hat, thanks to a small
incision I am about to make, I can soon get rid of the bolt."

He drew from his pocket the necessary instruments. Then the following
idea occurred to him:

"Suppose, by chance, the door is not bolted. I will try it first."

He turned the knob, and the door opened.

"My brave Lupin, surely fortune favors you....What's to be done now?
You know the situation of the rooms; you know the place in which the
countess hides the black pearl. Therefore, in order to secure the black
pearl, you have simply to be more silent than silence, more invisible
than darkness itself."

Arsene Lupin was employed fully a half-hour in opening the second
door--a glass door that led to the countess' bedchamber. But he
accomplished it with so much skill and precaution, that even had had
the countess been awake, she would not have heard the slightest sound.
According to the plan of the rooms, that he holds, he has merely to pass
around a reclining chair and, beyond that, a small table close to the
bed. On the table, there was a box of letter-paper, and the black pearl
was concealed in that box. He stooped and crept cautiously over the
carpet, following the outlines of the reclining-chair. When he reached
the extremity of it, he stopped in order to repress the throbbing of
his heart. Although he was not moved by any sense of fear, he found it
impossible to overcome the nervous anxiety that one usually feels in the
midst of profound silence. That circumstance astonished him, because he
had passed through many more solemn moments without the slightest trace
of emotion. No danger threatened him. Then why did his heart throb like
an alarm-bell? Was it that sleeping woman who affected him? Was it the
proximity of another pulsating heart?

He listened, and thought he could discern the rhythmical breathing of a
person asleep. It gave him confidence, like the presence of a friend.
He sought and found the armchair; then, by slow, cautious movements,
advanced toward the table, feeling ahead of him with outstretched arm.
His right had touched one of the feet of the table. Ah! now, he had
simply to rise, take the pearl, and escape. That was fortunate, as his
heart was leaping in his breast like a wild beast, and made so much
noise that he feared it would waken the countess. By a powerful effort
of the will, he subdued the wild throbbing of his heart, and was about
to rise from the floor when his left hand encountered, lying on the
f