t up to
him.

He was a young man with strongly-marked features, long, fair hair and a
short, tawny beard, divided into two points. His dress suggested the
dark clothes of an English clergyman; and his whole person, for that
matter, wore an air of austerity and gravity that inspired respect.

"Who are you?" I asked. And, as he did not reply, I repeated, "Who are
you? How did you get in? What are you here for?"

He looked at me and said:

"Don't you know me?"

"No--no!"

"Oh, that's really curious! Just search your memory--one of your
friends--a friend of a rather special kind--however--"

I caught him smartly by the arm:

"You lie! You lie! No, you're not the man you say you are--it's not
true."

"Then why are you thinking of that man rather than another?" he asked,
with a laugh.

Oh, that laugh! That bright and clear young laugh, whose amusing irony
had so often contributed to my diversion! I shivered. Could it be?

"No, no," I protested, with a sort of terror. "It cannot be."

"It can't be I, because I'm dead, eh?" he retorted. "And because you
don't believe in ghosts." He laughed again. "Am I the sort of man who
dies? Do you think I would die like that, shot in the back by a girl?
Really, you misjudge me! As though I would ever consent to such a death
as that!"

"So it is you!" I stammered, still incredulous and yet greatly excited.
"So it is you! I can't manage to recognize you."

"In that case," he said, gaily, "I am quite easy. If the only man to
whom I have shown myself in my real aspect fails to know me to-day,
then everybody who will see me henceforth as I am to-day is bound not
to know me either, when he sees me in my real aspect--if, indeed, I
have a real aspect--"

I recognized his voice, now that he was no longer changing its tone,
and I recognized his eyes also and the expression of his face and his
whole attitude and his very being, through the counterfeit appearance
in which he had shrouded it:

"Arsene Lupin!" I muttered.

"Yes, Arsene Lupin!" he cried, rising from his chair. "The one and only
Arsene Lupin, returned from the realms of darkness, since it appears
that I expired and passed away in a crypt! Arsene Lupin, alive and
kicking, in the full exercise of his will, happy and free and more than
ever resolved to enjoy that happy freedom in a world where hitherto he
has received nothing but favors and privileges!"

It was my turn to laugh:

"Well, it's certainly you, and livel