Hyacinthe entered the room again. He brought two visiting-cards.
"Chotois? Lepetit? Don't know them."
"They are both journalists, monsieur le duc."
"What do they want?"
"They would like to speak to monsieur le duc with regard to ... the marriage...."
"Turn them out!" exclaimed the duke. "Kick them out! And tell the porter not to admit scum of that sort to my house in future."
"Please, father ..." Angélique ventured to say.
"As for you, shut up! If you had consented to marry one of your cousins when I wanted you to this wouldn't have happened."
The same evening, one of the two reporters printed, on the front page of his paper, a somewhat fanciful story of his expedition to the family mansion of the Sarzeau-Vendômes, in the Rue de Varennes, and expatiated pleasantly upon the old nobleman's wrathful protests.
The next morning, another newspaper published an interview with Arsène Lupin which was supposed to have taken place in a lobby at the Opera. Arsène Lupin retorted in a letter to the editor: