We have two months, three months before us. It is more than
I need... on condition, of course, that I am unhampered in my movements.
And, for that, you will have to withdraw from the contest, you know."

"How do you mean?"

"Yes, you must disappear for a time; go and live in the country. Have
you no pity for your little Jacques? This sort of thing would end by
shattering the poor little man's nerves... And he has certainly earned
his rest, haven't you, Hercules?"

The next day Clarisse Mergy, who was nearly breaking down under the
strain of events and who herself needed repose, lest she should fall
seriously ill, went, with her son, to board with a friend who had a
house on the skirt of the Forest of Saint-Germain. She felt very weak,
her brain was haunted by visions and her nerves were upset by troubles
which the least excitement aggravated. She lived there for some days
in a state of physical and mental inertia, thinking of nothing and
forbidden to see the papers.

One afternoon, while Lupin, changing his tactics, was working out a
scheme for kidnapping and confining Daubrecq; while the Growler and the
Masher, whom he had promised to forgive if he succeeded, were watching
the enemy's movements; while the newspapers were announcing the
forthcoming trial for murder of Arsene Lupin's two accomplices, one
afternoon, at four o'clock, the telephone-bell rang suddenly in the flat
in the Rue Chateaubriand.

Lupin took down the receiver:

"Hullo!"

A woman's voice, a breathless voice, said:

"M. Michel Beaumont?"

"You are speaking to him, madame. To whom have I the honour..."

"Quick, monsieur, come at once; Madame Mergy has taken poison."

Lupin did not wait to hear details. He rushed out, sprang into his
motor-car and drove to Saint-Germain.

Clarisse's friend was waiting for him at the door of the bedroom.

"Dead?" he asked.

"No," she replied, "she did not take sufficient. The doctor has just
gone. He says she will get over it."

"And why did she make the attempt?"

"Her son Jacques has disappeared."

"Carried off?"

"Yes, he was playing just inside the forest. A motor-car was seen
pulling up. Then there were screams. Clarisse tried to run, but her
strength failed and she fell to the ground, moaning, 'It's he... it's
that man... all is lost!' She looked like a madwoman."

"Suddenly, she put a little bottle to her lips and swallowed the
contents."

"What happened next?"

"My husband and I carr