“It does to me. I can see a probable connection between those two strange incidents. Antoinette Bréhat was hired by Sister Auguste twelve days ago, that is to say, on the day after the blonde Lady so cleverly slipped through my fingers. In the second place, the hair of the blonde Lady was exactly of the same brilliant golden hue as the hair found in this case.”
“So that, in your opinion, Antoinette Bréhat—”
“Is the blonde Lady—precisely.”
“And that Lupin had a hand in both cases?”
“Yes, that is my opinion.”
This statement was greeted with an outburst of laughter. It came from Mon. Dudouis.
“Lupin! always Lupin! Lupin is into everything; Lupin is everywhere!”
“Yes, Lupin is into everything of any consequence,” replied Ganimard, vexed at the ridicule of his superior.
“Well, so far as I see,” observed Mon. Dudouis, “you have not discovered any motive for this crime. The secretary was not broken into, nor the pocketbook carried away. Even, a pile of gold was left upon the table.”
“Yes, that is so,” exclaimed Ganimard, “but the famous diamond?”