"One second, my lads!" he cried. "You seem in a great hurry to get yourselves smashed to pieces! . . . Don't you know that Lupin's here? I'll make you dance!"
While speaking, he unfolded a screen in such a way as to hide the sofa on which Mrs. Kesselbach had been lying; and he now spread dresses and coverings over it. The door was on the point of giving way under the blows of the men outside.
"Here I am! Coming! Are you ready? Now, gentlemen, one at a time! . . ."
He briskly turned the key and drew the bolt.
Shouts, threats, a roar of infuriated animals came through the open doorway.
Yet none of them dared come forward. Before rushing at Lupin, they hesitated, seized with alarm, with fear. . . .
This was what he had reckoned on.
Standing in the middle of the room, full in the light, with outstretched arm, he held between his fingers a sheaf of bank-notes, which he divided, counting them one by one, into seven equal shares. And he calmly said:
"Three thousand francs' reward for each of you, if Lupin is sent to his last account? That's what you were promised, isn't it? Here's double the money!"
He laid the bundles on the table, within reach of the scoundrels.