him body and soul, for reasons connected with the past into which it was
not worth while to inquire, accompanied him; and together they went to
see the captive, who was closely watched by the huntsman's wife and his
three sons.

"That's where we stand," said Lupin to Clarisse Mergy, when he joined
her at a neighbouring inn. "This evening the marquis will put Daubrecq
to the question--a little brutally, but indispensably--as I intended to
do myself."

"And Daubrecq will give up his secret," said Clarisse, already quite
upset.

"I'm afraid so."

"Then..."

"I am hesitating between two plans," said Lupin, who seemed very calm.
"Either to prevent the interview..."

"How?"

"By forestalling d'Albufex. At nine o'clock, the Growler, the Masher and
I climb the ramparts, burst into the fortress, attack the keep, disarm
the garrison... and the thing's done: Daubrecq is ours."

"Unless Sebastiani's sons fling him through the trapdoor to which the
marquis alluded..."

"For that reason," said Lupin, "I intend to risk that violent
measure only as a last resort and in case my other plan should not be
practicable."

"What is the other plan?"

"To witness the interview. If Daubrecq does not speak, it will give us
the time to prepare to carry him off under more favourable conditions.
If he speaks, if they compel him to reveal the place where the list of
the Twenty-seven is hidden, I shall know the truth at the same time as
d'Albufex, and I swear to God that I shall turn it to account before he
does."

"Yes, yes," said Clarisse. "But how do you propose to be present?"

"I don't know yet," Lupin confessed. "It depends on certain particulars
which the Masher is to bring me and on some which I shall find out for
myself."

He left the inn and did not return until an hour later as night was
falling. The Masher joined him.

"Have you the little book?" asked Lupin.

"Yes, governor. It was what I saw at the Aumale newspaper-shop. I got it
for ten sous."

"Give it me."

The Masher handed him an old, soiled, torn pamphlet, entitled, on the
cover, A Visit to Mortepierre, 1824, with plans and illustrations.

Lupin at once looked for the plan of the donjon-keep.

"That's it," he said. "Above the ground were three stories, which have
been razed, and below the ground, dug out of the rock, two stories, one
of which was blocked up by the rubbish, while the other... There,
that's where our friend Daubrecq lies. The name is sign