red, repeating the insults which he had
used at the first interview. "You scum of the earth!"

The two men were standing one against the other.

"Give me back that," said the inspector.

Lupin held out the piece of silk.

"And the sapphire," said Ganimard, in a peremptory tone.

"Don't be silly."

"Give it back, or...."

"Or what, you idiot!" cried Lupin. "Look here, do you think I put you on
to this soft thing for nothing?"

"Give it back!"

"You haven't noticed what I've been about, that's plain! What! For four
weeks I've kept you on the move like a deer; and you want to ...! Come,
Ganimard, old chap, pull yourself together!... Don't you see that you've
been playing the good dog for four weeks on end?... Fetch it, Rover!...
There's a nice blue pebble over there, which master can't get at. Hunt
it, Ganimard, fetch it ... bring it to master.... Ah, he's his master's
own good little dog!... Sit up! Beg!... Does'ms want a bit of sugar,
then?..."

Ganimard, containing the anger that seethed within him, thought only of
one thing, summoning his detectives. And, as the room in which he now
was looked out on the courtyard, he tried gradually to work his way
round to the communicating door. He would then run to the window and
break one of the panes.

"All the same," continued Lupin, "what a pack of dunderheads you and the
rest must be! You've had the silk all this time and not one of you ever
thought of feeling it, not one of you ever asked himself the reason why
the poor girl hung on to her scarf. Not one of you! You just acted at
haphazard, without reflecting, without foreseeing anything...."

The inspector had attained his object. Taking advantage of a second when
Lupin had turned away from him, he suddenly wheeled round and grasped
the door-handle. But an oath escaped him: the handle did not budge.

Lupin burst into a fit of laughing:

"Not even that! You did not even foresee that! You lay a trap for me and
you won't admit that I may perhaps smell the thing out beforehand....
And you allow yourself to be brought into this room without asking
whether I am not bringing you here for a particular reason and without
remembering that the locks are fitted with a special mechanism. Come
now, speaking frankly, what do you think of it yourself?"

"What do I think of it?" roared Ganimard, beside himself with rage.

He had drawn his revolver and was pointing it straight at Lupin's face.

"Hands up!" he cried. "That