l. Till this evening, mademoiselle."

"Till this evening."

She walked away; and Lupin, following her with his eyes until the moment
when she disappeared round the corner of the house, murmured:

"What a pretty creature! It would be a pity if any harm were to come to
her. Luckily, Arsene Lupin is keeping his weather-eye open."

Taking care not to be seen, with eyes and ears attentive to the least
sight or sound, he inspected every nook and corner of the grounds,
looked for the little low door which he had noticed outside and which
was the door of the kitchen garden, drew the bolt, took the key and then
skirted the walls and found himself once more near the tree which he had
climbed. Two minutes later, he was mounting his motor-cycle.

* * * * *

The village of Maupertuis lay quite close to the estate. Lupin inquired
and learnt that Dr. Gueroult lived next door to the church.

He rang, was shown into the consulting-room and introduced himself by
his name of Paul Daubreuil, of the Rue de Surene, Paris, adding that he
had official relations with the detective-service, a fact which he
requested might be kept secret. He had become acquainted, by means of a
torn letter, with the incidents that had endangered Mlle. Darcieux's
life; and he had come to that young lady's assistance.

Dr. Gueroult, an old country practitioner, who idolized Jeanne, on
hearing Lupin's explanations at once admitted that those incidents
constituted undeniable proofs of a plot. He showed great concern,
offered his visitor hospitality and kept him to dinner.

The two men talked at length. In the evening, they walked round to the
manor-house together.

The doctor went to the sick man's room, which was on the first floor,
and asked leave to bring up a young colleague, to whom he intended soon
to make over his practice, when he retired.

Lupin, on entering, saw Jeanne Darcieux seated by her father's bedside.
She suppressed a movement of surprise and, at a sign from the doctor,
left the room.

The consultation thereupon took place in Lupin's presence. M. Darcieux's
face was worn, with much suffering and his eyes were bright with fever.
He complained particularly, that day, of his heart. After the
auscultation, he questioned the doctor with obvious anxiety; and each
reply seemed to give him relief. He also spoke of Jeanne and expressed
his conviction that they were deceiving him and that his daughter had
escaped y