"Go on, chief."
"It's impossible! How can Sparmiento have been Lupin's accomplice?"
Ganimard gave a little chuckle.
"Exactly, Arsène Lupin's accomplice!... That explains everything. During the night, while the three detectives were downstairs watching, or sleeping rather, for Colonel Sparmiento had given them champagne to drink and perhaps doctored it beforehand, the said colonel took down the hangings and passed them out through the window of his bedroom. The room is on the second floor and looks out on another street, which was not watched, because the lower windows are walled up."
M. Dudouis reflected and then shrugged his shoulders:
"It's preposterous!" he repeated.
"Why?"
"Why? Because, if the colonel had been Arsène Lupin's accomplice, he would not have committed suicide after achieving his success."
"Who says that he committed suicide?"
"Why, he was found dead on the line!"