"Holmlock Shears looked in the wrong place."
"Ah!" said the stranger to himself. "It's an odd thing, an odd thing! . . ." And, to Lupin, "You are sure that your supposition is correct?"
"It is not a supposition: it is a certainty."
"So much the better," muttered the visitor. "There will be no rest until those papers cease to exist."
And, placing himself in front of Arsène Lupin:
"How much?"
"What?" said Lupin, taken aback.
"How much for the papers? How much do you ask to reveal the secret?"
He waited for Lupin to name a figure. He suggested one himself:
"Fifty thousand? . . . A hundred thousand?"