and his
breathing was resumed, evenly and a little stertorously. And Lupin
plainly heard the sound of rumpling garments. Beyond a doubt, the thing
was there, fumbling and feeling through the clothes which Daubrecq had
laid beside his bed.

"Now," thought Lupin, "we shall learn something. But how the deuce did
the beggar get in? Has he managed to draw the bolts and open the door?
But, if so, why did he make the mistake of shutting it again?"

Not for a second--a curious anomaly in a man like Lupin, an anomaly
to be explained only by the uncanny feeling which the whole adventure
produced in him--not for a second did he suspect the very simple truth
which was about to be revealed to him. Continuing his way down, he
crouched on one of the bottom steps of the staircase, thus placing
himself between the door of the bedroom and the hall-door, on the
road which Daubrecq's enemy must inevitably take in order to join his
accomplices.

He questioned the darkness with an unspeakable anguish. He was on
the point of unmasking that enemy of Daubrecq's, who was also his
own adversary. He would thwart his plans. And the booty captured from
Daubrecq he would capture in his turn, while Daubrecq slept and while
the accomplices lurking behind the hall-door or outside the garden-gate
vainly awaited their leader's return.

And that return took place. Lupin knew it by the renewed vibration of
the balusters. And, once more, with every sense strained and every
nerve on edge, he strove to discern the mysterious thing that was coming
toward him. He suddenly realized it when only a few yards away. He
himself, hidden in a still darker recess, could not be seen. And what
he saw--in the very vaguest manner--was approaching stair by stair, with
infinite precautions, holding on to each separate baluster.

"Whom the devil have I to do with?" said Lupin to himself, while his
heart thumped inside his chest.

The catastrophe was hastened. A careless movement on Lupin's part was
observed by the stranger, who stopped short. Lupin was afraid lest the
other should turn back and take to flight. He sprang at the adversary
and was stupefied at encountering nothing but space and knocking against
the stair-rail without seizing the form which he saw. But he at once
rushed forward, crossed the best part of the hall and caught up his
antagonist just as he was reaching the door opening on the garden.

There was a cry of fright, answered by other cries on the fur