“I have many cases to attend to; such as the robbery of the Anglo-Chinese Bank, the abduction of Lady Eccleston.... But, don’t you think, Monsieur Lupin, that I can finish my business in Paris within a week?”
“Certainly, if you confine your efforts to the case of the blue diamond. It is, moreover, the length of time that I require to make preparations for my safety in case the solution of that affair should give you certain dangerous advantages over me.”
“And yet,” said the Englishman, “I expect to close the business in eight or ten days.”
“And arrest me on the eleventh, perhaps?”
“No, the tenth is my limit.”
Lupin shook his head thoughtfully, as he said:
“That will be difficult—very difficult.”
“Difficult, perhaps, but possible, therefore certain—”
“Absolutely certain,” said Wilson, as if he had clearly worked out the long series of operations which would conduct his collaborator to the desired result.
“Of course,” said Herlock Sholmes, “I do not hold all the trump cards, as these cases are already several months old, and I lack certain information and clues upon which I am accustomed to base my investigations.”