is deputy's pass. So we shall travel under the name of M.
and Mme. Daubrecq and we shall receive all the attention due to our rank
and station. You see, my dear madam, that everything's arranged."

The journey, this time, seemed short to Lupin. Clarisse told him what
she had done during the past few days. He himself explained the miracle
of his sudden appearance in Daubrecq's bedroom at the moment when his
adversary believed him in Italy:

"A miracle, no," he said. "But still a remarkable phenomenon took
place in me when I left San Remo, a sort of mysterious intuition which
prompted me first to try and jump out of the train--and the Masher
prevented me--and next to rush to the window, let down the glass and
follow the porter of the Ambassadeurs-Palace, who had given me your
message, with my eyes. Well, at that very minute, the porter aforesaid
was rubbing his hands with an air of such satisfaction that, for no
other reason, suddenly, I understood everything: I had been diddled,
taken in by Daubrecq, as you yourself were. Heaps of llttle details
flashed across my mind. My adversary's scheme became clear to me from
start to finish. Another minute... and the disaster would have been
beyond remedy. I had, I confess, a few moments of real despair, at the
thought that I should not be able to repair all the mistakes that had
been made. It depended simply on the time-table of the trains, which
would either allow me or would not allow me to find Daubrecq's emissary
on the railway-platform at San Remo. This time, at last, chance favoured
me. We had hardly alighted at the first station when a train passed, for
France. When we arrived at San Remo, the man was there. I had guessed
right. He no longer wore his hotel-porter's cap and frock-coat, but a
jacket and bowler. He stepped into a second-class compartment. From that
moment, victory was assured."

"But... how...?" asked Clarisse, who, in spite of the thoughts that
obsessed her, was interested in Lupin's story.

"How did I find you? Lord, simply by not losing sight of Master Jacob,
while leaving him free to move about as he pleased, knowing that he was
bound to account for his actions to Daubrecq. In point of fact, this
morning, after spending the night in a small hotel at Nice, he met
Daubrecq on the Promenade des Anglais. They talked for some time. I
followed them. Daubrecq went back to the hotel, planted Jacob in one
of the passages on the ground-floor, opposite the telepho