The Blonde Lady / Being a Record of the Duel of Wits between Arsène Lupin and the English Detective

E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, James Evertsen, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
BEING A RECORD OF THE DUEL OF WITS BETWEEN ARSÈNE LUPIN AND THE ENGLISH DETECTIVE BY MAURICE LEBLANC TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS Illustrated by H. Richard Boehm
New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1910 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY MAURICE LEBLANC COPYRIGHT, 1909, 1910, BY THE SHORT STORIES COMPANY, LTD. COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY MAURICE LEBLANC PUBLISHED, JUNE, 1910
This book appeared in England under the title of Arsène Lupin versus Holmlock Shears





On the 8th of December last, M. Gerbois, professor of mathematics at Versailles College, rummaging among the stores at a second-hand dealer's, discovered a small mahogany writing-desk, which took his fancy because of its many drawers.
That's just what I want for Suzanne's birthday, he thought.
M. Gerbois' means were limited and, anxious as he was to please his daughter, he felt it his duty to beat the dealer down. He ended by paying sixty-five francs. As he was writing down his address, a well-groomed and well-dressed young man, who had been hunting through the shop in every direction, caught sight of the writing-desk and asked: