nvelope."

"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 thinking 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 feverish shiver 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