“Is it possible!” exclaimed the professor. “But I swear to you—”
“That you have not betrayed me?... I do not doubt you, but those fellows are clever—sometimes. Ah! I can see Folenfant, and Greaume, and Dieuzy—all good friends of mine!”
Mon. Detinan looked at Lupin in amazement. What assurance! He laughed as merrily as if engaged in some childish sport, as if no danger threatened him. This unconcern reassured the lawyer more than the presence of the detectives. He left the table on which the bank-notes were lying. Arsène Lupin picked up one pile of bills after the other, took from each of them twenty-five bank-notes which he offered to Mon. Detinan, saying:
“The reward of your services to Monsieur Gerbois and Arsène Lupin. You well deserve it.”
“You owe me nothing,” replied the lawyer.
“What! After all the trouble we have caused you!”
“And all the pleasure you have given me!”
“That means, my dear monsieur, that you do not wish to accept anything from Arsène Lupin. See what it is to have a bad reputation.”
He then offered the fifty thousand francs to Mon. Gerbois, saying:
“Monsieur, in memory of our pleasant interview, permit me to return you this as a wedding-gift to Mlle. Gerbois.”