pin, as you are counting on that poor devil to crush me and
to work a miracle in favour of your innocent Gilbert, come, let's dispel
that illusion. Oh! Lupin! Lord above, she believes in Lupin! She
places her last hopes in Lupin! Lupin! Just wait till I prick you, my
illustrious windbag!"

He took up the receiver of the telephone which communicated with the
hall of the hotel and said:

"I'm No. 129, mademoiselle. Would you kindly ask the person sitting
opposite your office to come up to me?... Huh!... Yes, mademoiselle, the
gentleman in a gray felt hat. He knows. Thank you, mademoiselle."

Hanging up the receiver, he turned to Clarisse:

"Don't be afraid. The man is discretion itself. Besides, it's the motto
of his trade: 'Discretion and dispatch.' As a retired detective, he has
done me a number of services, including that of following you while you
were following me. Since our arrival in the south, he has been less
busy with you; but that was because he was more busy elsewhere. Come in,
Jacob."

He himself opened the door, and a short, thin man, with a red moustache,
entered the room.

"Please tell this lady, Jacob, in a few brief words, what you have
done since Wednesday evening, when, after letting her get into the
train-de-luxe which was taking me from the Gare de Lyon to the south,
you yourself remained on the platform at the station. Of course, I am
not asking how you spent your time, except in so far as concerns the
lady and the business with which I entrusted you."

Jacob dived into the inside-pocket of his jacket and produced a little
note-book of which he turned over the pages and read them aloud in the
voice of a man reading a report:

"Wednesday evening, 8.15. Gare de Lyon. Wait for two gents, Growler and
Masher. They come with another whom I don't know yet, but who can only
be M. Nicole. Give a porter ten francs for the loan of his cap and
blouse. Accost the gents and tell them, from a lady, 'that they were
gone to Monte Carlo.' Next, telephone to the porter at the Hotel
Franklin. All telegrams sent to his boss and dispatched by said boss
will be read by said hotel-porter and, if necessary, intercepted.

"Thursday. Monte Carlo. The three gents search the hotels.

"Friday. Flying visits to La Turbie, the Cap d'Ail, Cap Martin. M.
Daubrecq rings me up. Thinks it wiser to send the gents to Italy. Make
the porter of the Hotel Franklin send them a telegram appointing a
meeting at San Remo.

"Saturd