ping the table
as he spoke.

She made a sign in the negative and, when he insisted, she, in her turn,
stamped her foot on the floor and exclaimed, loud enough for Lupin to
hear:

"Never!... Never!..."

Thereupon, without another word, Daubrecq fetched the fur cloak which
she had brought with her and hung it over the woman's shoulders, while
she shrouded her face in a lace wrap.

And he showed her out.

Two minutes later, the garden-gate was locked again. "Pity I can't run
after that strange person," thought Lupin, "and have a chat with her
about the Daubrecq bird. Seems to me that we two could do a good stroke
of business together."

In any case, there was one point to be cleared up: Daubrecq the deputy,
whose life was so orderly, so apparently respectable, was in the habit
of receiving visits at night, when his house was no longer watched by
the police.

He sent Victoire to arrange with two members of his gang to keep watch
for several days. And he himself remained awake next night.

As on the previous morning, he heard a noise at four o'clock. As on the
previous morning, the deputy let some one in.

Lupin ran down his ladder and, when he came to the free space above the
shutters, saw a man crawling at Daubrecq's feet, flinging his arms round
Daubrecq's knees in frenzied despair and weeping, weeping convulsively.

Daubrecq, laughing, pushed him away repeatedly, but the man clung to
him. He behaved almost like one out of his mind and, at last, in a
genuine fit of madness, half rose to his feet, took the deputy by the
throat and flung him back in a chair. Daubrecq struggled, powerless at
first, while his veins swelled in his temples. But soon, with a strength
far beyond the ordinary, he regained the mastery and deprived his
adversary of all power of movement. Then, holding him with one hand,
with the other he gave him two great smacks in the face.

The man got up, slowly. He was livid and could hardly stand on his legs.
He waited for a moment, as though to recover his self-possession. Then,
with a terrifying calmness, he drew a revolver from his pocket and
levelled it at Daubrecq.

Daubrecq did not flinch. He even smiled, with a defiant air and without
displaying more excitement than if he had been aimed at with a toy
pistol.

The man stood for perhaps fifteen or twenty seconds, facing his
enemy, with outstretched arm. Then, with the same deliberate slowness,
revealing a self-control which was all the m