ulders, looking into his eyes.

"I shouldn't dream of such a thing," said Lupin. "You are here.
Guerchard is in the lift. What more could I possibly desire?" His voice
softened and grew infinitely caressing as he went on: "Yet when you are
at my side I shall always have the soul of a lover and the soul of a
thief. I long to steal your kisses, your thoughts, the whole of your
heart. Ah, Sonia, if you want me to steal nothing else, you have only
to stay by my side."

Their lips met in a long kiss.

Sonia drew herself out of his arms and cried, "But we're wasting time!
We must make haste! We must fly!"

"Fly?" said Lupin sharply. "No, thank you; never again. I did flying
enough last night to last me a lifetime. For the rest of my life I'm
going to crawl--crawl like a snail. But come along, you two, I must
take you to the police-station."

He opened the front door, and they came out on the steps. The policeman
in charge of the car saluted.

Lupin paused and said softly: "Hark! I hear the sound of wedding bells."

They went down the steps.

Even as they were getting into the car some chance blow of Guerchard or
Dieusy struck a hidden spring and released the lift. It sank to the
level of Lupin's smoking-room and stopped. The doors flew open, Dieusy
and Guerchard sprang out of it; and on the instant the brown-faced,
nervous policeman sprang actively on Guerchard and pinned him. Taken by
surprise, Guerchard yelled loudly, "You stupid idiot!" somehow
entangled his legs in those of his captor, and they rolled on the
floor. Dieusy surveyed them for a moment with blank astonishment. Then,
with swift intelligence, grasped the fact that the policeman was Lupin
in disguise. He sprang upon them, tore them asunder, fell heavily on
the policeman, and pinned him to the floor with a strangling hand on
his throat.

Guerchard dashed to the door, tried it, and found it locked, dashed for
the window, threw it open, and thrust out his head. Forty yards down
the street a motor-car was rolling smoothly away--rolling to a
honeymoon.

"Oh, hang it!" he screamed. "He's doing a bunk in my motor-car!"

End of Project Gutenberg's Arsene Lupin, by Edgar Jepson and Maurice Leblanc

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARSENE LUPIN ***

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