American offered me six hundred thousand. It
meant my salvation. This means utter destruction.

"I hope that my dear wife will forgive the sorrow which I am
bringing upon her. Her name will be on my lips at the last moment."

Mme. Sparmiento was informed. She remained aghast with horror, while
inquiries were instituted and attempts made to trace the colonel's
movements.

Late in the afternoon, a telephone-message came from Ville d'Avray. A
gang of railway-men had found a man's body lying at the entrance to a
tunnel after a train had passed. The body was hideously mutilated; the
face had lost all resemblance to anything human. There were no papers in
the pockets. But the description answered to that of the colonel.

Mme. Sparmiento arrived at Ville d'Avray, by motor-car, at seven o'clock
in the evening. She was taken to a room at the railway-station. When the
sheet that covered it was removed, Edith, Edith Swan-neck, recognized
her husband's body.

* * * * *

In these circumstances, Lupin did not receive his usual good notices in
the press:

"Let him look to himself," jeered one leader-writer, summing up the
general opinion. "It would not take many exploits of this kind for
him to forfeit the popularity which has not been grudged him
hitherto. We have no use for Lupin, except when his rogueries are
perpetrated at the expense of shady company-promoters, foreign
adventurers, German barons, banks and financial companies. And,
above all, no murders! A burglar we can put up with; but a
murderer, no! If he is not directly guilty, he is at least
responsible for this death. There is blood upon his hands; the
arms on his escutcheon are stained gules...."

The public anger and disgust were increased by the pity which Edith's
pale face aroused. The guests of the night before gave their version of
what had happened, omitting none of the impressive details; and a legend
formed straightway around the fair-haired Englishwoman, a legend that
assumed a really tragic character, owing to the popular story of the
swan-necked heroine.

And yet the public could not withhold its admiration of the
extraordinary skill with which the theft had been effected. The police
explained it, after a fashion. The detectives had noticed from the first
and subsequently stated that one of the three windows of the gallery was
wide open. There could be no doubt