“Well, then, we have ten minutes to chat. And to satisfy my curiosity, Monsieur Sholmes, I should like to know how you procured my address and my name of Felix Davey?”
Although his adversary’s easy manner caused Sholmes some anxiety, he was willing to give Lupin the desired information since it reflected credit on his professional astuteness; so he replied:
“Your address? I got it from the blonde Lady.”
“Clotilde!”
“Herself. Do you remember, yesterday morning, when I wished to take her away in the automobile, she telephoned to her dressmaker.”
“Well?”
“Well, I understood, later, that you were the dressmaker. And last night, on the boat, by exercising my memory—and my memory is something I have good reason to be proud of—I was able to recollect the last two figures of your telephone number—73. Then, as I possessed a list of the houses you had ‘improved,’ it was an easy matter, on my arrival in Paris at eleven o’clock this morning, to search in the telephone directory and find there the name and address of Felix Davey. Having obtained that information, I asked the aid of Monsieur Ganimard.”
“Admirable! I congratulate you. But how did you manage to catch the eight o’clock train at Havre? How did you escape from The Swallow?”
“I did not escape.”
“But——”