distance between him and them, considered the exact
movements he would require to make in order to overcome them, one after
the other, before they could call for help, and he was about to rush
upon them, when Madame Imbert said:

"Ah! the room is getting quite cold. I am going to bed. And you, my
dear?"

"I shall stay and finish."

"Finish! Why, that will take you all night."

"Not at all. An hour, at the most."

She retired. Twenty minutes, thirty minutes passed. Arsene pushed the
window a little farther open. The curtains shook. He pushed once more.
Mon. Imbert turned, and, seeing the curtains blown by the wind, he rose
to close the window.

There was not a cry, not the trace of struggle. With a few precise
moments, and without causing him the least injury, Arsene stunned him,
wrapped the curtain about his head, bound him hand and foot, and did it
all in such a manner that Mon. Imbert had no opportunity to recognize
his assailant.

Quickly, he approached the safe, seized two packages that he placed
under his arm, left the office, and opened the servants' gate. A
carriage was stationed in the street.

"Take that, first--and follow me," he said to the coachman. He returned
to the office, and, in two trips, they emptied the safe. Then Arsene
went to his own room, removed the rope, and all other traces of his
clandestine work.

A few hours later, Arsene Lupin and his assistant examined the stolen
goods. Lupin was not disappointed, as he had foreseen that the wealth of
the Imberts had been greatly exaggerated. It did not consist of hundreds
of millions, nor even tens of millions. Yet it amounted to a very
respectable sum, and Lupin expressed his satisfaction.

"Of course," he said, "there will be a considerable loss when we come
to sell the bonds, as we will have to dispose of them surreptitiously
at reduced prices. In the meantime, they will rest quietly in my desk
awaiting a propitious moment."

Arsene saw no reason why he should not go to the Imbert house the next
day. But a perusal of the morning papers revealed this startling fact:
Ludovic and Gervaise Imbert had disappeared.

When the officers of the law seized the safe and opened it, they found
there what Arsene Lupin had left--nothing.

* * * * *

Such are the facts; and I learned the sequel to them