all was said, he could not admit that
the object of all those efforts was to obtain possession of a crystal
stopper!

One thing alone pleased him: Daubrecq had not penetrated his disguise.
Daubrecq believed him to be in the employ of the police. Neither
Daubrecq nor the police, therefore, suspected the intrusion of a third
thief in the business. This was his one and only trump, a trump
that gave him a liberty of action to which he attached the greatest
importance.

Without further delay, he opened the letter which Daubrecq had handed
him for the secretary-general of police. It contained these few lines:

"Within reach of your hand, my dear Prasville, within reach of your
hand! You touched it! A little more and the trick was done... But
you're too big a fool. And to think that they couldn't hit upon
any one better than you to make me bite the dust. Poor old France!

"Good-bye, Prasville. But, if I catch you in the act, it will be a
bad lookout for you: my maxim is to shoot at sight.

"DAUBRECQ"

"Within reach of your hand," repeated Lupin, after reading the note.
"And to think that the rogue may be writing the truth! The most
elementary hiding-places are the safest. We must look into this, all
the same. And, also, we must find out why Daubrecq is the object of
such strict supervision and obtain a few particulars about the fellow
generally."

The information supplied to Lupin by a private inquiry-office consisted
of the following details:

"ALEXIS DAUBRECQ, deputy of the Bouches-du-Rhone for the past two
years; sits among the independent members. Political opinions not
very clearly defined, but electoral position exceedingly strong,
because of the enormous sums which he spends in nursing his
constituency. No private income. Nevertheless, has a house in
Paris, a villa at Enghien and another at Nice and loses heavily at
play, though no one knows where the money comes from. Has great
influence and obtains all he wants without making up to ministers
or, apparently, having either friends or connections in political
circles."

"That's a trade docket," said Lupin to himself. "What I want is
a domestic docket, a police docket, which will tell me about the
gentleman's private life and enable me to work more easily in this
darkness and to know if I'm not getting myself into a tangle by
bothering about the Daubrecq bird. And time's getting short, hang it!"

One of the residences