He took a cigar, lit a match, which he allowed to go out again mechanically, and sat for some time thinking, motionless.
The minutes passed.
He began to laugh:
"I dare say you're hoping that the expedition will come to nothing and that they won't open the safe? . . . Very likely, old chap! But, in that case, you'll have to pay me for my trouble. I did not come here to see what sort of figure you cut in an arm-chair. . . . The diamonds, since diamonds there appear to be . . . or else the morocco case. . . . There's your dilemma." He looked at his watch. "Half an hour. . . . Hang it all! . . . Fate is moving very slowly. . . . But there's nothing for you to grin at, Mr. Kesselbach. I shall not go back empty-handed, make no mistake about that! . . . At last!"
It was the telephone-bell. Lupin snatched at the receiver and, changing the sound of his voice, imitated the rough accent of his prisoner:
"Yes, Rudolf Kesselbach . . . you're speaking to him. . . . Yes, please, mademoiselle, put me on. . . . Is that you, Marco? . . . Good. . . . Did it go off all right? . . . Excellent! . . . No hitch? . . . My best compliments! . . . Well, what did you pick up? . . . The ebony box? . . . Nothing else? . . . No papers? . . . Tut, tut! . . . And what's in the box? . . . Are they fine diamonds? . . . Capital, capital! . . . One minute, Marco, while I think. . . . You see, all this. . . . If I were to tell you my opinion. . . . Wait, don't go away . . . hold the line. . . ."
He turned round.
"Mr. Kesselbach, are you keen on your diamonds?"
"Yes."
"Would you buy them back of me?"