test
upon which she had engaged. But the threat of a suicide must needs show
Daubrecq that he was on the wrong track. That being so, why refuse the
favourable bargain which Arsene Lupin was now offering him?

"I accept," he said.

"Here's the address of my shed: 99, Rue Charles-Lafitte, Neuilly. You
have only to ring the bell."

"And suppose I send Prasville, the secretary-general, instead?"

"If you send Prasville," Lupin declared, "the place is so arranged
that I shall see him coming and that I shall have time to escape, after
setting fire to the trusses of hay and straw which surround and conceal
your credence-tables, clocks and Gothic virgins."

"But your shed will be burnt down..."

"I don't mind that: the police have their eye on it already. I am
leaving it in any case."

"And how am I to know that this is not a trap?"

"Begin by receiving the goods and don't give up the child till
afterward. I trust you, you see."

"Good," said Daubrecq; "you've foreseen everything. Very well, you shall
have the nipper; the fair Clarisse shall live; and we will all be happy.
And now, if I may give you a word of advice, it is to pack off as fast
as you can."

"Not yet."

"Eh?"

"I said, not yet."

"But you're mad! Prasville's on his way!"

"He can wait. I've not done."

"Why, what more do you want? Clarisse shall have her brat. Isn't that
enough for you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"There is another son."

"Gilbert."

"Yes."

"Well?"

"I want you to save Gilbert."

"What are you saying? I save Gilbert!"

"You can, if you like; it only means taking a little trouble." Until
that moment Daubrecq had remained quite calm. He now suddenly blazed out
and, striking the table with his fist:

"No," he cried, "not that! Never! Don't reckon on me!... No, that would
be too idiotic!"

He walked up and down, in a state of intense excitement, with that queer
step of his, which swayed him from right to left on each of his legs,
like a wild beast, a heavy, clumsy bear. And, with a hoarse voice and
distorted features, he shouted:

"Let her come here! Let her come and beg for her son's pardon! But let
her come unarmed, not with criminal intentions, like last time! Let
her come as a supplicant, as a tamed woman, as a submissive woman, who
understands and accepts the situation... Gilbert? Gilbert's sentence?
The scaffold? Why, that is where my strength lies! What! For more than
twenty years have I awaited my hour; and,