emolishing the mighty edifice.--All the rest seems
absurd and childish to me--nothing counts but her hair--and her wistful
eyes--and her honest little soul--"

The men came up the staircase. A blow shook the door, the last door--

Lupin seized the boy sharply by the arm:

"Do you understand, Beautrelet, why I let you have things your own way
when I could have crushed you, time after time, weeks ago? Do you
understand how you succeeded in getting as far as this? Do you
understand that I had given each of my men his share of the plunder
when you met them the other night on the cliff? You do understand,
don't you? The Hollow Needle is the great adventure. As long as it
belongs to me, I remain the great adventurer. Once the Needle is
recaptured, it means that the past and I are parted and that the future
begins, a future of peace and happiness, in which I shall have no
occasion to blush when Raymonde's eyes are turned upon me, a future--"

He turned furiously toward the door:

"Stop that noise, Ganimard, will you? I haven't finished my speech!"

The blows came faster. It was like the sound of a beam that was being
hurled against the door. Beautrelet, mad with curiosity, stood in front
of Lupin and awaited events, without understanding what Lupin was doing
or contemplating. To give up the Needle was all very well; but why was
he giving up himself? What was his plan? Did he hope to escape from
Ganimard? And, on the other hand, where was Raymonde?

Lupin, meantime, was murmuring, dreamily:

"An honest man.--Arsene Lupin an honest man--no more robbery--leading
the life of everybody else.--And why not? There is no reason why I
should not meet with the same success.--But do stop that now, Ganimard!
Don't you know, you ass, that I'm uttering historic words and that
Beautrelet is taking them in for the benefit of posterity?" He laughed.
"I am wasting my time. Ganimard will never grasp the use of my historic
words."

He took a piece of red chalk, put a pair of steps to the wall and
wrote, in large letters:

Arsene Lupin gives and bequeaths to France
all the treasures contained in the Hollow Needle,
on the sole condition that these treasures be housed
at the Musee du Louvre in rooms which shall be
known as the Arsene Lupin Rooms.

"Now," he said, "my conscience is at ease. France and I are quits."

The attackers were striking with all their might. One of the panels
burst in two. A hand was put through an