s joking. But Arsene
repeated:

"Lupin, prisoner at the Sante, but now a fugitive. I venture to assume
that the name inspires you with perfect confidence in me."

And he walked away, amidst shouts of laughter, whilst the proprietor
stood amazed.

Lupin strolled along the rue Soufflot, and turned into the rue Saint
Jacques. He pursued his way slowly, smoking his cigarettes and looking
into the shop-windows. At the Boulevard de Port Royal he took his
bearings, discovered where he was, and then walked in the direction of
the rue de la Sante. The high forbidding walls of the prison were
now before him. He pulled his hat forward to shade his face; then,
approaching the sentinel, he asked:

"It this the prison de la Sante?"

"Yes."

"I wish to regain my cell. The van left me on the way, and I would not
abuse--"

"Now, young man, move along--quick!" growled the sentinel.

"Pardon me, but I must pass through that gate. And if you prevent Arsene
Lupin from entering the prison it will cost you dear, my friend."

"Arsene Lupin! What are you talking about!"

"I am sorry I haven't a card with me," said Arsene, fumbling in his
pockets.

The sentinel eyed him from head to foot, in astonishment. Then, without
a word, he rang a bell. The iron gate was partly opened, and Arsene
stepped inside. Almost immediately he encountered the keeper of the
prison, gesticulating and feigning a violent anger. Arsene smiled and
said:

"Come, monsieur, don't play that game with me. What! they take
the precaution to carry me alone in the van, prepare a nice little
obstruction, and imagine I am going to take to my heels and rejoin
my friends. Well, and what about the twenty agents of the Surete who
accompanied us on foot, in fiacres and on bicycles? No, the arrangement
did not please me. I should not have got away alive. Tell me, monsieur,
did they count on that?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and added:

"I beg of you, monsieur, not to worry about me. When I wish to escape I
shall not require any assistance."

On the second day thereafter, the `Echo de France,' which had apparently
become the official reporter of the exploits of Arsene Lupin,--it was
said that he was one of its principal shareholders--published a most
complete account of this attempted escape. The exact wording of the
messages exchanged between the prisoner and his mysterious friend, the
means by which correspondence was constructed, the complicity of the
police, the