"'I must also apologize for not on this occasion explaining, with my customary frankness, how this little event was managed. My process is so ingenious and so simple that I fear lest, if I revealed it, every criminal should be inspired by it. How surprised people will be on the day when I am free to speak! "Is that all?" I shall be asked. That is all; but it had to be thought of.
"'Permit me to be, Sir,
"'Your obedient servant,
"'Arsène Lupin.'"
An hour later, M. Lenormand was rung up on the telephone and informed that Valenglay, the prime minister, wished to see him at the Ministry of the Interior.
"How well you're looking, my dear Lenormand! And I who thought that you were ill and dared not leave your room!"
"I am not ill, Monsieur le Président."
"So you were sulking in your tent! . . . But you were always a bad-tempered fellow."
"I confess to the bad temper, Monsieur le Président, but not to the sulking."