but made a point of looking in after dinner.

A little before nine o'clock, in fact, leaning out of her window, she
warned Ganimard, who at once gave a low whistle. A gentleman in a tall
hat and a fur coat was coming along the pavement beside the Seine. He
crossed the road and walked up to the house.

Ganimard stepped forward:

"M. Prevailles, I believe?"

"Yes, but who are you?"

"I have a commission to...."

He had not time to finish his sentence. At the sight of the men
appearing out of the shadow, Prevailles quickly retreated to the wall
and faced his adversaries, with his back to the door of a shop on the
ground-floor, the shutters of which were closed.

"Stand back!" he cried. "I don't know you!"

His right hand brandished a heavy stick, while his left was slipped
behind him and seemed to be trying to open the door.

Ganimard had an impression that the man might escape through this way
and through some secret outlet:

"None of this nonsense," he said, moving closer to him. "You're
caught.... You had better come quietly."

But, just as he was laying hold of Prevailles' stick, Ganimard
remembered the warning which Lupin gave him: Prevailles was left-handed;
and it was his revolver for which he was feeling behind his back.

The inspector ducked his head. He had noticed the man's sudden movement.
Two reports rang out. No one was hit.

A second later, Prevailles received a blow under the chin from the
butt-end of a revolver, which brought him down where he stood. He was
entered at the Depot soon after nine o'clock.

* * * * *

Ganimard enjoyed a great reputation even at that time. But this capture,
so quickly effected, by such very simple means, and at once made public
by the police, won him a sudden celebrity. Prevailles was forthwith
saddled with all the murders that had remained unpunished; and the
newspapers vied with one another in extolling Ganimard's prowess.

The case was conducted briskly at the start. It was first of all
ascertained that Prevailles, whose real name was Thomas Derocq, had
already been in trouble. Moreover, the search instituted in his rooms,
while not supplying any fresh proofs, at least led to the discovery of a
ball of whip-cord similar to the cord used for doing up the parcel and
also to the discovery of daggers which would have produced a wound
similar to the wounds on the victim.

But, on the eighth day, everything was changed. Until the