ling what others have failed to
unravel. He also knows that sort of sham kindness of yours, the
drivelling sentimentality that makes you shed crocodile tears over the
people you victimize; And he planned the whole farce! He invented the
story of the two burglars, the second theft of fifty thousand francs!
Oh, I swear to you, before Heaven, that the stab which I gave myself
with my own hands never hurt me! And I swear to you, before Heaven, that
we spent a glorious time waiting for you, the boy and I, peeping out at
your confederates who prowled under our windows, taking their bearings!
And there was no mistake about it: you were bound to come! Seeing that
you had restored the Widow Dugrival's fifty thousand francs, it was out
of the question that you should allow the Widow Dugrival to be robbed of
her fifty thousand francs! You were bound to come, attracted by the
scent of the mystery. You were bound to come, for swagger, out of
vanity! And you come!"

The widow gave a strident laugh:

"Well played, wasn't it? The Lupin of Lupins, the master of masters,
inaccessible and invisible, caught in a trap by a woman and a boy!...
Here he is in flesh and bone ... here he is with hands and feet tied, no
more dangerous than a sparrow ... here is he ... here he is!..."

She shook with joy and began to pace the room, throwing sidelong glances
at the bed, like a wild beast that does not for a moment take its eyes
from its victim. And never had Lupin beheld greater hatred and savagery
in any human being.

"Enough of this prattle," she said.

Suddenly restraining herself, she stalked back to him and, in a quite
different tone, in a hollow voice, laying stress on every syllable:

"Thanks to the papers in your pocket, Lupin, I have made good use of the
last twelve days. I know all your affairs, all your schemes, all your
assumed names, all the organization of your band, all the lodgings which
you possess in Paris and elsewhere. I have even visited one of them, the
most secret, the one where you hide your papers, your ledgers and the
whole story of your financial operations. The result of my
investigations is very satisfactory. Here are four cheques, taken from
four cheque-books and corresponding with four accounts which you keep at
four different banks under four different names. I have filled in each
of them for ten thousand francs. A larger figure would have been too
risky. And, now, sign."

"By Jove!" said Lupin, sarcastically