on the mantelpiece. It
was not till then that he noticed, near his pocketbook and his keys, the
object which Gilbert had put into his hand at the last moment.

And he was very much surprised. It was a decanter-stopper, a little
crystal stopper, like those used for the bottles in a liqueur-stand.
And this crystal stopper had nothing particular about it. The most that
Lupin observed was that the knob, with its many facets, was gilded right
down to the indent. But, to tell the truth, this detail did not seem to
him of a nature to attract special notice.

"And it was this bit of glass to which Gilbert and Vaucheray attached
such stubborn importance!" he said to himself. "It was for this that
they killed the valet, fought each other, wasted their time, risked
prison... trial... the scaffold!..."

Too tired to linger further upon this matter, exciting though it
appeared to him, he replaced the stopper on the chimney-piece and got
into bed.

He had bad dreams. Gilbert and Vaucheray were kneeling on the flags of
their cells, wildly stretching out their hands to him and yelling with
fright:

"Help!... Help!" they cried.

But, notwithstanding all his efforts, he was unable to move. He himself
was fastened by invisible bonds. And, trembling, obsessed by a monstrous
vision, he watched the dismal preparations, the cutting of the condemned
men's hair and shirt-collars, the squalid tragedy.

"By Jove!" he said, when he woke after a series of nightmares.
"There's a lot of bad omens! Fortunately, we don't err on the side of
superstition. Otherwise...!" And he added, "For that matter, we have a
talisman which, to judge by Gilbert and Vaucheray's behaviour, should be
enough, with Lupin's help, to frustrate bad luck and secure the triumph
of the good cause. Let's have a look at that crystal stopper!"

He sprang out of bed to take the thing and examine it more closely. An
exclamation escaped him. The crystal stopper had disappeared...

CHAPTER II. EIGHT FROM NINE LEAVES ONE

Notwithstanding my friendly relations with Lupin and the many flattering
proofs of his confidence which he has given me, there is one thing which
I have never been quite able to fathom, and that is the organization of
his gang.

The existence of the gang is an undoubted fact. Certain adventures can
be explained only by countless acts of devotion, invincible efforts of
energy and powerful cases of complicity, representing so many forces
which all obey o