one of the three sons
beside Daubrecq's bed in the torture-chamber. He was smoking his pipe by
the lamp. Daubrecq was asleep.

"Hang it!" thought Lupin. "Is the fellow going to sit there all night?
In that case, there's nothing for me to do but to slip off..."

The idea that d'Albufex was in possession of the secret vexed him
mightily. The interview at which he had assisted had left the clear
impression in his mind that the marquis was working "on his own" and
that, in securing the list, he intended not only to escape Daubrecq's
activity, but also to gain Daubrecq's power and build up his fortune
anew by the identical means which Daubrecq had employed.

That would have meant, for Lupin, a fresh battle to wage against a fresh
enemy. The rapid march of events did not allow of the contemplation of
such a possibility. He must at all costs spike the Marquis d'Albufex'
guns by warning Prasville.

However, Lupin remained held back by the stubborn hope of some incident
that would give him the opportunity of acting.

The clock struck half-past twelve.

It struck one.

The waiting became terrible, all the more so as an icy mist rose from
the valley and Lupin felt the cold penetrate to his very marrow.

He heard the trot of a horse in the distance:

"Sebastiani returning from the station," he thought.

But the son who was watching in the torture-chamber, having finished his
packet of tobacco, opened the door and asked his brothers if they had
a pipeful for him. They made some reply; and he went out to go to the
lodge.

And Lupin was astounded. No sooner was the door closed than Daubrecq,
who had been so sound asleep, sat up on his couch, listened, put one
foot to the ground, followed by the other, and, standing up, tottering
a little, but firmer on his legs than one would have expected, tried his
strength.

"Well" said Lupin, "the beggar doesn't take long recovering. He can very
well help in his own escape. There's just one point that ruffles me:
will he allow himself to be convinced? Will he consent to go with me?
Will he not think that this miraculous assistance which comes to him
straight from heaven is a trap laid by the marquis?"

But suddenly Lupin remembered the letter which he had made Daubrecq's
old cousins write, the letter of recommendation, so to speak, which the
elder of the two sisters Rousselot had signed with her Christian name,
Euphrasie.

It was in his pocket. He took it and listened. Not a soun