[Footnote 8: See _Arsene Lupin_ by Edgar Jepson and Maurice Leblanc.]

M. Formerie gave a start. All his merriment was dispelled by that odious recollection. Turning suddenly grave, he asked:

"So you persist in that absurd theory?"

"I must, because it is the truth. It would be easy for you to take a steamer to Cochin-China and to find at Saigon the proofs of the death of the real M. Lenormand, the worthy man whom I replaced and whose death-certificate I can show you."

"Humbug!"

"Upon my word, Monsieur le Juge d'Instruction, I don't care one way or the other. If it annoys you that I should be M. Lenormand, don't let's talk about it. We won't talk about myself; we won't talk about anything at all, if you prefer. Besides, of what use can it be to you? The Kesselbach case is such a tangled affair that I myself don't know where I stand. There's only one man who might help you. I have not succeeded in discovering him. And I don't think that you ..."

"What's the man's name?"

"He's an old man, a German called Steinweg... . But, of course, you've heard about him, Weber, and the way in which he was carried off in the middle of the Palais de Justice?"

M. Formerie threw an inquiring glance at the deputy-chief. M. Weber said:

"I undertake to bring that person to you, Monsieur le Juge d'Instruction."

"So that's done," said M. Formerie, rising from his chair. "As you see, Lupin, this was merely a formal examination to bring the two duelists together. Now that we have crossed swords, all that we need is the necessary witness of our fencing-match, your counsel."

"Tut! Is it indispensable?"

"Indispensable."

"Employ counsel in view of such an unlikely trial?"

"You must."

"In that case, I'll choose Maitre Quimbel."

"The president of the corporation of the bar. You are wise, you will be well defended."

The first sitting was over. M. Weber led the prisoner away.

As he went down the stairs of the "mouse-trap," between the two Doudevilles, Lupin said, in short, imperative sentences:

"Watch Steinweg... . Don't let him speak to anybody... . Be there to-morrow... . I'll give you some letters ... one for you ...

important."

Downstairs, he walked up to the municipal guards surrounding the taxi-cab:

"Home, boys," he exclaimed, "and quick about it! I have an appointment with myself for two o'clock precisely."

There were no incidents during the drive. On returning to his cell, Lupin wrote a long letter, full of detailed instructions, to the brothers Doudeville and, two other letters.

One was for Genevieve:

"Genevieve, you now know who I am and you will understand why I concealed from you the name of him who twice carried you away in his arms when you were a little girl.

"Genevieve, I was your mother's friend, a distant friend, of whose double life she knew nothing, but upon whom she thought that she could rely. And that is why, before dying, she wrote me a few lines asking me to watch over you.

"Unworthy as I am of your esteem, Genevieve, I shall continue faithful to that trust. Do not drive me from your heart entirely.

"ARSeNE LUPIN."

The other letter was addressed to Dolores Kesselbach:

"Prince Sernine was led to seek Mrs. Kesselbach's acquaintance by motives of self-interest alone. But a great longing to devote himself to her was the cause of his continuing it.

"Now that Prince Sernine has become merely Arsene Lupin, he begs Mrs. Kesselbach not to deprive him of the right of protecting her, at a distance and as a man protects one whom he will never see again."

There were some envelopes on the table. He took up one and took up a second; then, when he took up the third, he noticed a sheet of white paper, the presence of which surprised him and which had words stuck upon it, evidently cut out of a newspaper. He read:

"You have failed in your fight with the baron. Give up interesting yourself in the case, and I will not oppose your escape.

"L. M."

Once more, Lupin had that sense of repulsion and terror with which this nameless and fabulous being always inspired him, a sense of disgust which one feels at touching a venomous animal, a reptile:

"He again," he said. "Even here!"

That also scared him, the sudden vision which he at times received of this hostile power, a power as great as his own and disposing of formidable means, the extent of which he himself was unable to realize.

He at once suspected his warder. But how had it been possible to corrupt that hard-featured, stern-eyed man?

"Well, so much the better, after all!" he cried. "I have never had to do except with dullards... . In order to fight myself, I had to chuck myself into the command of the detective-service... . This time, I have some one to deal with! ... Here's a man who puts me in his pocket ... by sleight of hand, one might say... . If I succeed, from my prison cell, in avoiding his blows and smashing him, in seeing old Steinweg and dragging his confession from him, in setting the Kesselbach case on its legs and turning the whole of it into cash, in defending Mrs. Kesselbach and winning fortune and happiness for Genevieve ...

well, then Lupin will be Lupin still! ..."

Eleven days passed. On the twelfth day, Lupin woke very early and exclaimed:

"Let me see, if my calculations are correct and if the gods are on my side, there will be some news to-day. I have had four interviews with Formerie. The fellow must be worked up to the right point now. And the Doudevilles, on their side, must have been busy... . We shall have some fun!"

He flung out his fists to right and left, brought them back to his chest, then flung them out again and brought them back again.

This movement, which executed thirty times in succession, was followed by a bending of his body backwards and forwards. Next came an alternate lifting of the legs and then an alternate swinging of the arms.

The whole performance occupied a quarter of an hour, the quarter of an hour which he devoted every morning to Swedish exercises to keep his muscles in condition.

Then he sat down to his table, took up some sheets of white paper, which were arranged in numbered packets, and, folding one of them, made it into an envelope, a work which he continued to do with a series of successive sheets. It was the task which he had accepted and which he forced himself to do daily, the prisoners having the right to choose the labor which they preferred: sticking envelopes, making paper fans, metal purses, and so on... .

And, in this way, while occupying his hands with an automatic exercise and keeping his muscles supple with mechanical bendings, Lupin was able to have his thoughts constantly fixed on his affairs... .

And his affairs were complicated enough, in all conscience!

There was one, for instance, which surpassed all the others in importance, and for which he had to employ all the resources of his genius. How was he to have a long, quiet conversation with old Steinweg?