She paused to yawn.
“Behind which was hidden?” he said yet more impatiently.
“Arsène Lupin.”
Ralph burst out laughing.
“Then I must be Arsène Lupin!” he cried.
“What an idea!” she protested quickly. “I only told you the remembrance called up in my mind, quite stupidly, by the letters in your hat. And I say to myself, also quite stupidly, that your pleasing name of Raoul de Limézy is uncommonly like the pleasing name of Ralph d’Andrésy, by which Arsène Lupin was also known.”
“An excellent answer, Mademoiselle. But if I had the honor to be Arsène Lupin, believe me I should not be playing the rather simple part I am now playing. With what mastery do you make a joke of the innocent Limézy!”
She held out the box of chocolates to him.
“A chocolate to console you for your defeat,” she said. “And now, let me go to sleep.”
“But surely our conversation is not going to stop at this point?” he said in pleading accents.