"Oh, what a joke! My faked diamond handed back to the sailor! And the captain's watch! And the hands of the clock!..."
Never before had Holmlock Shears felt the struggle between Arsène Lupin and himself grow so intense as now. With his prodigious intuition, he guessed that, under this excessive gaiety, Lupin was concentrating his formidable mind and collecting all his faculties.
Lupin had gradually drawn closer. The Englishman stepped back and slipped his fingers, as though absent-mindedly, into his pocket:
"It's three o'clock, M. Lupin."
"Three o'clock already? What a pity!... We were having such fun!"
"I am waiting for your answer."
"My answer? Goodness me, what a lot you want! So this finishes the game. With my liberty for the stakes!"
"Or the blue diamond."
"Very well.... It's your lead. What do you do?"
"I mark the king," said Shears, firing a shot with his revolver.