“My Dear Friend! that is I.... Arsène Lupin stole the letter with the lottery ticket.”
“Let him prove it!” retorted Lupin to the reporters.
“He must have done it, because he stole the writing-desk!” exclaimed Mon. Gerbois before the same reporters.
“Let him prove it!” replied Lupin.
Such was the entertaining comedy enacted by the two claimants of ticket No. 514; and the calm demeanor of Arsène Lupin contrasted strangely with the nervous perturbation of poor Mon. Gerbois. The newspapers were filled with the lamentations of that unhappy man. He announced his misfortune with pathetic candor.
“Understand, gentlemen, it was Suzanne’s dowry that the rascal stole! Personally, I don’t care a straw for it,... but for Suzanne! Just think of it, a whole million! Ten times one hundred thousand francs! Ah! I knew very well that the desk contained a treasure!”
It was in vain to tell him that his adversary, when stealing the desk, was unaware that the lottery ticket was in it, and that, in any event, he could not foresee that the ticket would draw the grand prize. He would reply;
“Nonsense! of course, he knew it ... else why would he take the trouble to steal a poor, miserable desk?”
“For some unknown reason; but certainly not for a small scrap of paper which was then worth only twenty francs.”
“A million francs! He knew it;... he knows everything! Ah! you do not know him—the scoundrel!... He hasn’t robbed you of a million francs!”