signature: Arsene
Lupin. Then he read:

"Monsieur le Baron:

"There is, in the gallery in your castle, a picture of Philippe
de Champaigne, of exquisite finish, which pleases me beyond
measure. Your Rubens are also to my taste, as well as your
smallest Watteau. In the salon to the right, I have noticed the
Louis XIII cadence-table, the tapestries of Beauvais, the Empire
gueridon signed `Jacob,' and the Renaissance chest. In the salon
to the left, all the cabinet full of jewels and miniatures.

"For the present, I will content myself with those articles that
can be conveniently removed. I will therefore ask you to pack
them carefully and ship them to me, charges prepaid, to the
station at Batignolles, within eight days, otherwise I shall be
obliged to remove them myself during the night of 27 September;
but, under those circumstances, I shall not content myself with
the articles above mentioned.

"Accept my apologies for any inconvenience I may cause you, and
believe me to be your humble servant,

"Arsene Lupin."

"P. S.--Please do not send the largest Watteau. Although you
paid thirty thousand francs for it, it is only a copy, the
original having been burned, under the Directoire by Barras,
during a night of debauchery. Consult the memoirs of Garat.

"I do not care for the Louis XV chatelaine, as I doubt its
authenticity."

That letter completely upset the baron. Had it borne any other
signature, he would have been greatly alarmed--but signed by Arsene
Lupin!

As an habitual reader of the newspapers, he was versed in the history
of recent crimes, and was therefore well acquainted with the exploits of
the mysterious burglar. Of course, he knew that Lupin had been arrested
in America by his enemy Ganimard and was at present incarcerated in the
Prison de la Sante. But he knew also that any miracle might be expected
from Arsene Lupin. Moreover, that exact knowledge of the castle, the
location of the pictures and furniture, gave the affair an alarming
aspect. How could he have acquired that information concerning things
that no one had ever seen?

The baron raised his eyes and contemplated the stern outlines of the
castle, its steep rocky pedestal, the depth of the surrounding water,
and shrugged his shoulders. Certainly, there was no danger. No one in
the world could force an entrance to the sanctuary that contained