On the next day, Saturday, an incredible rumour spread through the Palais and the newspaper-offices: Jerome the messenger had disappeared.

Was it possible? Although the special editions confirmed the news, people refused to believe it. But, at six o'clock, a note published by the _Depeche du Soir_ made it official:

"We have received the following communication signed by Arsene Lupin. The special stamp affixed to it, in accordance with the circular which Lupin recently sent to the press, guarantees the genuineness of the document:

"'_To the Editor of the_ Depeche du Soir.

"SIR,

"'Pray make my apologies to the public for not keeping my word yesterday. I remembered, at the last moment, that the 31st of May fell on a Friday! Could I set my friend at liberty on a Friday? I did not think it right to assume that responsibility.

"'I must also apologize for not on this occasion explaining, with my customary frankness, how this little event was managed. My process is so ingenious and so simple that I fear lest, if I revealed it, every criminal should be inspired by it. How surprised people will be on the day when I am free to speak! "Is that all?" I shall be asked. That is all; but it had to be thought of.

"'Permit me to be, Sir, "'Your obedient servant, "'ARSeNE LUPIN.'"

An hour later, M. Lenormand was rung up on the telephone and informed that Valenglay, the prime minister, wished to see him at the Ministry of the Interior.

"How well you're looking, my dear Lenormand! And I who thought that you were ill and dared not leave your room!"

"I am not ill, Monsieur le President."

"So you were sulking in your tent! ... But you were always a bad-tempered fellow."

"I confess to the bad temper, Monsieur le President, but not to the sulking."

"But you stay at home! And Lupin takes advantage of it to release his friends... ."

"How could I stop him?"

"How? Why, Lupin's trick was of the plainest. In accordance with his usual method, he announced the date of the escape beforehand; everybody believed in it; an apparent attempt was planned; the escape was not made; and, on the next day, when nobody is thinking about it--whoosh!--the bird takes flight."

"Monsieur le President," said the chief of the detective-service, solemnly, "Lupin disposes of such means that we are not in a position to prevent what he has decided on. The escape was mathematically certain. I preferred to pass the hand ... and leave the laughter for others to face."

Valenglay chuckled:

"It's a fact that Monsieur le Prefet de Police and M. Weber cannot be enjoying themselves at the present moment... . But, when all is said, can you explain to me, M. Lenormand ..."

"All that we know, Monsieur le President, is that the escape took place from the Palais de Justice. The prisoner was brought in a prison-van and taken to M. Formerie's room. He left M. Formerie's room, but he did not leave the Palais de Justice. And yet nobody knows what became of him."

"It's most bewildering."

"Most bewildering."

"And has nothing else been discovered?"

"Yes. The inner corridor leading to the examining magistrates' rooms was blocked by an absolutely unprecedented crowd of prisoners, warders, counsel and doorkeepers; and it was discovered that all those people had received forged notices to appear at the same hour. On the other hand, not one of the examining-magistrates who were supposed to have summoned them sat in his room that day; and this because of forged notices from the public prosecutor's office, sending them to every part of Paris ... and of the outskirts."

"Is that all?"

"No. Two municipal guards and a prisoner were seen to cross the courtyards. A cab was waiting for them outside and all three stepped in.

"And your supposition, Lenormand, your opinion... ."

"My supposition, Monsieur le President, is that the two municipal guards were accomplices who, profiting by the disorder in the corridor, took the place of the three warders. And my opinion is that this escape succeeded only through such special circumstances and so strange a combination of facts that we must look upon the most unlikely cases of complicity as absolutely certain. Lupin, for that matter, has connections at the Palais that balk all our calculations. He has agents in your ministry. He has agents at the Prefecture of Police. He has agents around me. It is a formidable organization, a detective-service a thousand times more clever, more daring, more varied and more supple than that under my own orders."

"And you stand this, Lenormand?"

"No, I do not."

"Then why this slackness on your part since the beginning of the case?

What have you done against Lupin?"

"I have prepared for the struggle."

"Ah, capital! And, while you were preparing, he was acting."

"So was I."

"And do you know anything?"

"I know a great deal."

"What? Speak!"

Leaning on his stick, M. Lenormand took a little contemplative walk across the spacious room. Then he sat down opposite Valenglay, brushed the facings of his olive-green coat with his finger-tips, settled his spectacles on his nose and said, plainly:

"M. le President, I hold three trump-cards in my hand. First, I know the name under which Arsene Lupin is hiding at this moment, the name under which he lived on the Boulevard Haussmann, receiving his assistants daily, reconstructing and directing his gang."

"But then why, in heaven's name, don't you arrest him?"

"I did not receive these particulars until later. The prince--let us call him Prince Dash--has disappeared. He is abroad, on other business."

"And, if he does not return ..."

"The position which he occupies, the manner in which he has flung himself into the Kesselbach case, necessitate his return and under the same name."

"Nevertheless ..."

"Monsieur le President, I come to my second trump. I have at last discovered Pierre Leduc."

"Nonsense!"

"Or rather Lupin discovered him, and before disappearing, settled him in a little villa in the neighborhood of Paris."

"By Jove! But how did you know ..."